Baby Arugula Salad with Chicken, Mozzarella, and Tomatoes

Baby Arugula Salad with Chicken, Mozzarella, and Tomatoes is so tasty that even people who don’t normally like arugula just might like it! 

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This Baby Arugula Salad with Chicken, Mozzarella, and Tomatoes was inspired by a salad I had at Vinto, a now closed restaurant in downtown Salt Lake. I’d never thought of using arugula in a chopped salad until I had the Italiana Chopped Salad at Vinto, but I loved the combination of chopped baby arugula, chicken, fresh mozzarella, and tomatoes with a zesty dressing. Through the years this I’ve made this salad quite a few times, always wishing the photos were a bit better, so recently when I was having a cooking day with Jake and Kara we made the salad again and snapped some new pics.

It so happened we were cooking on a day when my nephew Garrett, his wife Jane, and their kids were staying at my house and Garrett and Jane had fun watching us cook and photograph a couple of recipes. But when it came time to make this salad, Garrett was pretty sure he “didn’t like arugula.” However when the salad was done, he was brave enough to have a small serving and he loved it and even went back for seconds!

So if you have guests or family members who are normally not fond of the spicy and slightly bitter flavor of arugula, maybe you can get them to warm up to it in a salad like this with so many other flavors. And if you’re already a confirmed arugula fan like me, I hope the new photos will entice you to make this salad! It really is unique and so delicious for a simple main meal salad that would taste great for lunch or dinner when it’s too hot to cook!

What ingredients do you need for this recipe?

• white balsamic vinegar (affiliate link)
• fresh-squeezed lemon juice, I used my fresh-frozen lemon juice
• extra virgin olive oil
•  1/2 tsp. Dijon mustard
• salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
• fresh mozzarella cheese
• cooked chicken breast (see notes)
• baby arugula
• cherry tomatoes, or diced red garden tomatoes

How to make this salad:

(Scroll down for complete recipe with nutritional information.)

1. Cut up enough leftover cooked chicken to make 2 cups of chopped chicken.
2. Cut up the fresh mozzarella into smallish cubes until you have 1 cup diced mozzarella.  
3. Whisk together white balsamic vinegar (affiliate link), lemon juice, olive oil, Dijon mustard, and season the dressing with salt and fresh ground black pepper.
4. Put the diced fresh mozzarella and diced chicken into a small bowl and toss with half the dressing.
5. If you buy baby arugula pre-washed in a tub like this you can skip the next step!
6. Wash and dry 5 oz. of baby arugula, if your arugula pieces are large coarsely chop with large chef’s knife.
7. Cut enough cherry tomatoes in half to make 2 cups cherry tomatoes.
8. Put chopped arugula and diced tomatoes into salad bowl and toss with remaining dressing.
9. Then mix in the mozzarella cubes and diced chicken you mixed with dressing, gently toss again, season with more salt and fresh ground black pepper if desired, and serve.

Baby Arugula Chopped Salad with Chicken, Fresh Mozzarella, and Tomatoes is perfect for a light summer dinner. When garden tomatoes are ripe, that takes the salad to another level of yum! This would also be a great salad to take to work for lunch. I would cut the mozzarella and chicken in the morning and add the dressing, then put in a container with a snap-on lid, then chop the arugula and tomatoes and put it in another container. Pack the dressing in a small container with a screw-on lid. Combine the salad at work right before you eat it.

More Tasty Salads with Arugula

Raw Summer Squash Salad with Arugula and Feta from Kalyn’s Kitchen
Pancetta Arugula Salad ~ Reluctant Entertainer
Arugula, Kale, and Gorgonzola Salad with Balsamic Vinegar ~ Kalyn’s Kitchen
Super Fresh Arugula Zucchini Salad ~ Fifteen Spatulas
Arugula Chickpea Salad with Feta and Balsamic-Tahini Vinaigrette ~ Kalyn’s Kitchen
Arugula Salad with Roasted Butternut Squash ~ That Skinny Chick Can Bake
Kalyn’s Favorite Baby Arugula Salad with Lemon, Balsamic, Parmesan, and Pine Nuts ~ Kalyn’s Kitchen

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Yield: 4 salads

Baby Arugula Salad with Chicken, Mozzarella, and Tomatoes

Prep Time 20 minutes

Total Time 20 minutes

Baby Arugula Salad with Chicken, Mozzarella, and Tomatoes is a tasty salad for a light summer meal, especially if you're lucky enough to have fresh garden tomatoes!

Ingredients

Dressing Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 T white balsamic vinegar (see notes)
• 2 1/2 T freshly squeezed lemon juice (see notes)
• 4 T extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 tsp. Dijon mustard
• salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

Salad Ingredients:

• 1 cup diced fresh mozzarella cheese
• 2 cups diced cooked chicken breast (see notes)
• 5 oz. baby arugula, washed, dried, and chopped
• 2 cups cherry tomatoes, cut in half, or diced red garden tomatoes

Instructions

1. Cut leftover chicken breast or grilled chicken breast into pieces.
2. Cut up the fresh mozzarella into small cubes.
3. In a small bowl whisk together white balsamic vinegar, lemon juice, olive oil, and Dijon mustard, and season dressing to taste with salt and fresh ground black pepper.
4.   Put mozzarella cubes and diced chicken into a small bowl and toss with half the dressing.
5. Wash and dry the baby arugula, then chop coarsely with large chef’s knife if desired. If the arugula is pretty small you can just skip that step.
6. Chop tomatoes or cut cherry tomatoes in half until you have about 2 cups chopped tomato.
7. Put chopped arugula and chopped tomatoes into larger bowl and toss with the remaining dressing (or desired amount if you don't like a lot of dressing.)
8. Add the cubes of mozzarella and diced chicken you mixed with dressing and gently toss again.
9. Season salad with more salt and fresh ground black pepper (to taste) and serve immediately.

Notes

I love white balsamic vinegar (affiliate link) which is a bit sweeter and milder than regular balsamic vinegar and in this salad it keeps the cheese nice and white to use a lighter vinegar. But if you don't want to buy a special vinegar regular balsamic vinegar will taste fine, the salad just won't be quite as pretty. I used my fresh-frozen lemon juice for this salad. I used leftover rotisserie chicken for the salad but you can also poach two chicken breasts in water for about 15 minutes, which will add a bit more time to the preparation.

This recipe was inspired by the Italiano Chopped Salad at Vinto, a now-closed restaurant in downtown Salt Lake City.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

4

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 359Total Fat: 23gSaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 15gCholesterol: 82mgSodium: 409mgCarbohydrates: 9gFiber: 2gSugar: 5gProtein: 30g

Nutrition information is automatically calculated by the Recipe Plug-In I am using. I am not a nutritionist and cannot guarantee 100% accuracy, since many variables affect those calculations.

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Low-Carb Diet / Low-Glycemic Diet / South Beach Diet Suggestions:
If you use low-fat skim milk Mozzarella, everything in this salad is a great choice for any phase of the original South Beach Diet. The salad would also work for low-carb eating plans, which would prefer full-fat cheese. This is low in net carbs, but if you’re strictly limiting carbs you might want to use more chicken and cheese and less tomatoes.

Find More Recipes Like This One:
Use Salad Recipes to find more salads like this one. Use the Recipes by Diet Type photo index pages to find more recipes suitable for a specific eating plan. You might also like to Follow Kalyn’s Kitchen on Pinterest to see all the good recipes I’m sharing there.

Historical Notes for this Recipe:
This recipe was first posted in 2010. It was last updated in 2021.

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