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!