Guacamole Chicken Salad
Guacamole? Chicken Salad? It’s both! This Guacamole Chicken Salad is so stupid good. Made with fresh avocados, cilantro, lime, jalapeño, chicken, spices, and a few other ingredients, it’s basically California in a bowl.
If you pay attention to the stereotypes, it should come as no surprise that most Californians love avocados. We can’t get enough of them. Our parents have a huge avocado tree in their backyard, which means we also have easy access to some of the best, most perfect avocados around.
We also happen to eat a lot of guacamole and a lot of salads, including chicken salad, so this just seemed like a match made in foodie heaven. It’s creamy, savory, herby, and a little spicy, and it’s full of protein and healthy fats (plus mayo, but who’s counting?).
What You’ll Need for the Guacamole Chicken Salad
To make this chicken salad, you’ll need to following:
- Avocado – the avocado not only provides great flavor and healthy fats, but it also adds creaminess to this chicken salad so that you don’t have to use as much mayo. Plus, it’s the most key ingredient in guacamole.
- Red onion – we like to use red onions in this recipe, but white or yellow onions would work too.
- Jalapeño – this is an important ingredient in our guacamole, but if you don’t like spicy food, you can use less or even leave it out entirely.
- Cilantro – one of our favorite herbs, cilantro provides a fresh flavor to the guacamole.
- Lime – a little citrus flavor will help balance out the creaminess and richness of the avocado and mayo.
- Chicken – this recipe uses cooked chicken breasts to make things easier. You can rotisserie chicken or any other pre-cooked chicken that you want.
- Mayonnaise – chicken salads have to use a little mayo, but because you’re using avocado too, you don’t need TOO too much here. Just enough.
- Spices – to add even more flavor, we like to add chili powder and adobo seasoning. Both are spice blends that you can find in most supermarkets or online. Many brands make these spice blends gluten-free as well, so be sure to check if you’re avoiding gluten.
Putting it All Together
This recipe is pretty simple once you have everything measured out.
First, make the guacamole by lightly mashing the avocado in a bowl. Mix in the red onion, jalapeño, cilantro, and lime.
Make this into chicken salad by adding the chicken, mayonnaise, and spices. Season with salt to taste and eat with tortilla chips, crackers, or on your favorite bread or burger bun.
Guacamole Chicken Salad
Ingredients
- 1 medium Hass avocado, seed & skin removed
- ¼ red onion, finely diced
- 1 jalapeño, seeded & minced (or use 1/2 for less spice)
- Handful of cilantro, chopped (about 2-3 tbsp)
- Juice of ½ a lime, about 1 tbsp
- 1 pound cooked chicken breast, chopped
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- 1 tsp chili powder, if avoiding gluten, use gluten-free variety
- 1 tsp adobo seasoning, if avoiding gluten, use gluten-free variety
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Lightly mash the avocado in a bowl. Mix with the red onion, jalapeño, cilantro, and lime.
- Add the chicken, mayo, and spices. Season with salt to taste and eat with tortilla chips, crackers, or on your favorite bread.
