Satisfying strawberry spinach salad with grilled chicken and creamy poppy seed dressing is a perfect weeknight dinner on a hot summer day. Hot summer days call for quick and easy, light yet filling dinners! And this beautiful classic strawberry spinach salad with grilled chicken and light poppy seed dressing fits the bill just right!
Earlier this week, we talked about how to cook this easy grilled chicken breast. So we won’t go in-depth into it today. But…
…let’s talk about this creamy light poppy seed dressing…
For the base of the dressing, we’re using plain greek yogurt, which has nice tangy flavor and creamy texture. The dressing has a perfect balance of tart, sweet and satisfying crunch from poppy seeds.
And as much as I don’t like when a recipe says “salt and pepper to taste” (especially when it refers to raw food), I’ll leave it up to you how much salt and pepper to put in your dressing because everyone’s taste is different, and we all use different types of salt. So taste and season to your liking.
The dressing can be prepared in advance, grilling the chicken takes less than 30 minutes, which means you can toss this salad together in less than 45 minutes!
Strawberry Spinach Salad with Grilled Chicken and Poppy Seed Dressing
Ingredients
For poppy seed dressing:
- ½ cup plain greek yogurt
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar or white vinegar
- 1-2 tablespoons honey
- ½ tablespoon poppy seeds
- ¼ teaspoon dry mustard
- Salt and pepper to taste
For grilled chicken:
- 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
- ½ cup fresh lemon juice
- 2 teaspoons dried parsley
- 1 teaspoon salt or your favorite seasoning salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
For salad:
- 6 cups baby spinach
- 1 pint strawberries sliced
Instructions
- To make the dressing, combine all the ingredients in a medium bowl and whisk well. Salt and pepper to taste. Refrigerate until ready to serve. The dressing can be prepared up to 3 days in advance.
- To prepare the chicken, preheat grill to medium heat, and lightly oil grates using a paper towel soaked in oil. If using charcoal grill, pile one side with more charcoal than the other to create 2 level heat.
- Pour lemon juice into a shallow bowl.
- In a small bowl, mix together parsley, garlic powder, salt and pepper.
- Dip chicken breasts in lemon juice, piercing with a fork to infuse the meat inside.
- Place the chicken breasts on a large plate.
- Sprinkle the prepared dry rub on both sides of chicken breasts.
- Cook chicken breasts on indirect heat (the side with less charcoal) for about 8 minutes per side.
- Then transfer onto direct heat (hotter side), or increase the heat to medium high, and cook for 2-3 minutes per side, or until no longer pink and juices run clear. (This 2 heat-level method ensures meat cooks evenly throughout and yields juicy meat inside and nice grill marks on the outside.)
- To assemble the salad, place quarter of spinach on a plate, top with grilled chicken and strawberries and drizzle poppy seed dressing.
Nutrition
* Disclaimer: All nutrition information are estimates only. Read full nutrition disclosure.
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