Balsamic Chicken Avocado Caprese Salad is a quick and easy meal in a salad! Seared chicken, fresh mozzarella and tomato halves, creamy avocado slices and shredded basil leaves are drizzled with an incredible balsamic dressing that doubles as a marinade for the ultimate salad!
Balsamic Chicken Avocado Caprese Salad… Now THIS was and still is a family favourite!
With so many Caprese recipes making their way onto Cafe Delites, like our Caprese Grilled Cheese and Grilled Chicken Cypress with Buffalo Mozzarella, this salad has been a long time coming. My list of recipes is getting so out of control, I’ve made the extremely difficult decision to STAHP adding to it, and actually start COOKING from it. Best. Decision. Ever. And I have a feeling this salad is going to be your next favourite. Because who doesn’t love Balsamic Chicken AND Caprese in the one sentence?
How To Make The Best Chicken Avocado Caprese Salad
Traditionally, Caprese salads do not contain any balsamic vinegar OR avocados or chicken, but today, however, that has changed to make way for this bowl of epic flavours.
Taking some inspiration from this Balsamic Glazed Caprese Chicken, you’re first going to marinade your chicken:
- You only need to use 4 tablespoons of the balsamic marinade.
- You’re going to reserve the remaining dressing to use later in the refrigerator! No, we don’t use the OLD marinade as a dressing. We use the FRESH UNTOUCHED marinade.
- Then, you’re going to sear said chicken until crispy on the edges and golden. For this salad I used boneless, skinless thighs, BUT you can use breasts if you wish.
After that, the salad comes together so FAST. Throw all ingredients into a bowl and dress with the reserved dressing.
Juicy, golden balsamic chicken………fresh grape or cherry tomatoes……fresh baby mozzarella balls (or bocconcini).
Substitutions
- You can use cherry tomatoes instead of grape tomatoes, or use chopped Roma tomatoes.
- Fresh mozzarella balls are best in this. You can use any size if you can’t find mini.
- Romaine, butter, ice berg or spinach are all fine to use as the base.
Say hello to your new favourite salad.
If you love this salad, you’ll love this BLT Balsamic Chicken Avocado & Feta Salad OR this Grilled Lemon Herb Mediterranean Chicken Salad!
WATCH THIS Chicken Avocado Caprese Salad BEING MADE RIGHT HERE!
Chicken Avocado Caprese Salad
Ingredients
Marinade/Dressing:
- ¼ cup balsamic vinegar
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 teaspoons brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 teaspoon salt
Salad:
- 4 skinless chicken thigh fillets no bone
- 5 cups Romaine lettuce or cos lettuce leaves, washed and dried
- 1 avocado sliced
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes or grape tomatoes, sliced
- ½ cup bocconcini
- ¼ cup basil leaves thinly sliced
- 1 pinch salt to season
- 1 pinch pepper to season
Instructions
- Whisk marinade ingredients together to combine. Place chicken into a shallow dish; pour 4 tablespoons of the dressing / marinade onto the chicken and stir around to evenly coat chicken. Reserve the untouched marinade to use as a dressing.
- Heat about one teaspoon of oil in a large grill pan or skillet over medium-high heat and grill or sear chicken fillets on each side until golden, crispy and cooked through. Once chicken is cooked, set aside and allow to rest.
- Slice chicken into strips and prepare salad with lettuce, avocado slices, tomatoes, mozzarella cheese and chicken. Top with basil strips; drizzle with the remaining dressing; season with salt and pepper; serve.
avery says
so good!!! not hard to make and tastes so delicious!!
Amanda says
I’ve made SO many salads from this website and every single one gets eaten so fast. Everybody loves them, thank you!!
Aline Terrell says
Absolutely delicious! I actually made up double the recipe and poured part into the pan with the chicken while it cooked. So juicy and tender! I used spinach instead of Romaine because I had it, and it paired very well with everything. I added some diced red onions as a topping, too. It’s been so hot recently that we haven’t wanted anything heavy, but we’ve been getting tired of our regular salads. This was a lovely change of pace from our usual caprese salad and didn’t require much cooking at all (and, bonus, we got to use the cherry tomatoes and basil from our garden!)
Thanks so much for sharing! You never lead me wrong on a recipe. 🙂
Janet Jeppson says
I hate when the picture of a recipe looks amazing and then you make it and it’s just “meh”. Well that is NOT the case here. This was soooo good. I clicked the link and made the chicken in the oven method. My husband is not a huge balsamic vinegar person…but I AM! This was the bomb. I love a beautiful presentation followed by amazing flavor and this salad is jut that. Yay. Just Yay.