Name: Grilled Chicken Spinach Salad
Prep time: 15 min
Total time: 15 min
Ingredients: ½ cup extra virgin olive oil; ½ cup red wine vinegar; ¼ cup finely chopped onion; 1 teaspoon chopped fresh parsley; 1 teaspoon minced garlic; 1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme; 1 teaspoon chopped fresh basil; salt and pepper, (to taste); 1 pound chicken breast, (grilled and sliced); 2 bunches spinach, (cleaned and stemmed); ¼ cup sliced olives; 24 medium cherry tomatoes, (halved); 4 ounces crumbled feta cheese

This Grilled Chicken Spinach Salad features grilled chicken combined with fresh spinach leaves, slices olives, juicy cherry tomatoes and tangy feta cheese. It’s dressed in the most flavorful red wine vinaigrette.

If you’re a fan of grilled chicken salad recipes, you might also like to try my Chinese Grilled Chicken Salad or my Strawberry Caesar Grilled Chicken and Vegetable Salad.

Chicken Spinach Salad

This spinach salad is really simple to put together with minimal prep time. This is a four ingredient salad recipe that’s topped with a simple grilled chicken. I’ve included a recipe for grilled chicken further down in this post. The homemade red wine vinaigrette has fresh herbs added to it. It’s refrigerated overnight for the best flavor. This grilled chicken spinach salad is a great main course to have for a light dinner.

ingredients displayed for making grilled chicken and spinach salad

Ingredients needed:

Extra Virgin Olive Oil: The type of olive oil you use for this recipe matters. Use an olive oil that tastes good to you. You’ll taste it in the dressing.
Red Wine Vinegar: We like red wine vinegar best for this recipe. White wine vinegar or balsamic vinegar may be substituted.
Onion: We use sweet yellow onion, but you can certainly substitute red onion.
Flavor Additions: Garlic and fresh herbs (parsley, thyme and basil).
Salt and Freshly Ground Black Pepper
Grilled Chicken: I’ve included instructions for a simple grilled chicken recipe in the notes further down. Alternately, you can use a grill pan on your stove for making grilled chicken.
Fresh Spinach: It’s okay to use the fresh spinach from a package or tub. Just be sure to pull off the stems.
Sliced Olives: Sliced canned olives are perfect.
Tomatoes: Use cherry or pear tomatoes, cut in half.
Feta Cheese: Crumbled feta is just fine. I prefer to buy a block of feta cheese and crumble it myself. It tastes so much better!

two photos showing dressing in a jar and then plate of salad

How to make Grilled Chicken Spinach Salad:

The full, printable recipe is at the end of this post.

Mix the dressing ingredients in jar or bottle, and refrigerate overnight to let the flavors come together nicely.
Arrange the salad ingredients in a large bowl.

Top the spinach salad with grilled chicken.

How do you make grilled chicken?

Add chicken breasts to a large zip baggie. Make a simple marinade of a few tablespoons of oil, the juice of one lemon, salt (or garlic salt) and black pepper. Let marinate for about 30 minutes. Preheat your grill. Grill chicken on both sides until cooked through. Slice the chicken and add it to the salad. Alternately, you can grill it ahead of time and add cold grilled chicken to the salad.

Drizzle the chilled dressing on top of your grilled chicken and spinach salad. Toss to combine. Grab a hunk of bread and a chilled glass of white wine, and enjoy!

Recipe Tips and Variations:

Feel free to use any kind of chicken: shredded rotisserie chicken, sauteed chicken, baked chicken or any kind of leftover chicken that you have on hand.
There’s a lot of personal preference involved in salad dressing. Use more vinegar than olive oil, add more garlic, adjust the fresh herbs and just make it in a way that you like it best. Also, you can use a little of the vinaigrette on the salad or a lot. Drizzle it on a little at a time until you get it just right for YOU.
Use a different protein besides chicken: grilled steak or grilled shrimp would be great.
Add sliced avocado to the salad.
Change up the cheese! Try goat cheese, gorgonzola cheese or shaved Parmesan cheese.