Have your salads and your fried chicken too with this hearty yet refreshing Crispy Chicken Salad recipe! Crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside, this flavorful panko breaded chicken is paired with lettuce, cherry tomatoes, boiled eggs, avocados, cheese, and drizzled with a creamy Honey Mustard BBQ dressing.
Because the way to indulge in crispy chicken and feel semi good about ourselves is to turn it into a salad. No judgement please. We try to live on the edge like that.
Love a hearty salad that acts as a main course and will fill you up? Here are more of my favorites: BBQ Chicken Salad, Asian Salmon Salad with Ginger Soy Dressing, and Vietnamese Rice Noodle Salad.
A Hearty Salad with Crispy Breaded Chicken
When the fried chicken craving is real, but you want a healthier version than the ones dunked into a deep fryer. And while you love your carbs (I mean, potatoes like this is life), but you know you cannot be having all the carbs all the time.
Get it get it get it?? I know you get it.
Crispy Chicken Salad combines the best of both worlds. Crazy yummy and healthy-ish…or as healthy as fried chicken can get. 😉
Juicy, crispy, amazing pan-fried chicken (NOT deep fried) served with lots of yummy protein (hello avocados and boiled eggs) and crunchy veggies.
Then we drizzled the perfectly perfect Honey Mustard BBQ Dressing. With a tiny bit of BBQ sauce added to it, we get a nice sweet twist to the classic Honey Mustard Dressing. It also so happens to be so ridiculously good and you will not look at Honey Mustard Dressing the same way again ever ever. Just trust me.
A little bit more about it:
- The chicken is coated with egg, seasoned flour batter, and panko breadcrumbs, then pan fried (not deep fried!)
- Super crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside after being soaked in that buttermilk
- So flavorful and delicious we make it more often than we want to admit in our household
- Serve with crisp lettuce, tomatoes, boiled eggs, cheese, avocados, and then drizzled with our signature Honey Mustard BBQ dressing – the texture and flavor combination is mind-blowing.
- YUM YUM YUM.
Ingredients
For the Salad:
- Romaine lettuce – or any other type of lettuce such as iceberg, red leaf lettuce, green leaf lettuce, spinach, etc. Lettuce should be properly washed and pat dry using paper towels, or salad spinner, if you’d like to be fancy (it definitely works much better!).
- Avocados – use ripe avocados that are soft to touch but not overripe. You can leave an unripe avocado on the kitchen counter for a few days to get them to ripen naturally before cutting into it.
- Eggs – boiled egg is used for this salad. A quick way to make boiled eggs is to use an egg cooker to consistently make hard boiled eggs every single time. This way the yolk will be nice and bright yellow and not dark greenish. To prepare boiled egg, bring a pot of water to boil, then gently lower eggs one by one into boiling water with a spoon. Cook for 9 minutes. Once done, drain the hot water and fill pot with cold water to cool the eggs down, then peel eggs.
- White cheddar – Other cheese such has Swiss, mozzarella, Colby jack, sharp cheddar works great as well. Use your favorite cheese!
- Grape tomatoes – these are small oval shaped tomatoes. Cherry tomatoes can be used in place of grape tomatoes.
For the Crispy Fried Chicken:
- Chicken breast – you can also use chicken tenders, or any boneless skinless chicken meat. Cut chicken breasts into two thinner cuts lengthwise if chicken is thick so that chicken will cook easily – and also to make it easier to eat too! To totally skip the pan frying process, you can also buy store-bought chicken for this recipe. This will really cut the time – although there’s nothing like homemade crispy breaded chicken!
- Buttermilk – marinate chicken in buttermilk so that it is super moist and juicy – it’s seriously a game changer!
- All purpose flour
- Corn starch
- Baking powder
- Seasonings – corn starch, garlic powder, salt and black pepper. All of these combined will help flavor and brown your chicken.
- Panko breadcrumbs – this is a type of breadcrumb frequently used in Japanese cuisine. You can find it in an Asian grocery store or the Asian aisle in the regular grocery store. It is light and crispy, and create the most amazing crispy breaded chicken. In the absence of this, regular breadcrumbs can be used.
For the Honey Mustard BBQ dressing:
- olive oil
- honey mustard – try not to substitute with dijon mustard or French mustard because they are not as sweet and the flavor will come out different.
- bbq sauce
- garlic clove – in a pinch, garlic powder can be used.
