If you’re looking for a nourishing, quick and easy recipe for dinner, you can’t go wrong with this chicken, avocado and quinoa salad with a coriander, lime and garlic dressing.
It’s zingy, packed full of flavour and will fill you right up.
You can either eat it warm, having just cooked the quinoa, or you can wait for the quinoa to cool and have it cold. Whichever you prefer!
The quinoa salad uses cooked chicken. Leftover roast chicken is absolutely fantastic, otherwise you can buy ready cooked chicken or roast a couple of chicken breasts in the oven (simply, with olive oil and a grind of salt and pepper) until cooked through. As with the quinoa, the chicken can be hot or cold.
Ingredients, Substitutions and Variations
- Quinoa – use dried quinoa – it’s really quick and easy to cook (and cheaper than the microwave versions).
- Chicken breast – as mentioned above, you can use leftover roast chicken if you like. You’ll be having half a breast per person, so if you’re very hungry you might want to up the amount of chicken.
- Avocados – you could also add other vegetables to this bowl – cucumber and tomato would be great.
- Greek yoghurt – adds a nice cooling creaminess, but it is optional.
- Coriander, garlic, lime, olive oil – these are your dressing ingredients.
Chicken, Avocado and Quinoa Salad Top Tips
- Get ahead This is a great salad to prep for lunches. Make the quinoa and dressing in advance, then top with the chicken and avocado in the morning. Be sure to squeeze some lime juice over the avocado to stop it from going brown.
- Eat warm or cold You can eat this warm or cold. On hot days, I like to make the quinoa in the morning then leave it to cool through the day. Then it just takes a few minutes to compile the salad at dinner time.
- Make the dressing in advance The dressing just gets better the longer you leave it – up to 48 hours. Pop it in the fridge and let the flavours develop.
More delicious salad recipes to try:
Sweetcorn and Black Bean Salad
Pomegranate, Feta and Chickpea Salad
Avocado, Bacon and Dolcelatte Salad
Quinoa, Feta and Roasted Pepper Salad
Get the cook books:
Chicken, Avocado and Quinoa Salad
Ingredients
- 300 g quinoa
- 2 large, cooked chicken breasts
- 2 avocados
- 4 tbsps Greek yoghurt
- 20 g fresh coriander
- 5 cloves garlic
- 2 limes
- 4 tbsps olive oil
Instructions
- Start by cooking your quinoa. Add the quinoa to a large saucepan with 600ml cold water. Bring to a simmer over a medium heat, then cook gently for 15-20 minutes until the quinoa is puffed up and soft. Leave to cool.
- For the dressing, peel and finely chop the garlic. Chop the coriander. Put in a bowl with the juice of one lime, the olive oil and a pinch of salt. Stir and leave to one side.
- Slice the chicken breasts. Peel and slice the avocado.
- To serve, spoon the quinoa into bowls. Top with the sliced chicken breast and avocado. Top each bowl with a spoonful of Greek yoghurt, a drizzle of the dressing and a wedge of lime.
I love this for an easy healthy meal prep lunch. Thanks!
The salad was great and the coriander dressing took it next level!
This chicken and quinoa was a perfect combination of flavors. Loved it!
This salad was so nourishing and hearty. Will definitely make it again soon.