Chicken Salad is always a classic favorite sandwich at any potluck, family picnic, or summer barbecue. Easily make a delicious creamy salad with only a few ingredients.
Chicken Salad
This is a great recipe to have around for those times when you need to whip something up in a hurry, or need that easy and also WOW recipe to take to a potluck.
If you are wondering what to serve this Chicken Salad with, check out my recipe for this delicious Pasta Salad with Italian Dressing, Classic Macaroni Salad, or a Creamy Cucumber Salad
What I love about this Classic Chicken Salad:
- very few ingredients will come together quickly
- add-ins are a great way to customize this recipe with your favorite chicken salad flavors
- or, you can take some of the add-ins away for a more simple chicken salad sandwich
FAQs
Make Ahead and Storage:
Homemade chicken salad should last 3-5 days if stored covered and in the refrigerator
I would not recommend freezing this salad.
You can cook the chicken, cube it, and freeze it for up to one month.
When you are ready to prepare the salad, thaw the salad overnight in the fridge and add in the dressing plus nuts, grapes, and other extras
Tips and Tricks
Add-Ins:
- for extra crunch, some fun ingredients that pair well with this salad are celery, chives, nuts like pecans, almonds or walnuts, pineapple, bell pepper, and sliced carrots
- use poached chicken or rotiserrie chicken for the best flavor
- in a pinch, you can use canned chicken, but the flavor will be impacted
Poaching chicken is very simple. Place chicken tenders or chicken breast in a saucepan or skillet. Cover it with water. Place a lid on and simmer until cooked through
Ingredients for Chicken Salad
Chicken:
- you can use leftover meat from chicken breast, chicken tenders, or breast from a rotiserrie chicken
Add-Ins:
- I used pecans, chives, and red seedless grapes
- Other add-ins that would be perfect are pineapple chunks, celery, bell pepper, raisins, or for a sweet crunch – sweet relish
Dressing:
- Mayonnaise – Use original mayonnaise, not low-fat
- Dijon mustard – you could also use brown mustard
- lemon juice – only a small amount is used for a little tang. You can eliminate it if you don’t care for change or add more than the recommended for more tang
- salt
- ground black pepper
Serving:
- Croissants are my favorite way to eat a chicken salad sandwich, but you can use french bread or any other type of roll or baguette
- Another way to serve this salad is on top of a bed of salad greens
How do you make Chicken Salad?
- Poach Chicken – cook chicken breasts in a pot of water until cooked through
- Cube Chicken – and place in a large bowl with add-ins of halved grapes, green onions, and pecans
- Add Dressing – add the mayonnaise, mustard, lemon juice, and seasonings
- Stir – Mix all of the ingredients and serve on lettuce or bread
Chicken Salad
Ingredients
- 2 large chicken breast poached – see my notes for instructions
- 1 cup pecans chopped
- ½ cup green onions diced
- 1 cup red seedless grapes halved
Dressing
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- 2 tsp. dijon mustard
- ½ tsp. lemon juice
- ½ tsp. salt
- ½ tsp. ground black pepper
Instructions
- cube poached chicken
- in a large bowl, add cubed and cooled chicken
- add in, pecans, green onions, halved grapes, and any other add-in you prefer
- to the top of the chicken and other ingredients, add mayonnaise, mustard, lemon juice, salt, and pepper
- mix everything together
Notes
Nutrition facts are only an estimate
Poaching Chicken Breasts:- Place chicken breasts into a pot or a large skillet
- Cover chicken with water – covering it completely and going 2 inches higher than chicken
- Bring water to a boil, and turn it down to simmer
- Place the lid onto the pot or skillet
- Let the chicken simmer until cooked through – the chicken should be completely white with no pink
- Remove the chicken, and cube, and let cool
- Store for 3-5 days in the refrigerator
- Freezing is not recommended
Nutrition
