Grilled Chicken Salad with Corn 🌽🍗 is an EASY 15 minute meal loaded with tender grilled chicken, juicy corn, crisp bell peppers and tomatoes, creamy avocado, cilantro, and fresh lime juice. It’s light yet satisfying and packed with fresh summer flavor. When it’s too hot to turn on the oven, this is a great way to make the most of seasonal produce!
Easy Grilled Chicken Salad with Corn Recipe
- This sweet corn salad is summer perfection for us, with so many fresh flavors and textures that whenever I make it, we usually finish the whole batch the same day.
- Tender chicken, juicy sweet corn, creamy avocado, crisp red bell peppers, tomatoes, lime juice, and cilantro all come together in one bright, satisfying salad. It’s exactly the kind of recipe that makes me wish great fresh corn were available year-round.
- It’s perfect for Labor Day weekend, end-of-summer dinners, backyard barbecues, or anytime you’re trying to milk every last drop of summer.
- We’re perfectly happy eating it on its own, but it would also be great with Mexican recipes or other grilled chicken recipes, especially Grilled Lime Cilantro Chicken.
Ingredients in Grilled Chicken and Corn Salad
- Chicken breasts: Use thin-sliced or pounded chicken breasts so they cook in about the same amount of time as the corn. Thicker chicken breasts will take longer and keep you at the grill longer than necessary.
- Lime juice, honey, and olive oil: These create a simple sweet-tangy marinade that keeps the chicken flavorful and juicy.
- Fresh sweet corn and unsalted butter: Grilled sweet corn adds the best summery flavor to this salad, and butter makes it even better.
- Avocados, red bell pepper, grape tomatoes, and fresh cilantro: These add creaminess, crunch, freshness, and lots of color. Multi-colored grape tomatoes are great, but other tomato varieties work too.
- Optional add-ins: Red or green onions, black beans, cayenne pepper, diced green chiles, jalapeños, zucchini, cucumber, cotija cheese, or queso fresco would all work well if you want to change up the salad.
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How to Make Grilled Chicken Salad with Corn
- Grill the corn and chicken until both are cooked through and lightly charred.
- Cut the kernels off the corn cobs, then slice or chop the grilled chicken.
- Add the corn, chicken, and remaining salad ingredients to a large bowl.
- Toss everything together and serve right away for a fresh, colorful, satisfying salad.
What to Serve with Grilled Chicken and Corn Salad
Grilled Chicken and Corn Salad
Equipment
Ingredients
Chicken
- 1.25 to 1.50 pounds thin-sliced or pounded boneless skinless chicken breasts
- ⅓ cup lime juice
- ⅓ cup honey
- ⅓ cup olive oil
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt, (or to taste)
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, (or to taste)
Corn
- 5 ears fresh sweet corn, husks and silks removed
- ¼ cup olive oil, divided
- ¼ cup unsalted butter
Salad
- 2 medium avocados, ripe but not mushy, diced into small pieces
- 1 large red bell pepper, seeded and diced small
- 1 cup grape tomatoes, (I used multi-colored; other varieties of tomatoes may be substituted)
- ¼ to ⅓ cup fresh lime juice, (or to taste)
- ¼ cup fresh cilantro, finely minced (or to taste)
- 1 to 2 teaspoons kosher salt, (or to taste)
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, (or to taste)
- 2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil, (optional)
Instructions
Chicken
- Place all contents in a large ziptop plastic bag, seal, and smoosh around to coat evenly. Place bag in the fridge to marinate for at least 30 minutes, or overnight. When you’re ready to grill, preheat to medium-high heat.
Corn
- Evenly drizzle the corn with the olive oil and rub it in evenly over the corn.
- Place the chicken and corn on the grill and cook for about 7 to 9 minutes, turning the ears every couple minutes by one-quarter turn, or as needed so that corn is cooking evenly but isn’t burning. Flip the chicken once midway through cooking.
- After corn is cooked, cut the corn off the ears with a sharp knife, place into a large bowl, top with the butter, and stir to combine until the butter melts.
- Dice the chicken into bite-sized pieces and add to the bowl with the corn.
