Nicknamed my POWER SALAD, this Spinach Salad with Chicken, Avocado and Goat Cheese is pretty much the best salad ever! Watch the video showing you how to make it this recipe, then scroll to the bottom of this post to print out the recipe so you can make it at home.
Oh, if I were a single girl, I’d eat salad every night for dinner. That’s how much I love the stuff. I’d eat mixed greens with berries and chicken. I’d eat arugula topped with salmon and drizzled with fresh lemon juice and olive oil. I’d eat crunchy romaine with roasted tomatoes, bacon and a generous dose of blue cheese dressing. And I’d eat a ton of spinach salads like this Spinach Salad with Chicken, Avocado and Goat Cheese.
I gave up my single life (and eating salads for dinner) 17 years ago. It’s pretty rare that I can actually get away with serving salad for dinner these days. Instead, my family wants their version of dinner, which means a plateful of three things: a meat, a starch and a vegetable (or a big bowl of pasta).
Having somewhat of a rebellious nature, I decided to go for it with this salad. I fed my family SALAD for dinner. I started with spinach… sliced it into slivers.
…and then I added tomatoes and corn…
…and plenty of avocado and chopped, cooked chicken…
….and goat cheese and toasted pine nuts.
I drizzled a simple and tangy Dijon vinaigrette on top…
…and then I plated this Spinach Salad with Chicken, Avocado and Goat Cheese as dinner for my family. No meat/vegetable/starch meal for them on this night- just SALAD for dinner.
And guess what? They loved it 🙂
Here are a few more spinach salad recipes you might enjoy:
- Southwest Spinach Salad
- Red Raspberry Spinach Salad
- Cranberry Spinach Salad with Gorgonzola
- Chickpea and Spinach Salad with Cumin Dressing
- Autumn Apple and Spinach Salad
- Reset Quinoa Spinach Salad
- Spinach Salad with Hot Prosciutto Dressing
If you happen to be following the Weight Watchers WW plan, you’ll find a link to the WW Points on the recipe card below.
Spinach Salad with Chicken, Avocado and Goat Cheese
Recipe Details
Ingredients
SALAD:
- 8 cups chopped spinach
- 1½ cups cooked, chopped chicken
- 1 cup halved cherry or pear tomatoes
- ½ cup corn (canned, frozen or fresh off the cob)
- 1 large avocado, sliced
- ⅓ cup crumbled goat or feta cheese
- ¼ cup toasted pine nuts
DRESSING:
- 3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Place spinach in a large salad bowl. Add remaining salad ingredients.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the dressing ingredients. Pour over the salad and toss (a little at a time... as much dressing as you desire).
Hi there!
I just want to thank you for sharing this awesome recipe. I am featuring your dish on my blog today. Thank you again!!
I just used low fat honey Dijon dressing. This was delicious. I could eat it everyday.
This looks incredible! Question for you… I am allergic to spinach, what would you suggest as a substitute?
Thank you!
Mixed greens!
Yum, this looks fabulous! 🙂 Love pine nuts and goat cheese, oh and avocado, yum yum!!
This looks amazing so glad I found it on Pinterest, I hate to cook in the summer and love eating cold foods this will be added to my grocery list thank you
I made this tonight, it was so good. All three sons and my husband loved it. Thank you so much.
Looks good…this is going into my ‘to try’ file.
cubed or grated cheese of choice is good too
Salads don’t need recipes, add whatever is available in the frig or pantry, ,,hard cooked eggs, chicken, salmon, nuts, fruit of any kind, veggies cold cooked potatoes,even cut up spagetti or any other pasta, dressing of choice, and there you have a beautiful meal!!!
I likee to make my salads with whatever is in my frig or pantry, will add a cold cooked potato or an egg filberts strawberrys avacado if its in the house,some lettuce off the garden a
or any kind of vegetable, salads don’t need recipes use what is there!!!!
I figured out the calories for anyone who might want to know… is 320 calories per serving. 🙂 Trying it tonight!
Any idea on how many calories per serving?
Not sure on this one.
This is perfect – loving avocado right now! Thanks for the great idea 🙂
Saw this on Pinterest. Made it tonight for my husband and two little boys, 8 and 11. Everyone loved it, especially me. Thanks for the recipe!!
How funny…if you were single you’d want to eat more salads. If I were single, I would feel obligated to eat more salads, in hopes of being skinny and getting lots of dates. Ha! I guess I’m just not a salad lover. This one looks terrific though – love the avocado and pine nut combo!
Such a tasty salad!! I changed the dressing up a bit…i added a bit of garlic and some agave nectar and instead of white vinegar, i used basalmic…just a personal preference but its really tasty and works well with all the flavors of the salad..its my go-to salad dressing for spinach salads!
This was delicious!! A little too much dijion for our tastes, but next time we would probably turn it into a tsp and just add more evoo and vinegar.
That looks delish! I love spinach!!
Your photos are amazing! Can’t wait to try the recipe!
I’m so with you on the salad for dinner every night Lori! This looks delicious! Avocado always takes a salad to another level 🙂
My husband and I loved this salad! We’ve eaten it twice this week. For the dressing, we used a honey serrano balsamic vinegar with olive oil. I highly recommend the honey serrano balsamic if you can find it somewhere.
Of course they loved it — it’s fabulous! My hubster is to the point where he’ll email at some point during the day and say, “It needs to be a salad dinner night.” I’ve gotten good at including that starch along with the protein in our salads and we look forward to them. I’ll have to try the pinenuts in this combo which is a fave. YUM!
I’d skip the corn, but otherwise I am there!
I love salad..and this one looks delicious! I don’t know why i dislike making them so much! This one could possibly inspire me to just go ahead and make it already!
What a gorgeous salad, Lori. If only we could get by eating this every day. When Jason is up north at school, I’m a vegetarian but when he comes back into town, I’m devouring baby back ribs, fried chicken, and plenty of other artery-clogging foods!