During the summer, we want to feel fresh, light, and full of energy, but we still crave tasty food.
One dish that can help you achieve all of that is the ensalada de pollo española, a beloved fan favorite among Spanish salad recipes.
Continue reading this article and discover how you can prepare this recipe at home, along with tips for storing, serving, and more.
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Background of the Dish
Ensalada de pollo is one of the oldest and most traditional Spanish salads that exists, and every culture or region has its version.
In southern Spain, the key ingredients are chicken, lettuce, and a Spanish dressing made with olive oil and vinegar.
Over time, more innovative salad recipes emerged, such as the ensalada de mango, but the classic chicken salad still holds a special place in everyone’s heart.
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Things You’ll Need for Ensalada de Pollo
To prepare the ensalada de pollo you will need lettuce, chicken, onion, bell pepper, plus olive oil and vinegar for the dressing.
You don’t need any specific kitchen tool for this Spanish salad, and you can choose to cook the chicken in the oven, grill, or however, you like.
Ingredients
- 2 chicken breasts
- 4 hard-boiled eggs
- 1 iceberg lettuce
- 1 tomato
- 1 red onion
- 1 green pepper
- 100 gr green olives
- 5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (or to taste)
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar (or to taste)
- Salt and pepper to taste
How to Make Ensalada de Pollo – Step by Step Guide
- The first step in this ensalada de pollo recipe is to cook the chicken breasts on the griddle or in the oven. In both cases, it can take from 20 to 30 minutes, depending on the thickness of the breast. Set them aside.
- In the meantime, boil the eggs for 13 minutes and set them aside to cool. You can boil them for 5 more minutes if you want a harder egg yolk.
- Now, peel, wash, and cut the onion into thin slices. Wash and cut the bell pepper in half, removing the seeds and any inedible parts, then cut it into strips.
- Then, wash and cut the tomato into small cubes. You can also remove the seeds and skin if necessary. Wash the lettuce and separate its leaves, also cut them (with a knife or your hands).
- Grab the chicken breasts again and cut them into bite-sized pieces. For this pollo salad, you can even shred the chicken if you want to.
- Then, grab a bowl and put the washed and cut vegetables, and the chicken breast pieces, season with salt and pepper, and toss it around. You could use other spices on this ensalada con pollo like paprika, garlic powder, or chili powder.
- After that, dress this Hispanic salad by pouring the oil and vinegar in the amounts listed or as much as you like (always more oil than vinegar).
- For the final step of this Spanish chicken salad recipe, cut the eggs into wedges and the olives in half. Put them on top of the salad and serve the ensalada de pollo.
Substitution of Ingredients
The ingredients for the Spanish chicken salad are pretty basic, but there are a few changes that you can make.
For example, instead of chicken breasts you can use any part of the chicken that you like, or pieces of leftover roasted chicken.
Besides that, you can use any type of lettuce, although iceberg lettuce is the perfect one for the Spanish summer salad.
If you want to switch things up on this traditional Spanish salad, then you can replace the typical dressing (olive oil and vinegar) with any of your choice: ranch sauce, mayonnaise, balsamic oregano, or even a bit of honey mustard.
Instead of chicken you can do something more similar to the Spanish grilled octopus salad and use seafood as the protein, or substitute the lettuce for another vegetable like the ensalada de pepino.
Tips on Serving Ensalada de Pollo
The ensalada de pollo is a fantastic side dish, but thanks to the amount of protein that it has it can work as a main dish too.
We always recommend serving Spanish salad tapas cold, so if by the time you finish making the recipe you think that it needs to cool down, you can take it to the fridge for 30 to 60 minutes.
To serve it as chicken salad appetizers, you just have to place the ensalada de pollo in small bowls and you can cut the eggs into smaller pieces.
You can also serve this salad as a chicken salad wrap, just grab your favorite store-bought tortilla shell (or make it from scratch) and use the ensalada de pollo as the filling.
Lastly, you can serve the ensalada de pollo with other side dishes, like the Spanish tomato salad or the Spanish mixed green salad.
The ensalada de aguacate, a Spanish avocado salad is a great dish if you want a healthy and nutritious salad for your lunch.
How to Store Ensalada de Pollo
You can store the ensalada de pollo for up to 24 hours in the fridge, but you have to add the dressing just when you are about to eat it (not before or the ingredients will go bad).
Just place the chicken salad in a covered container (or bowl covered with a lid, plastic wrap, or a clean plastic bag).
You can’t freeze Spanish summer salad, but one salad that you can freeze is the Spanish octopus salad.
Recipe Card: Ensalada de Pollo
Delicious Ensalada de Pollo Recipe
During the summer, we want to feel fresh, light, and full of energy, but we still crave tasty food.
One dish that can help you achieve all of that is the ensalada de pollo española, a beloved fan favorite among Spanish salad recipes.
Continue reading this article and discover how you can prepare this recipe at home, along with tips for storing, serving, and more.
Ingredients
- 2 chicken breasts
- 4 hard-boiled eggs
- 1 iceberg lettuce
- 1 tomato
- 1 red onion
- 1 green pepper
- 100 gr green olives
- 5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (or to taste)
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar (or to taste)
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Cook the chicken breasts on the griddle or in the oven. In both cases, it can take 20 to 30 minutes, depending on the thickness of the breast. Set them aside.
- In the meantime, boil the eggs for 13 minutes and set them aside to cool.
- Peel, wash, and cut the onion into thin slices. Wash and cut the bell pepper in half, remove the seeds and any inedible parts, then cut into strips.
- Wash and cut the tomato into small cubes. You can also remove the seeds and skin if necessary. Wash the lettuce and separate its leaves, also cut them (with a knife or your hands).
- Take the chicken breasts again and cut them into bite-sized pieces.
- In a bowl, put the washed and cut vegetables, and the chicken breast pieces, season with salt and pepper and toss it around.
- Put the oil and vinegar in the amounts listed or the ones you want (always more oil than vinegar).
- Cut the eggs into wedges and the olives in half. Put them on top of the salad and serve.
Notes
You can add more spices to the Spanish salad recipe, like paprika, chili powder, or garlic powder.
The classic Spanish salad dressing is a mix between olive oil and vinegar, always using more oil so that it doesn't have a bitter and acidic flavor.
The green olives are a common ingredient for the Spanish style salad, but you can skip them if you don't like them, or replace them with black olives.
Nutrition Information
Yield
5Serving Size
1Amount Per Serving Calories 501Total Fat 32gSaturated Fat 6gCholesterol 183mgSodium 3303mgCarbohydrates 24.6gFiber 1.2gSugar 2.3gProtein 24g
Hola, I’m Paulina! Together with my team, we are passionate about Southern Spain. Here we share all you need to know for great times in Southern Spain with the best places to visit, stay and, of course, the best food to eat.
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