Last updated on September 20th, 2023 at 05:59 am
Hawaiian Chicken Salad step-by-step recipe. A wonderful fresh tropical style salad loaded with pineapples in every bite and Roasted Chicken, this salad is one to please your appetite!
Be sure to check this Roasted Corn Salad recipe next!
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I am totally in love with this Chicken Salad, well, to be honest, my husband loves this more than I do anyway. Our little daughter loves the ingredients that go into this salad but, hasn’t yet gotten used to the salad itself. I love the freshness of this salad which mostly comes from the Pineapples, the star ingredient here of course. Pineapples combined with the creamy dressing, lime, and lettuce becomes magically delicious. Not to mention the pineapples add a considerable health quotient to this salad.
So after having this too many numbers of times at restaurants, I made it at home and it tasted just like the ones at those restaurants. Probably fewer calories than those with reduced dressing and more of the Roasted Chicken. This salad makes for a great meal just on its own or with some bread or main course.
Super indulgent (gluten-free) Hazelnut Cake with Nutella Frosting
Roasting the chicken is the most beautiful yet considerably time-consuming part. I say considerably because it takes more than 10 minutes but nonetheless easy. You just marinate the chicken, wash it off, add back some spices, and roast it. I like to do it on a cast-iron skillet, you can definitely use a cast iron grill or a panini press.
I pound the chicken to 1/2 inch thickness and then grill it by pressing it down with a cast-iron press. this is totally optional of course, but if you want to, you can use any other heavy metal object to press it down. Ever since I saw food trucks in New York doing that, I’m obsessed with it. The heavy press ensures even browning and faster cooking, but as I said, it completely optional.
See also:
Hawaiian Chicken Salad / Chicken Salad with Pineapples:
The star ingredient Pineapple is key to this salad. It adds juiciness, freshness, and sweetness ultimately giving this salad a super tropical vibe. It is important to choose good and flavorful pineapples, it has to be sweet. Some pineapples are big and juicy but lack the flavor. If you’re going with canned pineapples, then make sure to go with your favorite brand which you have already had and know it to be delicious. When using fresh pineapple, I don’t mind a few pineapple eyes. If you don’t like them, here’s where canned pineapples would come in handy.
Serving Suggestions:
I like to serve this salad as it is because I find this Salad very filling. But sometimes when I have guests over, I serve it with other salads as part of a salad bar. However, other times, we would like to have this Hawaiian Chicken Salad with just about anything healthy.
Nutrition:
Each serving of this easy Chicken Salad has about 650 calories packed with 53.3g amount of protein and 43 g of fat. It is very nutritious and can be made healthier (variations are below).
Storing this salad:
This salad is best served right away. You can, however, freeze the roasted chicken for up to a month and the dressing for about 15 days. Thaw and assemble this Chicken Salad whenever you want. This works when you’d be making a large batch.
Special Diets:
This Hawaiian Chicken Salad contains meat, lactose. But it is gluten-free, protein-rich! This salad can be made with vegetarian options or can even be veganized. Due to the high rich protein content, this Hawaiian chicken salad is certainly low-GI. With the added walnuts, a good amount of good fat gets added as well.
See also:
Variations and Substitutions:
I would say this easy chicken salad recipe is pretty versatile. You can play around with the ingredients you add in and up or reduce the amount of any ingredients.
Add-in options: Boiled Eggs or Tuna tastes wonderful and are a great substitution for Chicken. And you can use Arugula, Tomatoes or Shredded Carrots. But be sure to not go far with your options, this has to be a Hawaiian/ tropical style.
Vegetarian and Vegan options: For a vegetarian/vegan option, you can use pan-fried tofu/paneer accordingly.
How to make this Chicken Salad Recipe:
This Salad is very easy to make and all you’ll be doing is roasting the chicken, chopping them up and mixing them up into a Salad. To make this easy Chicken salad you’ll need the following ingredients:
For the Chicken:
- Chicken Breast (pounded to 1/2 inch thickness) – 300 g
- Ginger-garlic paste – 1/2 tsp
- Salt – 1/8 tsp
- Paprika Powder – 1/8 tsp
- Brown Sugar – 1 tbsp
- Salt – 1/4 tsp
- Pepper Powder – 1/8 tsp
- Oil
For the dressing:
- Lite / Eggless Mayonnaise – 1 tbsp (80 g)
- Lime / Lemon Juice – of 1 – 3 tbsp
- Salt – 1/4 tsp
- Pepper Powder / Freshly milled pepper – 1/2 tsp
- Sugar – 1 tsp (1/2 tsp if using pineapple juice)
- Water or Pineapple Juice – 2 tbsp
See also:
Instant Pot Chickpea Butter Masala
For the Salad:
- Onions (sliced) – 70g – 1 small
- Lettuce (shredded) – 150g – half of lettuce
- Pineapples (diced) – 200g
- Walnuts – 50g
- Creamy Hawaiian chicken salad Dressing
- Roasted Chicken
Now that you’ve gathered the ingredients, let’s see how to make this delicious salad. I’ve divided the steps into Roasting the Chicken and then Making the Salad.
