A crisp, fresh, and saucy chicken salad fit to feed a hungry crowd on a sunny summer day. With fresh fruits, vegetables, nuts, creamy dressing, and seasoned chicken, this is a refreshing dish you can’t go wrong with!
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Is it just me or does chicken salad taste better when it’s homemade as opposed to store-bought or restaurant made? Maybe it’s because of the freshness and lovin’ that goes into a homemade dish. Or, maybe I just haven’t seeked out restaurants with the best-of-the-best chicken salad. If you’re someone who knows where the best-of-the-best is, maybe you’ll care to share with me. (for real, I’ll take recommendations!)
Until then, I’m going to stick to my version of the best chicken salad – made from the comfort of my own home!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- It can feed a big crowd. As the recipe card says, it can feed around 20 people if they have one serving, which is about 3/4 of a cup. When I made this recipe, it was serving only 7 people. I purposely made a large batch because I wanted to give my grandparents as well as my family a good amount of leftovers for 2 days worth of lunches.
- It’s both gluten and dairy free! This a great recipe to keep in your back pocket when expecting guests with dietary restrictions.
- It’s easily customizable. This is one of the best parts about this recipe! You can add practically any fruit, veggies, nuts, dried fruit, and anything that you can think of. Try adding almonds, raisins, or pineapple to mix it up!
- You can use rotisserie chicken instead. Although I have not tried using rotisserie chicken, I would imagine it is just as tasty! This is great option for when you’re in a pinch or don’t feel like doing as much prep work the day before.
Fresh ingredients is key to taking a dish from good to great. That’s why I think it’s worth all the washing, chopping, mixing, and squeezing that this homemade chicken salad takes to make. To make this chicken salad, take a look at the five categories of ingredients you will need: protein, spices, fresh ingredients, dry ingredients, and sauce!
What You Need
- Protein: Chicken (I used breasts)
- Spices: Brown sugar, paprika, thyme, rosemary, and garlic powder for baking the chicken
- Fresh Ingredients: Celery, sweet onion, scallions, green apples, and grapes
- Dry Ingredients: Dried cranberries (craisans), chopped pecans
- Sauce: Mayonnaise, honey dijon mustard, fresh lemon juice
Tips for Making
- Make the chicken the day before. This will save you a ton of time the day of. Leave the chicken in the fridge overnight so it can chill. When the salad is ready to be assembled, the chicken will already be cut and cooled.
- Wash and chop as much as you can the night before. This is the kind of dish that requires more prep work than cook and assembly work. To save time, wash and chop the fruits and veggies and store them in the fridge. This way, you can simply toss them in the bowl for easy assembly the next day.
- Serve as a sandwich or on top of greens. I love a good croissant chicken salad sandwich, so that’s how I served mine. Other soft and airy breads like Hawaiian roles would be another delicious option. For those that may be gluten free or don’t prefer a sandwich, pile the chicken salad on top of a bed of green leaves like bib lettuce or lettuce boats! In all honesty, the options are limitless to how you serve it.
- Serve it as an appetizer instead. If you already have the main dish covered, you can serve this chicken salad as the star appetizer. To do this, you will only need to make a third of what this recipe calls for. Reduce the measurements down to 1/3 of what they are and voila, a chicken salad appetizer. Serve with buttery crackers like Ritz or small pieces of bread.
- Store in the fridge until ready to serve. You don’t want this dish to get any warmer than room temperature as it could get soggy and lose its fresh crunch. Soggy chicken salad just sounds gross, let’s be honest.
Note: Once the chicken salad is assembled, it will stay fresh in the fridge for 3 days. Save any leftovers or divide it into containers for guests to take home. It will make a great lunch or snack the next two days!
The Best Chicken Salad
A refreshing dish made with fresh veggies, juicy fruit, crunchy nuts, a tangy dressing, and herb baked chicken. It's a cool and crisp option for feeding a crowd on a warm sunny summer day. Gluten and dairy free. (1 serving = 3/4 cup)
Ingredients
Baked Chicken
- 6 chicken breasts
- 3 tbsp brown sugar
- 3 tsp paprika
- 3 tsp thyme dried
- 3 tsp rosemary dried
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tbsp olive oil
Chicken Salad
- 4-5 stalks celery, chopped into small pieces
- 4 cups red seedless grapes, halved or quartered
- 1/2 cup finely diced pecans
- 1 cup dried cranberries
- 1/2 cup sweet onion, diced
- 1/4 cup scallions, thinly chopped
- 2 large granny smith apples, diced
Dressing
- 2 heaping cups of mayonnaise
- Juice of 2 lemons
- 2 heaping tbsp honey dijon mustard
- pinch of salt and pepper
- 1 tbsp dried parsley
Instructions
Baked Chicken (DAY BEFORE)
- Preheat oven to 375°F. Line a baking pan with aluminum foil and rub both sides of chicken breasts with olive oil
- In a medium bowl, mix together the spices and sugar (brown sugar, paprika, thyme, rosemary, and garlic powder)
- Place a chicken breast in the spice bowl and coat both sides with spice mixture. Place back on baking pan. Repeat for all remaining chicken breasts.
- Bake chicken for 30 minutes or until cooked all the way through. Move onto the chicken salad prep
- Let chicken cool, then cut into small cubes and store in an airtight container in the fridge overnight. (You can also wait to cut the chicken until the morning!)
Chicken Salad Prep (DAY BEFORE)
- While the chicken is baking, wash and dry the grapes, onion, apples, celery, and scallions.
- Halve the grapes (quarter if grapes are ginormous), dice the onion, finely dice the celery, cut the apples into small pieces, and thinly slice the scallions.
- Store separately in fridge in airtight containers overnight.
Dressing (DAY OF)
- In a small-medium bowl, mix the mayonnaise, honey dijon mustard, lemon juice, salt & pepper, and parsley together.
Assembly (DAY OF)
- In a large bowl, add the diced chicken, dried cranberries, pecans, grapes, celery, apple, onion, and scallion.
- Pour the sauce mixture over all the ingredients in the large bowl and mix it up!
- Cover and store in the fridge until ready to serve. Serve on a croissant or a bed of greens. Keep leftovers refrigerated for 2 more days.
Notes
- Making half this dish the day before will be a life saver! I think to make the chicken and chop all the produce the day before to avoid being in the kitchen hours on end the day of.
- You can add in just about any other veggies, fruits, and nuts of your liking! Have fun with it 🙂
- If you do not wish to make the chicken breasts the way I did, I imagine a rotisserie chicken would work great in a pinch! I have not personally tried this yet, but if you do, let me know how it turns out!
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