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This chicken salad recipe is one of my favorites—it makes a delicious quick lunch or dinner.
Chicken, mayonnaise, a few add-ins and some seasonings come together to create a creamy salad or filling for a homemade chicken salad sandwich or wrap!
Chicken Salad Ingredients
- Chicken: I most often use rotisserie chicken, but leftover chicken of almost any kind, including grilled chicken, can be used. If using canned chicken, mix all ingredients except the chicken in a bowl and then gently fold in the drained canned chicken.
- Add-ins: Since this is a classic chicken salad recipe, I add celery for crunch and green onion for flavor.
- Dressing: Mayonnaise adds a creamy texture, while simple seasonings add flavor.
Variations
- Add dill or other fresh herbs.
- Lighten it up a bit by replacing half of the mayo with Greek yogurt.
- Change the flavor by adding ranch dressing.
- Dress it up with add-ins like chopped apples, grapes, or chopped nuts such as almonds, walnuts, or pecans.
How to Make Chicken Salad
Prepare this classic chicken salad recipe in just 15 minutes with only a few simple ingredients.
- Chop cooked and cooled chicken and place into a large bowl with celery and onions.
- Mix dressing ingredients (recipe below) in a bowl. Toss with chicken.
- Serve on rolls, bread, or over a bed of lettuce.
Serving Suggestions
- This chicken salad sandwich recipe can be served on any type of bread, including a croissant. I love to lightly toast the bread.
- Serve it with crackers for snacking.
- Spoon it over greens or into lettuce leaves to make lettuce wraps.
Storing Leftovers
Refrigerator: Store chicken salad in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. Stir before serving.
Freezer: Prepared chicken salad doesn’t freeze well however, to prep ahead, dice the chicken and freeze it it. When ready to make the salad, combine the thawed chicken with the remaining ingredients below for a quick lunch!
More Favorite Sandwiches
This chicken salad recipe is a favorite lunch or light dinner. Here are more easy sandwiches that top our list!
Classic Chicken Salad
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 cups cooked chopped chicken or shredded chicken
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- 1 rib celery diced
- 1 green onion thinly sliced
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- ¼ teaspoon seasoned salt more to taste
- ⅛ teaspoon black pepper or to taste
- 1 teaspoon chopped fresh dill or ¼ teaspoon dried dill, optional
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, add chicken, mayonnaise, celery, green onion, mustard, salt, pepper, and dill if using. Mix well to combine.
- Taste and season with additional salt and pepper if desired.
- Serve as a sandwich or over salad.
Video
Notes
- 1 cup chopped red grapes or 1 cup chopped peeled apple
- 2 tablespoons chopped nuts (pecans or almonds)
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Salad
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Can I replace the cooked chicken with canned chicken?
Other readers have used canned chicken with great results. I would love to hear how it turns out for you!
Delicious! I did not use dill. Because we like heat, I added cayenne pepper to taste.
I used two smoked chicken breast and made as recipe read except I used yellow mustard. This was excellent and will be making again.
Thank you for sharing.
Best Chicken Salad I have ever eaten. I did not add any herbs and used yellow mustard. If you want to take it to 6⭐️ add Craisins. This is fantastic on sourdough toast or Triscuits.
I used leftover smoked chicken and it turned out great! Thank you !
Oooh, that would add such a nice flavor! Thanks for sharing, Melanie.
this was delicious! thank you!
Made this using rotisserie chicken, #Redmond Seasoned Salt and #Litehouse Freeze Dried Dill. Used it on a sandwich with fresh sliced tomato from my garden and green leaf lettuce. Delicious!!! Thank you for another great recipe.
So glad you enjoyed it, Angela!
This was the best chicken salad I have had. My husband is very picky & he loved it! This will definately be my to go to. By the way, I eat alot of chicken salad.
delicious
How many does this savory chicken salad recipe serve?
Hi Cindy, this recipe makes six ½ cup servings of chicken salad.
This is our go-to chicken salad recipe. The seasoned salt is now a part of the spice drawer in an old celery seed spice jar. Thank you for sharing this recipe, we are a huge fan.
I really want to make this and have all the ingredients except for the Dijon Mustard. Will it work with regular mustard?
Yes, regular mustard will work just fine in this recipe.
This was pretty close to how my mother taught me to make chicken salad. But, the subtle addition of poupon mustard and seasoned salt took it to the next level. It was also nice to have actual measurements! It is in the fridge now and I’m sure it will marinate a bit before serving it for a board game day with family tomorrow. It is something I can pull out and quickly serve so we can get back to game playing! There are so many ways to serve it – on crackers, bread, lettuce wraps – we don’t even have to go to the grocery store to host.
Thanks for the recipe!
I would love to know how many servings the recipes makes. Also the calories 206 how much chicken salad is in your serving ?
Hi Julie, this recipe makes six ½ cup servings of chicken salad. The nutritional information listed is per serving. I hope that helps!
Best chicken salad recipe ever!
OMG Holley is beautiful.
So very good! I added raisins because I like a little bite of sweet with the crunch. I used canned chicken (which I rinsed), so didn’t add much salt. Definitely will make again!