Watermelon Chicken Salad for One

Ingredients

Scroll down to the watermelon chicken salad recipe card for the amounts of each ingredient, but here’s a quick visual + description of what’s in this recipe.

• Barley: Chewy, neutral barley is a great addition to this salad. It’s satisfying because of the fiber and carbs in it. You can use whatever grain you like/have.
• Chicken: Substitute with salmon, edamame, pan fried tofu, or a pork chop.
• Arugula: Peppery arugula is delicious in this salad, but you can use romaine, spinach, spring greens or whatever you have.
• Watermelon: Crunchy, sweet watermelon adds lots of texture and flavor to this easy watermelon chicken salad.
• Blueberries
• Cucumber: I like adding cucumber for a nice crunchy topping, but you can add carrots, thinly sliced or shredded zucchini, brussels sprouts, or broccoli.
• Red Onion: If you have red onion, or even another type of onion (white or green onion), that would work too
• Pistachios
• Feta Cheese: Smooth, crumbled feta cheese adds lots of salty flavor to this easy watermelon chicken salad. It’s great. You can use parmesan or goat cheese too.
• Red Wine Vinegar: I like this vinegar because it’s a bit fruity feeling and sweet. Balsamic vinegar and probably apple cider vinegar would be good too.
• Olive Oil
• Dijon Mustard: Adding dijon mustard to dressings makes for a great flavor addition, but it also helps the oil and vinegar from separating as much.

Instructions

Scroll down to the recipe card for more detailed instructions. Here’s a quick overview + photos to see how to make this recipe in general.

1. Cook chicken and barley, if it’s not premade. It’ll take about 30 minutes to cook both.

You can also use rotisserie chicken or precooked frozen chicken, or precooked or frozen barley to save time.

2. Chop watermelon, cucumber, red onion, and also chop pistachios. Set aside if you haven’t chopped any of these ingredients yet.

3. Assemble the watermelon chicken salad by piling arugula in a large bowl or plate, then add chopped chicken, watermelon, handful of blueberries, cucumber, red onion, and chopped pistachios on top of arugula. Set aside.

4. After assembling the arugula chicken salad, pour red wine vinegar into a small jar with a lid, then add olive oil, dijon mustard, and a pinch of salt to jar.

5. Screw on lid tightly and shake until dressing is mixed well. Drizzle over this delicious summer salad right before serving. Enjoy your watermelon chicken salad.

Substitutions/Tips

• Save time making this chicken and watermelon salad by using precooked or rotisserie chicken, or precooked/frozen/quick cooking barley.
• Easily swap the chicken for another type of protein, barley for another grain, arugula for another type of green, etc. You can see other options above, in the ingredient section.
• You can swap the pistachios for other nuts if you need to, although the pistachios are great in this salad.
• Make extra salad dressing if you have leftover arugula and want to make more salads this week!
• Other great add-ins: sunflower seeds, goat cheese, chopped broccoli or cauliflower, crusty bread, etc would all be great in or with this watermelon chicken salad.

FAQ

Other good salad and dressing recipes

What to do with leftover ingredients

When you’re cooking for one, you often have leftover produce, cans of whatever ingredient, etc. Here are a couple ideas on how to use up the leftover ingredients. It’ll help you save money by wasting fewer ingredients.