I don’t think you will have tasted a salad as packed to the brim with flavour as my Grilled Chicken, Charred Corn and Broccoli Salad. With juicy chicken thighs marinated in a cumin & yoghurt marinade before being grilled (or fried) to perfection, chopped and up and tossed through charred corn and crunchy broccoli, all dressed in a tangy Sumac vinaigrette. Oh and don’t forget the fresh radishes and spring onions to add some bite, flavour and crunch as well as crispy bacon pieces, because, well, bacon. Healthy food never tasted so good!
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One of the best things about this salad recipe though is that it stores well in the fridge for up to 3 days without anything going soggy. The veggies continue to marinade in the dressing and it’s just as good on day 3 as it is on day 1!
If you love this salad then you need to try my Tuna Corn Salad or my Tex Mex Salad with Corn Chips, yum! These might just become your go-to salads next Summer and perfect for fresh corn harvest season!
What’s to Love About Chicken, Corn and Broccoli Salad
- allergy friendly – this salad is gluten free, nut free and can easily be dairy free by using a dairy free yoghurt instead of Greek yoghurt.
- perfect for meal prep – make this salad in advance for 3 days of delicious lunches!
- delicious – there is so much flavour packed into this salad with juicy tender chicken and crunchy sweet corn. The sumac dressing is a tangy, zesty dream that pulls it all together! It’s an absolute crowd pleaser, if you feel like sharing that is!
- boost your daily veggies – this salad is an excellent way to boost your daily vegetable intake, while providing an excellent amount of protein. Having healthy eating habits is easy when the food tastes this good!
Ingredients Notes & Substitutions
Below is a list of all of the ingredients that you will need for this recipe as well as any ingredient notes and possible ingredient swaps. I found all of the ingredients I needed at my local grocery store, except for the sumac, which I was able to buy from my local bulk foods store.
Salad Ingredients
- fresh corn cobs – the corn cobs are charred in a dry, hot frying pan and then the corn kernels are sliced off the cob and added into the salad.
- broccoli – rather than cutting the broccoli into small florets, I prefer to kind of dice the broccoli so you have a mix of chunks of stem and falling apart florets.
- 2-3 stalks spring onion – also known as green onions or shallots. You can swap the green onions for red onions (Spanish onion) finely diced, if preferred.
- fresh parsley – a small handful of continental parsley, roughly chopped. The parsley can be swapped for other fresh herbs like fresh dill, fresh mint or cilantro.
- radishes – you could swap radishes for a large carrot, either grated or very finely julienned, to give that crunch if you can’t find radishes.
- bacon – I like to buy a high-quality bacon, one that preferably is free from nitrites.
Chicken & Marinade
- skinless chicken thigh fillets – you may need to further trim the chicken thigh fillets as they will often still have some small bits of bones or gristle in them.
- Greek yoghurt – to make this dairy free you can swap the Greek yoghurt for an unsweetened, natural coconut yoghurt.
- ground cumin
- sweet paprika
- onion powder
- tahini – I’ve used a hulled tahini for a milder flavour in this recipe.
- lemon – I use the lemon juice and lemon zest from 1 fresh lemon. Can be swapped for lime juice and zest if preferred.
- garlic cloves – the garlic cloves are peeled and minced for this recipe.
- sea salt and cracked black pepper
Dressing Ingredients
- sumac – you might need to look in health food stores, bulk food stores or a mediterranean or Middle Eastern deli for sumac.
- fresh lemon juice – can be swapped for lime juice or apple cider vinegar.
- pure maple syrup
- grainy mustard
- dijon mustard
- sea salt flakes
- cracked black pepper
- minced garlic
- extra virgin olive oil
Variations
I love my Sumac Salad Dressing on this salad, but if you want to change things up, other salad dressings you could try are:
- ranch dressing
- balsamic vinegar and honey dressing
- honey lime dressing
How to Make Chicken, Corn, Broccoli & Bacon Salad
There’s a few steps to this recipe but I promise you that it’s worth it. The first step is to marinade the chicken. I like to marinade the chicken for at least half an hour but if you can have it marinading for a few hours that is even better.
Marinade Chicken
To make the marinade, add the yoghurt, cumin, paprika, onion powder, tahini, lemon juice and zest, minced garlic, salt and pepper to a large bowl. Whisk to combine. Add the chicken thighs to the bowl and toss to coat all of the chicken in the marinade. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for a minimum of 30 minutes.
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Make Salad Dressing
Now make the dressing. Add the sumac, lemon juice, maple syrup, tbsp grainy mustard, dijon mustard, salt, pepper and garlic to a small bowl. Whisk to combine. Slowly start to pour in the olive oil as you whisk. Once all of the olive oil is incorporated into the lemon juice mixture, set aside.
