Name: Chipotle Chicken Cobb Salad with Peaches
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 40 min
Yield: 4
Ingredients: 2 tbsp olive oil (extra virgin); 1 tsp lemon zest (finely grated); 1 tsp lime zest (finely grated); 2 tbsp lemon juice; 1 tsp ground chipotle pepper; 1/2 tsp sea salt; 6 cups lettuce or mixed greens; 8 chicken thighs (boneless, skinless); 4 slices bacon (nitrate-free); 2 large peaches (sliced into 1/8ths); 1 pint cherry tomatoes; 2 medium avocados (pitted, peeled and sliced); 1/2 large peach (very ripe); 1/4 cup olive oil (extra virgin); 2 tbsp lemon juice (or champagne vinegar); 2 tsp honey (or more if you like a sweeter dressing); 1/2 tsp sea salt

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Serve this fabulous Chipotle Chicken Cobb Salad with Peaches, Avocado and Bacon at any summer party! It’s a dinner salad with Sweet Peach Dressing that everyone will love.

Chipotle Chicken Cobb Salad with peaches, avocado, bacon and tomatoes! It’s a summer party salad that makes a complete dinner for a warm night.

I served this for dinner recently and it was a hit! The combination of flavours just works. Spicy chipotle chicken, sweet peaches, salty crispy bacon bits, summer tomatoes and mild creamy avocado slices balance it all. My newest favourite chicken dinner salad!

But that’s not all! Tossed with an amazing creamy sweet peach salad dressing, this is a dinner salad to remember (and one to make again and again.)

Peach and chipotle flavours are absolutely delicious together. Every summer, I make this Easy Peach Chipotle Glazed Chicken and this Avocado Grilled Peach and Chipotle Shrimp Salad, two of our favourite meals with peaches and chipotle.

One of the best things about serving a Cobb Salad to your friends or family is that they can choose what they like and avoid what they don’t! Not a fan of bacon? No problem. Don’t like tomatoes? No worries.

As written, this recipe will serve four people. For a crowd-sized Cobb salad, it can easily be doubled. Use a large platter, add extra greens and pile on the other ingredients!

Ready to make this salad? Here’s what you’ll need:

Ingredients for Chipotle Chicken Cobb Salad

chicken thighs: 8 meaty thighs. You can use chicken breasts, if you’d prefer. I find that it’s hard to ruin chicken thighs on the grill, while chicken breasts can quickly become overdone, dry and chewy.
a simple marinade: using ground chipotle pepper, olive oil, lemon and lime zest and lemon juice
bacon: nitrate-free, hormone free.
cherry tomatoes: or other tomatoes, sliced. I used a variety of different cherry tomatoes.
peaches: I used white peaches, but yellow peaches would be equally as delicious. Choose firm peaches. If they’re too soft, they won’t hold their shape on the grill. No need to peel them. Leaving the peel on helps them to keep their shape when they’re grilled. If you prefer, use fresh peaches. You’ll need two for the salad and half of another to make the dressing. Peaches are on the Dirty Dozen list, so choose organic if you can.
avocados: two
lettuce: or mixed greens
more lemon, olive oil and honey: for the Sweet Peach Salad Dressing

Let’s get organized.

How to make Chipotle Chicken Cobb Salad with Peaches

First, combine the Sweet Peach Salad Dressing ingredients in a blender or small food processor until very smooth. Set aside to allow flavours to blend. (Honestly, you’re going to love this dressing so much, you might want to double the recipe for another salad later in the week!)
Next, combine the Chipotle Chicken marinade ingredients. Add to the chicken thighs in a marinating container or ziplock bag, massage to coat all the chicken pieces. Refrigerate until ready to grill. You can marinate it for as little as 20 minutes or up to 8 hours.
While the chicken is marinating, cook the bacon, drain, pat dry with paper towels, crumble or chop. * See recipe notes below for how to cook bacon in the oven.
Grill the chicken until no longer pink inside and it has reached an internal temperature of at least 165°F. Remove from heat and slice. Watch carefully to prevent scorching or burning.
While the chicken is cooking, grill the peaches (if desired.) They won’t take long to develop grill marks. Turn with tongs and grill on the other side, then remove from the heat while still firm.
And finally, arrange the Cobb Salad on a large platter. Start with a bed of lettuce or mixed greens. Add chicken, cherry tomatoes, grilled (or fresh) peaches, avocado and bacon. Drizzle with Sweet Peach Salad Dressing.

Like feeling super organized when you’re planning to have friends for dinner? So do I.

You can prepare several parts of this salad in advance.

Wash and dry the greens and refrigerate.
Make the Sweet Peach Salad Dressing.
Combine the Chipotle Marinade ingredients. You can even marinate the chicken 8 hours in advance if you’d like.

Love Cobb Salad? Try these other Cobb Salad recipes, too.