Easy Chicken Salad
When you’re craving a cold, delicious meal, Easy Chicken Salad is refreshing and simple to prepare with fresh herbs, rotisserie chicken, crunchy pecans, and a secret ingredient!
When the weather is hot and sticky, the last thing you want to do is cook. By using prepared chicken, such as a rotisserie chicken, you save so much time and effort. For this recipe, you don’t need to cook a thing!
This easy chicken salad is not only tasty, but it has a variety of textures to make it super satisfying — creamy dressing, juicy chicken, zingy onions, crunchy celery and pecans, with the sweet pop of red grapes.
How long does Easy Chicken Salad take to make?
It takes minutes to chop up everything that goes into this salad. The dressing is simply mayonnaise with a bit of freshly-squeezed lemon juice and fragrant herbs.
Let’s talk about the ingredients for Easy Chicken Salad
Chicken – Use leftover cooked chicken such as rotisserie chicken to make dinner prep super easy.
Dressing – The dressing couldn’t be easier to stir together; mayonnaise, herbs, fresh lemon juice, and salt & pepper.
Herbs – I believe Tarragon is essential for that classic chicken salad flavour! I also added the brightness of fresh parsley.
Celery – Dice the celery into small pieces so you still get the crunch and flavour without any stringiness.
Red grapes – Grapes are the secret ingredient that gives a POP of sweet juiciness!
Lemon juice — Freshly squeeze your lemon juice for the best flavour. Every dressing needs an “acid” to balance the “oil”, and in this dressing, lemon juice is the acid to balance the oil of the mayonnaise.
Onions — As with the celery, dice the onions small so you still get the crunch and zestiness, without overpowering the other flavours.
Pecans — I like to toast the pecans after chopping to enhance their flavour.
Can I Make Substitutions?
Chicken – You can cook the chicken yourself if you like. You can do this in a few ways:
- Cut chicken into bite size pieces, season with salt & pepper, and then sauté in a frying pan until cooked. Let cool before assembling the salad.
- If you want to cook whole chicken breasts and then shred after, you can pound the meat into an even thickness, season with salt & pepper, and bake in a 350°F oven until cooked. Let cool completely before shredding and chopping into bite-size bits.
- Poach the chicken breasts in simmering, salted water or stock until cooked through. Let cool completely before shredding and chopping into bite-size bits.
Substitute with a different protein — Try canned tuna or poached salmon!
Substitute the grapes — Eating low-carb or Keto? Leave out the grapes altogether, or sub with diced avocado. A controversial substitute for grapes is raisins; I like this version but all my family would make yuck faces at it!
Herbs – If you can’t get fresh herbs, substitute with about half the amount of dried herbs. Feeling adventurous? Try herbes de provence or fines herbes; both are herb blends found in the spice aisle of your grocery store.
Allergens — Leave out the pecans if you’re allergic.
Can Easy Chicken Salad be Keto?
Yes! Substitute the grapes with avocado, and you have a delicious, filling meal that’s packed with protein and healthy fats!
Ways to eat Easy Chicken Salad
- On top of lettuce
- In a lettuce wrap
- In a tortilla wrap
- In a sandwich; try a hearty multi-grain bread or for a decadent version — a croissant!
The Easy Chicken Salad Method
This recipe takes minutes to make! Shred and chop your chicken into bite-size pieces, chop the herbs and pecans, dice the celery and onion, juice your lemon, and slice up your grapes. Add everything to a big salad bowl, except the mayo, and give it a good mix. Then add the mayo and mix it all up. Taste, and add salt & pepper, and more mayo if necessary. And that’s it!
Easy Chicken Salad
Ingredients
- 1 lb cooked chicken shredded and chopped equal to about 2 breasts worth
- 2 stalks celery diced
- ¼ sweet onion diced
- ¼ cup pecans chopped
- 2 cups red grapes sliced in half
- 2 Tbsp fresh tarragon chopped
- 2 Tbsp fresh parsley chopped
- Juice from ½ lemon
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- Salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
- Using two forks, shred and then chop chicken into small pieces. Set aside.
- Dice celery and onion into small dice. Set aside.
- Chop herbs and set aside.
- Chop pecans into smaller pieces. For even better flavour, toast the chopped pecans for a minute or two in a small frying pan over medium heat.
- Slice grapes in half or if very large, into quarters.
- In a large salad bowl, add all ingredients except mayo and stir to combine. Then add the mayo and mix well.
- Taste and add salt & pepper, and more mayo, if necessary.
- Serve on lettuce, in a wrap, or in a sandwich. Makes 6 small servings.
Notes
Other Salads you might like to try
