Chicken Salad Recipe
This Chicken Salad Recipe is healthy, flavorful and easy to make with grapes, celery and a simple dressing. It makes the best chicken salad sandwiches!
Looking for more easy lunch ideas? Try my recipes for Egg Salad and Tuna Salad next.
Kristine, thank you so much for this recipe! I love chicken salad but wanted something without mayo. This is perfect thank you for sharing! This was delicious, my whole family enjoyed it!
Ashleym
Best Chicken Salad Recipe
This chicken salad recipe has been a long time favorite of mine. It’s fresh, light and healthy and my go-to recipe for using up leftover chicken. I love the combination of chicken, grapes, celery and pecans, and I think you will too!
Why I Love this Chicken Salad Recipe
- Quick and Easy. This recipe takes just minutes to make. I use leftover chicken or rotisserie chicken to save time.
- Delicious! This chicken salad has the best combination of flavors and textures. There’s sweet, savory, creamy and crunchy!
- Perfect for Meal Prep. Since I don’t usually have much time to make lunch, I love recipes that I can prep once and then eat for a couple of days. This chicken salad keeps well in the refrigerator for up to 3-4 days.
- Versatile. There’s lots of ways to serve this chicken salad. Try it on bread or a croissant, over a bed of lettuce, or in a tortilla wrap or lettuce wraps. I often add sliced avocado – it’s so good!
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Shredded or Chopped Cooked Chicken: You can use rotisserie chicken or leftover cooked chicken. When I don’t have leftover chicken I like to make quick Instant Pot shredded chicken to use in this recipe. I follow these steps for how to shred chicken easily. Or try my poached chicken recipe.
- Plain Greek Yogurt or Mayo: I always make this chicken salad with plain Greek yogurt. It’s thick and creamy, and it makes a great healthy substitute for mayonnaise. You can use full fat, 2% or nonfat Greek yogurt. Of course, you can use mayo in this recipe if you prefer.
- Seasonings: I season this chicken salad with garlic powder, salt and black pepper. I find that you don’t need to add too much seasoning because there are lots of flavors going on in this chicken salad. You can try adding a splash of lemon juice, a squeeze of Dijon mustard, or some chopped fresh herbs if you want.
- Celery: I love the crunch that celery adds to this chicken salad.
- Nuts: Pecans, walnuts, and sliced almonds all work well in this recipe. If you have a few extra minutes, toasting the nuts in a skillet on the stove will add a lot of flavor.
- Grapes: Chicken salad with grapes is a classic and I love the sweetness that grapes add to this salad. You can also try mixing in chopped apple, dried cranberries or dried cherries.
- Red Onion: Sweet-spicy red onion adds a pop of flavor. If you don’t care for raw onion you can leave it out.
How to Make Chicken Salad
- Make the dressing. I usually make the dressing in a large bowl and then add the other ingredients to that same bowl so that I have less dishes to wash. Stir together the plain Greek yogurt, garlic powder, salt and pepper.
- Add the rest of the ingredients and stir everything together. Taste the chicken salad and add more seasoning if needed.
- Serve the chicken salad on bread or croissants as a sandwich, or on top of a green salad.
Recipe Tips
- Either chill the cooked chicken before you make the salad or chill the chicken salad mixture before serving. Chilling the salad for an hour or two before serving also helps the flavors to meld together.
- Try adding different mix-ins to your chicken salad: different kinds of nuts, grapes, apples, dried cranberries, dried cherries, avocado, chopped green onion, red onion or fresh herbs.
- Cook your chicken ahead of time so that you can make this recipe quickly. Try Instant Pot Shredded Chicken or Crockpot Shredded Chicken. I often make this recipe with leftover Instant Pot Whole Chicken.
- Canned chicken also works in this recipe.
- For a low carb meal, serve chicken salad in lettuce wraps, on top of a spinach salad, or stuffed in avocado halves.
Storage Tips
Chicken salad can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3-4 days, as long as you made it with chicken cooked that same day. Cooked chicken will stay fresh for up to 3-4 days in the refrigerator, so go by the date when your chicken was cooked to figure out how long you can store your chicken salad in the fridge.
Easy Chicken Salad Recipe
This easy chicken salad recipe with grapes and pecans makes the best chicken salad sandwiches! I've been making this healthy chicken salad recipe for years. It's perfect for using up leftover chicken, or make it with rotisserie chicken or shredded cooked chicken breast.