Roasting Chicken:
- Pound the Chicken Breast to a 1/2 inch thickness. Add it to a clean bowl.
- Add the Paprika Powder, Ginger-Garlic Paste, and some salt.
- Mix it all together, cover, and let it marinate for a minimum of half-hour to 2 hours.
- After the chicken has marinated, wash the spices off the chicken.
- Now, add the brown sugar, the salt, and the black pepper powder.
- Mix it all together. Heat a skillet with a drizzle of oil. Place the Chicken Breasts on the skillet and roast on medium flame until it is completely cooked and browned. Remove from heat and slice it up.
Putting together this easy Chicken Salad:
- Mix the mayonnaise, salt, pepper powder, sugar, lime juice, a little bit of water if required. Mix it all thoroughly to make the Hawaiian Chicken Salad dressing.
- In a clean bowl, add the pineapples, the lettuce, sliced onions, and the walnuts.
- Add the salad dressing and mix it once. Then add the chicken and mix it all together. That is it! Serve it right away with your meal or just eat it in place of a meal. Trust me it is filling!
Recipe Source: This recipe is based on Hawaiian Salads I’ve tasted in restaurants.
Notes:
- You can use Roasted Chicken with sliced Rotisserie Chicken or just plain boiled chicken with a bit of salt.
- Use pineapple juice in place of water to the dressing to skip the added sugar.
- Tomatoes, cucumber, shredded carrots, roasted tofu, and tuna make for great other add-ins.
- If you don’t have ginger-garlic paste, use can use garlic powder instead.
- Walnuts add a good texture. You use toasted pecans or toasted peanuts in place of walnuts.
- Serve this salad right away. It doesn’t store well. However, you can prep and ready the ingredients for later.
- For a creamier version of this salad, use 1 tbsp more of mayonnaise and use 3 tbsp of cream.
Hawaiian Chicken Salad Recipe
Equipment
- Salad bowl
- Grill Pan
Ingredients
For the Chicken:
- 300 g Chicken , pounded to 1/2 inch thickness
- 1/2 tsp Ginger-garlic paste
- 1/8 + 1/4 tsp Salt
- 1/8 tsp Paprika Powder
- 1 tbsp Light Brown Sugar
- 1/8 tsp Black Pepper Powder
For the Salad Dressing:
- 4 tbsp Mayonnaise , 80g
- 3 tbsp Lemon Juice
- 1/4 tsp Salt
- 1/2 tsp Black pepper , freshly milled
- 1 tsp Sugar
- 2 tbsp Water or Pineapple Juice
For the Salad:
- 70 g Onions , sliced
- 150 g Lettuce , shredded
- 200 g Pineapples , cubed
- 50 g Walnuts , chopped
Instructions
Roasting the Chciken:
- Add the pounded chicken, ginger-garlic paste, paprika powder and salt to a bowl. Mix it and leave it to marinate for about 1-2 hours. Once marinated, wash the excess spices off from the chicken and out it back into the bowl. Add the brown sugar, pepper powder and salt. Mix well.
- Heat a skillet with a dab of oil and place the chciken breasts. Flip to cook on both sides. Once the chicken breasts begin to brown, remove from heat. Slice the roasted chicken once it is cooled down.
To make the salad dressing:
- Mix together the mayonnaise, lime juice, pineapple juice/ water. salt, sugar and pepper. Whisk to mix it through.
To make the Salad:
- Add the lettuce, onions, walnuts, pineapple to a large bowl. Pour in the salad dressing and mix it once.
- Now add the Roasted Chicken and mix it once more. Serve it immediately.
Notes
- USE THE SERVING SIZE ADJUSTOR ABOVE TO ALTER THE INGREDIENT MEASUREMENTS FOR AS MANY NUMBER OF PEOPLE YOU LIKE.
- You can use Roasted Chicken with sliced Rotisserie Chicken or just plain boiled chicken with a bit of salt.
- Use pineapple juice in place of water to the dressing to skip the added sugar.
- Tomatoes, cucumber, shredded carrots, roasted tofu, and tuna make for great other add-ins.
- If you don’t have a ginger-garlic paste, use can use garlic powder instead.
- Walnuts add a good texture. You use toasted pecans or toasted peanuts in place of walnuts.
- Serve this salad right away. It doesn’t store well. However, you can prep and ready the ingredients for later.
- For a creamier version of this salad, use 1 tbsp more of mayonnaise and use 3 tbsp of cream.
Made this? Got doubts? Let me know what you think in the comments below!
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