Tropical Chicken Mango Salad Recipe

5.0 from 5 votes

Luscious mango, sweet coconut, juicy chicken, and a tangy raspberry vinaigrette make for a refreshing, healthy salad with a tropical flair! When mangos are in season this Tropical Chicken Mango Salad Recipe is my go-to lunch!

Oh, sweet mangoes! These tasty, sweet, juicy gems are iconic Florida. If you haven’t given/received a plastic bag of mangoes from a coworker or found a rando in your yard stealing your mangoes.. are you really a Floridian? Mangoes are a hot commodity in South Florida and when May rolls around, you bet your bottom dollar I’m waiting anxiously to get my hands on some beautiful ripe mangoes to make 1) mango margaritas and 2) this Tropical Chicken Mango Salad recipe. In that order, thank you very much.

Did You Know Mangos are Healthy?

Mango, known as the “king of fruits,” is low in calories but high in nutrients. This addictively delicious stonefruit has incredible health benefits. Not only does mango support and improve heart, eye, and digestive health, it is also packed with Vitamin C (67% of the daily value!) and polyphenols (function as antioxidants).

Mango trees do not tolerate cold weather and need a true tropical environment to thrive. In the US, mangoes are only grown in Florida, California, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico. Nonetheless, they can generally be found in your grocery store year-round depending on the variety and where it was produced. For this chicken mango salad recipe, you can even use thawed frozen mango if you can’t get your hands on some fresh mango.

About the Ingredients

Whether you want a quick lunch or a light dinner, this Tropical Chicken Mango Salad recipe is a winner! Here’s what you’ll need to make individual servings:

• 2-3 Cups Spring Mix – Spring Mix, or mesclun mix, is a combination of various baby greens from mild romaine to peppery arugula. Components typically vary by season and region, but it always offers a wonderful balance of textures and flavors for your salad. Feel free to use any other salad mix you like. I love Fresh Attitude’s Half ‘n Half (50% spinach, 50% spring mix) or Baby Kale Blend too.
• ½ Cup Cubed Cooked Chicken – Baked, sauteed, or grilled chicken breast all work great in this salad. I do a basic seasoned chicken breast with salt, pepper, garlic, and onion powders but you could also make it spicy to give your salad a nice contrast to the sweetness. Alternatively, cut up a store-bought rotisserie chicken to make things simple!
• ½ Cup Diced Sweet Mango – Green mango has its place, but not here. You’ll want ripe, sweet mangoes for this salad.
• ¼ Cup Sliced Almonds – Almonds provide a slight crunch and a delicious light flavor that’s a tad sweet and almost buttery.
• 2 Tbsp Coconut Flakes – I prefer sweetened coconut flakes. You can use unsweetened too, but the flavor is more pronounced in sweetened coconut so it pairs better with the layers of flavors in this particular chicken mango salad recipe.
• 2 Tbsp Diced Red Onion – just a bit of a spicy kick to balance the sweetness of the mango, coconut, and vinaigrette.
• ¼ Cup Cilantro – fresh, citrusy, and just plain lovely! Unless you’re in the (unlucky) bunch who taste soap when you eat cilantro. In that case, go with basil instead!
• Raspberry Walnut Vinaigrette – I’ll be honest. I don’t make my own vinaigrettes. If you do, power to you and certainly make your own! When it comes to salad dressings, I go for convenience. My go-to for this salad is Ken’s Steak House Raspberry Walnut Vinaigrette.

Substitutions and Variations

One of the best parts of this chicken mango salad recipe? How versatile it is! Here are a few simple substitutions that still taste amazing: 

• Instead of Spring Mix, try spinach, kale, or butter lettuce
• Instead of using chicken, you can grill some shrimp or salmon
• Instead of adding almonds, try chopped macadamia nuts or plantain chips
• Instead of cilantro, you can use basil

If you aren’t looking for substitutions, there are other ways that you can make this salad your own.

