This Chick-fil-A Market Salad copycat tops a blend of greens, apples, berries, blue cheese, and nutty granola with grilled chicken and a zesty apple cider vinaigrette. It tastes just like the restaurant favorite and is so easy to make at home!
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I will be honest that I don't dine at Chick-fil-A very often. The fast food brand hasn't really been big in New England until relatively recently and, of course, isn't open on Sundays.
But I'm always quite impressed with their salad offerings, which are much better than most fast food spots. I make the Kale Crunch Salad at home quite often and have recently start making this Market Salad at home, too!
The salad has protein, fruit, crunch, and a tangy apple cider vinaigrette that kind of makes the salad feel like a treat.
In my recipe development research, I pulled up Chick-fil-A's actual Market Salad to see exactly what goes in it and then built my own version from there. The grilled chicken gets a quick marinade so it's juicy and a little savory-sweet and the dressing comes together in a jar in about two minutes.
🙋♀️ What is the Market Salad
According to Chick-fil-A, the Market Salad consists of "sliced grilled chicken breast served on a fresh bed of mixed greens, topped with crumbled blue cheese and a mix of red and green apples, strawberries and blueberries... served with Harvest Nut Granola and Roasted Almonds. Pairs well with Zesty Apple Cider Vinaigrette."
In addition to everything listed above, the salad also contains green cabbage, dried cranberries, and pecans.
It's absolutely packed FULL of so many fresh and delicious ingredients and contains everything you might buy at a farmer's market, hence the name.
❤️ Why this recipe works
It's just like the Chick-fil-A salad: I built the ingredient list straight from Chick-fil-A's actual Market Salad, so you get the same greens blend, fruit, blue cheese, and crunchy toppings. It looks like it and tastes like it.
The chicken is juicy and flavorful: a quick marinade with lemon, garlic, onion, and smoked paprika makes the grilled chicken flavorful and tender just like the restaurant version.
It can be enjoyed as a full meal or a robust side: as written, the recipe makes two big entree salads, but you can stretch it to four side salads without changing a thing.
It can be adapted with your favorite ingredients: if there's anything in this salad you're not a fan of or if you prefer other greens, fruits, dressing etc. you can easily omit or swap anything out.
🗒 Ingredients
The ingredient list for this salad may seem quite long, but not only is it a robust salad, but lots of the ingredients are seasonings for the chicken and dressing.
Here's what you need for the Market Salad itself:
- Chopped romaine and green/red leaf lettuce: you can substitute with a spring mix or a 50/50 romaine and spring mix blend
- Green cabbage or bagged coleslaw mix
- Red apple: diced
- Green apple: diced
- Strawberries: sliced
- Blueberries
- Blue cheese: crumbled
- Roasted salted almonds
- Granola: I like to use Quaker Oats, Honey, and Almonds Simply Granola, but you can use any lightly sweetened oat, nut, and honey granola
- Pecans: chopped
- Dried cranberries
- Grilled chicken: I share the recipe below
- Zesty Apple Cider Vinaigrette: I share the recipe below
For the grilled chicken that tastes like the chicken that tops the Chick-fil-A Market Salad, you'll need:
- Skinless chicken breasts
- Olive oil
- Lemon juice
- Apple cider vinegar
- Sugar
- Salt & black pepper
- Garlic powder
- Onion powder
- Smoked paprika
And for the zest apple cider vinaigrette, you'll need:
- Apple cider vinegar
- Pineapple juice: you can substitute with an orange juice and lemon juice mixture or an apple juice and lime juice mixture
- Honey
- Granulated sugar
- Lime juice
- Salt & black pepper
- Avocado: you can also use olive oil or another neutral oil
🥗 Recipe tips
- I recommend marinating the chicken for at least 20 minutes, but a few hours in the fridge is even better. It's an easy thing to do in the morning so dinner can be made quickly in the evening.
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- I usually grill my chicken on my stovetop in a grill pan, but you can use an outdoor grill, too.
- After grilling, let the chicken rest a few minutes before cutting. Slicing too soon lets all the juices run out instead of staying in the meat.
- I love making homemade dressings in mason jars. They're perfect for adding the ingredients and shaking well to blend and make it easy to store leftover dressing in the fridge.
- Dice the apples right before you assemble the salad to keep them from browning. A quick toss in a little of the vinaigrette or lemon juice will help keep them from browning too quickly as well.
- Dress the salad right before serving. I recommend dressing individual servings of the salad if you're planning to save some for leftovers.
I didn't think it was possible to love this salad any more, but I do! It literally has everything.
From the crispy greens to the sweet fruit to the crunchy nuts and granola to the creamy cheese to the protein-packed topping, I couldn't ask for anything else in a salad.
It's the perfect bring-to-work lunch or light, but satisfying spring or summer dinner.
⏲️ How to store
Store the salad components separately for the best results. You can keep the greens and cabbage in one container, the fruit in another, the sliced chicken in a third, and the vinaigrette in a sealed jar.
When stored separately, everything should keep fresh in the fridge for about 3-4 days. The vinaigrette should last for up to a week in the fridge; just give it a good shake before using since it will separate as it sits.
This makes it a great meal prep salad. Have everything prepped on Sunday and you'll have a few days of quick and easy lunches ready to be assembled!
