Light and delicious, this easy chicken salad recipe is one of my favorite ways to keep lunch simple. It’s sweet with a bit of tang, and the apples and nuts give it just the right amount of crunch. My kids gobble it up when served over a bed of lettuce or as a chicken salad sandwich made with this paleo bread.
Quick tip on reducing prep time: One of my “tricks” for avoiding burnout in the kitchen is to make double batches when possible. That usually means that I bake a couple of chickens together in the oven sometime early in the week so that I have one for dinner and one to use later for tortilla soup, homemade chicken soup, lettuce wraps or this chicken salad.
6 Ways To Serve Chicken Salad
One of my favorite things about chicken salad is how versatile it is. My kids devote most of their math ability to counting how often I’ve made something recently so that they can gently let me know – so helpful, right?
Fortunately, it’s easy to keep this simple chicken salad interesting by serving it in one of six ways:
- Spread over homemade crackers
- As a lettuce wrap – my favorite kinds of lettuce to use are romaine and butter.
- Stuffed inside apple sandwiches (Like this but with chicken salad in the center)
- As a traditional chicken salad sandwich
- Over a bed of lettuce (any kind will do)
- Rolled up in a tortilla (these grain-free ones are amazing)
Also, in case you need it, here’s a tutorial on how to bake a whole chicken, and here’s how to use the bones to make rich, nutritious bone broth.
I hope your family loves this chicken salad as much as we do!
Easy Chicken Salad Recipe
Equipment
- large bowl
- small bowl
- spoon
Ingredients
- 2 lbs chicken (cooked and shredded)
- 1 cup mayo (optional homemade mayo recipe)
- 1 cup walnuts or pecans (chopped)
- 2 cups apples (diced)
- ½ cup green onion (chopped)
- ½ cup diced celery
- 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar (optional homemade apple cider vinegar recipe)
- 3 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tsp raw honey
- sea salt (to taste)
- black pepper (to taste)
Instructions
- In a small bowl, combine the mayonnaise, apple cider vinegar, lemon juice and honey.
- In a large bowl, add the shredded chicken, nuts, apples, onion and celery.
- Add the mayonnaise mixture to the large bowl and combine the ingredients thoroughly, then add salt and pepper to taste.
- Serve the chicken salad over a bed of lettuce, as a lettuce wrap, with crackers, or as a sandwich, etc.
Nutrition
Want more easy meal ideas?
I’ve put together a list of 25+ quick, healthy, easy recipes that help me get dinner on the table no matter what the day brings. I hope you find it as helpful as I have.
4 More Ways To Use Leftover Chicken
If you decide to bake a couple of chickens to make meals easier, here are some ideas for using the leftovers:
Daniel
I didn’t just eat this chicken salad. I inhaled it! I wish you would have made larger servings. 🙂
Tana
This is how just I make my chicken salad, too, and I add sliced grapes and finely chopped apples, plus some almonds or pecans and a good drizzle of honey in the summer. We love it! Try it with some curry plus honey sometime, too, for extra interest. Yummy!
Heather
That sound delicious, Tana. I love that chicken salad turns out great with whatever’s on hand. 🙂
Alexis
I am usually not a fan of chicken salad but my husband loves it so I am going to make it and see if I like it and I am sure my husband will inhale it as well 🙂
Genevieve Mama Natural
Oh, if only I could find a sweet relish without high fructose syrup or sugar. Do you know of one? I love sweet relish in salads like these as well as brats.
Heather
Busted! I cheated this time and used and organic brand that had sugar in it. BUT I am planning on making my own lacto-fermented sweet pickles with this recipe soon! http://nourishyourchildren.com/blog/2010/08/lacto-fermented-sweet-pickles/
Moni
Perhaps I overlooked but I don’t see relish on the ingredients list.
Heather
Good catch! This comment refers to an older version of this recipe which incorporated relish, but it no longer applies. 🙂
Jonathan Maxwell
Just seeing that picture made me so hungry! I will definitely try it!
Alison
Hmmm, maybe are we missing a word here, as in, this is one of your tricks for NOT becoming burned out? Since probably none of us need any tricks for BECOMING burned out, LOL! 😉 Recipe sounds delish, and I’ll be trying it sometime this week. Thanks!
Heather
Lol! Thank you so much for catching that – editing now. 🙂
Ruth
I watched the video on Bone Broth – although very informative I dont have alot of freezer room . Could I
” can” the Broth ? Ladel it into jars while hot and seal it ?
Julie
Interesting, this doesn’t seem to be the same recipe as in the past. The “old” recipe had grapes and poppy seeds. I’m not sure what else has changed. The other recipe was great the way it was.
Heather
Hi Julie, over time I changed the recipe so I updated the post. Here’s the original recipe in case you want it 🙂
Ingredients:
2 pounds baked chicken breast, diced and chilled
1 cup mayonnaise
1 cup walnuts, pecans or almonds
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 teaspoons honey
2 teaspoons poppy seeds
2 cups seedless grapes, halved
1 cup celery, thinly sliced
1/4 cup finely chopped red onion
salt and pepper to taste
Instructions:
In a small bowl, combine the mayonnaise, apple cider vinegar, honey, and poppy seeds
In a large bowl, add diced chicken, nuts, grapes, celery and red onion
Add mixture to large bowl and mix thoroughly. Salt and pepper to taste
Julie DeWyse
Thank you so much! This is our go to salad for the summer especially for traveling. People think we are so gourmet when we show up with this salad. 🙂
Kizzy
This sounds delicious, and something I think my whole family would enjoy.
Lisa
Hi my question is if this is really over 3,000 calories as the nutritional value states???
Lawrence
This salad would be at the top of my list for years too. I follow the eat clean routine to build a flexible and healthy body. Salad is one of my indispensable dishes in my daily menu.
Kioi
looks delicious and an amazing taste would love to try this soon…
Delia
I’ve never actually made chicken salad before. I come from Romania and a lot of the American “classic” dishes are unusual or unknown for me. I didn’t even like avocados when I first got here hahah! But as a professional cook, I’m always looking for ways to experiment new combinations and foods so I guess chicken salad is something that I need to cross off my list for making. This recipe looks really delicious and healthy.
Renee
Thank you for this recipe. I made it to take on a trip to visit my in-laws. It is delicious! The dressing is perfect! I followed the recipe exactly as it is written. i would not change a single ingredient.
Christine
Thank you for posting this. Do you think it would work to put sunflower or pumpkins seeds in instead of nuts? Thnks