How to make Crispy Chicken Salad
Start making this crispy chicken salad with the breaded fried chicken.
Marinate chicken
We are using chicken breasts in this recipe and slicing them into halves lengthwise into chicken cutlets so they cook quickly, and also to increase that breading to chicken ratio (for lots of crispy texture!).
If you are planning ahead, I highly recommend marinating chicken overnight in buttermilk and salt, or 3-4 hours in advanced so that the chicken is even more flavorful and juicy.
However, if you are short on time (like we typically are), marinating chicken for 30 minutes is perfectly fine too.
Bread and Pan Fry Chicken
To bread the chicken, we will be putting together 3 mixtures in 3 separate shallow bowls:
- flour mixture – a combination of all purpose flour, corn starch, baking powder and seasonings
- egg mixture – whisking 2 eggs together
- panko mixture – just panko breadcrumbs
Coat chicken with flour mixture on both sides
Next, dip in egg mixture (also on both sides), then coat it with panko breadcrumbs. Make sure to press panko breadcrumbs into chicken to make sure they stay.
Once all the chicken are coated with panko breadcrumbs, heat up a large non-stick skillet or cast iron skillet with vegetable oil to pan fry the chicken.
We are not deep frying, but we are using a generous amount of oil here to get the breading to really crisp up.
Breaded chicken will turn out crisp on the outside but still moist, juicy and crazy flavorful on the inside. So dang good!
Alternatively, you can also air fry the chicken. To air fry, cook chicken at 400ºF for 10–15 minutes, flipping halfway, until the internal temperature reaches 165ºF.
Once the chicken is cooked, let it rest for a few minutes then slice it into strips.
Prepare Other Salad Ingredients
Prepare the other ingredients for the the salad:
- boil the eggs
- slice grape tomatoes into halves
- slice avocados
- cube cheese – I love the cheese in my salad in cubes so you can bite into it and really taste it!
Honey Mustard BBQ Dressing
Next, make that killer dressing!
The best part is, there’s nothing too complicated about this. It is as simple as combining your favorite Honey Mustard Dressing with a tiny bit of your favorite BBQ sauce, along with olive oil and some minced garlic.
It also tastes really similar to Chick Fil-a sauce. I won’t go as far to say it’s an exact copycat, but it has hints of Chick Fil-a sauce written all over it. And I do love my Chick Fil-a sauce.
Bring it all together!
Once you have all the components ready, bring everything together onto a platter!
I like to serve the dressing on the side and let everyone get their own salad and drizzle it on on their own. This way it makes saving leftovers much easier too.
Variation and Substitution
Here are other ways to make this salad with crispy breaded chicken salad your own!
- Salad dressing: Instead of honey mustard bbq, ranch, honey mustard, or any vinaigrette is amazing as well.
- Lettuce: romaine, grean leaf, iceburg, spinach or arugula….use your favorite!
- Cheese: other soft cheeses such as mozzarella, Colby Jack cheese and cheddar cheese works really good too. If you like strong cheeses, blue cheese or goat cheese are good options too.
- Other toppings: red onions, cucumber, almonds etc
Tips and Tricks
- Marinade chicken for longer if possible – if you can marinate for longer (up to overnight), that’s even better! This will make the chicken super juicy, moist and flavorful.
- Breading chicken – make sure to use fingers to pat the flour mixture and panko mixture onto the chicken to make sure breading stay on it when pan frying.
- Use enough oil – cover the full surface of the skillet with oil and make sure the oil is hot before adding chicken to the skillet
- Do not overcrowd chicken – cook in two batches if needed!
- Do not over cook chicken – it will be dry! Use a meat thermometer to gauge doneness – chicken should be remove from heat promptly when the thickest part gets to 165ºF.
- Let chicken rest when done – Leave chicken on paper towel for a few minutes before slicing it so that they juices in the chicken will set properly.
- Adjust heat as needed. If the outsides of the chicken look cooked but the inside is not, lower heat to avoid burning the chicken.
- Use a pair of tongs – to move the chicken around. This works better than a spatula. If you don’t own one, it’s a great thing to have in the kitchen, get it here! (affiliate link)
- Pat dry veggies – make sure to use a paper towel to pat dry lettuce and veggies so that salad will not be soggy.
