Blueberry Corn Chicken Salad
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Published Jun 23, 2017, Updated Jul 14, 2023
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The perfect summertime blueberry corn chicken salad with grilled corn, shredded chicken, roasted pecans and a maple balsamic dressing. Southern comfort food made healthy!
Y’all – this antioxidant rich, immune boosting baby is loaded with heart healthy, brain powering, and gut nourishing ingredients. Talk about a superfood salad fit for a queen!!
Comprised of seasonal fruits and veggies, healthy fats, protein, and a light maple vinaigrette, this colorful meal-sized salad is not only beautiful on the table, but a wellness package in disguise.
Superfood Buzzwords
We hear health buzzwords thrown around all the time, but do you actually know what they mean? Let’s break down this superfood salad so we can see where it get its power.
Antioxidants prevent or reduce free radical damage to our cells that can cause inflammation and contribute to the formation of various long-term ailments (infections, diseases, and cancer).
Immunity is the ability to defend our bodies from toxins and infection, which is managed by our greater immune system. Beyond our genetics, our lifestyles play a key role in the strength or weakness of this system. Poor diet, lack of sleep, little exercise, and chronic stress decrease our immunity by straining our internal organs.
Heart healthy aids in lowering your blood pressure and keeps your cholesterol in line promoting heart optimization.
Pecans are considered cholesterol-lowering foods (as are most nuts), while blueberries have been shown to decrease bad cholesterol, raise good cholesterol, and lower blood pressure naturally!
Prebiotics are the non-digestible food sources that the probiotics use as fuel. Maple syrup contains the prebiotic inulin, and recent studies have shown wild blueberries have prebiotic potential as well.
Blueberries are also a natural source of soluble and insoluble fiber, similar to the fiber found in pecans, which helps keep you regular if you catch my drift.
Ingredients in Blueberry Corn Salad
Alright, so now we know why this blueberry corn chicken salad is super nourishing. Here’s what you’ll need:
- spring mix or baby greens
- grilled or shredded chicken – for some added protein. Try my easy grilled chicken recipe or instant pot shredded chicken recipe.
- corn – you can use fresh, frozen that’s been thawed or leftover grilled corn cut off the cob.
- red onion – some diced onion for some added crunch.
- avocado oil – a great oil for high heat cooking and baking!
- blueberries – for a natural source of antioxidants.
- pecans – a great way to lower cholesterol naturally.
- maple syrup and sea salt – for some sweet and salty seasoning to toast your pecans in.
- maple balsamic dressing – a super simple dressing consisting of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, maple syrup, dijon mustard, salt, and pepper.
Notes & Substitutions
Pecans – Not a fan of pecans? Swap in a different nut!
Red onion – Not a fan of red onion feel free to use yellow onion instead.
Mix-ins – Feel free to get creative in the kitchen and add your own toppings to the salad. Avocado, goat cheese, or pepitas would be great additions!
Dressing – I love the maple balsamic dressing I created for this salad but any dressing would work if you’re in a pinch. Some options: poppyseed dressing, cilantro lime dressing, white balsamic vinaigrette or lemon vinaigrette.
How to Serve Blueberry Corn Salad
I highly recommend trying this recipe ASAP as it’s perfect while fresh corn and blueberries are in season, and makes an easy dinner if you have leftover grilled chicken or corn from a summertime weekend cookout.
If you want to meal prep this carrot salad, it can be refrigerated overnight in an air-tight container. Just garnish with the toasted pecans just before serving.