Ingredients
- ½ cup plain Greek yogurt, or mayonnaise
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder, or to taste
- ¼ teaspoon salt, or to taste
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper, or to taste
- 2 cups cooked chicken, shredded or chopped
- ½ cup chopped celery
- ½ cup chopped pecans, or walnuts or sliced almonds, toasted if desired
- ½ cup quartered grapes*
- ¼ cup finely chopped red onion, optional
- bread, croissants or lettuce, for serving
Instructions
- In a large bowl, stir together the plain Greek yogurt, garlic powder, salt and pepper.
- Add the cooked chicken, celery, nuts, grapes and red onion (if using). Stir until well combined.
- Taste and adjust seasonings as needed.
- Serve the chicken salad as a sandwich on bread or a croissant, over a bed of lettuce, or in a tortilla wrap or lettuce wraps.
Notes
- Chopped apple is a delicious substitute for the grapes. Or try dried cranberries or dried cherries.
- Make Ahead: Store chicken salad in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3-4 days (if made with chicken cooked that same day).
Serving: 0.5cup, Calories: 195kcal, Carbohydrates: 4g, Protein: 22g, Fat: 10g, Saturated Fat: 2g, Cholesterol: 60mg, Sodium: 151mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 3g
Nutrition information is an estimate.
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It’s an excellent recipe, very tasty, and lots of options to customize. However, it exhibits what I believe to be THE MOST COMMON FLAW amongst recipies. The prep time, in this case assumes you have already cooked and shredded the chicken, chopped the celery and nuts, halved the grapes, yada yada yada. This provided the cook with NO idea how long it really takes to prepare. For this reason, 4 stars us the most I can give it.
I’m glad you enjoy the flavors in this recipe. I did factor in the prep time for chopping, but assumed that you would cook the chicken ahead of time or use store-bought rotisserie chicken. I always make this recipe when I have leftover chicken. 🙂
I made this recipe last night & had dinner with thousand island salad. I replaced the pecan nut s with wall nuts & came out very delicious. My husband liked the chicken salad sandwich with his salad. I’ll make this again for sure.
Kristine, thank you so much for this recipe! I love chicken salad but wanted something without mayo. This is perfect thank you for sharing! This was delicious, my whole family enjoyed it!
That is wonderful! I’m so glad you and your family enjoyed this recipe. Thank you for taking the time to let me know.
Delicious! We added oepper and dill.
I added some dill and cumin, and used canned chicken breast. Super quick and easy. Tasted so good. Thank you!
I had leftover chicken & wanted to make chicken salad without going to the grocery! I always have Greek yogurt o I made as directed with grapes & pecans. Thought it needed more moisture so I added some homemade garlic & Parmesan dressing but probably would have been fine with extra yogurt. I’ve printed the recipe & will be making this from now on! Thank you!!
I’m so glad you enjoyed this!
Loved this recipe. As did my family. You can use a combination of vegan mayo and non dairy sour cream for those of us with allergies. I use 1/4 each and it came out wonderful. We also added some jalapeños for a kick.
My husband and I love this recipe. Getting ready to make again now.
Thank You!
I’m so glad you’re enjoying it!
Can i use canned chicken
I’ve never used canned chicken, but I think that would work.
I have used canned chicken many times and have no issue using it.
This looks wonderful! I am going to try adding cilantro, too.
This sounds wonderful but, forgive my ignorance, I don’t understand the measurements. What does .20 or .14 measure out to? I’m used to teaspoons, cups, etc.
Hi Judith, It looks like you’ve adjusted the amount of servings in the recipe, so it’s recalculated the amounts. Use the arrows to change the number of servings back to 7 and it should make more sense.
This is a great recipe base to go off of! Works great with onion powder/garlic powder, or fresh ingredients if you have it! I always use canned chicken and can have this baby whipped up in 5 minutes. It’s a lifesaver and staple recipe for sure!
QUESTION??? At age 79 is it worth buying a hot pot for just two people??
I think so! It depends on your cooking preferences and needs. You might find this post about Instant Pots helpful. 🙂
My husband and I both give this a 5 star rating! So delicious, we’ll both be taking it to work this week. So simple to make as well ??
