Dole is combining salad fans’ two culinary loves with high household penetration – salad and fresh, lean chicken – into an affordable meal solution for two. The new Just Add Chicken Salad Kits combine original Dole dressings, chicken sauté and seasoned finishing sauces with Dole lettuces and toppings to create a true culinary experience at home. Shipping to retail nationwide, four initial Just Add Chicken SKUs target the growing population of salad kit buyers who want an affordable, total-meal solution for America’s most popular lean protein. 
“Dole is leveraging its industry leadership in salad kits to create healthy new meal possibilities for those who see cooking as an adventure and enjoy creating a flavor-first restaurant experience in their own kitchens,” said Lisa Overman, Dole’s director of brand marketing for North America. “The first four Just Add Chicken offerings were directly inspired by the most popular salad/chicken flavor pairings and restaurant menu favorites.”
Offering a customized combination of original Dole dressings, chicken sauté and seasoned finishing sauces with Dole lettuces and toppings for the chicken, each 11.30- to 12-oz. Just Add Chicken Kit (without the chicken) serves two for a suggested retail price of $4.29.
The new offerings include:
- Dole Pesto Caesar Just Add Chicken Salad Kit – Chopped Dole Romaine lettuce, crumbled garlic croutons and parmesan cheese topped with Dole’s Classic Caesar dressing and original Chicken Sauté and Pesto Finishing Sauces for the chicken.
- Dole Sweet Orange Just Add Chicken Salad Kit – Chopped Dole green leaf and iceberg lettuces, Dole carrots and crispy wontons mixed with Dole’s Sesame Ginger Vinaigrette and original chicken sauté and Sweet Orange Finishing Sauces to enhance the chicken.
- Dole Roasted Red Pepper Just Add Chicken Salad Kit – Chopped Dole green leaf and iceberg lettuces, and radicchio, crumbled garlic croutons and parmesan cheese combined with Dole’s Creamy Balsamic Dressing and original Chicken Sauté and Roasted Red Pepper Finishing Sauces to top the chicken.
- Dole Lemon Herb Pepper Just Add Chicken Salad Kit – Chopped Dole green leaf and iceberg lettuces, and radicchio, and roasted onion pita strips topped with Dole’s Red Wine Vinaigrette and original chicken sauté and Lemon Herb Finishing Sauces for the chicken.
According to Overman, the Just Add Chicken line was developed specifically by Dole’s product innovation team for salad kit users increasingly drawn to the health, taste and convenience advantages of meal kits with lean protein. She cited a May 2020 Google study showing that consumer searches for chicken recipes outpaced searches for recipes involving all other animal protein choices over the past five years.
“The meal kit category is exploding among existing salad lovers wanting a more satiating, restaurant-quality salad experience,” she said. “For Just Add Chicken, these benefits start with healthy, flavorful cooking options but extend beyond the plate to include culinary expression, time and cost savings with perfectly portioned servings that lead to less food waste.”
A global packaged salad and salad kits leader, Charlotte, North Carolina-based Dole offers 94 different packaged salad varieties including its Chopped! Salads, Slawesome! Kits, Premium Salad Kits, FreshTakes Ready-to-Eat Salads, and other salad mixes and slaws.
