by Holly
Of all the summer salads, a classic chicken salad recipe is always a favorite at a picnic, a barbecue, or an office potluck! Just a few ingredients can be transformed into a cold, creamy salad or filling for a homemade chicken salad sandwich or wrap!
Keep this easy recipe on hand for last-minute sandwich prep when last-minute invitations come up! Serve this summer with a side of Italian pasta salad and crunchy grilled corn on the cob!
Ingredients in Chicken Salad
Chicken:
- Use leftovers from last night’s dinner or leftover rotisserie chicken or grilled chicken.
- To Make Chicken for chicken salad I like to use either poached chicken or baked chicken breasts or thighs.
- You can use canned chicken in a pinch but of course fresh is best when possible.
- Ensure the chicken is cooled and shred or chop the chicken into bite sized pieces.
Add-ins:
- As this is a classic chicken salad recipe, I’ve kept the additions to a minimum. Celery for crunch, green onions for flavor.
- This recipe can be made with a variety of nuts, veggies, and fruit for added flavor and texture.
- Chicken salad with grapes, avocado or dried cranberries is a favorite. Pecans or almonds pair well with this recipe.
Dressing:
- Mayonnaise is the base of this recipe and it’s simply seasoned.
- You can get creative and substitute some of the mayo for ranch dressing or your favorite salad dressing recipe.
- Create an Avocado Chicken Salad by replacing some of the mayonnaise with mashed avocado.
How to Make Chicken Salad?
Prepare a classic chicken salad in 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 (per recipe below) in a bowl. Toss with chicken.
- Serve on rolls, bread or over a bead of lettuce.
For this chicken salad sandwich recipe, any bread will do, thick slices of a baguette or buns/rolls hold up well. This is naturally low carb and it’s great over a tossed salad as well.
Got Leftovers?
REFRIGERATOR: In an airtight container, the chicken salad will last about a week in the refrigerator. Give it a stir and refresh the flavor with a little salt and pepper (or an extra dollop of Dijon mustard) and serve!
FREEZER: Chicken salad doesn’t freeze well. To prep ahead, simply dice the chicken and freeze. When ready to make, combine it with the ingredients below for a quick lunch!
Must-Try Sandwiches
- Pineapple Chicken Salad with Grapes – fresh summer favorite
- Best Egg Salad Recipe – All-American classic!
- Avocado Ranch Chicken Salad Wrap – loaded with flavor
- Bacon Ranch Chicken Salad – deliciously fresh & tasty!
- Classic Tuna Salad – ready in 10 minutes!
- Shrimp Salad – fabulous light entreé
Classic Chicken Salad
Prep Time 15 minutes
Servings 6 servings
Course Salad
Cuisine AmericanIngredients
- 2 cups cooked chicken chopped
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- 1 stalk celery chopped
- 1 green onion diced (or chives or red onion)
- 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
- ½ teaspoon seasoned salt
- pepper to taste
- 1 teaspoon fresh dill optional
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and mix well.
- Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Serve as a sandwich or over salad.
Would plain Greek yogurt be okay in place of Mayo?
You can use plain yogurt but it will be less creamy and more tart (or sour) in flavor. I would suggest half Greek yogurt and half mayo if it works for you.
Hi Holly. Happy early Thanksgiving! Reason for me to make a comment on something so easy, I have made chicken salad many times in past, and could never get it right. Because I thought I knew what I was doing was right. Lol. At my age, which I not going to say, but, I am a Senior Citizen. Finally I googled how to make it. Well, I was making it all wrong. I used your re pie, but. Used Leftover roasted chicken from Costco which is I feel is the best anyways using that chicken and your recipe knocked it out of the park I know now what I was doing wrong through all these years I didn’t know so thank you for setting me straight LOL oh and the reason why it taste so bad all the time I was putting hard-boiled eggs and pickles in it it just didn’t do it LOL have a beautiful day or evening thank you again
I love rotisserie chicken in this recipe too Bonnie, I’m so glad you loved this as much as we do!
Nobody cares about when and where someone else uses it. Just the recipe please instead of burying it in paragraph after paragraph of useless talk
The writing in this post includes information about ingredients, variations, substitutions and storage/leftovers. While you may be experienced in the kitchen, some readers are new to cooking and find the information both useful and helpful.
There is a “JUMP TO RECIPE” at the top of each page that will take you directly to the recipe and skip past the writing. Hope that helps!
Well said, Holly. No one is forcing him to read the comments from your interested readers. Thank you for sharing.
Great comment Holly and way to keep your cool, not sure I could have done that. Stuart needs to get a life it seems. How rude. I plan on making this tomorrow with left over rotisserie chicken, I’ll let you know how it turns out. Like another reader commented, I’ve tried to make this for years and it just never turned out/tasted right. However, I also was using hard boiled egg and pickle, like a tuna fish salad. Sometimes simpler can be better. Now I wish I had croissant rolls but will have to settle for regular rolls or bread.