• To add more crunchy texture, add in English cucumber, sweet bell peppers, or green onions.
• For different flavors, try a squeeze of fresh lime juice, a sprinkle of Tajin seasoning, diced jalapeno or chili powder. You could also add curry powder to your chicken seasoning, giving the salad another unique layer of flavor.
• As for the salad dressing, I love to use a Raspberry Vinaigrette, but any Cilantro Lime Vinaigrette would work really well for this recipe too. Wishbone makes a Jalapeno Lime Vinaigrette which would make a fabulous sweet and spicy salad!

How to Tell if a Mango is Ripe

Look-Squeeze-Sniff!

LOOK – Mangoes range between green, yellow, orange, and red depending on the variety. Ripe mangoes are usually more intense in color, but that’s not the best way to determine ripeness.

Mangoes commonly have black spots on them. Those spots don’t necessarily mean they’re bad – and some devout mango eaters will tell you that those are the best and sweetest mangoes. You don’t want a large area to be black, but some black spots are perfectly fine and usually only affect the skin. Once you cut your mango, you can easily cut away any areas that were affected on the inside.

SQUEEZE – A ripe mango will feel slightly squishy, similar to ripe avocados or peaches. You won’t be able to completely smash it with your hands, but when a mango is just beginning to soften, that’s when the sweetness of the mango is at its peak. 

SNIFF – Smell the mango near the stem and you’ll easily smell the sweetness if it’s ripe. A neutral smell means the mango is not quite ready, while a sour smell means it’s overripe.

How to Make Tropical Chicken Mango Salad

I typically make this salad for lunch and am low-key obsessed with my salad bowl container. It has a plate to separate ingredients or warm up your protein, a handy dandy dressing container, and a locking lid (that has only failed me once in a very unfortunate drop.) Sadly, I don’t think this version is manufactured anymore, but it seems OXO makes this one now instead.

There’s really nothing complicated about making this Tropical Chicken Mango Salad recipe!

1. Dice and chop your ingredients;
2. Layer onto lettuce;
3. Pour on the dressing. That’s it!

For the chicken, you can either use a store-bought rotisserie chicken or make some simple, seasoned breasts yourself.

My go-to for easy, perfectly golden and juicy chicken is to season with salt and pepper, onion and garlic powder, and a bit of olive oil, then cook it in the air fryer on 390°F for about 10 minutes. You can grill, bake, pan fry, or air fry the chicken.

Since I usually plan to have the same salad for several days during the week, I like to air fry 1 or 2 chicken breasts, dice them up into small pieces, and store in the fridge. This makes it quick and easy to scoop out some chicken when assembling my salad each day.

How Do you Cut a Mango for Salad?

There are plenty of ways to cut mango for this salad. As long as you end up with pieces small enough to eat in one bite, then you should be good. Below are a few options and a great video from mango.org showing you different ways you can cut a mango.

(FYI, when “slicing the sides” you’ll want to stand the mango upright with the stem on top.)

1. Slice the sides of the mango, leaving you two halves. Score each half, then remove the mango flesh with a knife or spoon.
2. Slice the sides of the mango, but instead of scoring, slide the mango along the edge of a cup to remove the skin. Then you can dice it into bite size pieces.
3. Use a peeler to remove the skin, then slice mango flesh away from the seed. Dice the mango into bite size pieces. Though you get the least waste this way, it’s not my favorite because the mango can be very slippery when trying to peel it. Using a papertowel to hold the mango can be helpful.
4. My personal preference when cutting mango – I slice the two halves, then cut each into three or four long strips. I quickly filet each one separating the skin from the mango before dicing the mango for the salad. 

FAQ

This delicious mango chicken salad recipe is one that you’ll want to make over and over again, so get ready to enjoy it all summer long!

More Fresh Summer Recipes

• Mint & Lime Watermelon Salad
• Watermelon Mojito
• Cucumber Barley Salad
• Air Fryer Parmesan Zucchini Rounds

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