Crispy Chicken Salad
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Make a restaurant-style Crispy Chicken Salad at home with this easy recipe! This copycat Chick-Fil-A Cobb Salad is filled with fresh veggies, crispy bacon, creamy cheese, honey mustard dressing, and crunchy chicken strips. It’s easy to customize, perfect for meal prep, and it’s guaranteed to satisfy your restaurant salad cravings at a fraction of the price!
Table of contents
The cobb salad with crispy chicken from Chick-Fil-A is definitely my favorite fast-food salad. I love all of the different ingredients in the salad that combine for different textures and flavors. My husband will be the first to tell you, I’m big on texture when it comes to my food!
This crispy chicken salad recipe contains the perfect combination of crunchy, creamy, crispy and juicy! It reminds me a lot of my other favorite salad, this BBQ Chicken Salad. They contain a lot of similar ingredients and are both full of flavor and layers of tasty textures!
After perfecting my Air Fryer Chicken Tenders, I knew that I had to recreate this Chick-Fil-A salad at home. You can use my recipe to make healthy crispy air fryer chicken strips, or make traditional fried chicken to top the salad. Either way, you’re going to love making this salad at home! You can make four crispy chicken salads, for the price of one at a restaurant!
Ingredients
For the full quantities of the salad ingredients, scroll to the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
- Romaine lettuce – for this salad, you’ll need about 8 cups of chopped romaine lettuce. This will be about 2 large romaine hearts.
- Honey mustard dressing – click the link for my homemade dressing recipe that’s easy to make in just 5 minutes! You can also use blue cheese dressing, or ranch dressing. This cashew-based Avocado Ranch Dressing is also a great healthy choice.
- Corn – kernels of corn, drained and rinsed from a can, add a sweet flavor and extra fiber to the salad. If you’d like to give the corn a smoky flavor and char on the outside, add 1 teaspoon olive oil to a cast iron skillet on the stove over high heat. Add the corn and cook for 4-5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Red onion – finely diced red onion adds a crisp texture and mild, sweet flavor to the salad.
- Cherry tomatoes – I recommend quartered cherry tomatoes, or diced roma tomatoes for this recipe. They’re firm tomatoes with less pulp and a lower water content than other tomatoes, which means they’ll add a great, juicy flavor and texture to the salad without watering it down.
- Bacon – you’ll need 1/2 cup of cooked, chopped bacon for this recipe. Follow this post for how to cook bacon in the oven, or purchase real bacon bits at the grocery store. If cooking bacon at home, you’ll need approximately 6 slices of uncooked bacon to get 1/2 cup of cooked, chopped bacon.
- Shredded cheddar cheese and monterey jack cheese – you can use just one of the cheeses, or combine them both to replicate the cobb salad at Chick-Fil-A.
- Hard boiled eggs – follow this step-by-step guide for how to hard boil eggs. You can make the eggs up to 3 days before preparing the salad, and store them in the fridge until you’re ready to assemble the salad. Most grocery stores also sell hard-boiled eggs already prepared, so if you want to make this recipe even easier, purchase these store-bought eggs.
- Crispy chicken – for the chicken on this salad, I used this recipe for air fryer chicken tenders. It’s a healthier way to cook fried chicken, but the result is still juicy on the inside and crispy on the outside! To make this recipe come together quickly, you can always buy pre-breaded chicken tenders in the freezer section of the grocery store and cook them in the oven or air fryer to top this salad.
- Crispy red peppers – one of the signature toppings on the cobb salad at Chick-Fil-A are these crispy red peppers. You can find them near the other salad toppings at the grocery store. If you can’t find these, you can always use croutons or tortilla strips for a crunchy topping on the salad.
Instructions
Before assembling this salad recipe, you’ll want to have cooked bacon, hard boiled eggs and honey mustard dressing ready to go. Follow each of the links provided to prepare them at home.
To make the air fryer chicken tenders for the salad, click on the link for the full recipe instructions, with helpful tips, or follow the basic recipe below.
To make the chicken strips:
- Whisk 4 large eggs in a shallow bowl. In another bowl, combine 1 cup all-purpose flour and 1 teaspoon salt. In a third bowl, add 2 cups panko breadcrumbs.
- Slice 1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts into 4-6 inch strips. Toss the chicken strips with 3 tablespoons chicken seasoning. Place each piece of chicken in the egg wash, then the flour, back to the eggs, then into the bread crumbs. Continue until all of the strips of chicken are breaded.
- To air fry the chicken strips, place them in a single layer in an air fryer basket and spray with cooking spray. Cook at 400°F for 4-6 minutes, flip, spray with cooking spray and cook for an additional 4-6 minutes.
You can also fry the chicken by heating 1 cup of vegetable oil in a large cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. Once the oil is hot, add the chicken strips in an even layer, not touching, and fry for 3-4 minutes per side.
To make the salad:
- Toss the lettuce in the dressing. In a large bowl, toss chopped romaine lettuce with honey mustard dressing, until the lettuce is completely coated.
- Assemble the salads. Divide the dressed lettuce between four bowls. Top each bowl with corn, red onion, tomatoes, bacon, cheddar and monterey jack cheese, hard boiled egg, crispy chicken, and crispy red peppers. Serve immediately.
