This strawberry chicken salad with spinach and white balsamic dressing is the high-protein salad I crave all spring and summer! Fresh strawberries, tangy goat cheese, and perfectly grilled chicken breast come together in this easy, leafy summer salad recipe.
Pair this salad with my chicken crust pizza for a high-protein dinner.
Strawberry Salad With Grilled Chicken
This strawberry chicken salad is fresh, light, and packed with flavor from juicy strawberries, tender grilled chicken, and creamy goat cheese tossed with a simple white balsamic dressing. It’s not just a pretty salad, either! It’s also high in protein, which makes it filling enough to serve as a main dish or easy lunch. The grilled chicken adds staying power, while the fruit and greens keep it bright and refreshing.
Why I’m a Fan of This Strawberry Chicken Salad
I love that this strawberry spinach salad is the perfect balance of sweet, savory, and satisfying while keeping things light. I always make it with grilled chicken during grilling season, but it’s delicious year-round with a grill pan or air fryer chicken breast, too. Here’s why it works, and why I have this salad recipe on repeat.
- Grilled chicken makes this a complete and filling main salad, not just a side.
- Sweet strawberries, fresh spinach, crunchy nuts, creamy cheese, and tangy dressing offer contrasting flavors and textures.
- Easy to customize with different cheeses, nuts, or proteins and veggies I have in the fridge.
- Great for meal prep!
Ingredients You’ll Need
You only need 5 ingredients for the salad, and just a few more to make the white balsamic dressing. See the recipe card below for the exact measurements.
For the Salad
- Boneless, skinless chicken breast, seasoned with salt and fresh garlic.
- Baby spinach – You can also use kale, arugula, or any salad greens you prefer.
- Strawberries – Sliced or chopped. My easy trick for hulling strawberries is to use a sturdy straw and press it through the bottom of the berry, right through the top, so the green stem pops off. This preserves as much of the red berry as possible if you don’t have a specialty hulling tool.
- Goat cheese or another cheese, like feta, shaved parmesan, or gorgonzola.
- Almonds, pistachios, pecans, or walnuts are all great options for adding crunch.
Balsamic Dressing
- Golden balsamic vinegar – You could also use regular, good-quality balsamic here.
- Olive oil – Like the vinegar, choose a high-quality extra virgin olive oil for the best flavor.
- Shallots or finely minced spring onion or red onion.
- Honey – You could also use agave or maple syrup.
- Salt and pepper to taste.
Variations
I also love how easy it is to customize depending on what I have on hand. I have my strawberry cucumber salad, or this other easy strawberry salad with goat cheese that you can try. This is the kind of salad that you can really make your own.
- Dressing: Swap the balsamic dressing with homemade lemon vinaigrette or the poppy seed dressing from my strawberry gorgonzola salad recipe.
- More crunch: In addition to nuts like almonds or walnuts, try adding crispy chickpeas or croutons for crunch.
- Add-ins: Try making this salad with dried cranberries, raisins, and different berries. Raspberries or blackberries also go well here!
Meal Prep This Strawberry Chicken Salad
This strawberry chicken salad with balsamic dressing is easy to prep ahead of time. I’ll grill and chop the chicken, slice the strawberries, and whisk the dressing beforehand, and store everything in separate containers in the fridge. This way, it’s ready to toss together. This salad tastes best when you add the dressing just before serving, so the greens don’t become soggy.
Serving Suggestions
Pair this strawberry spinach salad with chicken fresh off the grill, with pasta, burgers, or grilled vegetables for a refreshing summer dinner.
More Summer Salad Recipes
Strawberry Chicken Salad
Equipment
Ingredients
For the dressing:
- 3 tbsp golden balsamic vinegar
- 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tbsp shallots, chopped
- 1 teaspoon honey
- 1 teaspoon water
- 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
- fresh black pepper, to taste
For the chicken:
- 16 oz boneless skinless chicken breast
- 1 clove garlic, crushed
- 1 teaspoon seasoned salt, to taste (I used Montreal Steak Grill Mates)
For the Salad:
- 6 cups baby spinach
- 3 cups sliced strawberries
- 2 ounces soft goat cheese
- almonds, pistachios or walnuts, optional for topping
Instructions
- In a small bowl, whisk together the dressing ingredients.
- For the chicken: Season the chicken with seasoned salt, then mix in crushed garlic.
- Light the grill or indoor grill pan on medium heat, when hot spray the grates with oil and grill the chicken about 10 to 11 minutes on each side until charred on the outside and cooked through in the center. Set aside on a cutting board and slice on an angle.
- In a large bowl, toss the spinach with the dressing. Divide between 4 plates and top with strawberries, goat cheese, and grilled chicken.
Delicious salad! The salad dressing was great and I made enough for a few days which made it taste even better. I did add some arugula and basil to the baby spinach. Was a hit!
This is excellent. I have been on a berry salad kick lately and no restaurant can come close to what I’ve been making from this site. The only difference was I used my own spice mix on the chicken and I used my cuisinart griddler to cook it. I never used to like berries with meat (chicken etc.) but I have been converted lol great dressing, too. I will add some pecans or walnuts next time I think. I served it with potato leek soup and it paired well imo.
healthy and easy to prepare salad!
Holy delicious! I wasn’t expecting much from such a simple recipe but the flavors combine for a pretty epic taste! Rotation recipe for sure!
