Chimichurri Chicken Salad
This fresh and healthy Chimichurri Chicken Salad is a delicious and easy lunch recipe that can be prepped ahead. It is loaded with fresh herbs, garlic and lime with crunchy celery and nuts with tender chicken breast.
I originally shared this recipe on June 27, 2014. I have updated the images and some of the text today.
Table of contents
Why We Love This Recipe For Chimichurri Chicken Salad
I’ve always been a huge fan of chicken salad. It’s so easy to make and a great way to add protein to your meals. Chicken salad is perfect for meal prepping, and is often low on carbs. This chimichurri chicken salad is flavored with a freshly made chimichurri sauce and is one of my favorites.
We all know that steak and chimichurri are a match made in heaven, but chicken salad with chimichurri sauce is also a new rising star! Mark My words! It’s a great mayo-free recipe to make for a luncheon with friends or as a cool dinner on a hot night.
Recipe Highlights
- Each serving has 16 grams of protein and is right around 200 calories!
- It’s a great make-ahead/meal prep recipe.
- It’s very low carb (only 2 grams per serving).
More Chicken Salad Recipes You’ll Love
Key Ingredients to Make This Recipe
- Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast: You can also use leftover cooked chicken.
- Seasonings: Kosher salt, garlic and lime juice or red wine vinegar.
- Fresh Herbs: Cilantro and parsley
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Other Salad Ingredients: I added chopped celery hearts and toasted almonds for crunch and to bulk up the portion size.
Step-by-Step Instructions to Make This Chimichurri Chicken Salad
Step 1: Poach chicken
Bring two cups of water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add ½ teaspoon salt and stir to dissolve. Add chicken breast and return to a simmer over high heat. Reduce the heat to medium-low to a gentle simmer, then cook, covered, turning occasionally until the chicken is cooked through, 12 to 15 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a cutting board to cool for about 20 minutes. Cut the chicken into ½-inch to 3/4–inch cubes.
Step 2: Make chimichurri
Sprinkle the remaining ½ teaspoon salt over the garlic and mash with the side of a chef’s knife until it forms a thick paste. Transfer the garlic and salt paste, cilantro, parsley, olive oil and lime juice or vinegar to a food processor and process until it forms a thick paste, scraping down the sides occasionally.
Step 3: Assemble Chimichurri Chicken Salad
Stir together the chicken, chimichurri, celery and almonds in a medium bowl until the chicken is coated in the chimichurri sauce. Serve the chicken salad at room temperature or refrigerate until chilled.
FAQs and Expert Tips
It is an uncooked sauce that originated in Argentina and Uruguay and is most commonly made with parsley, oregano, garlic, olive oil, red wine vinegar and red chile pepper flakes. It can be made with a variety of herbs like cilantro, basil and mint in addition to parsley. The flavor profile is tangy and herbal with just a hint of spice.
I piled it this chimichurri chicken salad on top of lettuce and it was so delicious! You could also serve it between two pieces of bread, or add it to a wrap.
It’s quite versatile and can be used as a basting sauce, marinade or served as a condiment with grilled meats, seafood and veggies
Place in an airtight container and store in the fridge for 3 to 5 days.
Make the recipe up to 24 hours in advance, or simply make a double batch to have throughout the week. (See storing instructions above.)
More Healthy Lunch Ideas
- This Mediterranean Tuna Salad has lots of fresh veggies to make it a satisfying no-mayo tuna salad.
- This Spinach, Beet and Chicken Power Salad is a great meal prep lunch to make for busy work days.
- This high-protein Chickpea Avocado Salad is dreamy and creamy from the luscious avocado lemon and basil dressing.
- Our Vegan Chickpea “Tuna” salad is a great high-protein option too.
- You should also add this Wasabi Glazed Salmon Power Salad to your meal prep menu.
- Don’t miss checking out these awesome Healthy Lunchbox Recipes, too!
Thanks so much for reading! If you are new here, you may want to sign up for my email newsletter to get a free weekly menu plan and the latest recipes right to your inbox. If you make this recipe, please come back and leave a star rating and review. I would love to hear what you thought!
Happy Cooking! ~Katie
PrintChimichurri Chicken Salad
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
Description
This fresh and healthy Chimichurri Chicken Salad is a delicious and easy lunch recipe that can be prepped ahead. It is loaded with fresh herbs, garlic and lime with crunchy celery and nuts with tender chicken breast.
Ingredients
- 2 cups water
- 1 teaspoon salt, divided
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1 cup clean packed cilantro leaves
- 1/2 cup parsley leaves
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon lime juice or red wine vinegar
- 1 cup finely chopped celery hearts
- 1/4 cup toasted sliced or slivered almonds
Instructions
- Bring two cups of water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add ½ teaspoon salt and stir to dissolve. Add chicken breast and return to a simmer over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low to maintain a gentle simmer and cook, covered, turning occasionally to make sure that it cooks evenly, until the chicken is cooked through, 12 to 15 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a cutting board to cool, about 20 minutes. Cut chicken into ½-inch to 3/4 –inch cubes.