WOW DUDE, why so rude?
Really delicious, thank you!!
I learned from this amazing cook when I used to do catering at a country club to add some ketchup at the end of making your chicken salad ! I do the same ingredients as you and I always add teaspoon of ketchup at the end ! It gives it a light pink look and makes it so much better ! Ketchup had sugar and vinegar and makes it perfect ! It doesn’t taste like ketchup I promise you have to try it !!!!!!
Easy and delicious!! I used leftover grilled chicken breasts and shredded them. This is my favorite chicken salad recipe yet!!!
i would love to get any kind of new and different recipes of any kind. i dont mind trying any new food that dont have mushrooms anchovies or anything nasty like that, but the ones that i dont like i can always pas on to family and friends.
Is the nutrition info for the whole recipe?
The nutrition info is for 1/6th of the recipe.
I made this for a luncheon today and it was fabulous! I didn’t have fresh dill so I used a pinch of dried dill. I also made it the night before and added a small handful of quartered grapes just before serving.
Your version sounds great, Andrea, glad you enjoyed it!
Absolutely delicious!!!
Do you use real mayonnaise or salad dressing?
This recipe uses mayonnaise, but salad dressing will work as well. Enjoy Katie!
My favorite chicken salad recipe hands down.
Outstanding and simple chicken salad recipe. I’ll never make it another way ever again. Do not skip the dill and don’t skip the Dijon mustard. The flavor combination here is simplistic, classic and outstanding!
So glad you loved it Dee!
Absolutely great tasting! The fresh dill is a must though. Makes all the difference
The servings are 6. Do you what that equates to cup wise?
Serving size is 1/2 cup of the chicken salad.
Looking forward to trying these recipes!
Hi Holly!
Thank you so much for posting this recipe. I made chicken salad earlier and I was so disappointed – something was missing. Upon finding your recipe, I added some dijon mustard. Wow! Yay! Now I just need to wait for lunch…If I can.
So glad you loved it Amy!
Just plain Great! Just made it. Didn’t have dill, so I diced some hamburger dill chips.
Easy recipe and added some chopped pecans. This was delicious!
Chicken Salad recipe was easy and fast. Tastes awesome! We use olive oil dressing and a a tablespoon of sweet pickle relish to give it a little sweetness since we don’t use salad dressing (miracle whip) which is the base that I like.
HI IM CHARLENE IM MAKING THE CHICKEN SALAD RIGHT NOW, CAN I USE PAR
SLEY AND DILL??
That’d be delicious Charlene!
Delicious! I didn’t have seasoned salt so I used 50% Old Bay and 25% each of onion and garlic powders.
I am serving it on toasted bread with some bacon and tomatoes. If I had lettuce I would add that too.
So making the chicken salad!
Enjoy Kelly!
Added Lemon juice, and replaced Seasoned Salt with Old Bay Seasoning, very good.
I followed just about to a “T”, but also added some chopped natural almonds. This is a great recipe. Delicous!
Hello! Haven’t tried yet but was wondering if you need to make your own seasoned salt or will Lawyr’s work? thanks!
Lawry’s would work perfectly.
I would like to try some of your recipes.
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Second time I’ve made this. It’s the recipe I’ve been looking for and my tummy is so happy!
Excellen recipe and so easy with all the usual ingredients you would have in the house. I will double the recipe next time because it disappeared in just one meal!
So easy and delicious! I didn’t have honey Dijon so I just substituted with honey mustard dressing. I also didn’t have celery so I used red peppers. That’s what I love about this recipe, you can make it your own or use what you have on hand for ingredients. Added green grapes and it was the perfect sweet and savory combo. I served it over a bed of lettuce with grape tomatoes and it paired really well, didn’t need extra dressing for flavor! Thanks for the recipe!
I wanted to make chicken salad that tastes just like the kind I got growing up at this market back home in Ohio.
This may even be better!!
Sooo yummy, wouldnt change a thing! Thank you!
Excellent flavor combination! I added parmesan as suggested in another review. Double batch was gobbled up.
How much parmesan did you use?
Season to taste.
Excellent!!
This is so simple and soooo good. I use this recipe often with leftover chicken. I substitute dry dill when I don’t have fresh and typically add red onion, a bell or poblano pepper, and a squeeze of lemon.
This is the best chicken salad I’ve ever had, I put grapes, cranberries, and a little but of vinegar in to give it flavor and it was great
What is the serving size
It is about 1/2 cup of the chicken mixture Summer.
Good, basic recipe. Thanks for the add-in suggestions…I threw in some chopped red seedless grapes. Delicious! :)
Perfect! I served on crackers with a tiny piece of tomato.
My recipe for chicken salad is chunky so would not work
atop of crackers for a little appetizer. Thank you will make
again often.
My family loved this chicken salad. The dill added flavor.
Can you use yogurt and mustard for a chicken salad?
