Tropical Sriracha Chicken Salad

2021-10-05

Change up your usual salad game with this spicy and sweet Tropical Sriracha Chicken Salad. It’s packed full of veggies and flavor with an added boost of protein from the Sriracha-Pineapple Marinated chicken breast.

Are you someone who thinks that all salads are boring? Not filling enough? Not enough flavor? I 100% used to be in that camp… but probably because I just ate boring kale salads with balsamic vinegar dressing. Not anymore! As you can tell from a quick search for “salad” on my blog, you know I’m a total salad fan. I now know how to make a filling, satisfying, delicious salad. Like this Tropical Sriracha Chicken Salad.

The chicken is marinated in a sriracha-pineapple mixture and the salad dressing has even more kick with additional sriracha and lots of lime juice! The avocado won’t brown thanks to all of that lime juice but don’t worry, the fresh pineapple helps to cut some of the sourness. It was surprisingly easy to make and it’s packed-full of vegetables.

Tropical Sriracha Chicken Marinade

If you aren’t marinating your meat before cooking it, you’re missing out. This tropical spicy marinade makes the chicken the star of the show. Here’s what you need:

Fresh pineapple
Balsamic vinegar
Raw Honey
Sriracha sauce
Garlic clove
Lime juice
Salt and pepper

Put all of the marinade ingredients into a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Put the chicken breasts in a shallow dish or plastic bag and coat with the marinate. Let sit in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.

Prepping a Salad in Advance

For the longest time, I didn’t know how to prep a salad in advance. If you make a salad as usual and add the dressing, it gets all soggy. If you prep the salad but leave off the dressing, it’s always a pain to mix in the dressing when you’re out and about. Not anymore! Enter: mason jar salads. The key to making mason jar salads is the order that you layer the ingredients.

LAYER 1: Divide the dressing evenly between two large mason jars. Put the dressing at the bottom of the jar to make sure it doesn’t change the consistency of the rest of the ingredients.

LAYER 2: Cubed avocado. The dressing will keep it from browning and it won’t get soggy!

LAYER 3: Add the chicken, cherry tomatoes and pineapple to each jar.

LAYER 4: Top each jar with several handfuls of spinach. Secure with a lid and store in the fridge until you’re ready to enjoy.

When it’s time to eat, simply shake up the ingredients together and pour the contents of the jar into a bowl to eat.

Tropical Sriracha Chicken Salad

Author: Davida Lederle
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes
Yield: 2 servings 1x
Category: Salad
Method: Grill
Diet: Gluten Free

Scale

Ingredients

Chicken Marinade:

1/2 cup fresh pineapple chunks
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1/2 tsp honey
2 tbsp Sriracha sauce
1 garlic clove
juice from 1 lime
2 large chicken breasts, boneless and skinless
salt and pepper

For the Dressing:

2 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tbsp Sriracha sauce
1 tbsp raw honey
zest and juice, 1 lime
1 tbsp finely minced shallot
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

For The Salad:

1 avocado, cubed
1/2 cup diced red onion
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
1 cup fresh pineapple chunks
several handfuls of baby spinach

Place marinade ingredients into a blender or food processor and blend until smooth.
Coat chicken in marinade and let sit in fridge for at least 30 minutes.
Heat up a grill pan to medium-high heat (or use a BBQ) and cook on each side for 5-7 minutes or until center is no longer pink and juices run cool. Set aside for 5-10 minutes to cool.
Once cool, cut chicken into chunks.
Mix together dressing ingredients in a bowl or mason jar.
Combine all salad ingredients in a large bowl. Stir in chopped chicken.
Top with desired amount of dressing and serve immediately.