This easy chicken and halloumi salad with a creamy mango salad dressing is the perfect summer lunch or light tea. It’s tasty, refreshing, and fruity, delicious after a busy day in the sun.
I love halloumi cheese. If you’ve been here before, you know this to be true!
It’s so yummy, and it works with absolutely everything. Or like on its own with some sweet chilli dip! Drool!
I also really like salads. But probably not the healthy kind. I am very bad for taking all those lovely fresh ingredients and covering them in cheese and a creamy dressing.
Chicken and halloumi salad recipes are great, because they’ve got tons of flavour and texture, and both main ingredients work with most things so you can add pretty much anything to your base and use any dressing!
As healthy chicken and halloumi recipes go, this one is absolutely my favourite, and the sweet mango salad dressing complements the flavours really well.
It’s so summery and tasty. It’s one of the few salad recipes that I could eat all of the time, and I try to have a bottle of my mango dressing for salad in the fridge all summer.
Ingredients for Chicken and Halloumi Salad
When it comes to the salad base, I keep things super simple. For my Chicken and Halloumi Salad Recipe I use:
- Mixed lettuce leaves – I use a bag of crispy mixed leaves from Aldi for colour and crunch.
- Cherry tomatoes
- Cucumber
- 500g Mini Chicken Fillets – You can swap these for 4 chicken breasts and chop them yourself. But the mini breasts are easier, they cook faster, and weirdly at the moment a 500g bag of mini breasts is cheaper in Asda than 500g of full chicken breasts.
- 220g Halloumi – a pack, I think the weight varies. I generally use plain halloumi, but you can get it with herbs, chilli, or mint, use your favourite.
- Pine Nuts – These are optional, but I am obsessed.
- Salt and ground black pepper – to season the chicken.
- Mango Salad Dressing – I make my own – you can find the full recipe here, and included in the card at the bottom of this post. But you can buy mango dressing too. Aldi does a lovely mango and chilli dressing that I really love.
Other Options
Feel free to change the base of the salad to suit your tastes.
I love adding edamame beans, sliced sweet peppers, shredded carrots, and lots of other things. Add what you like.
Cooking Chicken and Halloumi for Salad
You can cook both chicken and halloumi in a few different ways. But when I make this salad, I keep it simple and fry both.
I season the chicken with salt and freshly ground black pepper and just fry in a large pan with a little cooking spray.
I then place it in the oven on a tray, just to keep it warm while I fry the halloumi in the same pan. You could leave your chicken to go cold too though.
Can You Cook Halloumi on a BBQ?
Yes, grilled halloumi is awesome.
I brush it with oil before placing it on the BBQ and flip it every minute or so to stop it from burning or sticking.
Mini chicken breasts cook well on a BBQ too if you fancy a grilled chicken and halloumi salad.
Dressing for Chicken and Halloumi Salad
If you don’t like mangos or don’t want to make a dressing, this chicken halloumi salad would work well with most dressings.
They are both flavours that don’t overpower, so creamy, vinaigrette, or a simple oil dressing would all work well. I love it with my orange dressing too.
If you do want to use my Creamy Mango Salad Dressing there’s more information here, and the recipe is included in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
Other Easy Halloumi Meals
If you are looking for other home recipes with halloumi I’d try:
- Beetroot and halloumi salad
- Halloumi Stroganoff
- Halloumi Pasta Bake
- Halloumi Wraps
- Chicken and Halloumi Traybake
- Halloumi Stir Fry
- Halloumi and Chorizo Pasta
- Chicken and Halloumi Skewers
- Easy Chicken and Halloumi Wraps
- Halloumi Couscous Salad
- Chicken and Halloumi Burgers
Mango Salad Dressing
As much as I adore chicken and halloumi, the mango salad dressing recipe is the true star of the show here. It’s totally optional, but I highly recommend it if you love mango!
Chicken and Halloumi Salad with Creamy Mango Dressing
Ingredients
For the Chicken and Halloumi Salad:
- 1 Bag Mixed Lettuce Leaves (I use a crispy mix)
- 16 Cherry Tomatoes (Chopped into 1/4s)
- 16 Slices Cucumber (Chopped into 1/4s)
- 500 g Mini Chicken Breast Fillets
- 220 g Halloumi Cheese (Sliced into fingers)
- 4 Tablespoons Pine Nuts
- Pinch Salt and pepper
- Cooking Spray (or oil)
For the Mango Dressing:
- ½ Large Mango (Discard the skin and stone and chop into cubes)
- 2 Tablespoons Apple Cider Vinegar
- 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
- 1 Tablespoon Honey
- Pinch salt
Instructions
- To make the dressing place all of the ingredients in a jug and whizz with a stick blender, or use a food processor, until smooth.
- If the mixture is very thick, stir through some water, a tablespoon or 2 at a time, until it reaches a thick but drizzlable consistency.
- Set to one side.
- Mist a large frying pan with cooking spray over medium heat.
- Add the mini fillets and cook for 15 minutes, turning regularly until cooked through.
- Prepare 4 bowls of salad with lettuce, cucumber, and tomato.
- Preheat the oven to 120 degrees C.
- Place the cooked chicken on a baking tray and place it in the oven to keep warm.
- Spread the pine nuts on a baking tray, and add to the oven for the last few minutes, when the halloumi is nearly cooked, to lightly toast.
- Add more cooking spray to the pan if needed, and fry the halloumi for a few minutes on each side, until golden brown.
- Top your salad with chicken and halloumi and sprinkle on toasted pine nuts.
- Give your salad dressing a good stir before drizzling on top.
Notes
- If there’s any dressing left, keep it in the fridge in a lidded tub or bottle for up to a week. Shake or stir well before using again.
- Add extras to your salad if desired.
- I cut my uncooked halloumi into 8 large fingers, then when it’s cooked, I cut it in half again. You can cook in bigger, or smaller slices if you find that easier.
Nutrition
Any nutritional information is given as a general guide only and may not be accurate. The information is provided using an online calculator and is specific to my ingredients. Please make your own calculations if you want precise information.
Delightful!