Frequently Asked Questions
I get it, sometimes we just don’t have the time! Use store-bought crispy chicken strips and store-bought dressing (pick your favorite) for a quicker, no stress crispy chicken salad!
Yes, marinating is not absolutely necessary, but it will make chicken more juicy and flavorful. If you are in a hurry and need to skip the marinating portion it’s fine to do so. Or just marinate it for a quick 30 minutes.
Panko breadcrumbs produces the crispiest chicken than regular breadcrumbs but in the pinch you can absolutely use regular bread crumbs.
– Pat it on: Use fingers to press and pat the breading onto chicken so that breading stay as sealed onto as possible.
– Preheat your pan and oil: Before placing your chicken in the hot pan, make sure the pan itself (fully covered in oil) is already heated.
– Don’t crowd the pan: Avoid overcrowding the pan when frying chicken. This will cause the oil temperature to dip and breading is more likely to fall off. Cook chicken in batches if necessary.
– Let chicken rest before slicing: Avoid cutting chicken into strips immediately as the breading is likely to fall off if you do that. Let it rest for a few minutes to let breading harden up slightly.
ENJOYED THIS RECIPE? Tell us what you think by leaving a rating and review below! 🤍
Other Yummy Salad Recipes!
- Strawberry Bacon Spinach Salad with Lemon Maple Dressing
- Grilled Chicken Zoodle Salad
- Fruit Salad with Honey Lime Dressing
- Avocado Orange Salad
- Asian Salmon Salad with Ginger Soy Dressing
- Asian Peanut Chicken Salad
- Greek Cucumber Salad
- Cajun Chicken Noodle Salad with Creamy Chili Lime Dressing (by Nicky in Kitchen Sanctuary)
Crispy Chicken Salad with Honey Mustard BBQ Dressing
Ingredients
- 8-10 cups chopped romaine lettuce
- 2 avocados
- 2 eggs
- 8 oz grape tomatoes halved
- 8 oz white cheddar cubed
Crispy Fried Chicken
- 1 1/2 lbs chicken breast halved lengthwise
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1/4 cup corn starch
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 2 large eggs
- 1 1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
- 1 cup buttermilk
- a few tbsp vegetable oil
Honey Mustard BBQ Dressing
- 1/4 cup honey mustard
- 2 tbsp BBQ sauce
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 clove garlic minced
Instructions
Crispy Fried Chicken
- Cut chicken breasts lengthwise into two thinner slices so that it will be easier to pan fry.
- In a bowl combine buttermilk and 1/2 tsp salt (note: this not the full amount of salt noted above, the rest will be used in the next step). Soak chicken in buttermilk mixture for 30 minutes.
- In the first shallow bowl, combine flour, corn starch, baking powder, smoked paprika, garlic powder, 1 tsp salt, and black pepper. In the second shallow bowl, add panko breadcrumbs. In the third shallow bowl, whisk together 2 eggs.
- Coat each piece of chicken with flour mixture on both sides twice, then dip in egg mixture (both sides), and then into the panko breadcrumbs mixture. Press panko breadcrumbs onto both sides of the chicken to secure it.
- Heat skillet with vegetable oil on medium heat. Make sure vegetable oil fully cover the surface of the skillet.
- Once oil is hot and bubbling, add chicken to skillet (use tongs). Do not overcrowd skillet so fry in batches if needed. Pan fry chicken on one side for a few minutes, once the bottom side is browned, flip to pan fry the other side.
- Lower heat if chicken is cooking faster on the outside than on the inside. I.e. if chicken is already browned/slightly burned, but not fully cooked on the inside, lower heat.
- Remove chicken from skillet once the thickest part of the chicken reaches 165℉.
- Let chicken rest for five minutes, then cut them into strips.
Crispy Chicken Salad with Honey Mustard BBQ Dressing
- To prepare boiled egg, bring water to boil in a pot, then gently lower eggs one by one into boiling water with a spoon. Cook for 9 minutes. Drain hot water and fill pot with cold water to cool the eggs down. Once eggs are cool, peel eggs and slice into small wedges.
- To make the dressing, combine honey mustard dressing and BBQ sauce.
- Prep the rest of the veggies and salad toppings – chop lettuce, half tomatoes, slice avocados, and cube white cheddar cheese.
- Bring lettuce, tomatoes, avocaods, cheese, crispy chicken to bowl, then drizzle with dressing, or serve dressing on the side.
- Serve and enjoy!
