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Chocolate Chip Olive Oil Zucchini Banana Bread.
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Sunshine in a bowl or between two slices of toasted bread —juicy chicken, creamy avocado, briny olives, and a lemon-herb dressing that wakes everything up. It’s fresh, fast, and endlessly versatile. Scoop into warm pitas, pile over greens, or spoon into grain bowls.
Why you’ll love this recipe
- It’s a pretty simple concept, mash a little avocado, stir in some shredded chicken, hard-boiled eggs, sun-dried tomatoes, feta cheese, and plenty of fresh herbs. Toast up some really good bread, assemble, and eat!
- Bonus…this is one of those recipes that really isn’t a recipe. Meaning, you can add whatever you want and you really can’t mess it up. Use what’s in your fridge, what you love or are craving, maybe add a handful more of cheese, and you’re golden. Have some bacon on hand? Throw that in. Don’t like feta cheese? Maybe try some crumbled blue cheese or goat cheese. Vegetarian? Stir in chickpeas in place of the chicken.
- The avocado creates the creaminess so you don’t need to use mayo
Ingredient Notes
Mediterranean Add-ins: Cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, red onion, Kalamata olives, feta, and plenty of herbs (parsley, dill, oregano, basil)
Chicken: Shredded rotisserie is the fastest; grilled chicken is always delicious. If you are cooking fresh chicken, I like to grill mine with a little olive oil, smoked paprika, lemon zest + juice, salt and pepper. Shred the chicken while it’s still warm and then toss it in the salad so that it’s a warm chicken salad, which is my personal favorite, but then I just love hot food.
Avocado: Be sure to use ripe avocados. There’s nothing worse than eating an under ripe avocado..the flavor and creaminess is just not there, and I promise, that’s going to ruin your chicken salad. Extra ripe avocados only guys! Also, try to use an avocado that is at room temperature. I’ve found avocados to have more flavor when they are not cold out of the fridge. Lightly mash some to coat the salad, leave some chunks for texture
Use really good bread: Meaning no white sandwich bread. I like a crusty whole grain seeded sourdough.
The inspiration
When I first started cooking, I’d make these smashed avocado and cheese sandwiches for lunch almost every single day. They were quick, easy, and so delicious. I’d use whatever we had in the fridge at the time, but typically it was smashed avocado, crumbled cheese (a lot of times I’d melt the cheese too…yummmm), and deli turkey. I used to make a ton of weird combos (think fruity jam + turkey + avocado + cheese), but everyone’s favorite was always the mediterranean style with plenty of basil, sun-dried tomatoes and feta cheese.
I kind of forgot about these salad sandwiches until I came across the avocado tuna salad recipe I have in the cookbook the other day (remember, it’s been a while since I wrote it!) and it got me thinking again. With the theme of the month being back to school, I thought it was time to break out this oldie, but goodie, of a recipe.
It’s literally a lunch you can make in ten minutes and it’s healthy and delicious. Yeah!! I love when such healthy things can also be crave worthy and just really really good.
Make-Ahead
If you’re looking to pack this salad for lunch on the go, you can make it the night before and keep it in the fridge. Because of all the lemon juice, the avocado doesn’t turn horribly brown and stays fairly fresh looking. It helps if you wrap the sandwiches tightly in plastic wrap though.
Variations & “Make It Yours”
No-olive crowd: Use sun-dried tomatoes or marinated artichokes.
No-dairy: Skip feta; add capers for extra briny pop. A drizzle of tahini can add creaminess.
High-veg: Add chopped roasted red peppers or artichokes.
Legume boost: Add chickpeas for extra fiber; texture gets heartier.
Grain bowl: Spoon over quinoa, farro, or couscous; thin the dressing with a splash of warm water to coat grains.
Serving Ideas
- Stuff into warm pitas with crisp lettuce.
- Pile over mixed greens with extra herbs.
- Spoon onto sourdough toast with a sprinkle of chili flakes.
- Serve mezze-style alongside hummus and roasted veggies.
