Grilled Romaine Salad with Chicken

Char marks galore with this Grilled Romaine Salad with Chicken dressed in a bright basil and parsley vinaigrette. It's like American, Greek, and Mexican cuisine had a seriously mouthwatering collision. You're going to want this healthy, quick and easy dinner on repeat all summer long.

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Key Ingredients & Substitutions

Here in the Garden State, farmers markets are burgeoning with summer's bounty. Tomatoes aren't quite here yet but it won't be long. If they were, they definitely would have joined this band of crisp lettuce, sweet corn, zucchini, and red onion.

The vinaigrette is a delicious puree of basil and parsley, scallions, lemon juice, agave, and extra-virgin olive oil. You can easily include or substitute in cilantro, lime juice, and honey or maple syrup as the sweetener. You can whip up this green goddess of a dressing the day before too.

As far as prepping the veggies, just husk the corn, slice the zucchini, onion and halloumi, and halve the romaine hearts. TIP: Be sure to leave the root ends intact to keep the leaves together.

Simply fire up the bbq, coat the gang in olive oil, and sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Then get grilling!

Prepping the Chicken

Prepping the chicken is a cinch too. You can use breasts or thighs. Coat them with a sweet n' spicy glaze of adobo sauce, honey, olive oil and ground cumin. We have a fairly moderate palate when it comes to heat, but if you're more adventurous feel free to add some hot sauce or cayenne pepper to the mix. Also, you can omit the chicken entirely to keep the salad vegetarian.

How to Assemble the Salad

Once all the grilling has commenced, cut the kernels from the cobs, slice the chicken and halloumi, and grab a large platter. Arrange your charred beauties, give them a good drizzle of the dressing, and uncork your favorite. Hope you love this as much as we do. Cheers to summer, friends!!

Entrée Salad Inspiration

The beauty of salads is their versatility so feel free to add and mix up as many proteins, cheeses, veggies and fruit as you like. Check these out!

Grilled Shrimp Garden Salad w/ Sesame Lime Dressing

Citrus Salad with Avocado & Goat Cheese

Smoked Salmon Spinach Salad w/ Lemon Dijon Vinaigrette

Strawberry Spinach Salad w/ Granola Croutons by Cotter Crunch

More Delicious Summer Dishes

Take advantage of summer's bounty with these seasonal recipes that will have your gang coming back for more.

Summer Crostini Five Ways

Blistered Cherry Tomato & Grape Galette

Grilled Cantaloupe & Black Bean Salad

No Churn Cherry Vanilla Ice Cream

Skillet Berry Cobbler

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📋 Recipe

Grilled Romaine Salad with Chicken

Salad reaches a whole new level with smoky grilled romaine, vegetables, halloumi and spicy chicken then drizzled with a bright fresh herb vinaigrette.

5 from 6 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Dinner, Lunch, Main Course, Salad

Cuisine: American, Gluten Free, Keto

Prep Time: 25 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes minutes

Servings: 6 servings

Calories: 294kcal

Author: Kim Peterson

Equipment

• ▢
  Large, rimmed baking sheets
• ▢
  High-speed blender

Ingredients

Dressing

• ▢ ¾ cup packed fresh basil , parsley or cilantro (or a combo), plus more for garnish
• ▢ 3 green onions , coarsely chopped
• ▢ 3 tablespoons lime juice
• ▢ 1 tablespoon agave , honey or maple syrup
• ▢ ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
• ▢ Kosher salt and pepper

Chicken

• ▢ 1 tablespoon adobo sauce
• ▢ 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• ▢ 1 tablespoon honey
• ▢ 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• ▢ ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• ▢ 1 ½ pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Salad

• ▢ 2 romaine hearts , about 7 ounces each, halved lengthwise with root ends intact
• ▢ 2 zucchini , quartered lengthwise
• ▢ 2 ears corn , husked
• ▢ 1 large red onion , cut into ½-inch thick slices
• ▢ 6 ounces halloumi cheese , cut into 2 slices
• ▢ 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• ▢ Kosher salt and pepper

Instructions

Dressing

• Combine the first 5 ingredients in a high-powered blender or food processor until completely smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
• Makes about ⅔ cup. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate.)

Chicken

• In a small bowl, mix the adobo, olive oil, honey, cumin and salt until well combined. Brush the mixture liberally on both sides of the chicken breasts.
• Let stand at room temperature while prepping vegetables.

Salad

• Preheat grill to medium.
• Place the corn, zucchini quarters, onion slices, halved romaine and halloumi slices on 1 or 2 large, parchment-lined baking sheets.
• Brush the olive oil all over the vegetables and halloumi. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper.
• Start with the chicken and corn. Fit what you can on the grill with enough room to flip and turn.
• Use these cooking times as a guide and adjust your grill’s heat if firing up too fast or not charring enough.
• Grill the chicken for about 5 minutes per side, or until an instant-read thermometer inserted in the thickest part registers 160°Transfer to a clean plate and tent with foil.
• Grill the corn about 15 minutes turning every few minutes. If there’s room, start grilling the corn with the chicken.
• For the zucchini and onion, grill 4-5 minutes per side depending how strong the heat is on their spot of the grill.
• The halloumi and romaine can go on the grill together. Grill the romaine, cut-side down, until lightly charred, 2 to 3 minutes. Halloumi needs about 2 minutes per side until golden brown.
• When cool enough to handle, cut the kernels off the cob, and cut the halloumi slices into thirds.
• Arrange the romaine, chicken, corn, zucchini, onion and halloumi on a platter. Drizzle with some of the dressing and pass the rest separately. Enjoy!

Notes

*Recipe was adapted from EatingWell's July/August 2019 issue.

Nutrition

Serving: 1 serving | Calories: 294kcal | Carbohydrates: 15g | Protein: 33g | Fat: 11g | Cholesterol: 73mg | Sodium: 1002mg | Potassium: 837mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 8g | Vitamin A: 3735IU | Vitamin C: 22mg | Calcium: 334mg

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