Best Blackberry Chicken Salad with Avocado
Trying to figure out what to do with summer berries? This blackberry chicken salad with avocado is made with juicy blackberries, colorful greens and fresh sliced avocado for the quintessential summer meal.
Why You’ll Love this Blackberry Chicken Salad
This chicken blackberry salad is made with simple ingredients that you can feel good about. You’ll love the combination of fresh, sweet, savory, and crunchy that comes together in no time.
This salad is satisfying enough to enjoy as a main meal or as a tasty appetizer. It’ a great recipe to entertain with or take to a friend’s house.
Salad Ingredients for Blackberry Chicken Salad with Avocado
Chicken – Start with cleaned chicken that is patted dry. You can either use chicken thighs or chicken breasts for this salad. Although, chicken thighs have a ton more flavor. To maximize all the flavor that you get, I recommend letting it sit for at least 30 minutes with salt, black pepper and your favorite poultry seasoning
Fresh sweet blackberries -Of course you can’t make a blackberry chicken salad recipe without using blackberries. You’ll need some for the blackberry dressing and some to scatter about the salad.
Red onion– Red onion gives this salad a little bite and is great flavor combination.
Mixed greens– I used a colorful spring mix for this salad. For a more nutritious salads base use spinach or baby kale.
Extra virgin olive oil – EVOO is a key ingredient needed to make the homemade blackberry vinaigrette.
Walnuts– raw sprouted walnuts are quite healthy and make a tasty edition to this salad. Crunchy pecans are also an option. Chop them into bite-size pieces.
Animal based oil. To keep this meal seed oil free, I recommend using tallow or butter to grease a cast iron grill pan for the perfect grilled chicken
Seasonings– sea salt, black pepper. poultry seasoning,
Ripe avocado– a nice touch to the ultimate summer salad. Avocado provide a boost of healthy fats too!
Here’s What You’ll Need to Make the Blackberry Balsamic Vinaigrette
- Fresh blackberries– using a food processor, the fruit is pulsed down into blackberry juice.
- Honey– A few tablespoons raw honey is added for a touch of sweetness
- Mustard– Dijon mustard gives the balsamic vinegar dressing a tangy zip.
- Coconut aminos or a good traditionally fermented soy sauce– Keep in mind the majority of soy sauce at the grocery store is absolute crap. Instead of soy sauce, you can use use coconut aminos for flavor and depth. A teaspoon of tamari may also be used.
- Seasonings– salt and pepper, poultry seasoning
- Balsamic vinegar– get good quality aged balsamic. Can be traditional or flavored of you’d like.
Tools Needed
How to Store Extra Dressing
If you have any remaining dressing, store it in a glass covered container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Dinner salads like this one, are the perfect way to embrace summer while keeping on track with your health and wellness goals.
Blackberry Chicken Salad with Avocado
Equipment
Ingredients
Dressing Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup blackberries
- 2 tsp Dijon mustard
- 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tbsp honey
- 1 tsp coconut aminos or tamari
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
Salad:
- 11 oz spring mix greens large tub
- 1 cup fresh blackberries
- 1 avocado sliced
- 1/4 cup red onion sliced
- 1/2 cup walnuts (chopped- sprouted walnuts are preferred)
Chicken
- 1 lb chicken thighs or chicken breasts
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp poultry seasoning
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 tsp paprika
- butter or beef tallow
Instructions
- Season chicken with salt, pepper, paprika and poultry seasoning. Ideally you would let this sit for 30 minutes before moving on to step 2.1 lb chicken thighs or chicken breasts, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp poultry seasoning, 1/2 tsp black pepper, 1/2 tsp paprika
- Preheat a grill pan with butter or beef tallow and sauté chicken over medium-high heat until cooked through. Between 165°F and 175°F depending on id using chicken breasts or chicken thighs.butter or beef tallow
- Mash the berries with a fork or puree them using a food processor.1/2 cup blackberries
- Add other salad dressing ingredients and combine.2 tsp Dijon mustard, 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar, 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, 2 tbsp honey, 1 tsp coconut aminos or tamari, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp black pepper
- In a large bowl add spring mix salad greens and arrange with blackberries, walnuts, onions and chicken on top.11 oz spring mix greens, 1 cup fresh blackberries, 1 avocado, 1/4 cup red onion, 1/2 cup walnuts
- Drizzle with blackberry balsamic dressing as desired.
Notes
Nutrition
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Original: July 19, 2023 Updated: June 24, 2026
