This chicken salad has all the flavors of a classic Caprese salad; fresh tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, balsamic vinegar, and basil. Combined with cooked shredded chicken breast and a creamy dressing, it transforms into a convenient and delicious chicken salad for the ideal lunch. Serve it over arugula, in a wrap, or on a bun for the perfect lunch.
What are the components of a Caprese salad?
Caprese salad is an Italian classic; it’s simple, but the quality of the ingredients make it delicious. It features fresh tomatoes, mozzarella, basil, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and salt. Since tomatoes are at their peak freshness in the warmer months, this makes a delicious salad for the Spring and Summer.
My Balsamic Caprese Chicken Salad features all of the same components of a classic Caprese salad, but with some tweaks. We are still using fresh tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, and basil. We added cooked, shredded chicken into the mix as our protein, and lastly, instead of just using olive oil and balsamic vinegar here, I have created a creamy and delicious balsamic vinaigrette and mayo mixture to coat the salad components.
I enjoy serving this chicken salad over greens, or with crackers and veggies. It’s also great on a wrap or bun as the perfect sandwich!
What you’ll need to make this Balsamic Caprese Chicken Salad
To make this chicken salad, you’ll need a few key ingredients:
- cooked chicken breast
- You can use pre-cooked chicken breast (if you are using a rotisserie chicken, you will need 2 chickens to yield the 6 cups of cooked chicken breast needed for this recipe).
- If you want to poach your own chicken, see below for step by step instructions.
- red onion
- cherry tomatoes
- mini mozzarella balls
- These are also known as bocconcini (I use the Bel Gioioso snacking cheese balls).
- light mayo
- plain non-fat Greek yogurt
- Trust me on this, the yogurt is simply used to stretch out the light mayo. Together with the balsamic vinegar, these flavors create a really creamy vinaigrette base for this recipe.
- balsamic vinegar
- garlic powder
- onion powder
- Italian seasoning
How to make Balsamic Caprese Chicken Salad
Once you chicken is cooked, or if you are starting out with cooked chicken, the rest of this recipe is easy. Simply chop your onion, and half your cherry tomatoes. Chop the basil. Half the mozzarella balls.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the yogurt, mayo, balsamic vinegar, and spices. Whisk to combine and form a thick and creamy dressing. Fold in the cooked chicken, onion, tomatoes, and mozzarella. Add the basil.
To store, you can keep this chicken salad in the bowl it was made in, just make sure it is covered and kept in the fridge. You can also portion the chicken salad out into individual portions, at 1.5 cups each, and keep them in glass storage containers in the fridge.
To serve the chicken salad, pair it with greens (like arugula, a nice peppery salad green) or serve it on a bun or wrap.
How to poach your own chicken
Raw vs. cooked chicken ratio:
To yield 6 cups of cooked chicken, start off with 3 lbs of raw chicken.
For any of my chicken salad recipes, you can use rotisserie chicken or other pre-cooked chicken. I usually poach my chicken, because it’s easy enough to do, and it’s usually more cost-friendly.
If you’ve never done it before, I recommend you trying it. It’s very easy to do, and it’s also more economical than buying a fully-cooked rotisserie chicken (or two, in this case).
I have been poaching my chicken for chicken salads for a while now. Not only is it SUPER easy, but the chicken comes out super moist.
When you’re poaching chicken, you can add any flavor you want to your pot. For example, when I make my Thai Chicken Salad, I use ground ginger and lime in the water. For this recipe, I keep it simple with my basic poaching method. This includes some dried bay leaves, peppercorns, and salt. This is the basic recipe I use for most of my chicken salads, since it can work with most flavor profiles.
To poach the chicken, simply place the raw chicken breast in a large pot. Next, add the salt, peppercorns, crushed garlic cloves, and bay leaves.
Next, cover the chicken with cold water. Make sure everything is submerged under the water. Place the pot on the stove with a lid, and bring the water to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the water to a rapid simmer, and cook uncovered. Cook until the internal temperature of the chicken reaches 165F. You can determine that by using a meat thermometer like this one.
When the chicken has reached the internal temperature of 165, remove it from the pan and place it on a cutting board to cool. Then, shred it using two forks. This method will yield 6 cups of cooked chicken breast.

Balsamic Caprese Chicken Salad
Equipment
- mixing bowl
Ingredients
- 6 cups cooked chicken breast, shredded
- 1 cup red onion, chopped
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
- 6 oz mini mozzarella balls, halved; bocconcini
- 1/2 cup basil, fresh, chopped
- 1/4 cup light mayo
- 1/2 cup plain non fat Greek yogurt
- 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning
- 1 tsp kosher salt
Instructions
- Combine the mayo, balsamic, yogurt, garlic powder, Italian seasoning, kosher salt, and onion powder in a large bowl.
- Add the cooked chicken, diced onions, halved cherry tomatoes, basil, and halved mozzarella balls, and stir to combine.
