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Home Dietary Gluten Free Recipes

Hawaiian Chicken Salad

By:Nagi
Published:20 Jun '16Updated:2 Jul '20
52 Comments
Recipe v Dozer v

A gorgeous, colourful salad loaded with tropical Hawaiian flavours! Lots of healthy greens, chicken marinated in pineapple and coconut, coconut rice, drizzled with a tasty cilantro / coriander lime dressing.

Now THIS is what I call a proper salad! Plus it’s transforming leftovers from a recipe I posted a few weeks ago. Thrifty, convenient, healthy, satisfying and super tasty. What more can you ask for in a salad??

A salad with chicken marinated in pineapple juice, coconut milk & spices and a beautiful cilantro (coriander) lime dressing. The flavours of Hawaii - in a salad! recipetineats.com

A TROPICAL CHICKEN SALAD!!

This recipe is based on this Hawaiian Coconut Pineapple Chicken Skewers and Coconut Lime Cilantro (Coriander) Rice I posted a few weeks ago. It’s a re-purpose of leftovers and I enjoyed the salad so much, I decided to share it here.

Truth be told, much of what I share here on RecipeTin Eats is a consequence of a never-ending plan to use up ingredients I have in the fridge or freezer. Between client photography assignments, my monthly feature in Super Food Ideas magazine and the recipes I share here, excess ingredients is a regular “problem” I have. I actually have a whiteboard on my fridge on which I map out ideas all stemming from a list of “MUST USE” items.

I hate waste. I was brought up being scolded if I didn’t clear my plate. “A farmer worked hard to grow that rice!”, my mother scold, if I dared to leave a single grain of rice in my bowl.

OK, a little off track here. Back to the salad!

So it starts with a tasty coconut-pineapple marinated chicken using the same marinade as the Hawaiian Chicken Skewers. There is actually enough marinade in that recipe to sneak in the chicken breast for this recipe. 🙂

Or you could marinate the chicken for the skewers for 24 hours, take it out then marinate the breast for the next 24 hours.

Pineapple Coconut Hawaiian Marinated Chicken

Then add a stack of greens. After all, this is a pretty full loaded salad! I rummaged through my fridge to use what I had on hand, but really, the sky’s the limit.

I also used leftover Coconut Cilantro/Coriander Rice which I served as a side for the Hawaiian Chicken Skewers. It’s a perfect match for this salad, and a great way to fill it out!

PS This recipe calls for a can of pineapple pieces. So I use the juices for the marinade and sear the pieces to throw into the salad. 🙂

A salad with chicken marinated in pineapple juice, coconut milk & spices and a beautiful cilantro (coriander) lime dressing. The flavours of Hawaii - in a salad! recipetineats.com

Regular readers know that salad isn’t really my “thing”. I should share more of them. It just takes a lot for me to get excited about a salad.

THIS I’m excited about. A salad worth sharing! – Nagi x


MORE CHICKEN SALADS YOU’LL LOVE

  • Lemon Chicken Salad

  • Chicken Salad with Avocado Dressing

  • Chinese Chicken Salad

  • Thai Chicken Salad

  • Mexican Avocado Chicken Salad

  • More giant Salads for Meals

A salad with chicken marinated in pineapple juice, coconut milk & spices and a beautiful cilantro (coriander) lime dressing. The flavours of Hawaii - in a salad! recipetineats.com

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A salad with chicken marinated in pineapple juice, coconut milk & spices and a beautiful cilantro (coriander) lime dressing. The flavours of Hawaii - in a salad! www.recipetineats.com

Hawaiian Chicken Salad

Author: Nagi | RecipeTin Eats
Prep: 15 mins
Cook: 10 mins
Total: 25 mins
Dinner, Salad
Hawaiian
5 from 9 votes
Servings2 -3
Tap or hover to scale
Print
  • 739
A giant salad loaded with the tropical flavours of Hawaii! This recipe is based on the marinade for these Hawaiian Chicken Skewers I shared a few weeks ago - see note 1 for how to REUSE the marinade for this recipe. This recipe also uses leftover Coconut Lime Cilantro/Coriander Rice that I shared as a side for the skewers.