More Meal-Sized Salads
- Grilled Chicken Salad
- Blackened Chicken Cobb Salad
- Greek Yogurt Chicken Salad
- Pistachio Salmon Salad
- Cheeseburger Salad
- Kale Caesar Salad
- BBQ Chicken Salad
- Blackened Tempeh Salad
Blueberry, Corn and Chicken Salad
Ingredients
- 1 large container of spring mix or baby greens
- 12 oz grilled and shredded chicken
- 1 cup corn, fresh, frozen that’s been thawed or leftover grilled corn cut off the cob
- 1/2 cup red onion, diced
- 1 teaspoon avocado oil
- 1 cup fresh blueberries
- 1/2 cup raw pecans
- 1 Tablespoon maple syrup
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Maple Balsamic Dressing:
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
- 1 Tablespoon maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt and pepper
Instructions
- Roast pecans: Pre-heat oven to 350°. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Add pecans to the sheet and toss with maple syrup and sea salt. Bake for about 10 minutes. Remove from oven, toss and allow to cool completely. This step can be done a day in advance.
- Prepare dressing: Whisk together olive oil, balsamic vinegar, maple syrup, mustard, salt and pepper in a small bowl. Set aside.
- Prep onions: Heat 1 teaspoon oil over medium heat in a medium sauté pan. Add diced onions and cook until translucent and starting to brown, about 7-8 minutes. If you’re using raw or thawed corn, you can add it to the sauté pan with the onion for extra flavor. If you’re using leftover grilled corn, there’s no need to add it.
- Prep salads: Grab 3-4 plates and load on salad ingredients starting with a base of greens, shredded chicken, corn, onion, blueberries and maple roasted pecans. Serve with maple balsamic dressing, allowing everyone to add as much or as a little as they’d like. Store any leftover dressing in the fridge for later.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
It was so nice to read the actual benefits of the food in the recipe! I know I need to eat more antioxidants, but really didn’t truly know what they did for me. Thanks for the info and the delicious food paired with it!
Of course! So glad the extra nutrition info within this post was helpful. Have a great weekend, Juliette.
Quick question about your calorie counts…is the 800 calories for the entire recipe or for one serving?
It’s about 600 calories per serving if you make four salads. Of course, it will really depend on how much of each topping is added and how much dressing is used. 🙂
So not only does that salad look unreal, but I love how you gave some great information too!! Super informational 🙂
So glad you enjoyed all the nutrition info, Kathleen. I hope you get a chance to try the salad.
This sounds like the most perfect Summer salad. I love the addition of corn (though I feel like that is sort of a requirement since I am from Iowa)!
Yes! I’m sure as a mid-western, a summer salad without corn just doesn’t feel right! 🙂
When I clicked on this post, I immediately said OUT LOUD “OMG THIS LOOKS SO FREAKIN GOOD” 🙂 Can’t wait to make!
Love this comment so much! You’ll have to let me know what you think if you end up making it this summer. 🙂
This salad looked, tasted and left me…feeling AMAZING!!
Thank you for the delicious and simple “turn-to-powerfood” recipe, being appetite eludes me, this is a treasured find to keep!
We made this for supper last night and it was delicious! We used your ACV chicken marinade and cooked the chicken in the slow cooker to really moisten and tenderize it before shredding. We also swapped the blueberries for strawberries since I couldn’t find any fresh blueberries at the store. The flavor combo was still amazing! Definitely a make again recipe that’s filling, nutritional and perfect for hot summer days 🙂
Never used avocado oil. Can it be substituted?
Totally. Olive oil is a great sub for avocado oil.
Love this one! Easy to make as we frequently have all ingredients on hand during the summer. My kids (2 and 6) won’t eat the greens, but they enjoy all of the other elements, so it’s a great family meal.
This was a really delightful summer salad that even satisfied my husband who isn’t the biggest fan of salads for dinner! This was my first non breakfast/dessert/baked good I have made from EBF and I couldn’t be happier!
That makes me so happy to hear, Amalia. 🙂 So glad this salad was a hit. Thanks for making it and for coming back to leave a comment + star rating. I so appreciate it!
I love chicken and make it a lot! Have you tried this with pork tenderloin,shrimp, or steak? Just curious.
Thank you!
I am so happy that you are loving this salad! I have no personally tried it with any of these other proteins, but I am sure they would all be delicious. If you try one of these other proteins, let me know which you choose and how it works out. Enjoy!