🎉 Variations on recipe
The recipe I share with you here will get you as close to the exact Chick-fil-A Market Salad as possible. But one of the best parts about making it at home is that you can omit, add, or swap ingredients to make it the perfect salad for you!
Here are some of my favorite ideas:
- Swap the protein: use grilled shrimp or sliced steak instead of chicken. For a quick shortcut, you can even use a shredded store-bought rotisserie chicken.
- Swap the cheese: blue cheese can be a divisive cheese, so feel free to use the kind you prefer. Feta or shaved parmesan both work really well.
- Keep it nut-free: leave out the almonds and pecans and use a nut-free granola or crunchy roasted chickpeas instead.
- Add more veggies: a few of my faves are cucumber, bell peppers, celery, tomatoes, and carrots.
- Add more (or swap out) the fruits: you can use diced pear and pomegranate seeds in the fall/winter and peaches and raspberries in summer. Or just use whatever you have on hand!
- Add avocado: avocado makes every salad better!
- Add grains: make the salad even heartier by tossing in cooked quinoa or farro.
- Swap out the dried fruit: instead of using dried cranberries, use dried apricots, apples, or the fruit of your choice.
- Wrap the dressing: instead of making your own, you can use the store-bought dressing you like best.
- Turn it into a wrap: this salad makes a great sandwich, especially in wrap form, like my grilled chicken caesar wrap. Pile everything onto a big flour tortilla and drizzle on the vinaigrette before folding.
If you love the idea of this salad, but don't love all the ingredients necessary, you can try my simple blueberry and feta salad!
And don't forget to try my Chick-fil-A Kale Crunch side salad!
Once you realize how easy it is to make the Market Salad at home the drive-thru craving gets a lot cheaper and easier to satisfy.
Make the chicken and dressing ahead, keep the components prepped in the fridge, and you've got a fresh, crunchy, actually-crave-worthy salad any afternoon or night of the week!
What's your favorite order from Chick-fil-A?
📖 Recipe
Chick-Fil-A Market Salad {Copycat Recipe}
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Ingredients
- 4 ½ cups chopped romaine and green/red leaf lettuce or substitute with 4 ½ cups spring mix or a 50/50 romaine and spring mix blend*
- ½ cup shredded green cabbage or bagged coleslaw mix*
- ½ small red apple diced (skin left on)
- ½ small green apple diced (skin left on)
- ½ cup strawberries sliced
- ⅓ cup blueberries
- ⅓ cup crumbled blue cheese
- ¼ cup roasted salted almonds
- ⅓ cup Quaker Oats, Honey, and Almonds Simply Granola (or similar- see notes)*
- 2 tablespoon chopped pecans
- 2 tablespoon dried cranberries
- Grilled chicken (recipe below)
- Zesty Apple Cider Vinaigrette (recipe below)
Grilled Chicken
- 2 boneles sskinless chicken breasts
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- ½ teaspoon sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ¼ teaspoon smoked paprika
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
Zesty Apple Cider Vinaigrette
- 3 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 2 tablespoon pineapple juice (see notes for substitutes)*
- 2 tablespoon honey
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon lime juice
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ⅛ teaspoon black pepper
- ⅓ cup neutral oil like avocado or olive oil
Instructions
- Divide the lettuce and cabbage between two plates or large bowls. Top each with sliced chicken, apples, strawberries, blueberries, blue cheese, almonds, granola, pecans, and dried cranberries.
- Drizzle with vinaigrette right before serving.
Grilled Chicken
- In a shallow dish or a Ziplock bag, whisk together olive oil, lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, sugar, salt, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, and pepper. Add the chicken and turn to coat. Let sit in marinade for at least 20 minutes or up to a few hours in the fridge.
- Place on grill over medium heat or cook in a grill pan or skillet for about 5-6 minutes per side, until internal temp reaches 165 degrees F.
- Let cool slightly before thinly slicing.
Zesty Apple Cider Vinaigrette
- In a mason jar or medium bowl, add apple cider vinegar, pineapple juice, honey, sugar, lime juice, salt, and pepper. Shake jar or whisk ingredients in bowl until sugar dissolves and mixture is well combined.
- Slowly drizzle in the oil while whisking or add and then shake hard in sealed jar, until emulsified.
Notes
- Chick-fil-A uses a mix of romaine, green leaf, red leaf, and green cabbage. To keep it simple, a bag of spring mix with a handful of shredded cabbage or coleslaw mix works great and gets you the same texture variety.
- If you don't have pineapple juice for dressing, you can substitute with 1 ½ tablespoon orange juice + 1.2 teaspoon extra lemon juice or 2 tablespoon apple juice and an extra splash of lime juice. If you leave it out all together, you'll lose a bit of the "tropical" flavor, but it will still be delicious!
- For granola, any lightly sweet oat, nut, and honey granola will work. Avoid chocolate or heavily flavored varieties. A few good options are Nature Valley Oats 'n Honey, Kind Oats & Honey, or Bear Naked Fit Vanilla Almond.
- Make ahead: The dressing keeps in the fridge for up to a week. The chicken can be cooked a day ahead and sliced just before serving. Keep greens and cabbage in one container and the fruit in another. Hold off on assembling the salad and dressing it until ready to enjoy.
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