Classic Chicken Salad

A straightforward chicken salad recipe loaded with apple, raisins, and walnuts. Use rotisserie chicken or canned chicken for a speedy shortcut! Reliable for lunch on its own, atop a bed of lettuce or in a croissant.

Our mom has been making a version of this chicken salad for as long as we can remember, loading it up with lots of “extras” that we just love. We rediscovered our love for it when our husband and we did a Whole30 a few years ago. It was a speedy and straightforward option for lunches and snacks, and continues to be a recipe we love eating.

We routinely make it if we’re going to have company for lunch, since it’s incredibly straightforward to prepare and is quite versatile when it comes to serving – it could be placed on a bed of lettuce (lighter option) or stuffed inside of a croissant (our favorite indulgent option). Add some fruit and/or kettle chips and it makes a great lunch for guests. A great option if you’re hosting for Mother’s Day this weekend, too!

What Makes This Chicken Salad the Best

We love, love, love this recipe because it is so unbelievably versatile; you can play around with all of the ingredients and make tons of substitutions to suit your personal tastes. Some ideas:

• Pears instead of apples.
• Dried cranberries instead of raisins.
• Fresh halved grapes instead of raisins.
• Pecans or cashews instead of walnuts.

So many rich variations!

How to Make the Chicken Salad

It only takes a few straightforward steps to get this chicken salad thrown together and ready for lunch!

1. Prepare the chicken and shred. We prefer shredded chicken here instead of cubed, as we feel like it integrates with the rest of the ingredients much better.
2. Combine the chicken and mayonnaise. You want to ensure that all of the chicken has a nice coating of mayonnaise on it so it doesn’t dry out.
3. Add the rest of the ingredients and toss to combine. Throw in your apples, raisins, walnuts, salt and pepper and mix it up to make sure everything is well combined.

That’s it! While this can be served immediately, we think it shines when it’s left to sit in the refrigerator for at least an hour before serving.

This is one of our favorite speedy meal prep recipes because it can be thrown together so quickly (thank you, rotisserie chickens and canned chicken!) and keeps well all week, although this never lasts that long in our house!

Eat it plain, atop a bed of lettuce, or pair it with buttery croissants for lunch guests (or yourself, because everyone deserves a croissant).

• Yield: 4 to 6 servings
• Prep: 15 minutes
• Total: 15 minutes

Ingredients

• 2 pounds ( 907.18 g ) cooked chicken, shredded
• ½ cup ( 112 g ) mayonnaise
• 2 large apples, your favorite variety, peeled, cored and diced
• ⅓ cup ( 48.33 g ) raisins
• ⅓ cup ( 39 g ) chopped walnuts
• 4 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Method

1. Place the chicken in a large bowl and combine with the mayonnaise, stirring well to ensure that all of the chicken has been coated.
2. Add the apples, raisins, walnuts and vinegar, and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Toss to thoroughly combine. The chicken salad can be served immediately or stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.

Notes

You can substitute pear for the apple.

You can substitute halved grapes or dried cranberries for the raisins.

You can substitute other nuts (cashews or pecans would be great!) for the walnuts.

If you are doing a Whole30, Primal Kitchen mayonnaise is compliant.

This salad can be served immediately, but if you have time, refrigerate for at least 1 hour so the flavors can meld together.

(Recipe adapted from The Whole30)

Update Notes: This recipe was originally published in January 2016; it was updated in May 2019 with new photos and more extensive recipe success tips.

[photos by Ari of Well Seasoned ]