This delicious Harvest Chicken Salad features apple cider marinated grilled chicken, crispy bacon, chunks of blue cheese, walnuts, red onion, mixed baby greens, red and green chunks of apples.
This fall-inspired Chicken Salad is inspired by Wendy’s Harvest Chicken Salad. It’s flavorful, juicy, and the perfect addition to this amazing garden salad.
And who doesn’t love a lunch or dinner that is super flavorful, all while quick and easy to create!? Don’t forget to try my balsamic dressing recipe.
The chicken is marinated in an apple cider marinade and reminds me of fall on the farm in New England, apple orchards, and local fairs. Grab a bottle of apple cider at a local apple orchard or in the produce section at your local grocery store (near the refrigerated juices).
Want to cook bacon the easy way? Cook it in the oven! It comes out perfect every time and makes cleanup a breeze!
How to cook bacon in the oven
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a half sheet pan with parchment paper. Overlap slices of bacon slightly on the pan. Cook at 400 degrees F for 20 minutes, depending on how crispy or chewy you prefer your bacon. Remove from the oven and transfer the bacon on a plate lined with paper towels to drain.
Want an even more flavorful bacon? Sprinkle on a little granulated maple sugar prior to cooking. It gives you amazing caramelization on the bacon for a salty with a touch of sweet flavor.
Fresh cubes of granny smith and gala apples (or any seasonal apple that you love), chunks of blue cheese, red onion, grape tomatoes, walnuts and chicken are so good together in this salad.
This grilled chicken also works great as a chicken BLT. Toast some sliced brioche bread, spread a little mayonnaise and top with fresh heirloom tomatoes, crispy bacon, and romaine lettuce. Oh yum! Can you taste that?!
More great Apple recipes:
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Harvest Chicken Salad
Equipment
Ingredients
Apple Cider Marinade
- ¼ cup corn oil
- ¼ cup balsamic vinegar
- ½ cup apple cider
- ¼ cup whiskey or bourbon
- 2 tablespooons Dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- black pepper to taste
Harvest Chicken Salad
- 3 grilled boneless chicken breasts sliced thin
- 1 5-ounce package mixed baby greens or Romaine lettuce (cut up)
- ½ granny smith apple cored, cut into small cubes
- ½ gala apple cored, cut into small cubes
- 6 slices crumbled bacon
- ¼ cup walnut halves and pieces
- 2 tablespoons crumbled blue cheese
- slices of red onion
- 6-8 grape or cherry tomatoes, halved
- dressing of your choice balsamic recommended
Instructions
Apple Cider Marinade
- Place oil, balsamic vinegar, apple cider, whiskey, mustard, onion powder, garlic powder, and black pepper into a large zip-style bag. Press on the outside of the bag to mix the ingredients.
- In another large zip-style bag, use a small rolling pin or a meat tenderizer to flatten the chicken breasts a little. Mostly to make them evenly flat. Once each chicken breast is flattened a bit, place into the marinade.
- Seal the zip-style bag and place the chicken into the refrigerator for 1 hour or up to 24 hours.
- Heat a large cast iron skillet over medium heat with a few tablespoons of corn oil and one tablespoon of butter. Add the chicken breasts and brown on each side. Cook the chicken all the way through. Remove from the skillet and let rest on a plate for 5 minutes before slicing.
- Or grill the chicken on an outdoor grill for about 3-4 minutes each side.
Harvest Chicken Salad
- To assemble the salad, layer mixed greens in a large bowl. Then add pieces of red onion, walnuts, blue cheese, sliced grilled chicken, crumbled bacon, cherry tomatoes, and pieces of apples.
- Drizzle with balsamic dressing or your choice of dressing and enjoy immediately.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
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Lynnette M says
love finding different salad recipes to try at home. My goal is to make it as colorful as possible and this one def did that with the apple slices
Meika says
This is delicious! Thank you for the great recipe. This salad is rich in protein and fiber. Excellent!
Devyani Ray says
This looks so fresh and delish! Have to try it out
Mommy Sigrid says
Love this! I really love fresh garden salads with grilled chicken. I always order this when I eat out. I don’t like preparing them at home though, too much work haha
Joanna says
This sounds like a delicious salad and I like that it’s so easy to make. It’s very healthy as well, with so many vegetables in it and just lean chicken breast.
Jennifer L says
Omg this salad looks so good! I love the addition of apples and bacon…yum!
Evelyn Hernandez says
Salad is beautiful, love the cider dressing idea. So perfect for the fall.
Alexandria Stroup says
Omg this looks so tasty. I love the use of apples and walnuts. It always reminds me of Fall. This will definitely go in the rotation!
Lauren says
Looks fresh, healthy and packed with a lot of flavor. I never even realized you could make bacon in an oven. Hmmm!
Jessica Robinson says
Lauren,
That’s the only way we cook bacon now! Makes cleanup a breeze!
Amber Myers says
This looks so incredible! I love a good chicken salad and it’s been ages since I’ve had some. I’ll have to try this very soon.
Sundeep says
I always prefer to take healthy food. This harvest chicken salad looks yummy . Recipe looks easy and doable. Chicken salad is always my first choice. Thanks for sharing
Tara Pittman says
This would make a great lunch for my husband. He packs his lunch for work so he would like this instead of a sandwich.
andrea says
I love this chicken salad with cubed apples, and that dressing looks amazing! I also like the walnuts and bacon in there, I am def gonna give this a try tomorrow for lunch just omit the blue cheese.
TessaG says
I had to pin this one! I don’t eat meat, but one of my sons does – so I’ll substitute textured vegetable protein for ours, and fakin’ bits (fake bacon bits!). Looks so healthy, I love summer and fall salads!
Gavin says
Looks so fresh and packed with flavor. Might have to make this for the fam!