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 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.
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. 🙂
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
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More giant Salads for Meals
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Hawaiian Chicken Salad
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:
Nutrition Information:
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……
PPS Dozer makes regular appearances on Instagram too…..in case FOOD isn’t enough of an incentive for us to be friends on Instagram! 😉
I made this last night it was incredible
I can honestly say this is one of the best salads I have ever eaten!! I literally devoured it! Everything worked so well together. I wanted to try the coconut lime rice, so specifically made a batch of it to go with the salad. The best part of it afterwards my husband stated that the salad was so good, that he had completely forgotten about his sciatica!! Later on he asked what I sprinkled on the salad as the back pain was gone and he felt calmer as well – this will now be called the Magical Hawaiian Chicken Salad in our household 🙂
Hi Nagi, I absolutely love this recipe! It is in regular rotation and gets devoured by my family every time.
Wondering if it’s fine to freeze the chicken in the marinade?
Thanks!
This salad is one of my absolute favorite things. I’ve tried so so many of the recipes on here and this one remains my stand out favorite. I usually will add in fresh bell peppers but otherwise don’t change a thing because its perfect. I have no self control when it comes to this meal and cannot praise it highly enough
Woah thanks for letting me know Andi!
This was dinner tonight. Another wow!!! Now wondering if this is my go to salad other than the Mexican???
The only thing my partner didn’t like was the macadamia nuts I threw on….note to self …don’t change Nagi’s recipes. 😁
BA HA HA!!!! Too funny! I personally think macadamia nuts would be fab in this 🙂 So pleased you both enjoyed this Steven, thanks for letting me know! N x
I know I’m a little late to the party, but I just found you site. It’s amazing! Made this salad last night everyone loved it. Even the picky neighbor, who thinks salad is not an entree, asked for more. And was like “this is really good”. My one comment, I’m a grocery shopper….who follows a list militantly. There are carrots pictured, but not in the recipe. A little disappointed when I did a last minute double check to compare my dish with the picture and was missing the carrots. I almost alway have some in the house, but we’re in the process of moving and I’m only keeping necessities in the house, so we went with out. Just an FYI. Love the blog, and Dozer. You
It’s never too late to join this party! 😉 I am so bummed that this recipe has been up all this time and missing the carrot. I’m so terribly sorry. Updating it now! N xx