Keto avocado chicken salad with bacon
A delicious summer keto salad with melt-in-your mouth avocado, moist shredded chicken, crispy bacon and lemon dressing.
Hot days call for salad and I am here to tell you that keto salad recipes are far from boring tasteless meals. On the contrary, low-carb salads are high in healthy fat from avocado, olive oil or meat which means happy brain food that also satisfies your biggest hungers. So let’s see how easy you can make a keto avocado salad at home.
Are avocado chicken salads keto?
No, classic avocado chicken salads are not keto friendly as most recipes contain corn. Corn is not a keto-friendly vegetable. Corn is high in sugar and carbs. Plus, be very careful when ordering salads in a restaurant! The worst part is always the dressing. In fact, most restaurant salad dressings are loaded with honey. So sugar and carbs. My tip, always order your salad with no dressing and olive oil on side!
Keto avocado chicken salad ingredients
It is very easy to make your own keto avocado chicken salad at home. First, let’s see the ingredients you need to make the salad. Then, let’s talk about the lemon olive oil dressing. And, finally I will share with you the many different fun ways you can eat your keto salad!
- Avocado – the choice of your avocado is crucial to make this salad perfect. You must use fresh, ripe avocado. So how do you know if your avocados are ripe? A ripe avocado should be slightly soft when you press it but still tender. Another great way to check if the avocado is ready for a salad is to remove the small stem on top of the fruit. If it’s green it means the avocado is perfect. If it’s dark brown your avocado is overripe and will be sour and too mushy for the salad.
- Chicken breast – two options here. You can buy rotisserie chicken and use the chicken breast from the whole cooked chicken. Shred the chicken using two forks or your hands. Otherwise, follow my recipe cooking method below to make juicy moist chicken breast for salads.
- Bacon – dice and fry bacon in a saucepan. Any bacon is good in this recipe even chicken bacon if you are diabetic and you want to decrease the saturated fat of the recipe.
- Lettuce – fresh cos lettuce, shredded is the most crunchy addition to the salad.
- Cucumber – peeled and diced. It adds a fresh crunchy, juicy texture to the salad.
Avocado chicken salad dressing
The best dressing to go with avocado is a lemon olive oil dressing. All you need to make this simple keto salad dressing are:
- Lemon juice
- Olive oil
- Salt
- Pepper
- Garlic
- Fresh italian parsley
A healthy avocado chicken salad
Keto or not, this avocado chicken salad recipe is a healthy salad for anyone looking for a fulfilling meal, side to BBQ meat or light dinner. Of course, this is a chicken bacon avocado salad, and if bacon is a bit too high on saturated fat for you, let me give your some options. First, you can use chicken bacon that is reduced in saturated fat and provides the same culinary pleasure as regular bacon. Then, you can use a low-saturated fat cheese like mozzarella, cheddar, Monterey Jack or blue cheese. Finally, simply use a low-carb vegetable like chopped capsicum, celery or radish, it will be delicious with the chicken and avocado too!
How to prepare chicken salad?
The most important part in this recipe is to use cold shredded chicken and bacon. Obviously, you don’t want to add warm chicken or bacon to your cold vegetables or they will wild the vegetable. So this is how you should prepare the salad:
- Cook the chicken for a few hours before making the salad and refrigerate. Or, use rotisserie chicken.
- Fry the bacon and refrigerate
- Meanwhile make the dressing and refrigerate in a closed container.
- When the previous ingredients are cold, you are ready to make the salad. Shred chicken with two forks, add into a large mixing bowl
- Dice avocado and add in the bowl next to the chicken
- Add side by side, cold fried bacon, shredded lettuce, cubed cucumber
- Drizzle dressing all over the salad, toss and serve
How to make avocado chicken salad sandwich?
You can make delicious salad sandwiches on keto using either a keto flatbread or keto bread. I recommend you use my keto bread recipes below to make a avocado chicken salad sandwich wraps or sandwiches.
Made this avocado chicken salad recipe and want to share your feedback, question or a picture of your creation with me? Join me in my Facebook Support Group. I see you there.
XOXO Carine
Keto avocado chicken salad
Ingredients
Salad
- 2 large Avocado ,ripe, cubed *watch my video to learn how to cube avocados (150g/5.3 oz each)
- 2 cups Lettuce , shredded 2.8 oz
- 1 cup cucumber , diced, 5.6 oz
- 6 oz bacon chopped, fried
Chicken
- 14 oz Chicken Breast use cooked rotisserie chicken or follow my instruction below to cook your own
- 1 tablespoon Extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon Ground Smoked Paprika
- 1/4 teaspoon Salt
- 1/2 cup chicken broth
Lemon dressing
- 3 tablespoon Lemon Juice
- 3 tablespoons Extra virgin olive oil
- 1 crushed Garlic clove
- 1/2 teaspoon Salt
- 2 tablespoon Fresh parsley finely chopped
- 1 pinch Pepper
Instructions
Cook chicken breast - skip if you are using rotisserie chicken breast !
- Heat the olive oil in a large skillet on medium heat.
- Place the chicken in the skillet, season the top with salt and paprika. Cook for 5 minutes, then flip the chicken breast on the other side.
- Pour the chicken broth in the skillet, cover, reduce to low heat and simmer for 10 minutes until the chicken breast are fully cooked in the center.
- Cool the chicken breast, then place in the fridge and wait until it is cold before using in the recipe.
Shred chicken
- Place cold breast on a chopping board and shred chicken using 2 forks. Otherwise place the chicken in a stand mixer and using the flat beater attachment, beat the meat until fully shredded
- Set aside in a bowl in the fridge while you prepare the rest of the salad.
Fry bacon
- Fry the bacon in a frying on under medium heat. Store in a bowl in the fridge.
Lemon Dressing
- Place all the ingredients into a small mixing bowl, whisk and set aside in the fridge.
Assemble the chicken avocado salad
- In a large salad bowl, add the cold shredded chicken, cubed avocado, shredded lettuce, cooked (cold!) bacon pieces and diced cucumber.
- Pour the lemon dressing all over the salad and toss to blend flavors.
- Serve immediately as a main dish wrapped or in keto coconut flour flatbread to make a keto salad sandwich wrap.
Store
- Store the salad in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. The avocado slightly darkens with time but the flavor will stay wonderful.
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