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crispy hot honey chicken salad with yogurt dressing

Author: Mika Kinney
5 from 2 votes
Sweet honey with spicy cayenne pepper, let me introduce you to my crispy hot honey chicken salad. It’s my favorite, favorite, favorite salad inspired by my love of sweet and spicy flavors, crispy chicken, and super easy and nourishing high-protein meals.
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 15 minutes
Protein: 25g
Serves: 4
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Equipment

  • 1 large bowl

Ingredients

Chicken

  • 8 breaded chicken tenders (or 24 chicken nuggets)
  • ¼ cup honey
  • ¼ cup olive oil (or avocado oil)
  • ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
  • ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
  • ¼ teaspoon cayenne powder
  • 2 teaspoon chili powder
  • ½ teaspoon salt (and pepper to taste)

Vegetables

  • 2 stocks romaine lettuce (chopped)
  • ½ red onion (diced)
  • 1 avocado (diced)
  • 2 stocks green onions (diced)
  • 1 handful cilantro (chopped, about ¼th cup chopped)
  • ½ cup shredded carrots (about 6 baby carrots)
  • ¼ jalapeno (finely chopped and deseeded)
  • juice from ½ a lime

Yogurt Dressing (optional - can use any creamy dressing you like cilantro lime or ranch)

  • ½ cup Greek yogurt (plain)
  • ¼ teaspoon salt and pepper
  • 1 ½ tablespoon mayonaise
  • juice from ½ a lime
  • ½ teaspoon garlic powder

Before you start!

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Instructions

  • Cook the 8 breaded chicken tenders in the oven or air fryer. While it cooks, dice and chop the 2 stocks romaine lettuce, ½ red onion, 1 avocado, 2 stocks green onions, 1 handful cilantro, ½ cup shredded carrots, and ¼ jalapeno. Put these into a large bowl.
    The salad ingredients chopped and on a platter.
  • Make the hot honey sauce by mixing ¼ cup honey, ¼ cup olive oil, ¼ teaspoon ground ginger, ¼ teaspoon garlic powder, ¼ teaspoon cayenne powder, 2 teaspoon chili powder, and½ teaspoon salt in a medium bowl. Dice the crispy chicken and add it to the sauce. Toss to completely coat.
    Crispy diced chicken mixed with the hot honey sauce.
  • Make the yogurt sauce by mixing the ½ cup Greek yogurt, ¼ teaspoon salt and pepper, 1 ½ tablespoon mayonaise , juice from ½ a lime, and ½ teaspoon garlic powder in a small bowl or jar.
  • Combine the salad with the chicken and yogurt dressing. Finish with a squeeze from the juice from ½ a lime. If making this salad as meal prep, see notes below, and don't put the dressing on!

Video

Notes

Helpful Tips
  • Don’t complicate it: Use whatever lettuce or crispy chicken you already have. Have dino nuggets - use those. Have a bag of half lettuce and some spinach - use that.
  • Fully coat the chicken: This is where this recipe stands out. We don’t drizzle it over the salad, we fully coat the chicken so every bite of chicken is bursting with flavor.
  • Dice everything really small: even smaller than you think is small. This is the key to a really great salad - every bite has a little bit of everything.
  • Use all of the herbs and spices: Each and every one adds so much flavor so please use them all!
Troubleshooting & Testing Notes
  • Using sriracha: My first round of testing used sriracha and while it was ok, it was flat but also in your face. The chili powder and cayenne is the perfect mild heat to deliver spicy flavor.
  • Roasted versus not roasted corn: I tested this recipe both with roasting the corn and not. The taste difference was not enough to justify the additional step of sauteing corn.
  • This salad has too much dressing: If this is your opinion you are entitled to it and while I obviously think it’s perfect, you can fix this. Simply mix in 1-2 more chicken tenders and ½ a stock of romaine lettuce.
How to store & meal prep it
Storage
Storing a salad with dressing already on it will be ok but the texture will not be the same. If everything is stored together, the salad will keep for 2 days in the fridge. Just a warning, the chicken and lettuce will be slightly soggy.
Meal Prep
The key to meal prepping a salad is don’t put the chicken, salad, and dressing together. So, to store it.
  1. Make the chicken and toss it in the hot honey sauce. Store this in an airtight container.
  2. Dice all the salad ingredients and store in an airtight container.
  3. Make the Greek yogurt dressing and store in an airtight container.
  4. When ready to eat, combine the serving size you want of all the ingredients. 
The chicken will keep for 3 days in the fridge and the salad and Greek yogurt dressing for 5 days.
Nutritional information is an estimate and for informational purposes only.
Additional notes and substitution information can be found in the post above.

Looking for more information?

Additional substitution information can be found above in the substitution section of this post.

Nutrition Disclaimer

Nutritional information is an estimate and for informational purposes only.

Course: lunch
Cuisine: American
Keyword: chicken, crispy, high protein, salad

Nutrition

Calories: 446kcal | Carbohydrates: 26g | Protein: 25g | Fat: 28g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 5g | Monounsaturated Fat: 16g | Trans Fat: 0.03g | Cholesterol: 67mg | Sodium: 629mg | Potassium: 757mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 20g | Vitamin A: 2736IU | Vitamin C: 9mg | Calcium: 54mg | Iron: 1mg
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