This grilled chicken BLT salad includes all your favorites – crispy bacon, perfectly seasoned grilled chicken, cherry tomatoes, and avocado! It’s topped with a healthy paleo & Whole30 friendly peppercorn ranch that might just become your new favorite salad dressing! Dairy-free, gluten-free, even kid approved!
It’s time for summer salads and grilling! Okay sure, this is a salad you can enjoy any time of year, any day of the week, because chicken and bacon are always in style. Classics salad staples!
As classic as a BLT, in fact, so, this is just about as classic as you can get when it comes to salad, complete with peppercorn ranch dressing! I was in sort of a salad slump a few weeks ago, or rather, a total savory recipe slump which is pretty unusual for me. I typically have lots of recipe ideas for all my savory and sweet cravings, but recently I hit a mental wall with my savory side.
Luckily, for those times when I have recipe-creator’s-block, I have a hungry husband to turn to to remind me what normal (non-food-blogger) people eat over in the real world.
Typically, I start that conversation with a ridiculous question along the lines of “hey Adam, what do people like to eat for dinner?” because sometimes that’s how far removed I feel from the world of regular people, the ones who don’t create recipes on the daily.
On this particular day, he responded “I dunno, chicken?” to which I responded “okay, chicken salad. but what dressing?” And, that bought us to ranch. Peppercorn ranch! The idea was born. No one says no to a grilled chicken BLT salad with peppercorn ranch.
Not that we are breaking ground here or being unique or exciting here – we’re just making a classically delicious salad that no one will complain about (ahem, you know, children.)
But, of course, what separates this ranch topped chicken salad from others, is that we take a healthy spin on the dressing, yet you’d never know when you taste it. It’s both paleo & whole30 friendly, easy to make, and yes yes YES – it’s delicious.
You’ll have extra too after serving this salad, which is SO not a problem considering how many things a good peppercorn ranch dressing works with. For me? Roasted veggies and potatoes, for one! But hey, I don’t discriminate with my ranch drizzle AT ALL.
I think (HOPE!) you’ll be pleasantly surprised to see how simple and straightforward both the salad and dressing are here. One note on the mayo – I used my own homemade mayo which I’ve been making for almost 4 years and has never once failed me.
However, if you’re not the homemade mayo type, you can now purchase paleo & whole30 friendly mayo made with avocado oil! Woohoo! Back when I did my first whole30, this option didn’t exist, so, you know, I had to get my mayo the hard way – up hill both ways in the snow. Barefoot. And all that other jazz 😉 Just kidding, of course! Now let’s get frying and grilling and salad making. This salad will NOT disappoint! I hope you love it just as much as we do!
Chicken BLT Salad with Peppercorn Ranch {Paleo & Whole30}
Grilled Chicken BLT Salad with Peppercorn Ranch {Paleo & Whole30}
Ingredients
For the Peppercorn Ranch
- 1/2 cup homemade mayo or purchase Paleo friendly mayo
- 1/4 cup coconut milk blended (water and cream)
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 3 drops hot sauce about 1/8 tsp adjust to taste
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 2 scallions thinly sliced
- 1 tsp ground tricolor peppercorns
For the Grilled Chicken BLT Salad:
- 1-1.5 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts pounded to even thickness
- 1 medium avocado
- 8 slices bacon sugar-free for Whole30*, cooked until crisp, drained, and crumbled
- reserved bacon fat to brush chicken and grill
- sea salt ground peppercorn and onion powder to sprinkle on chicken
- 1 5 oz container salad greens or the equivalent of your favorite greens
- 1 small container cherry tomatoes cut in half
- peppercorn ranch dressing as much as desired
Instructions
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Make the dressing first: Blend all dressing ingredients either using an immersion blender or in a standard blender, set aside or chill until ready to use
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Now, cook the bacon first and set aside, reserving bacon fat to brush on the grill (or cast iron skillet) and chicken
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Generously brush the chicken and grill with bacon fat and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and onion powder. Grill on both sides, flipping once, until just done, then remove to a plate and cover loosely with aluminum foil
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To assemble the salad, begin with the greens and add the cherry tomatoes, cooked crumbled bacon, then cut open the avocado and slice it thinly; arrange on the salad as desired.
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Slice the chicken breast thin and arrange on salad. Once ready to serve, drizzle on ranch dressing (you’ll have extra) and gently toss/mix to coat. Serves 4-6. Enjoy! Store extra dressing in a tightly covered container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Recipe Notes
*I love this sugar-free pork bacon from U.S. Wellness Meats - it's been a go-to for me for years!
Nutrition
What I Used to Make My Grilled Chicken BLT Salad:
Want more Paleo & Whole30 friendly salad recipes? Try one of these!
Strawberry Salad with Chicken, Bacon and Orange Balsamic
Paleo Chicken Salad with Bacon and Scallions
Chicken Cobb Salad with Buffalo Ranch
Tuna Salad with Avocado, Bacon and Chipotle Aioli
Tell Me!
What’s your current favorite salad dressing?
I love how you asked Adam and got the inspiration for this recipe from asking him about what people eat. 🙂 It truly looks like a hearty salad.
Haha thanks Emily!
This is my favorite paleo meal! I figured out how to make my own paleo mayo some time ago. I put 1 tsp. dry mustard, 1 tsp, pink salt, 1 tsp honey, 2 Tbs organic ACV, 1 room temperature farm fresh egg, and 1 cup avocado oil into the bottom of a vessel wide enough for a hand blender to reach the bottom. I start at the bottom and slowly bring it up the vessel until it’s all whipped and creamy. It’s perfect every time! I eat as much as I want on my salads and never gain an ounce. I find that on the paleo diet, there is no worry about overeating. In all honesty, I can’t eat that much anyway, but I used to fret over every little thing I ate, but no more.
Awesome!
This looks amazing, Michele. I’ll have to give it a try. 😉