Thank you!!!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! It’s one of my favorite make ahead lunches as well. 🙂
Thanks for the recipe! One of the main reasons I stopped here while googling egg salad is you did not write a ten-page blog of your egg salad “experience” and how it changed your life…lol:) Thanks for keeping all your recipes easy, delish and to the point.
Haha, I appreciate your comment! I try to include only information that will be helpful to those making the recipe, answer common questions, etc. I hope you find many more recipes to enjoy!
If I use canned chicken, do I need to use chicken in oil or will in water do.
Chicken in water will work well. Enjoy!
White pepper is really good in this recipe with juice from a whole lemon
YUM!!!
So so good! I used mayo but need to try with Greek yogurt. I also used almonds. I cooked chicken in the oven at 400 degrees for about 25 minutes, let cool, then shredded.
This was my first attempt at making chicken salad and it was delicious. My husband is a big chicken salad fan and he loved it. I did use 1/2 greek yogurt 1/2 mayo just because I was afraid my husband would notice a difference with all Greek yogurt. I will definitely be making this again.
I made this today and omg It came out so good! So simple and delicious. I used canned chicken from Costco though because I didn’t have chicken. So yummy and I did put tomatoes and onions as the toppings and instead of pickles( mine froze in the fridge :/) I used a little bit of relish. Definitely making this again and with the cooked chicken from Costco this time !
How much was a serving for you as an estimate?
Hi Melissa,
The nutrition information is calculated based on a 1/2 cup serving.
I’ve never had a good chicken salad but I had a rotisserie chicken and was sick of using the same recipes over and over again. I found this recipe randomly online and al I can say is DELICIOUS! such an easy recipe and I had most ingredients on hand. Will be making this over and over again.
Just wondering. I do not like Greek yogurt. Is the Greek yogurt
flavor very strong?
I do not find it to be a strong flavor in this recipe, but you can substitute mayonnaise if you prefer.
I used plain regular yogurt. I have never pulsed a roast chicken before. I just found a new way to make chicken salad. This was excellent!
I have tried SO many times making chicken salad and it has ALWAYS failed until now!! Great recipes for this and egg salad!
Made the chicken salad with two 10 oz cans of chicken (drained it before adding to the dressing). Couldn’t find sliced almonds so used slivered ones (my daughter is allergic to walnuts). Used dried cranberries…we prefer them to grapes…added 4T of apple cider vinegar to give it a kick…was a HUGE hit with the ladies at a tea party. These ladies are all great chefs, so for them to rave about a recipe is big. Personally, I could eat this straight out of the bowl…forget the bread, croissants or any other type of wrap. Will be making this recipe many times over!
Could I use lowfat yogurt?
Yes, lowfat yogurt should work fine, as long as it is plain Greek yogurt.
Soooo yummy!! This recipe rocks and makes you feel like you’re eating healthy. I cooked my chicken via pot for about 11 minutes and it was perfect. These ingredients go really well together! Love this recipe!
Love this chicken salad recipe. ??
I always stuck to a recipe that my mom made with chicken breast, miracle whip, celery, granny smith apple (no skin) chopped into small cubes and yellow raisins. Occasionally we would throw in some pecans or walnuts depending what we had on hand.
It’s good to change things up and try new ingredients. Thank you for sharing this tasty recipe.
I added some green 🍎 had to use mayonnaise instead of yogurt. We loved it!
This was amazing! Love it!! I used cranberries instead of grapes and can’t beat it!
I love Chicken salad so when I was trying to find a healthy recipe for my family I stumbled across this recipe. I made it today and I was not disappointed! It was so good! It’s not super sweet like if you substituted dried cranberries instead of the grapes but I definitely recommend making this!
very nice recipe! easy to do, quick and manageable. I added some thyme and dill seasoning, helped pick up some flavor! Went with just one but then added a little dill and was delicious!
U Recipe is so nice and simple affordable
Delicious 😋
Love chicken salad.
Excellent recipe! Easy to follow! I doubled the recipe for Fourth of July and it was completely gone. Will be using recipe a lot in future.
I make this for our gal’s weekend at the cabin and it’s always a favorite! Thank you for a delicious recipe!
Loved the recipe and healthier take. The plain Greek yogurt I feel like made it a little dryer than when I’ve used mayo in past. Any tips to make it not as thick?
You could try using half mayo and half Greek yogurt, or add a bit more yogurt. I’m glad you enjoyed the recipe!