Optional additions
Add any of these ingredients to the salad to make it like your favorite restaurant’s crispy chicken salad.
- Diced avocado – to make it like Wendy’s
- Black beans
- Diced apple
- Croutons – to make it like Red Robin
- Sunflower seeds
- Roasted almonds
- Shredded carrots – to make it like sweetgreen
- Tortilla strips – to make it like Friendly’s
- Diced fresh bell peppers
- Sliced jalapenos – to add some spice!
- Sliced cucumber – to make it like McDonald’s
- Buffalo sauce – toss the chicken with buffalo sauce before adding it to the salad to make it like Buffalo Wild Wings! This optional addition pairs well with blue cheese dressing or ranch dressing on the salad.
How to meal prep it
This salad is perfect for meal prep! Follow these simple steps to prep the salad for the week.
- Cook the bacon and prepare the hard boiled eggs up to 3 days in advance. Store the eggs peeled, but whole in an airtight container in the fridge. Cook and crumble the bacon, then store it in a zipper bag in the fridge.
- Prepare air fryer chicken tenders up to 3 days in advance. Store the whole cooked chicken tenders in an airtight container in the fridge.
- When ready to assemble the salad, reheat the chicken tenders in an air fryer at 400°F for 2-3 minutes to keep them crispy. Remove them from the air fryer and dice them up. Toss the salad with the dressing, then add all of the toppings. Slice the hard boiled eggs into quarters, or lengthwise into slices and add them on top of the salad, along with the crumbled, cooked bacon from the fridge.
Recipe notes
- The chicken on the salad can be served hot or cold. I prefer the chicken to be hot, but this is just a personal preference. If you want to make the chicken ahead of time and serve it cold, that will work just fine!
- You can also make this salad will grilled chicken or rotisserie chicken, instead of fried chicken. This grilled honey mustard chicken is delicious on top of this salad. And pulling the meat from a rotisserie chicken and adding it to the salad makes it quick and easy, but it does take away the “crispy” element from the salad.
- To make this salad gluten-free (and easy!) pick up gluten free chicken nuggets in the freezer section of the grocery store. Cook them according to package directions, then dice them up and add them to the salad. Also, omit the crispy red peppers on top of the salad.
More salad recipes
Try these other delicious, filling salads, perfect for a healthy meal!
Crispy Chicken Salad
Ingredients
- 8 cups chopped romaine lettuce, approximately 2 romaine hearts
- ½ cup honey mustard dressing, or ranch dressing
- ½ cup corn kernels, drained and rinsed from a can
- ½ cup red onion, finely diced
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes, quartered
- ½ cup bacon, cooked and crumbled
- ½ cup shredded cheddar cheese
- ½ cup shredded monterey jack cheese
- 2 hard boiled eggs, click link for recipe
- 2 cups crispy chicken tenders, diced (click link for recipe)
- ½ cup crispy red peppers
Instructions
Prep ahead.
- Before assembling this salad recipe, you’ll want to have cooked bacon, hard boiled eggs and honey mustard dressing ready to go. Follow each of the links provided to prepare them at home.
Make the chicken tenders.
- To make the air fryer chicken tenders for the salad, click on the link for the full recipe instructions, with helpful tips, or follow the basic recipe below.
- Whisk 4 large eggs in a shallow bowl. In another bowl, combine 1 cup all-purpose flour and 1 teaspoon salt. In a third bowl, add 2 cups panko breadcrumbs.
- Slice 1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts into 4-6 inch strips. Toss the chicken strips with 3 tablespoons chicken seasoning. Place each piece of chicken in the egg wash, then the flour, back to the eggs, then into the bread crumbs. Continue until all of the strips of chicken are breaded.
- To air fry the chicken strips, place them in a single layer in an air fryer basket and spray with cooking spray. Cook at 400°F for 4-6 minutes, flip, spray with cooking spray and cook for an additional 4-6 minutes.
- You can also fry the chicken by heating 1 cup of vegetable oil in a large cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. Once the oil is hot, add the chicken strips in an even layer, not touching, and fry for 3-4 minutes per side.
- Dice the chicken strips before adding them to the salad.
Assemble the salad.
- In a large bowl, toss chopped romaine lettuce with avocado ranch dressing, until the lettuce is completely coated.
- Divide the dressed lettuce between four bowls.
- Top with the corn, red onion, cherry tomatoes, bacon, shredded cheddar and monterey jack, hard boiled eggs, crispy chicken, and crispy red peppers.
Notes
- The chicken on the salad can be served hot or cold. I prefer the chicken to be hot, but this is just a personal preference. If you want to make the chicken ahead of time and serve it cold, that will work just fine!
- You can also make this salad will grilled chicken or rotisserie chicken, instead of fried chicken. Pulling the meat from a rotisserie chicken and adding it to the salad makes it quick and easy, but it does take away the “crispy” element from the salad.
- To make this salad gluten-free (and easy!) pick up gluten free chicken nuggets in the freezer section of the grocery store. Cook them according to package directions, then dice them up and add them to the salad. Also, omit the crispy red peppers on top of the salad.
Nutrition Facts
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