Green Goddess Chicken Salad

This green goddess chicken salad is not just your average chicken salad! Poached, tender chicken breast, with sweet corn and chickpeas, topped off with a delicious green goddess dressing made with avocado, arugula, and almonds.

Jump to:

• The secret to a good chicken salad
• Poaching chicken in the Instant Pot
• How to make the Green Goddess dressing
• Green Goddess Chicken Salad

The thought of chicken salad can often bring to mind an uninspired and rather dull combination of chicken breasts tossed up with veggies and dressing. I assure you, this salad is anything but that!

We are stepping into Fall right about now, but summer is still on my mind, and rather than plunge headlong into cosy comfort meals, I'm still getting my dose of salads, particularly on a warm-ish, sunny late-summer day.

I mean, whats not to love about a salad that tastes delicious and is substantial enough to be a meal in itself? Here are some of my favorite salads to make, regardless of season:

Potato Bacon Salad

Pesto Potato Salad

Bulgur Salad with lemon-honey-mint

The secret to a good chicken salad

A good chicken salad should have tender chicken pieces, tossed up with a dressing that is flavorful, yet doesn't overpower the main ingredients. You can go for either rotisserie  chicken meat or poached chicken. I prefer the latter, and I love to use my Instant Pot to poach the chicken breasts just right.

All you need to poach chicken breasts are some garlic cloves, salt, thyme and bay leaves. These are the basic aromatics that I use, although you could add in more herbs, lemon, broth, or onion as well.

Add veggies that give the salad some texture. I like to add in chickpeas and corn to my salads, and occassionally throw in some shredded, chopped cabbage or red onion.

Finally, to get that salad to come to come together, you need a dressing that complements the ingredients and gives it flavour without overpowering the salad. I personally love this green goddess salad dressing, it rounds off the salad perfectly well!

Poaching chicken in the Instant Pot

You can poach your chicken both in the Instant Pot or on the stovetop - both will deliver similar results, but for ease and convenience, I prefer the Instant Pot!

To poach chicken in the Instant Pot, all you need are you chicken breasts, a cup of water, salt, garlic, thyme and bay leaves. Pressure cook on 'Manual' or 'Pressure Cook' mode for 6 minutes and let the pressure release naturally. That's it, it's as fuss-free as it can get!

To poach chicken on the stovetop, add the chicken breasts to a pot along with 1 cup of water. Add the aromatics and let the water come to a boil. Simmer for 15 minutes, untill the chicken is tender. Let the chicken rest in the poaching liquid for another 15-20 minutes.

How to make the Green Goddess dressing

Green goddess (don't you just love this name?!) dressings are pretty versatile to make. Some green goddess dressing recipes call for mayo and anchovies to give it that tangy taste. I've given this recipe my own spin, using some of my favorite nutrient-rich ingredients to make my version of green goddess dressing.

My recipe calls for almonds, avocados, garlic cloves, arugula, greek yogurt and lime juice. Simply blend these ingredients in a food processor, and you're good to go!

Serve it over salads, use it as a dip or a sandwish filling, or even thin it out with some milk or cream and use it as a pasta sauce, there are so many ways to have fun with this dressing!