Chicken Caprese Salad with Avocado

top view of caprese salad topped with Blackened chicken and avocado

Servings: 4

Prep Time: 10

Cook Time: 15

Total Time: 25

This chicken Caprese salad is built over crisp lettuce topped with blackened chicken, juicy tomatoes, avocado, and mozzarella tossed in an epic vinaigrette.

5 from 54 votes

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Ingredients

White wine or champagne vinaigrette:

1 garlic clove
2 tablespoons Dijon Mustard
¼ cup champagne or white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons honey
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
½ cup extra virgin olive oil

For the Salad:

2 chicken breasts
1 ½ teaspoons blackened seasoning
1 tablespoon butter or olive oil
1 large head of romaine, washed and chopped
1 avocado, sliced
1 ½ cups cherry tomatoes, halved
¾ cup bocconcini mini mozzarella, halved
¼ cup basil shreds

Instructions

Make the salad dressing:

Place all the vinaigrette ingredients, except the olive oil inside a blender. Blend until smooth.
With the blender running, slowly pour the olive oil into blender jar, until it’s emulsified -once it looks creamy. Alternatively, you can finely chop the garlic clove and simply combine all the ingredients inside a mason jar and shake venously.
Transfer the salad dressing into a salad dressing container or pitcher and refrigerate until ready to serve, up to a week.

Cook the chicken:

On a flat surface, pat dry the chicken breasts. Distribute the seasoning on both sides of the chicken breasts.
Heat a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. Once hot, melt the butter. Place the chicken breasts on the pan and cook the first side for 7 minutes. Flip the chicken breasts over and cook for another 7 minutes on the other side, until the internal temperature reaches 165F. Cooking time on the second side will vary by the thickness of the thicken breast. Once cooked, transfer the chicken from the pan onto a board and let it rest for 5 minutes before slicing. This helps retain the chicken juices.

Assemble the salad:

In a large salad bowl, make a base with the chopped Romaine. Top it with cherry tomatoes, mini mozzarella balls, sliced avocados, and sliced chicken breasts.
Drizzle ½ cup salad dressing over the salad and toss to combine. Add more salad dressing if desired.

Meal prep this salad:

Layer all the salad ingredients inside 4 meal prep containers except for the sliced avocado. Pack about 2 tablespoons of salad dressing inside four small, lidded containers. On the morning of, slice ¼ of an avocado and place it on top of the salad. Drizzle salad dressing right before enjoying it for lunch.

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