Crispy Chicken Salad with Thousand Island Dressing
Published 3/13/2024
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This crispy chicken salad is the mother of all chicken salads. Crispy chicken pieces are coated in crunchy cornflakes and cooked to absolute perfection, then tossed in a hearty salad filled with juicy vegetables and our most delicious homemade thousand island dressing. It doesn’t get any better than this!
Ready to up your homemade salad game? Well, we’ve got something extra special for you right here 😀 This isn’t any ordinary crispy chicken salad… this salad delivers a legendary combo of cornflake-crusted chicken, fresh vegetables, crunchy greens, and a flavorful, creamy thousand island dressing you’ll absolutely love.
Simple to make and easy to love, this crispy fried chicken salad is one the whole family will enjoy. My toddler loves dipping this crispy chicken and sliced cucumbers into the thousand island dressing while my husband and I can enjoy it tossed together in a giant bowl. No need to make two dinners with this recipe 👏🏻 👏🏻 👏🏻
why we love this chicken salad
- The cornflake “breading” on this chicken is next level!
- It’s a great option if you want to make something tasty in a flash.
- It’s filling enough to be a main meal or light enough to be a side in smaller portions.
Crispy Chicken Salad Recipe — What You Need
Crispy Chicken Salad
- Chicken breast: we used boneless skinless chicken breast for this recipe, but feel free to use chicken strips or tenders to cut the time.
- Eggs: eggs are used to help the cornflakes stick to the chicken.
- Cornflakes: our secret ingredient for the most delicious, crispy chicken!
- All-purpose flour: flour gives the chicken a nice crispy coating for that perfect crunchy bite.
- Spices: we used garlic powder, paprika, salt, and pepper to season the chicken and cornflake mixture for ultimate flavor.
- Romaine lettuce: we used romaine lettuce. Feel free to use any other crunchy greens.
- Veggies: we used our favorite salad vegetables, but you can substitute for other fresh veggies you have on hand instead.
- Almonds: sliced almonds add another great texture element and punch of nutrition.
- Feta cheese: it’s always betta with feta! Be as generous with it as you’d like 😀
Homemade Thousand Island Dressing
Ditch the store-bought salad dressings that are full of additives and preservatives and make our homemade thousand island dressing! It’s as easy to make as it is delicious. Here’s what you need to make it:
- Mayonnaise
- Greek yogurt
- Ketchup
- Yellow onion
- Pickles
- Pickle juice
- Sugar
More Homemade Salad Dressing Ideas
Not a fan of Thousand Island dressing? That’s okay because we’ve got lots more delish salad dressing ideas. Here are a few of our favorites:
- Best Balsamic Dressing – We simply can’t get enough of it! The sweet and tart flavor of this balsamic dressing is the perfect companion to any salad.
- Creamy Green Goddess Dressing – Tangy and garlicky, this Creamy Green Goddess Dressing is made with a Greek yogurt base, herbs, spices, and lemon juice.
- Homemade Poppyseed Dressing – Our homemade poppyseed dressing is a delicious blend of olive oil, lemon juice, Greek yogurt, poppy seeds, and honey. Mmm.
- Caesar Dressing – Our homemade Caesar dressing is made with Greek yogurt, lemon juice, mayo, and anchovy paste. No eggs are required!
FAQs
If you’re asking yourself this question, the answer is probably oil temperature. It’s essential to get the temperature of your cooking oil just right when frying chicken. Otherwise, you’ll end up with soggy chicken. When the oil starts to shimmer and lightly ripple, it’s hot enough for cooking!
It’s honestly up to you and your preferences on texture and taste. If you want to include some additional crunch, veggies like carrots, zucchini, and celery would be great.
If you’re looking for a bit of heat, try adding some chili peppers, jalapeños, or radishes to the mix. You could also add some heartier vegetables like asparagus, artichokes, or broccoli if you want to bulk up the salad a bit.
You can’t go wrong with spinach, kale, romaine, watercress or arugula. They are all packed with vitamins A, B, C, and K and contain potassium — making them a nutrient-dense choice for your crispy chicken salad!
Storage
Store any leftover crispy chicken salad in the fridge for up to 2 days. To make your salad last longer, we recommend only storing undressed salad—that way, you can avoid soggy greens.
For optimal storage, remove the avocado, tomato, and cucumbers prior to storing and store the chicken separately (it’ll help keep it crispy).
To reheat the crispy chicken, you can either pop it in the microwave and cover with a wet paper towel or reheat it at 375°F in an air fryer.
More Chicken Salad Recipes
- Grilled Chicken Salad
- Siracha Chicken Salad
- Grilled Buffalo Chicken Salad
- BBQ Chicken Salad
- Bacon-Wrapped Chicken Salad
- Healthy Asian Chicken Salad
Crispy Chicken Salad Recipe
Ingredients
Thousand Island Dressing
- ¼ cup mayonnaise
- ¼ cup full-fat Greek yogurt
- ½ cup ketchup
- ¼ yellow onion, finely minced
- ⅓ cup pickles, finely minced
- 3 teaspoons pickle juice
- 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
Chicken
- 1.5 lbs. chicken breast
- 1.5 teaspoons kosher salt, separated
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper, separated
- 3 large eggs
- 4 cups cornflakes
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- ¼ cup avocado oil or olive oil
- 1 teaspoon flakey salt
Salad
- 7 oz. romaine lettuce, chopped (~5-6 cups)
- 1- pint cherry tomatoes, halved (~1.5 cups)
- 6 mini cucumbers, sliced
- 1 large avocado, pitted and chopped
- ¼ cup sliced almonds
- ½ cup crumbled feta cheese
Instructions
- Add all of the ingredients for the Thousand Island Dressing into a bowl and mix to combine. Place the dressing in the refrigerator for later.
- Prepare the chicken. Place the chicken breast on a lined cutting board and then cover it with parchment paper. Use a meat tenderizer and pound the chicken until all the chicken is pounded to about ¾ – 1-inch thick. Season the chicken with ½ teaspoon of salt and ½ teaspoon of pepper.
- Crack the eggs into a large bowl and whisk the eggs together.
- In a separate bowl, add the cornflakes, flour, garlic powder, paprika, pepper, and kosher salt. Use your hands to crush the cornflakes and mix all the ingredients.*
- Dredge a chicken breast through the egg wash, allowing any excess egg to drip from the chicken breast, Next, dredge the chicken through the corn flake mixture. Flip the chicken over in the cornflake mixture and use your hands to firmly press the coating into the chicken breast. Repeat until all the chicken breasts are coated.
- Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium/high heat. When the oil is hot, add the chicken breasts to the skillet. Semi-cover the skillet to avoid oil splatter. Do not overcrowd the pan, you may need to cook the chicken in batches. Cook each chicken for 4-5 minutes on each side or until golden brown or the internal temperature of the chicken is 165ºF.
- Remove the chicken from the pan and immediately season the chicken with the flakey salt. Let the chicken rest for 5 minutes, and then slice the chicken into chunks.
- Add all of the ingredients for the salad to a large salad bowl and toss. Top the salad with the chicken chunks and dress the salad with the Thousand Island dressing (however much you’d like).
Tips & Notes
- We used our favorite salad vegetables, but you can substitute any other vegetables instead.
- We used romaine lettuce. Feel free to use any other crunchy greens.
Watch It
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Photography: photos taken in this post are by Ashley McGlaughlin from The Edible Perspective.