Ingredients

  • Marinade (Note 1):
  • 1/3 cup coconut milk (from a can)
  • 1/4 cup pineapple juice (from can, save pineapple pieces)
  • 1 tbsp tomato sauce/ketchup
  • 1 tbsp soy sauce
  • Zest of 1 lime
  • 2 garlic cloves , minced
  • 1/4 tsp EACH onion powder , cumin, paprika, ginger powder, salt
  • Chicken & Salad:
  • 1/2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 large chicken breast , halved horizontally
  • 1/2 cup corn
  • 1/2 - 3/4 cup pineapple pieces (from can)
  • 4 - 6 cups chopped lettuce
  • 1/2 avocado , cut into wedges
  • 1/2 red onion , finely sliced
  • 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes , halved
  • 1 small carrot, finely shredded
  • 1 - 1 1/2 cups Coconut Lime Cilantro / Coriander Rice (Note 2)
  • Dressing:
  • 1 1/2 tbsp lime juice
  • 2 1/2 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 tbsp finely chopped cilantro/coriander
  • 1/2 garlic minced
  • 1/2 tsp sugar or honey
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • Black pepper

Instructions

  • Mix together Marinade ingredients, marinate chicken for minimum 3 hours, preferably overnight.
  • Shake Dressing ingredients together in a jar, set aside for at least 15 minutes.
  • Heat oil in a non stick skillet over high heat (or BBQ). Add chicken and cook each side for 3 minutes or until golden. Remove and cover loosely with foil for 5 minutes, then slice thickly.
  • Sear 1/2 cup pineapple pieces and corn in the skillet until golden.
  • Pile salad ingredients on a platter and top with sliced chicken. Drizzle over Dressing. Serve and pretend you're in Hawaii!

Recipe Notes:

1. The Hawaiian Chicken Skewers recipe uses the same marinade. So you can squeeze the chicken for this recipe in that marinade OR recycle the marinade as follows: marinade chicken for skewers for 1st 24 hours, then the chicken for this recipe for the next 24 hours. After which the marinade must be discarded immediately.
2. The Coconut Lime Cilantro / Coriander Rice used as a side for the Hawaiian Chicken Skewers goes beautifully with this salad BUT if you don't have any leftover, just use plain cooked white rice and make extra dressing to pour over the rice.
3. Nutrition is per serving, assuming 3 servings, with 1 cup of plain white rice used.

Nutrition Information:

Serving: 346gCalories: 494cal (25%)Carbohydrates: 35.5g (12%)Protein: 36g (72%)Fat: 24.7g (38%)Saturated Fat: 3.5g (22%)Polyunsaturated Fat: 21.2gCholesterol: 86mg (29%)Sodium: 868mg (38%)Fiber: 4.5g (19%)Sugar: 9.2g (10%)
Did you make this recipe?I love hearing how you went with my recipes! Tag me on Instagram at @recipe_tin.

Life of Dozer – Because he didn’t realise there was chicken in this salad, he was off snoozing in the sun somewhere. Probably on the sun lounge. As he does.

He lives a hard, hard life……

Dozer on Sun Lounge

PPS Dozer makes regular appearances on Instagram too…..in case FOOD isn’t enough of an incentive for us to be friends on Instagram! 😉

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Hi, I'm Nagi!

I believe you can make great food with everyday ingredients even if you’re short on time and cost conscious. You just need to cook clever and get creative!

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52 Comments

  1. Fida | Sweet and Savoury Pursuits says

    June 21, 2016 at 12:27 pm

    This sounds like a delicious salad, love all the flavours going on here. I have yet to try pineapple in a savoury salad, so I’m looking forward to trying it!