- Sprinkle the remaining ½ teaspoon salt over the garlic and mash with the side of a chef’s knife until it forms a thick paste. Transfer the garlic and salt paste, cilantro, parsley, olive oil and lime juice or vinegar to a food processor and process until it forms a thick paste, scraping down sides occasionally.
- Stir the chicken, the chimichurri, celery and almonds in a medium bowl until the chicken is coated in the chimichurri sauce. Serve at room temperature or refrigerate until chilled.
Notes
Make-Ahead: Make the recipe up to 24 hours in advance, or simply make a double batch to have throughout the week. (See storing instructions above.)
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Category: Main Course
- Method: Stove To[
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 3/4 cup
- Calories: 202 calories
- Sugar: 0 g
- Sodium: 585 mg
- Fat: 10 g
- Saturated Fat: 1 g
- Carbohydrates: 2 g
- Fiber: 1 g
- Protein: 16 g
I wanna eat this salad with Barger. This is my kind of Salad.
Hi Katie! Just stopping by to let you know that I made this for lunch this week and it was soooo delicious. I threw it in a whole wheat pita and it was perfectly filling. You should’ve seen how wide-eyed my husband got when he tasted the chimichurri. haha. Needless to say this will be a keeper for us since we struggle with lunch ideas.
Awww, I love it when people come back by to let me know how it worked out. So glad to hear you enjoyed it. Thank you so much Christine!
Since Bon Appetite says “Chimichurri is a blend of olive oil and chopped fresh herbs—usually parsley and oregano—that’s seasoned with onion, garlic, cayenne, and vinegar”, I’ll go with it. There are still people who pronounce Salmon with a pronounced “L”. I’ve heard cooks and chefs do that. I love the Chix salad idea – I’m thinking about grilling the chicken, perhaps even loading it as a panini doing it all stovetop with a couple of cast irons.
PS. My mom did not make Meatloaf with eggs in it, and I still go to McDonalds once in a while even though their hamburger barely qualifies for its title. Peace at the table! out.
Such a pretty chicken salad! A great idea, to add chimichurri, which is already like a vinaigrette. When I make it I use 1/2 cup parsley, and 1/3 cup cilantro. There are definite variations with chimichurri.
The name of your recipe should either be changed as that is not chimichurri. Chimichurri is made with parsley, not cilantro. It would be like making French onion soup with tomatoes instead of onions.
This looks absolutely beautiful and delicious!
Thank you so much Rachel!
One of my favourite salad sauces..I like to make this green sauce with different herbs, but cilantro has got to be my favourite. Thanks for sharing, katie.
I think that’s a great idea to mix in other herbs. I just picked some epazote today along with more cilantro. I think I will have to try another variation.
Now this is the way to do chicken salad! Chimichurri always adds such a fantastic punch of flavor and now I’m wondering why I never thought to add it to chicken salad. Great idea!
So glad I inspired you Dara. I am kind of obsessed with the chimichurri now. I am picking more cilantro today in fact!
I love chimichurri sauce although I can’t remember the last time I had it. I eat chicken salad all the time but you just made me realize that I hadn’t posted any recipes! Eeks. I’ve been eating out so much lately that I miss cooking. American food sounds quite amazing too.
Well you simply must do it Min! I would love to see the twist you put on a chicken salad. I know there would be a ton of flavor involved that’s for sure!
I am doing a detox with no dairy so I will try this.. sounds wonderful! 🙂
Oh man, no dairy would be a tough one for me Chrissy. Good thing you won’t miss it in this chicken salad.
Craving this salad right now-looks so light and delicious! My garden is in pretty sad shape, but I just harvested my first cherry tomato. It was pretty fabulous 🙂
My tomatoes are a total disaster EA. I will be surprised if I get even one cherry tomato! I think I had a cut worm come through and whack two of my tomato plants. I am going back today to spread some diatomaceous earth to hopefully prevent further carnage.
I absolutely LOVE chimichurri sauce! I never thought to use it in chicken salad, and this is just brilliant to me! What a healthy and flavorful salad for alll the summer barbecues! 🙂 Hope you’ve had a great weekend!
Thank you Julia. It just came out of necessity of needing to use up all that cilantro. But I like the idea of calling it brilliant. Ha ha:) So glad you came by.
Oh yes indeed. I love everything about this.
Thank you so much Kalyn. I appreciate it. And I happen to agree! Ha ha.
If you want to make chimichurri, never put cilantro inside, never, from Argentina.This is not chimichurri. NEVER, never cilantro in chimichurri, jamás.
Susana, So sorry to have given the impression that I was intending to make an truly authentic Argentinian recipe. That is not the case at all. In fact, as I mentioned in my above post, I was simply trying to find a use for the cilantro I had in my garden. In the states it is quite common to use cilantro and parsley together in chimichurri.
This salad sounds like it would make the perfect sandwich! Spicy chimichurri sounds like such a great addition to classic chicken salad.
Thank you so much Eileen. I think it would be great on a sandwich too.