Salad
- To the bowl with the corn and chicken, add all remaining ingredients except the olive oil, stir to combine, and taste. If desired, add additional salt, pepper, etc.; or add a pinch of cayenne pepper for heat, or add any of the suggestions given in the blog post. Serve salad immediately.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Recipe FAQs
Grilling it for about 7 to 8 minutes over medium-high heat, while rotating the ears a quarter-turn every couple minutes, works well for me but it all depends on the heat and potency of your grill. If your corn is blackening very quickly, your grill is likely a bit too hot. A little bit of blackening is fine, but too much blackening of the corn can adversely effect the flavor of the salad making it taste too charcoaly.
If you’d rather make a vegetarian grilled corn salad, you’re welcome to omit the chicken and add extra veggies instead.
More Corn Salad Recipes:
The Best 35 Grilling Recipes 📖🔥 – Unlock the full potential of your grill with my ebook! From juicy steaks to flavorful veggies, this cookbook is your guide to mastering outdoor cooking. With expert tips and mouthwatering recipes, elevate your grilling game and create unforgettable meals every time.
Grilled Corn and Avocado Salad – An EASY and HEALTHY salad that’s ready in 10 minutes and you won’t be able to stop eating it!! Juicy corn, creamy avocado, cilantro, and fresh lime juice is a FIESTA in your mouth!!
Avocado, Black Bean and Corn Salad with Lime-Cumin Vinaigrette – Everything tastes better with avocado! Easy, healthy and tons of flavor!
Creamy Mexican Grilled Corn and Zucchini Salad – A healthy easy salad that’s ready in 15 minutes and so flavorful! Corn, zucchini, cilantro, queso fresco and more are tossed in a delish creamy lime sauce!
Sweet and Sour Zucchini Corn Salad – Packed with big, bold flavors and tons of crunch! Healthy, light, bright, and cheery!
Skinny Mexican Bean and Corn Salad – Two kinds of beans, juicy corn, tomatoes, peppers, and more tossed in a light chili-lime-cumin vinaigrette! Healthy, easy, ready in 5 minutes, and loaded with flavor!
Honey Lemon Shrimp and Corn Salad – Tender juicy shrimp nestled in a crunchy fresh salad and everything is coated in an IRRESISTIBLE honey lemon sauce!! An EASY and HEALTHY salad that’s ready in 10 minutes!!
Originally posted August 26, 2019 and reposted September 6, 2021 and August 9, 2024 with updated text.
Easy and delicious summer supper. And great leftovers.
Thanks for the 5 star review, Sahara, and I am glad this was an easy and delish summer supper! I love the leftover from this recipe. I make extra, just to have leftovers :)
Mine is in the fridge now giving the ingredients a chance to “get acquainted”. It already tastes yummy. I did change a couple things based on what I had on hand. No chicken thawed out so I put 6 pieces of bacon, crumbled in place of the chicken. It needs more, I think. I had lemons instead of limes. And I added a can of black eyed peas for more protein (and because I like black eyed peas! 😂🤣 I added a little bit of cojita cheese. That one I wish I’d left out, but, oh well, it’s too late now!
Mine is in the fridge now giving the ingredients a chance to “get acquainted”. It already tastes yummy. I did change a couple things based on what I had on hand. No chicken thawed out so I put 6 pieces of bacon, crumbled in place of the chicken. It needs more, I think. I had lemons instead of limes. And I added a can of black eyed peas for more protein (and because I like black eyed peas! 😂🤣 I added a little bit of cojita cheese. That one I wish I’d left out, but, oh well, it’s too late now!
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad you were able to mix and match and improv with this recipe based on what you had on hand!
great
david_yu@carrefour.com
I got a few ears of sweetcorn from a neighbor so had to try this yesterday. Loved it of course! It’s so good with the marinated chicken. Fresh corn and garden tomatoes are a couple of my favorite summer foods too!
I got a few ears of sweetcorn from a neighbor so had to try this yesterday. Loved it of course! It’s so good with the marinated chicken. Fresh corn and garden tomatoes are a couple of my favorite summer foods too!
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad you were able to take advantage of the last morsels of summer and that you even had homegrown garden fresh produce for the recipe!
Fresh sweet corn won’t be around much longer–this would be a fantastic way to enjoy it. We have loved your grilled sweet corn salad recipe this summer!
This is a spin off on that one and glad you’ve loved it! Even though lots of people have moved past summery meals already, there is nothing like fresh sweet corn (and tomatoes) for me and this was my one last hurrah recipe!
This is so perfect for summer!
Paige
https://thehappyflammmily.com