    Reply
    • Nagi says

      June 21, 2016 at 9:15 pm

      Thanks Fida!! Pineapple is lovely in a savoury salad, especially when it’s caramelised! 🙂

      Reply
  2. Eha says

    June 21, 2016 at 12:12 pm

    5 stars
    Nearly moved to Hawaii way back – so am an Islands person even if not quite a pineapple one – go and make sense of that 🙂 ! Lovely salad and I eat them thru’ winter her Down Under!! With variations could have the above every second day!!! OK: the obstreperous me will put both real onion and ginger in: well ) !! And as my long work days definitely do not reach to Instagram [and all its bedfellows!!] do hope Dozer will remain on the modelling calendar here also ..

    Reply
    • Nagi says

      June 21, 2016 at 9:15 pm

      A pineapple one??? OK, I’m NOT making sense of that!!!!

      Reply
  3. Sarah says

    June 21, 2016 at 8:51 am

    Your salad looks so good! So colourful, vibrant and fresh!

    I especially like the third picture in your post, the big flatlay with all the ingredients. Looks great! 🙂

    Reply
  4. Sarah says

    June 21, 2016 at 8:51 am

    Your salad looks so good! So colourful, vibrant and fresh!

    Reply
    • Nagi says

      June 21, 2016 at 9:12 pm

      Thanks so munch Sarah! I do love the colours in this! 🙂

      Reply
  5. Barb Finch says

    June 21, 2016 at 3:40 am

    5 stars
    Hi Nagi, such a colorful and delicious-looking salad! 🙂 It definitely doesn’t look like you used leftovers, and I’m a big fan because we both like big flavor. We’re trying to keep up with the huge amount of veggies we’re getting weekly from our CSA, particularly greens, so I appreciate this kind of recipe where you can throw in whatever you like!

    You have such a gorgeous view from your deck – and I’m envious of Dozer getting to take a nap there! 🙂

    Reply
    • Nagi says

      June 21, 2016 at 9:11 pm

      I’m envious of him taking a nap there too!!! I definitely don’t get much lounging time – glad at he is making the most of the view! N x

      Reply
  6. Dorothy Dunton says

    June 21, 2016 at 2:58 am

    Hi Nagi! Beautiful summer salad! When it’s really hot I find that heavy foods just don’t appeal to me. And with all the additions this is a very satisfying meal. Grilled shrimp might be an interesting twist in this. Dozer has it made and he knows it! 🙂

    Reply
    • Nagi says

      June 21, 2016 at 9:08 pm

      Grilled shrimp is fab with ANY salad, isn’t it??? I know it’s stinking hot over there at the moment but it’s FREEZING here!!! You’ll have to bear with me switching between summer recipes for you and winter recipes for Aussies! 😉 N x

      Reply
  7. CakePants says

    June 21, 2016 at 1:20 am

    Wow, talk about a gorgeous salad!! I missed this one on Instagram, so I’m glad you reposted it here. It looks wonderfully flavorful and filling!

    Reply
    • Nagi says

      June 21, 2016 at 9:03 pm

      Thank you so much!!! N x

      Reply
  8. Amy @ Pressure Cook Recipes says

    June 20, 2016 at 5:06 pm

    Hi Nagi,

    Such an awesome quick & filling salad for the summer! And you said you made it with leftovers?! Love recipes like this. My mom always say the exact same thing about the farmers! Haha~ It’s ingrained in our brains, so we also like to be creative with our excess ingredients too. 😀

    Anyways, pinning this for later!! Thanks 🙂

    Amy

    Reply
    • Nagi says

      June 20, 2016 at 9:31 pm

      HA HA!!!! So mother’s everywhere are saying the same thing to their kids – I love it! 🙂

      Reply
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I believe you can make great food with everyday ingredients even if you’re short on time and cost conscious. You just need to cook clever and get creative! Read More

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