This Balsamic Chicken & Strawberry Panini strikes the perfect balance of flavors for a quick and easy summer lunch! A great way to transform leftover chicken into a new meal!
Originally published March 2014. Photos and post updated Sept 2018.
Hi Friends!
I decided it was time to give one of my favorite sandwiches a little update. I’ve been making this Balsamic Chicken & Strawberry Panini for about 5 summers now and lemme tell you, it never disappoints!
It’s pretty much the best combo of ingredients I can think of. I love strawberry spinach salad, so when I decided to make this sandwich, I knew I wanted to include that flavor combo. And since leftover chicken is something I always seem to have laying around, I figured why not come up with a way to transform it into something new and exciting for lunch. I added fresh mozzarella because – DELISH! and avocado because it’s my firm belief that all sandwiches should have avocado!
Added bonus- The Vitamin C in the strawberries will help you absorb the iron in the spinach!
So here’s the official recipe:
PrintBalsamic Chicken & Strawberry Panini
This Balsamic Chicken & Strawberry Panini strikes the perfect balance of flavors for a quick and easy summer lunch! A great way to transform leftover chicken into a new meal!
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 5 minutes
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Yield: Serves 2 1x
Ingredients
- 4 slices sourdough bread or your favorite bun
- 2 teaspoons butter
- 1/2 cup fresh baby spinach leaves, optional
- 6 ounces cooked, sliced chicken or shredded
- 1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 1/3 cup sliced California strawberries
- 4 ounces fresh mozzarella, sliced
- 1/4 cup sliced or mashed avocado
Instructions
- Spread butter on the outsides of the bread.
- Form the sandwich by layering spinach, if using, chicken drizzled with balsamic, strawberries, mozzarella and avocado.
- Form a sandwich and place on panini press or grill pan and cook until the outsides are golden brown and the cheese is melted.
This sandwich is quite to assemble and a fun change if your’e stuck in a sandwich rut.
Enjoy!
–Lindsay–
Wow this sandwich looks delicious and simple! Perfect for a delicious lunch. Thanks for sharing 🙂
Sweet and Salty in sandwich form? I wait for the day you post a recipe which doesn’t make my mouth salivate.
Just kidding what a terrible day to hope for… 😉
Ohhhhhhhhh, my face hit the screen. YUMMY. Sounds like a treat for this weekend!
I really like strawberries with balsamic. It is by far one of my favorite flavor combinations. Anytime a salad or pita pocket has it, 9/10 times I order it. Adding blue or feta cheese makes it 10 out of 10 LOL.
looks amazing! my favorite way to enjoy strawberries is with some yogurt and granola!
HUGE CONGRATS!!!!!
and chicken and strawberries? never ever thought of it!!
that panini reminds me of summer – WANT!!!
Yummy! Not exactly a novel idea, but I love adding them to my smoothies.
you never cease to amaze me. It must be the name. Lindsay. ;p
YUM! I LOVE strawberries! I actually have them a lot, when I can find them in stores, but I often try to stick to local ones when I can. They are one of my favorite fruits, and as you have shown…so versatile! I am very jealous you are an ambassador! That is awesome!
I love to enjoy strawberries with cereal in the morning to get my day started off right. I usually enjoy this immediately after my daily 9 mile run, and it is exactly what I am craving!
Yum! I really need to get back to making paninis.
I love strawberry season in Wisconsin. I buy freshly-picked strawberries from a local farmer. They are small and sweet and need to be gobbled up very quickly.
Holy yum! This looks awesome. I love strawberries with balsamic vinegar, so I can see how this would be super tasty!
I love the idea of adding strawberries to a panini! I never would have thought of that.
I think fruit and savory items are good! (when done right). This looks YUM!
Wow this recipe looks fantastic!!
I love strawberries! We live a few miles from some the largest strawberries fields in the country–my husband will often times stop at stands and bring home berries that were picked that day.
And this will be lunch today! I have all the ingredients on hand and can’t wait to try this out!
Strawberries have always been one of my favorite fruits! I’m right there with you on the strawberry spinach salad – so yummy! This panini definitely reminds me of that and sounds absolutely delicious.
This looks fantastic!! I’m so thrilled to be an ambassador with you this year!!! We hit the jackpot with strawberries!
I’m absolutely in love with this sandwich combination! I eat strawberries are the time, but generally during the warm weather months. Unfortunately, I can’t find ones that really look good around here right now, but once they’re in season, I buy them every week.
That panini looks fabulous! I have a feeling my children would love to see that in their lunchbox! YUM!
I’m excited to see you as an ambassador. Go team strawberries 😉
Looks delicious – I never would’ve thought to add strawberries to a panini!
I love Panini’s and this is such a fun and unexpected combo.
This looks delicious! I absolutely love strawberries and all of the food on that sandwich, so it all sounds amazing! Congratulations on being an ambassador!
What an awesome combination! Love it!
Oh this sounds so yummy! I’ve never though to put strawberries in my panini! Great idea! And congrats on the new gig 🙂
This looks SO good! Plus we have most of these items on hand at our house as staples. Can’t wait to try it out!! Thanks for the recipe 🙂
We LOVE this! Thanks so much for the gorgeous recipe & great post!
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YUM!!!!!!!!!
YUM Strawberries are my favorite! I always used to say as kid that they were my favorite food. To be honest I never quite get past the eating them as soon as I open phase to actually create recipes with them lol. I love strawberry and rhubarb pie though 🙂
CONGRATS!!!!!!!!!!!! I love strawberries!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That recipe looks delish!!!!! Ready to eat now!
This looks delicious!
Congrats!! 🙂 That’s awesome news. I love strawberries and I actually like soaking them in aged balsamic. 🙂
I love strawberries- this looks like a great weekend lunch treat!
This looks delicious! I would never have thought of adding strawberries to a panini but sure it would taste delicious 🙂
I’ve never tried strawberries on a sandwich before but this one looks amazing!
I made almost the exact same sandwich for my husband once for a beach picnic. It was his favorite sandwich and he always talks about how delicious it was! I guess this post is a sign I finally need to recreate it for him!
I made this for dinner tonight and absolutely loved it. I’m hoping the second half of my avocado lasts so I can have it again tomorrow or Friday
★★★★★
Oh the combo of chicken and strawberries sounds AMAZING! I want to make this asap! This definitely isn’t your average lunch!