Mandarin Orange Chicken Salad is a flavorful, tasty meal for busy school nights. With grilled chicken, mandarin oranges, red bell peppers, almonds, and a bed of greens, it’s a healthy satisfying meal or a tasty side dish.
When it comes to satisfying our taste buds with a burst of flavors and textures, few dishes can rival the delightful appeal of a Mandarin Orange Chicken Salad. It’s one of my favorite salads!
This vibrant and refreshing crunchy salad brings together the perfect combination of succulent grilled chicken, crisp vegetables, and the juicy sweetness of mandarin oranges. And it’s all dressed in a tangy vinaigrette.
With its harmonious blend of savory and citrusy notes, this salad has earned its rightful place as a beloved favorite among food enthusiasts worldwide – including me!
This Mandarin Orange Chicken Salad recipe is a delicious salad to serve as a main dish for two people. It’s a large salad, so you can also serve it as a side salad for 4-6 people.
Get ready to tantalize your taste buds and elevate your salad game to new heights. Let’s dig in!
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🍊Ingredient notes
There are four components to this dish: the marinade, the chicken, the salad, and the dressing. But don’t worry: you only need a few ingredients to make this chicken salad recipe. And it all comes together quickly!
- For the chicken, you’ll need boneless skinless chicken breasts or chicken breast tenders.
- To make the marinade, you’ll need orange juice, garlic, thyme, and honey.
- For the salad, you’ll need romaine lettuce (or your favorite greens), red bell pepper, sweet mandarin oranges, and sliced almonds. Feel free to add other favorite crunchy vegetables, such as red cabbage, sliced red onion, bright green onion, fresh ginger.
- Salad dressing ingredients include orange juice, white wine vinegar or rice vinegar, and olive oil. You can substitute sesame oil for the olive oil for a richer flavor.
Optional: add sesame seeds and sliced green onions to garnish the salad. You can also top this Chinese chicken salad with crispy chow mein noodles, sunflower seeds, and/or wonton strips.
✅ Step-by-step instructions
This mandarin chicken salad is simple and easy to make.
- Marinate the chicken for several hours. You can either start marinating the chicken the night before, or in the morning before you head off to work. This makes the meat so tender and juicy, and truly helps it soak up the citrus garlic flavors.
- Grill the chicken either on your outdoor grill or on an indoor grill pan.
- Make the dressing.
- Add your greens and vegetables to two bowls, top with 2 or 3 grilled chicken pieces, and serve with the dressing.
Recipe FAQs
Yes! Leftover rotisserie chicken is a great option to use instead of grilled chicken in this salad.
You can either use fresh mandarin oranges or a can of mandarin oranges for this mandarin salad.
🍷 Wine pairing
This tangy mandarin orange chicken salad pairs deliciously with a white wine such as a dry Riesling or a Pinot Grigio/Pinot Gris.
🍽 Serving ideas
If serving this mandarin orange salad as a main course, add a side of homemade French bread or some air fryer garlic bread.
If you are serving this as a side salad, it goes well with Thai Curry Pizza or Cauliflower Carrot Soup.
More chicken recipes
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Grilled Honey Orange Chicken Salad
Ingredients
- 1 pound Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast Fillets
- 2 teaspoons finely shredded orange zest
- ⅓ cup orange juice plus 2 tablespoons, divided
- 6 cloves garlic, minced, divided
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 ½ teaspoons dried thyme, crushed
- ½ teaspoon salt, divided
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper, divided
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons white-wine vinegar
- 1 ½ teaspoons finely chopped shallot
- 4 cups torn baby salad greens
- 1 medium red bell pepper, thinly sliced
- 2 medium oranges, peeled and sectioned
- Sliced almonds, toasted (optional)
Instructions
- Place chicken in a sealable plastic bag. Combine orange zest, ⅓ cup orange juice, 4 cloves minced garlic, honey and thyme. Pour over chicken; seal bag. Marinate in the refrigerator for 6 to 8 hours, turning bag occasionally.Drain chicken, discarding marinade. Prep grill pan with olive oil, then grill chicken for about 8-10, until chicken is no longer pink, turning once halfway. Slice chicken crosswise; set aside on a plate.Meanwhile, in a screw-top jar, combine oil, vinegar, the remaining 2 tablespoons orange juice, the remaining 2 cloves minced garlic, the shallots and the remaining ¼ teaspoon salt and ⅛ teaspoon pepper. Cover and shake well.Divide greens among four dinner plates. Top with bell pepper slices. Arrange chicken and orange sections over greens. Drizzle with dressing. If desired, sprinkle with almonds.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Looks so healthy and loving the orange juice dressing – I didn’t know dori had an app, so cool!
It’s so great! I love it! Thank you, Cassie!
Technology is great these days isn’t it?! I love when I can quickly look up a recipe in the store! These flavors sound amazing!
It’s definitely a life saver! I love having access to so many dishes, as well! :)
This sounds so good and so easy to make! You could throw it in the fridge while at work then put it on the grill once you get home!!
Right?! Love it! Thank you! :)
This looks like the perfect quick and easy supper for the season. I love the idea of just prepping the chicken pieces in the marinade in the morning and then being able to whip everything together quickly in the evening when everyone is tired – but hungry for something tasty AND nutritious. This ticks all the boxes!
Quick dinners are a necessity some nights! Thank you, Eimear!
Love this chicken looks so tasty. I need to make this next week.
Yay! Thank you, Joan!
This looks tasty! I want to try subbing out tofu here instead of chicken, I think that would work well :) The flavors sound great!
I agree! Let me know how it turns out! :)
oh my goodness! This looks amazing!
Thanks, Lacy! :)
What a delicious combination of flavors! I can’t wait to try this!
Let me know how you like it! :)
I so feel you—with fall comes so much more preparation and planning! Or cereal for dinner, depending. ;) This salad looks delicious and so fresh-tasting!
Lol! Thanks, Catherine!
Orange and chicken are such a good combo! I love the dressing for t his salad!
Agreed! I love the combo, as well! Thank you!
beautiful photos! and i didn’t know about Dori. Very cool feature. I can’t wait to check it out(while crunching on my chicken salad! 🥗) 😊
Yeah, it’s so helpful! Thank you, Melissa!
This sounds like a delicious salad. I love a nice sweet salad.
Same here! Thank you, Danni!
This looks really easy and tasty. My husband has actually been eating more salads with me lately, and I think he would really like this one. Thanks for sharing, can’t wait to try it out! xo, Brittany Nicole
Let me know how you like it! Thanks, Brittany!
This looks like a salad my anti-salad husband would eat! Can’t wait to try it.
Yay! I hope he likes it! :)
This salad is gorgeous! I know it will taste every bit as good as it looks!
Thank you, Sara! :)
We moved this summer so it feels like the months just disappeared. This chicken salad looks wonderful! I love how easily it comes together.
Thanks so much, Tara!