Chicken and Avocado Salad with Lime and Cilantro (Video) – Kalyn’s Kitchen

posted by Kalyn Denny on May 26, 2021

Low-Carb Chicken and Avocado Salad with Lime and Cilantro is a great year-round salad with the perfect combination of flavors. And if you’re not a cilantro fan, see my suggestion  for making this without cilantro!

PIN the recipe to try it later!

It was my sister Pam who first discovered this recipe for Chicken and Avocado Salad with Lime and Cilantro on Pinterest, and this is a recipe I’ve made over and over since she first told me about it. The e-mail Pam sent me had just a list of ingredients, so when I made the salad I made up my own amounts and directions. My version of this popular salad has large chunks of chicken and avocado, and I make the lime and mayonnaise into a dressing. And my family has some cilantro avoiders, so I often make an equally-delicious version without cilantro and just use an increased amount of green onion. Through the years I’ve made this for so many parties, and if you like these ingredients, I promise this salad is going to be a keeper for you too!

After Pam sent me the list of ingredients, I wanted to credit the source when I posted it here, and when I copied what Pam had sent me and entered it into Pinterest I found Avocado Chicken Salad from Becoming Betty. Betty found the salad when someone served it to her, so I’m not sure who first created this popular salad! 

Recently I decided this salad was so popular I really should try to improve the photos. And I also realized that now I usually I make a slightly larger amount than the original recipe. So the recipe here is the new and improved version of the salad, with just slightly more chicken, avocado, and cilantro than the original recipe. Feel free to adjust ingredients and amounts any way that suits your fancy; I think this combination will be good no matter how you switch it up!

What ingredients do you need for this recipe?

• cooked chicken
• avocados
• fresh squeezed lime juice; I used my fresh-frozen lime juice
• salt, to taste
• green onion
• chopped fresh cilantro (optional, see notes)
• mayo

What if you don’t like Cilantro?

If you’re one of those people with the anti-cilantro tastebuds, simply triple the amount of green onion and skip the cilantro. This salad will still be amazing without cilantro, I promise!

How to make this recipe:

(Scroll down for complete printable recipe plus nutritional information.)

1. I used three cups of diced chicken. I used rotisserie chicken that comes in a package at Costco, and we cut it into chunks of chicken that weren’t very small.
2. Dice up 2 medium avocados, and toss them with 1 T fresh-squeezed lime juice. (Use less avocado and more chicken if you want even fewer carbs.)
3. Slice up about 1/4 cup thinly sliced green onion. (Use about 3/4 cup sliced green onion if you’re skipping the cilantro.
4. Chop up 1/2 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro. (We chopped the cilantro very fine so the cilantro flavor would be all through the salad.)
5. I mixed 3 T mayo and 2 T fresh squeezed lime juice to make the dressing; use more or less dressing to taste. (Remember there is already some lime juice on the avocado, so if you’re not that crazy about lime you could use a bit less.)
6. Put the chicken in a bowl large enough to hold all the ingredients, add the sliced green onions and dressing and mix well, so all the chicken is coated with dressing.
7. Add the avocado with the lime juice that’s in the bottom of the bowl and mix gently to combine.
8. Then add the finely chopped cilantro and gently mix again, just until it’s barely combined.
9.  Serve the salad right away or chill for a few hours before serving.
10. This salad will keep in the fridge for a day, although the avocado is best when it’s freshly made.

More Salads with Avocado:

Low-Carb and Keto Salads with Avocado 
Heart of Palm Salad with Tomato and Avocado 
Salad with Cucumbers, Tomatoes, and Avocado 

More Salads with Leftover Chicken:

Check out Beat the Heat Low-Carb Chicken Salads for lots more tasty salads made with chicken!

Ingredients

• 3 cups cooked chicken, cut into large pieces
• 2 medium avocados, diced
• 3 T fresh squeezed lime juice, divided
• salt, to taste
• 1/4 cup thinly sliced green onion
• 1/2 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro (see notes)
• 3 T mayo (see notes)

Instructions

1. Cut up enough chicken to make 3 cups of chopped chicken. I like it cut into fairly large chunks.
2. Dice the avocados into medium-sized pieces, put in small bowl, mix with 1 T of the lime juice, and season avocado with salt to taste.
3. Thinly slice the green onion and finely chop the cilantro (if using).
4. Mix 3 T mayo and 2 T lime juice to make the dressing. (If you’re not a huge lime fan like I am, you might want to start with less lime and taste, adding more until it seems sour enough for you.
5. Put the chicken into a bowl large enough to hold all the salad ingredients.
6. Add the sliced green onions and dressing and toss until all the chicken is coated with dressing.
7. Add the avocado and any lime juice in the bottom of the bowl and gently combine with the chicken.
8. Then add the chopped cilantro and gently mix into the salad, just until it is barely combined.
9. Serve right away or chill for a while before serving.  This could be served inside pita bread or sandwich bread, or inside crisp lettuce cups, but we just ate it as a salad.
10. This will keep in the fridge overnight, but the avocado is best when it’s freshly made. When I make it I rarely have leftovers, but if you’re only making for one or two people you might want to cut the recipe in half.

Notes

If you’re not a cilantro fan just triple the green onion and skip the cilantro completely. If you like a lot of dressing on your salads, you might want to slightly increase the dressing amounts.

If you want a version of this salad that’s even lower in carbs, use more chicken and less avocado.

Recipe was adapted from Avocado Chicken Salad from Becoming Betty, which my sister Pam’s friend found on Pinterest.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

6

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 306Total Fat: 24gSaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 17gCholesterol: 66mgSodium: 195mgCarbohydrates: 7gFiber: 5gSugar: 1gProtein: 18g

Nutrition information is automatically calculated by the Recipe Plug-In I am using. I am not a nutritionist and cannot guarantee 100% accuracy, since many variables affect those calculations.

Low-Carb Diet / Low-Glycemic Diet / South Beach Diet Suggestions:
Chicken and Avocado Salad with Lime and Cilantro would be good for low-carb eating plans, including Keto. The salad would be approved for any phase of the original South Beach Diet, but remember that avocados and mayonnaise are both a limited food for South Beach.  

Find More Recipes Like This One:
Use Salad Recipes to find more recipes like this one. Use the Diet Type Index to find more recipes suitable for a specific eating plan. You might also like to Follow Kalyn’s Kitchen on Pinterest to see all the good recipes I’m sharing there.

Historical Notes for this Recipe:
This mega-popular recipe was first posted in 2012. It was last updated in 2021.