Sure you can! Yogurt will have a bit more tang than mayonnaise so if you have mayonnaise you could try half and half too.
This was very good. I added 2 tbsp dill relish, and 1 chopped boiled egg. Served it on toasted bread. It was scrumptious!
Yummy, that sounds delicious Jojo!
Do I use just one single green onion, or one bunch of green onions?
For this recipe, we used one green onion, Lori. You can add more if you prefer.
After using the dark meat from a Costco rotisserie chicken in another recipe, I used the chicken breast meat for this recipe. We didn’t have the dill but a little chopped up dill pickle fixed that. My wife and I absolutely loved it! This is definitely a keeper and “go to” chicken salad treat!
Thanks for the recipe!
I made this recipe just as stated (without the optional dill) and it was fantastic! Great flavors! Thanks!!
Made this for lunch today. It was delicious however just a bit too much season salt. Just added in a bit of sugar.
Loved this simple and quick recipe! Definitely a keeper!
Delicious!
This is a good simple chicken salad recipe! Perfect combo of spices. Thanks for sharing!
Yum!
I’ve always loved chixken salad, but never could make it myself. This recipe is perfect!! I was actually making this to take to work, but it’s gone. So good!
Fast, easy and delicious. The chives/green onions are a lovely addition, and I also added green grapes.
I am glad this is keto appropriate. I doubled the recipe and made the recipe adding only shredded parmesan, per another posters suggestion, it was great! I also made a double batch of cloud bread so my daughter and I can enjoy the sandwiches too along with the guys. Thanks for sharing.
People crack me up. I substituted the chicken with fake chicken and left out the salt but I appreciate the base of the recipe to add, substitute, and delete what does/doesn’t work for me. Thank you!
It’s funny cuz its true
What is the serving size /amount to get the nutrition value you posted?
Hi Cheryl, a serving is about 1/2 cup of the chicken salad mixture and the nutrition information is per serving. Enjoy!
I think you’ve got the nutritional info on protein wrong, teehee… there is no way there is only 1g of protein in a serving darling.
Thanks Lani! We have updated the nutrition information.
We enjoy the British sampler at Annabelles in Kingsville ON, and their chicken salad also contains sliced seedless red grapes. A very tasty addition for their salad. Not for sandwich filling of course, but great in a lettuce cup at lunch!! Try it!
Sounds delicious and refreshing!
So, AGAIN with the mustard? There’s mustard in every salad you make! What’s with that? It doesn’t always enhance a dish, especially when paired w/seafood (which you have also done). I also saw that you added mustard into Pimento Cheese stuffed eggs! Really? Try doling that down south!
You can leave out the mustard if you’d like. Enjoy the recipe.
I’m in the Deep South, and we use mustard … a lot. Recipe is delish. Keep them coming.
We lived in Savannah, & we ladies lunched in Tea Rooms once a week. Mustard in Pimento Cheese was unheard of!
It is very, very easy to omit an ingredient you do not see fit. Also, I don’t know what part of the south you are from but we do LOVE our mustard! Southern potato salad gets its coloring from mustard. Heck we’ve even mixed mustard and barbeque for “Carolina gold” sauce.
Of course. You CAN substitute with BBQ sauce or relish or mayo. There is no LAW saying you have to follow it exactly the same. Its your choice. Being thankful, and or complaining and rude, for a kindness when someone shares something helpful, even a recipe, is also your choice.
And to Holly! Thanks so much for the recipe, I am going to make and freeze some extra. And in the winter, use it warmed up a little on the stove, in hot sandwiches. Yum! In wraps. In buns. In croissants, and cold on lettuce with tomatoes on the side.How do I enjoy it? Let me count the ways.
Could you have been any more rude? Geeze
Mustard is fantastic on Seafood! You’re missing out angry lady!
Not sure where you live in the South BUT where I am from (South Carolina, Georgia, North Carolina) we LOVE mustard!! My husband is a huge fan of typical yellow mustard whereas I love Honey Mustard. Really adds a special tang. Angelina, consider not being so judgmental and use only recommended ingredients that your family enjoys and overlook ones that don’t meet your needs.
Love love love the recipes with mustard!
I’m anxious to try this and with mustard! I’ve yet to find a good homemade chicken salad recipe & I love CS so maybe the mustard will be the key?!
Shame on you for being so rude
Love classic chicken salad. No grapes. No nuts. But I’ll tell you – add a handful of grated Parmesan cheese and it will kick things up a notch!
Ooooo, great idea Angie!
I don’t like mayo so I used just ranch dressing. It is a wet mix unless you add the pecans. Delicious!!
Great substitution Christina! Glad you enjoyed it.
Easy salads
Hope you love this one Barbara!
I love your recipes!
Thanks Melinda!
Your receipt look delicious..
Thanks Betty! So glad you think so :)
I loved all you recipes look so good and delicious.
Many thanks Blanca!