One of my favorite salads at Portillo’s was always the poppy seed salad with fruit and chicken. When they took it off the menu, I had to start making it at home. If you like fruit in your dinner salad, you are going to love this fresh and delicious recipe.
As we head into spring, it is time to start thinking about eating more fresh food. Hooray! It’s about dang time.
Sitting down to a fresh salad full of greens, tons of fruit, some candied nuts, cheese and chicken is a perfect way to celebrate. Top that off with a little homemade poppy seed dressing to tie it all together and you are really in business.
You are really going to thank yourself for making this one! It is my take on my favorite salad from Portillo’s.
When they took it off of the menu, I knew that couldn’t be the end. Now I just have to make it at home!
Portillo’s Official Dressing Recipe
Portillo’s was nice enough to give us their dressing recipes when they took the salad off of their menu. So, I have updated the recipe card to reflect their recipe.
The poppyseed dressing is super simple to make. It just takes a handful of ingredients and is the perfect thing to bring together everything else.
Email Me The Recipe
I'll email this post to you, so you can easily find it later. Plus you’ll get new recipes from me every week!
It is super easy to just measure all in the ingredients and throw them in a jar. Give it a good shake and store it in the refrigerator until you are ready to dig in.
Then just give it another quick shake before you use. Of course you can use a bowl and a whisk if you prefer.
Assembling the Salad
The rest of the salad is pretty simple too. You could totally leave the chicken off if you are serving it as a side salad or starter for a party.
In fact, this would be a perfect fresh salad for a brunch. It is a nice cross between a fruit salad and a green salad. The best of both worlds!
But if you are serving it as a meal, the chicken really helps make it feels substantial. So I would definitely recommend it if you are serving this as a dinner salad.
I love the combination of all of the fruit and blue cheese, so that is what I went with. If you are not a blue cheese fan, you could easily sub in feta or your favorite.
If you really wanted to fancy it up, you could make little goat cheese balls and roll them in chopped pecans. That would be pretty and delicious too!
I am not one for telling you what to do… but you have to make this salad! Please give it a try and let me know if you like it as much as I do.
Portillo’s Poppy Seed Salad with Chicken and Fruit
Ingredients
Salad Ingredients
- 1 cooked chicken breast or cubed leftover chicken
- 2-3 cups romaine lettuce chopped
- 2-3 strawberries sliced
- 2-3 Tablespoons blueberries
- ¼ cup pineapple chunks
- ¼ cup mandarin orange sections
- 2-3 Tablespoons candied pecans
- 2-3 Tablespoons blue cheese or feta, goat cheese, etc.
- 2 -3 Tablespoon poppy seed dressing
Portillo's Poppyseed Dressing
- ¼ cup mayonnaise
- 2 Tablespoons milk
- 1 teaspoon poppy seeds
- 2 Tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
Instructions
Poppy Seed Dressing
- Place all ingredients in a jar. Shake to combine.¼ cup mayonnaise, 2 Tablespoons milk, 1 teaspoon poppy seeds, 2 Tablespoons granulated sugar, 1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- Refrigerate until ready to use. Just give another shake before serving.
Salad Assembly
- Thoroughly wash all fresh fruit and lettuce.
- Chop lettuce into bite sized pieces and slice strawberries. Dice chicken.
- Arrange lettuce in a bowl. Top with fruit, cheese, nuts.
- Drizzle dressing over the top and dig in!
Notes
Email Me The Recipe
I’ll email this post to you, so you can easily find it later. Plus you’ll get new recipes from me every week!
Did you try this recipe?
Don’t forget to leave a rating below and make sure to follow on Pinterest and Instagram for more!
Get social!
Recipes in your inbox
So I live in the Chicagoland area and this was a weekly salad for me. I was completely devastated when they took it off the menu, like whyyyy?! Anyway, so glad I stumbled upon this. And just fyi, they eventually posted on their site the actual dressing recipe for fans of the salad so they could make it at home! We obviously weren’t the only ones!
Portillo’s Poppyseed Dressing
• 1/4 cup Mayonnaise
• 2 tbsp Milk
• 1 tsp Poppy Seeds
• 2 tbsp Sugar
• 1 tbsp Cider Vinegar
Thanks for helping me recreate this!!
Thanks for sharing! I wish they would bring the salad back, but now I’m going to try this dressing recipe.
Thank you!
This is my kind of salad! I am craving good salads so much right now!
I love comforting winter food, but after all these cold months I am ready for warmer weather and fresher food too!
Looks delicious. I love salads with fruit in them.
x, Julie
Me too, they are my favorite!
This salad is beautiful! I love all of the good stuff in it and how colorful it is!
Thank you so much!
I love a nice fresh salad especially at this time of year! My favorite salads always include fruit so this looks perfect. I can't wait to try the dressing too.
Me too and this one is probably my all time favorite!
This type of salad is my very favorite kind! Perfect for the weekend, to take to work or a light dinner.
It is definitely my favorite too, thank you!
Ahhhhh a taste of Spring! I love how colorful this is! And poppyseed is by far my favorite! Looks like I’ll be making up a batch and enjoying some tasty salads for my lunches. Yum!
I hope you love it as much as I do!