Chopped Power Salad with Chicken (2024)

If you’re looking for a fun way to enjoy seasonal produce, then this Chopped Power Salad with Chicken is it! Traditional chopped salads are made by chopping ingredients into smaller bite-size pieces that get tossed together with the dressing, ensuring big flavor with every bite. This one is “powerful” in many ways—including the 49 grams of protein it packs, as well as its satisfying flavor and crunch. Find out how to make it below and use our tips and advice for creating your own ultimate chopped salad.

How to Make Chopped Power Salad with Chicken

1. Start with a Big Mixing Bowl

The beauty of this salad is that it all gets made in one bowl. That means less dishes and quicker assembly. Because there are plenty of ingredients, you’ll want to choose a large bowl for the task. A 4- to 6-quart bowl gives you plenty of room for everything, plus plenty of space to combine everything.

2. Toss It All Together

Have you ever noticed how delicious restaurant salads are? That’s because instead of drizzling all of the dressing on top of the salad, they toss the ingredients with the dressing before the salad is plated and served. This ensures every bite is perfectly seasoned. To save on dishes, we mix up the dressing as the first step in the same bowl we toss it in. When you toss the salad, make sure you are getting to the ingredients at the bottom of the bowl to spread the dressing around evenly. It’s why this Chopped Power Salad is so good!

Ingredient Swaps to Try

• Try a different lettuce. Green-leaf lettuce is a type of loose-leaf lettuce, which has loosely bunched leaves instead of tight heads. It has a mild, sweet flavor with a slightly crisp and tender texture. If you can't find green-leaf lettuce, you can use red-leaf, butterhead, Little Gem or romaine.
• If you’re looking for a less-refined sweetener for the salad dressing, try honey or even maple syrup. Both provide ample sweetness to balance the acidity from the lemon juice.
• Any tomato will work well as long as it’s ripe. Try small cherry tomatoes, or larger heirloom or slicing tomatoes, and chop them into bite-size pieces. Don’t make it hard! Use what you have!
• Mix up the seeds (or nuts). Sunflower seeds add a delicious crunch, but if you don’t have any or don’t care for them, pepitas (pumpkin seeds) work too. Or, opt for sliced almonds or chopped walnuts.
• Try a different cheese. Feta adds the perfect salty touch to the salad, but other flavorful cheeses would be delicious as well. Swap in an equal amount of crumbled blue cheese or goat cheese for a different spin.

Tips from the EatingWell Test Kitchen

These are the key tips we learned while developing and testing this recipe in our Test Kitchen to make sure it works, tastes great and is good for you too!

• Use fresh lemon juice. Fresh-squeezed lemon juice is one of our favorite ingredients. It adds the perfect pop of bright acidity to so many different dishes, especially for salad dressings, so it's worth always having a lemon or two on hand. If you can’t get your hands on fresh lemon juice, bottled lemon juice or white-wine vinegar will also work.
• Double the dressing. A simple vinaigrette is a refrigerator staple! That’s why we suggest doubling (or tripling!) the vinaigrette and storing it in an airtight container in your refrigerator. Enjoy it on any salad and use it within three days.
• A microplane grater makes grating garlic easy. If you don’t have one, a fine-holed grater will also do the trick. If all else fails, bring out your chef’s knife and mince the garlic.
• Enjoy this salad right away. Delicate leafy greens won’t hold up over time if they’re covered in salad dressing. That’s why we suggest enjoying this salad right after you toss it together. If you want to prep ahead, make the dressing in a separate small bowl and combine everything just before serving.

Nutrition Notes

• Extra-virgin olive oil is packed with nourishing unsaturated fats that provide satiety and also health benefits such as protection against heart disease and some cancers. It’s also been shown to support healthy aging and prevent inflammation.
• Dark leafy greens like spinach are low in calories, but boast a stunning nutritional profile. Spinach is packed with water to help keep you hydrated, and each 3-cup serving has 2 grams of fiber to improve satiety and promote bowel health. It also contains vitamins A and C, known nutrients for promoting eye health.
• Besides being perfectly crunchy, cucumbers are a hydrating food that also supply a variety of nutrients including vitamins C and K as well as potassium. They’re ideal for adding bulk and crunch to salads without adding extra calories or saturated fat.

1. Whisk oil, lemon juice, garlic, oregano, sugar, salt and pepper together in a large bowl.

   

2. Add lettuce, spinach, chicken, tomatoes, cucumber, onion and pepperoncini; toss to coat. Serve sprinkled with feta and sunflower seeds.

   

Additional reporting by Carrie Myers, Jan Valdez and Sara Haas, RDN, LDN