Mediterranean Avocado Chicken Salad
Servings: 4 sandwiches
Calories Per Serving: 582 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 2 ripe avocados, halved
- 1 cup shredded chicken
- 4 hard boiled eggs, chopped
- 1/4 cup oil packed sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
- 1/2 cup fresh herbs, roughly chopped (I use basil + dill)
- 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
- juice from 1 lemon
- kosher salt and pepper
- 6-8 pieces toasted whole grain bread
- fresh arugula or microgreens
Instructions
- 1. Add the avocados to a medium bowl and lightly mash. Add the chicken, eggs, sun-dried tomatoes + 2 tablespoons of oil from the jar, the feta, herbs, lemon juice and a pinch each of salt and pepper. Stir to combine. Taste and adjust seasonings. 2. Spoon the salad onto toasted bread and top with arugula + another piece of bread. Enjoy!
Happy almost Friday everyone. Have a great day!
ps. thank you all so much for your kind words on yesterday’s post. My grandma is sadly not doing much better and my mom is going to be heading to Cleveland tomorrow. I will keep you all up to date. Thank you again for the support, it means so much to my entire family.
This post was originally published on August 3, 2017
Hi!
Do you have a specific brand of oil packed sun-dried tomatoes that you would recommend? I’ve never used them before. Also, how long would you say this chicken salad would last in the fridge if there are leftovers? Super excited to try this recipe!
HI Caroline! I use DeLallo brand typically. The salad last about 1-2 days in the fridge. Please let me know if you have any other questions. I hope you love this recipe! Thank you! xTieghan
Do you think this would freeze well?
Hey Casey, I am not sure how the avocado will take to the freezer. I have not tried it, but I would think it would be ok. Please let me know how it goes if you do give it a try. I hope you love this recipe. Thanks so much! xTieghan
JUST made this!!! SO f’ing yummy (excuse the language)!!!!
Haha so happy to hear that! Thank you Amy!
Made this for lunch last week. Love this recipe! 🙂
I am so glad you loved this! Thank you Liz!
Why are your recipes so beautiful? Just perfect
Haha thank you Fernando!
Oh man, totally putting this on the menu soon! Sun-dried tomatoes are one of my favorite things! I make tuna salad with avocado instead of mayo, then I add sliced green olives and call it “Tuna Olive-cado Salad” haha 🙂 so to answer your question, even though avocado instead of mayo isn’t a new concept, your recipe is certainly a unique take on it and that’s why you’re successful! Yum, can’t wait to try it 🙂
Yay!! The Tuna Olive-cado Salad sounds awesome!! Cool to see what your making!! Thanks Krista!
great addition of sun dried tomatoes! I need to pre-order your cookbook! It looks amazing friend!
Thanks Lindsay!! SO excited your going to get the book!!
I’m known for tweaking a recipe and I’ve made this recipe before and I used smoked chicken and it was wonderful! We have several BBQ places in my city and one local grocery store sells smoked chicken and I can get a leg quarter for the chicken salad.
YES! Smoked chicken sounds delicious!!
I love this healthy take on chicken salad – perfect lunch idea!
Thanks Laura, hope you enjoy (:
YUM!!! Love avocado chicken salad and am loving this twist!
Thanks Lindsay!! I’m having it again for lunch today (:
I love chicken salad but most have mayo in them which I’m not crazy about. Thanks for a delicious substitute!
Exactly my issue with them! So happy I could help show you a fun way to have them without mayo!
I just wanted to say I’ve been following you for over a month now and your recipes are wonderful. I love your delicious photos as well….Thanks for another interesting combo.
Awh thank you so much for leaving a comment, i’m so happy you like everything (:
Yes, I use avocado mashed in place of mayo in BLTs! Now we call them BLTAs… Really tasty sounding recipe, I will have to try this combo! Thanks for making it easy for us to make interesting food that we probably would not have thought up ourselves.
Haha, BLTAs i love it!
Hope you love my combo!! Thank you for trying my food Carol!!
I’m all about chicken salad sandwiches AND recipes that aren’t recipes! This looks and sounds perfect.
PS can’t wait for the cookbook. I pre-ordered it the first day on Amazon. I think it gets released a few weeks later in the UK, so I’ll be relying on lots of sneak peaks on IG and stories!
Yay totally new you’d be into this!!
SO happy you got the book, there will be plenty of sneak peaks (:
I think I would omit the avocado, though, not really a fan.
https://bloglairdutemps.blogspot.pt/
Thats totally okay, would still be yummy in my opinion!