Blanch Broccoli
Next, add the chopped up broccoli to a medium bowl and top with boiling water to blanch. As soon as the broccoli turns vibrant green, carefully strain into a metal fine mesh sieve and run under cold water. Place the sieve over the bowl so that the broccoli can strain.
Fry Bacon
Heat a drizzle of olive oil in a large frying pan on a medium heat. Add the bacon pieces and fry until crispy. Transfer to a paper towel lined plate to soak off excess oil.
Char Corn
Wipe most of the oil from the pan using paper towels, being careful not to burn yourself! Add the corn cobs to the pan and turn the heat to medium-high. As the corn cobs char on the bottom side, turn over to char each side of the cob. Transfer to a chopping board and once cool enough to touch, use a sharp knife to slice off the corn kernels. Tip the corn kernels into a large salad bowl along with the broccoli, spring onions, radishes, bacon and parsley.
Grill Chicken
While the corn cobs are cooling, add another drizzle of olive oil to the pan, reduce the heat back to medium and add the chicken thigh fillets, making sure to let any excess marinade drip off the fillets. Fry for around 6-7 minutes on each side or until the fillets are cooked through. If your pan is large enough you should be able to fry all of the fillets at the same time. For a smaller frying pan, fry 2 at a time. Feel free to cook the marinated chicken thighs on the bbq if preferred.
Assemble Salad
Transfer the cooked chicken over to the chopping board and roughly dice the chicken. Add the chicken to the salad bowl followed by the salad dressing. Toss the salad so that all of the elements are mixed together and the entire salad is coated evenly in the salad dressing.
Serve warm or cold.
Storage
Store the salad leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. This recipe makes enough for 3 salads as a main dish or 4-5 as a side dish.
Grilled Chicken, Charred Corn and Broccoli Salad
Equipment
- Large frying pan or skillet
- Chopping Board
- Sharp knife
- Large salad bowl
- Medium Mixing Bowl
- Whisk
- Fine mesh sieve
Ingredients
- 500 grams skinless chicken thighs, trimmed
- ½ cup Greek yoghurt, or natural coconut yoghurt
- 1 tablespoon tahini, hulled
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon sea salt flakes
- 1 teaspoon sweet paprika
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 lemon, juice and zest
- Cracked black pepper
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 3 rashers streaky bacon, thinly sliced
- 3 cobs corn
- 1 head broccoli, large, roughly chopped
- 5 radishes, diced
- small handful Continental parsley, roughly chopped
- 2 stems spring onions, finely sliced
Sumac Dressing
- 50 mL lemon juice, fresh
- 1 tablespoon wholegrain mustard
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 2 teaspoons pure maple syrup
- 2 teaspoons sumac
- ½ teaspoon sea salt flakes
- Cracked black pepper
- 60 mL extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
- Line a dinner plate with clean paper towel and set aside.
- To a large bowl add the natural yoghurt, tahini, onion powder, minced garlic, salt, paprika, cumin, lemon juice, lemon zest and cracked black pepper. Whisk to combine.
- Add the chicken thigh fillets to the bowl and coat them all in the marinade. Cover and place in the fridge to marinade for a minimum of 30 minutes, more if possible.
- While the chicken thigh fillets are marinading, prepare the broccoli. Add the chopped broccoli into medium sized heatproof bowl. Pour boiling water over the broccoli and into the bowl, enough so that it covers the broccoli. When the broccoli is a vibrant green, carefully strain into a metal fine mesh sieve over the sink and then rinse the broccoli under cold water. Set the sieve with the broccoli over the bowl to continue to strain.
- Next, prepare the dressing. Add the lemon juice, wholegrain mustard, Dijon mustard, minced garlic, maple syrup, sumac, sea salt and cracked black pepper to a small bowl. Whisk to combine. While whisking, slowly pour in the olive oil and continue whisking until the dressing is smooth and well combined.
- Bring a large frying pan to a medium heat. Add the olive oil and then the bacon pieces and spread out across the base of the pan. Stirring occasionally, fry the bacon until crispy. Transfer from the pan to a paper towel lined plate. Use paper towels to soak up most of the oil from the frying pan.
- Add the corn cobs to the pan. Turn the corn cobbs every few minutes until they are starting to char. Transfer the charred corn cobbs onto a large chopping board. Once cool enough, slice the corn kernels from the cobb.
- Remove each chicken thigh from the marinade and let any excess marinade drip off before adding the chicken thigh fillets to the pan. Fry for 6-7 minutes on the first side before flipping and frying for 6-7 minutes on the second side or until cooked through. Transfer the fried chicken thighs to a large chopping board.
- Dice the cooked chicken thighs and place into a large bowl along with the corn kernels, broccoli, bacon, finely diced red onion, diced radishes, sliced spring onions and roughly chopped parsley.
- Drizzle the dressing over the salad and toss everything together well to combine. Serve the salad warm or cold.
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