Chopped Mango Avocado Chicken Salad Recipe

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A chopped salad is a magnificent culinary chameleon. Uniform, bite-sized bits of tasty ingredients tossed together with a flavorful dressing, creating forkfuls of magic in your mouth — it doesn't get much better than that. A great chopped salad will contain a mix of crunchy, soft, savory, sweet, and colorful ingredients with a harmonious dressing to bring them all together. This recipe for chopped mango avocado chicken salad, courtesy of recipe developer Julie Kinnaird, does just that. The salad features a blend of crunchy cabbage and pepitas, tender grilled corn and ripe mango, charred grilled chicken, and silky avocado. Kinnaird finishes the salad with sliced scallions and a robust and creamy avocado ranch dressing. Once tossed together, the salad sings with a burst of textures and fresh flavors in every bite.

"I love chopped salads because of their versatility," Kinnaird says. "Adding lots of protein creates a substantial all-in-one meal, while bringing both vegetables and fruits into the mix." Chopped salads are a great way to use up wayward ingredients in your refrigerator, such as bits of cheese, pickled vegetables, and leftover cooked meats. They also make for a lovely presentation, meaning that if you plan to serve this chopped mango avocado chicken salad at a dinner party, your guests will surely be impressed.

To kick things off, you'll make a marinade for both the chicken and the corn using olive oil, fresh lime juice, honey, smoked paprika, sea salt, and freshly cracked black pepper. Use boneless and skinless chicken breast halves and freshly shucked corn on the cob for grilling. The avocado ranch dressing is made in a high-speed blender using ripe avocado, buttermilk, Kewpie mayo, fresh garlic, chives, and basil, along with a bit more sea salt and pepper. The remaining ingredients to be chopped and added to the salad are savoy cabbage, raw pepitas, fresh mango, more avocado, and thinly sliced scallions.

In a small bowl, make a marinade by whisking together the olive oil, 2 tablespoons lime juice, honey, smoked paprika, salt, and pepper.

Set aside 2 tablespoons of the marinade.

Place the chicken in a large ziplock bag.

Add the remaining marinade and seal the bag, pushing out extra air.

Refrigerate the chicken for a minimum of 30 minutes and up to 4 hours.

While the chicken marinates, place the corn in a dish and brush with the 2 tablespoons marinade.

Cut away the peel from the mangoes and then cut the flesh away from the pit.

Cut the peeled mango into a ½-inch dice and set aside.

Cut the avocados in half, remove the pits, and use the tip of a knife to score the flesh into ½-inch cubes in their shells.

Scoop out the avocado cubes using a thin spoon into a bowl and toss with the remaining lime juice.

Heat a grill to medium-high heat.

Remove the chicken from the marinade and place on the grill along with the corn.

Grill the chicken and corn on all sides until the corn is slightly charred and the chicken is cooked through.

Transfer the chicken and corn to a platter and let the chicken rest at least 10 minutes.

Hold one corn cob vertically in a large bowl and use a small, sharp knife to cut off the kernels.

Transfer the grilled chicken to a cutting board and cut into cubes.

To make the dressing, scoop the avocado flesh from its shell and add to a high speed blender along with the remaining dressing ingredients.

Start on low, then blend at high speed until creamy and smooth.

Transfer the dressing to a jar and refrigerate while assembling the salad.

Add the cabbage in an even layer to a large shallow serving bowl.

Starting from one side, add the pepitas in a strip on top of the cabbage.

Add the corn next to the pepitas.

Add the chicken in a strip next to the corn.

Add the diced mangoes.

Finish with the diced avocado at the edge of the bowl.

Drizzle on some of the dressing and sprinkle with the chopped scallions.

To serve, toss the salad to coat and mix the ingredients. Serve with remaining dressing on the side.

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There are so many ways to switch up this chopped salad by tossing in different flavors and textures, all while keeping with the flavor scheme. Kinnaird suggests starting with the crunchy pepitas. In place of these green seeds, toasted walnuts or buttery cashews could be chopped up to pair beautifully with the other ingredients. If corn is not your style, try adding some chopped grilled zucchini or tiny white canned navy beans that have been drained and rinsed. If you would like to keep this salad meatless, consider using the marinade for firm tofu and grilling it as you would the chicken. Fresh peaches or nectarines would be delicious in place of the mango, and you could also throw in some dried fruit such as currants or golden raisins for extra sweetness.

Kinnaird loves the creaminess of the avocado ranch dressing, but suggests that a vinaigrette could most definitely be used instead. To make a tasty vinaigrette for this salad, try whisking together ¼ cup apple cider vinegar, 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard, 1 tablespoon honey, 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice, and ¼ teaspoon each of sea salt and black pepper. Slowly whisk in ¾ cup of olive oil or shake all ingredients together in a sealed jar. Add in the chives and basil, if desired.

The best way to make this chopped salad in advance is by prepping all of the different components and storing them separately in a refrigerator. The cabbage can be chopped, the corn can be grilled and removed from the cob, the mango can be peeled and diced, and the dressing can be made up to three days ahead and stored in an air-tight glass jar. Keeping each of these components in their own container will help maintain flavor and freshness. The chicken can be marinated up to 4 hours in advance of grilling, and the grilled chicken can be chilled in whole pieces or in cubes. It is best to wait to cut the avocado until you are ready to assemble the salad so that it can maintain its vibrant green color as long as possible. The salad can be assembled and refrigerated about 2 hours in advance of serving, then tossed with the dressing last minute.

Once the salad has been tossed, it will definitely begin to soften, with the cabbage taking on a more wilted appearance. Leftover dressed salad will keep well for about a day wrapped tightly, but should be discarded after that time. 

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