Weight Watchers
Notes
- 6 WW points (green plan) - calculated using Perdue brand chicken breast
- 4 WW points (blue and purple plans)
Nutrition
You might also enjoy these recipes featuring fresh tomatoes and balsamic vinegar:
Chicken Milanese with Tomato and Mozzarella
This was delicious and kept so well in the fridge! My husband even loved it and he isn’t easy to please 😊😊
This is a top fave of mine, from Steph’s chicken salad recipes! I love that she uses the mozzarella string cheese sticks cut up in it. And the chips too! I was really looking forward to eating this for my lunch when I meal prepped it!
No instructions on what to do with Cheese Sticks. I guess it is obvious but did not find it in recipe instructions.
Can’t wait to try recipe. Making it today.
sorry! I will adjust. Yes just chop them up and add with the other ingredients.
Hi! I think you forgot to add instructions for the string cheese. I think it’s just chopped and stirred in, but I thought I would let you know!
Yes, I will fix! Thank you!
So delicious!! Easy to make and great for meal prep!
I’m going to make this this week for meal prep and I’m excited! If you fold in the arugula before storing for the week does it get wilty?
The perfect lunch meal prep! This tasty chicken salad was full of flavor and the protein packed portions kept me full all afternoon. A must try!
This was delicious! I was just confused on the serving size. I know it makes six servings but is that like a 1/2 cup? Please let us know if you have it figured out.
After making the buffalo ranch chicken salad last week and enjoying it so much, I decided to give another one of Steph’s chicken salads a try. I am normally not one to post reviews, but felt that I had to because this meal was just so good! I decided to skip on making the chips and just put the chicken salad into a 1 point tortilla, but I can only imagine with how great Steph’s recipes are that the chips are to die for. Can’t wait to pick my next meal prep recipe!
Such a flavorful chicken salad. All of the components of a classic caprese salad. Wonderful.
OM Goodness!! This is my favorite chicken salad!
I’m not normally a chicken salad lover (I hate mayo) but this one is a winner!! The flavors are incredible and I love that I could eat it on a wrap, with some lettuce, or on its own. So versatile and definitely going into my lunch rotation!
This is hands down the best chicken salad recipe Steph has come up with to date! My boyfriend loves it and he’s not a chicken salad fan. So easy and soooo full of flavor!
This is one of my favorites! My whole family loves it.
This recipe is so easy to put together and sooooo delicious! Don’t skip the fresh basil as it adds the perfect pop of freshness with the tomatoes. You would never know this is a “healthy” recipe by all the flavor!
Absolutely delicious and keeps for several days for lunch meal prep!! Steph does it again!! You’ll love this hearty delicious salad!!
Another great recipe! Can’t wait to eat it this week and super easy and flavorful!
This recipe is SO easy and so delicious!! I used rotisserie chicken and will definitely be making this dressing again for EVERYTHING- so tasty. Thanks for sharing!!
This recipe is so good! I actually made a warm version of it and served it over orzo pasta and it was equally as fantastic. I could see myself using the balsamic dressing mix for other things because it is so tasty and easy. You don’t have any idea that there is greek yogurt in it.
Easy to make and so good! The servings are huge and filling.
Obsessed! Steph you have knocked it out of the park again with another amazing recipe! I made this for dinner one night for my family of six and it fed all of us with a side salad. The kids loved it so much and so did we. I am making your lighter tator tot casserole tonight for dinner and my mouth is watering! You legit make the best recipes! Will always be a huge fan of yours.
Made this for lunch meal prep. It’s so delicious and makes so much!!
Made this for meal prep lunches. So good! Highly recommend!
Loved this chicken salad!! Having this prepped for my lunches makes it super easy to stay on track. It’s a meal I look forward to!
I love this recipe! So easy to prep and have my lunches for the week.
Absolutely delicious!
Delicious!!! All of your recipes have been so good. Thank you so much for your time in creating them.
So delicious! I halved this recipe and am so sorry I did…it’s already almost all gone. It’s a new twist on chicken salad, great way to use the summer tomatoes and so filling too. I had it on a bed of lettuce and will definitely add into my rotation.
Made this today for the first time and WOW. So flavorful, so different, and we are very excited about the left overs. Another killer, thanks Steph!!
I made this for my lunches this week. SO. GOOD. Steph’s recipes literally never disappoint!
Just made it for lunches it tastes so good and looks amazing.
This is a new favorite! I accidentally added some Dijon out of habit, and it turned out amazing.
This was amazing! I enjoyed it all week and it was just as good on day 5 as it was on day 1. Definitely will be repeating!
This recipe is so good; I’ve made it twice now for lunch preps and it’s filling and flavorful. I use the creamy balsamic dressing for so many different things; it’s crave-worthy for sure! Thanks for creating this one.
So delicious and flavorful! I am typically not a chicken salad fan as I don’t like mayo but you can’t even taste it in this recipe and all the other flavors mesh so well.
Took it to work and everyone asked for the recipe (of course I shared the recipe!)
I put this in my meal planning software months ago. Was looking for a chicken salad to prep for lunches this week, and thought “perfect… my basil crop needs eating up”. OMG. This may be my favorite chicken salad ever! Thanks Stepp!!