This salad is delicious. I made it because it looked easy to meal prep for the week and I was shocked at how good it was. I get to work and can’t stop thinking about my lunch lol! Will definitely be putting this in my rotation.
The balsamic dressing is a perfect pairing to the goat cheese and strawberry. This was super refreshing. A great summer salad!
Great salad- I always order salads w/ fruit &goat cheese when we go out to dinner so I was happy to come across this super easy recipe on your site! I made it for dinner & put aside extra for lunch the next day. My husband is doing keto & I do WW so it was a win-win (he chose to use some other dressing b/c of the small amount of honey but would have been fine I’m sure). The dressing is a snap to whip up- I used regular balsamic which was fine, and I keep Penzey’s dried shallots on hand for situations like this to make it easier.
I have Penzy dried shallots too. Not sure how to use them. Did you just throw them in the liquid mixture?
Love this recipe. Thank you. Any thoughts on the best way or marinade to make the grilled chicken? Thanks.
This salad is delicious. I made it as listed except for the dressing. Made my own with a splash of apple cider vinegar, olive oil and some Italian seasoning. I will definitely make again! Once again, Gina, thank you
You’re welcome! 🙂
Loved this recipe! I used white balsamic, so I am not sure if that is the same as golden. I did feel that it was too sour/acidic for my own taste, so I sprinkled in a little splenda for balance. The goat cheese really is wonderful in this dish!
I don’t like spinach and was wondering if arugula instead with out changing the carbs knit to much?
Made this for dinner this evening, it was delicious!
I have a bunch of dressing left over, should I refrigerate it or leave it at room temperature?
This was amazing!! That dressing would probably taste great on anything, I added gorgonzola cheese instead of feta and left out the chicken. Great recipe, very easy to make!
This was AMAZING! The best salad I’ve ever made. It will be a regular this summer!!
This salad has become a very regular go-to for weekly dinners. We love it – especially in the summer. It is super light, quick, and delicious!
How many calories is just the dressing (split between 4 servings). I have had this salad for the last 4 days…love it. Was Thinking of making the dressing and using on other salads.
Hi, so if the ingredients created 4 servings does this mean that each of the 4 servings are 331 calories or is it 331 calories for the entire for servings?
Yes, each serving would then be 331 calories.
This has become one of my favorite salads! I make it at home fairly often (usually adding blueberries). If I’m really busy I just use bottled dressing.
I used the dressing for a Rosh Hashanah salad at a dinner last week and it went over incredibly well. Something about the golden balsamic and shallots go great with fruit! I paired it with
– Mixed greens (the kind with herbs mixed in if you can find it)
– Thinly sliced honeycrisp apples (brush with lemon to prevent browning)
– Golden raisins
– Sliced almond slivers
– Pomegranate seeds
This sounds amazing but I have a quick question. I would like to take this to a potluck at Church tomorrow and wonder if the chicken is supposed to be served hot on the salad? I was going to make it tonight and then whip it together in the morning before church so the chicken would be cold by the time we eat. Thanks in advance!!
Either way would work!
Sounds wonderful! Could I replace the olive oil with avacado oil?
sure!
This was so delicious! The only thing I changed from the original recipe was omitting water in the dressing. Also, we used butter lettuce for dinner because he had to finish up some that was on the verge of going bad, but had spinach for lunch the following day and both were absolutely delicious. This is so simple, yet fancier than the usual salads I whip up. Will make this again and again.
Glad you enjoyed it Robin!
Making this for the 2nd time tonight. I substitute feta and it’s delicious!!
Loved this recipe! Perfect for this evening warm spring/summer evenings. I didn’t have golden balsamic so I used regular and feta instead of goat cheese. Definitely will make again!
Glad you enjoyed it Samantha!
Are you sure the carb count and sugar count are correct? I just used the numbers to plug this in to WW and it says that the sugar amount can’t be more than the total carb amount. Is it just 1.5g sugar? Please clarify. 🙂 I’m making this tonight and can’t wait!
You have to use recipe builder as you are counting the strawberries which are 0 by using the n.i.
If you don’t like goats cheese what would be the best??
I used feta. Yum!
I bet blue cheese would be delicious as well! Or just leave it out.
Had this tonight. My husband and I LOVED it. Only change is I put 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil instead of 3 tablespoons. We will be having this for lunch tomorrow….,,yummy!
I made this tonight and it was delicious! A definite keeper for the summer. Another fantastic Skinnytaste recipe. Thank you Gina!
You’re welcome! 🙂 Glad you enjoyed it!
Delicious! My husband and I both loved this.
Wow that is excellent! It is definitely going to be a go to recipe for the summer!! I used a Mango balsamic and a Basil Olive oil because that’s what I had and it worked out very well!
Can you replace the shallots with anything? Just grocery shopped and forgot them!
You could use onion and garlic.
I had leeks left over from another meal so I used them. It was great!!
Omg. Perfect for a spring lunch. Doing this tomorrow. ❤️❤️. LOve salad!!
This sounds so refreshing!!
So how many total carbs are in this recipe? You have 4 carbohydrates 4 fiber and 10.5 sugars and I’m just a little confused. Thanks looks great, but I have to watch my carbs!
That is correct
Just the 3/4 cup of strawberries for each serving had 9g of carbs. Not including the spinach (1-2) and dressing.