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!
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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!
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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How do you think rotisserie chicken would work with this?
That will work perfectly in this recipe LaChelle!
Simple to make and Delicious to eat. I added 3/4 cup quartered grapes to add some sweetness. Perfect!
I will be serving this in Fillo Shells. They are always a crowd favorite! A green or black olive…or chunk of cheese goes well!
I love this recipe. I have doubled the celery and green onion to 2 for added crunch factor. I added a tablespoon of Ranch dressing for flavor. Overall it is a definite go to recipe! My chicken was chicken breasts that I cooked in my insta-pot.
I love this! I used 2 cans of chicken (always in the pantry) and substituted Beau Monde (another pantry staple!) for the seasoned salt. Added walnuts and red grapes. Thanks, Holly!
I made this today & the only variation I made was to add the juice from 1/2 a lemon. I served on French bread with green lettuce & tomato. It was delicious.
Instead of salt, I use Greek Seasoning and instead of dill, I use capers. Also make my shrimp salad this way and I get rave reviews from friends and family. Love to make this salad, it’s so easy.
Your version sounds delicious Jan!
Im going to try this with capers today!
I was wondering what kind of seasoned salt you used in this recipe since there are several different brands. Sounds delicious and am looking forward to making this soon .
Any brand will work just fine, I most often make my own seasoned salt with this recipe.
Great recipe for good proportions of chicken, mayo, mustard and seasonings. Add on list for green onion, celery, and grapes was great. Doubled up on some of that based solely on personal preferences. Added some walnuts and raisins as well just because they sounded good to us as part of the flavor mix.
Love this recipe and will be using it from here on! Doubled it and wanted to add a little sweetness to it so I added sweet relish. It was just the tweak it needed for our personal taste
very helpful, love each Recipes.
Hi, did you used dijon mustard or wholegrain? the recipe says dijon but the photos have wholegrain. I just want to make sure I get it right. : )
Either will work in this recipe, I use a grainy dijon.
This turned out great. I cut the recipe in half and used a little yellow onion as I didn’t have any green onion. Delicious chicken salad, thanks so much for sharing!
Love this chicken salad exactly as written, and I use green onion. It’s truly addictive! I think that maybe the seasoned salt recipe may make it so delicious! I had some leftover yellow gold potatoes and thought I’d whip up a little bit of potato salad. I literally used this recipe minus the chicken, of course, and added hard boiled eggs. It was fabulous! Thank you for sharing your awesome recipes!
Made for a quick lunch today(tweaked it a bit for personal taste) great classic base recipe. Have made many times and will make many more!
I made this Chicken Salad for lunch today, with your Ranch Dressing recipe, it was delicious! It’s a keeper, thank you!
You’re very welcome!
Note: I would not recommend using as much mayonnaise as this recipe calls for. I used one cup for 4 cups of chicken, and it was too much. Add the mayo to the chicken gradually so that you end up with the consistency you want.
Do I have to use dijion mustard? I don’t like any kind of mustard and neither does anybody in my family.
The whole jar of mustard would go to waste.
You can leave it out if you’d like.
I’m doing Whole30 and would love to make this recipe with Whole30 compliant Mayo for my lunches this week.
If I double up the batch do you know how long it stays good for? Thank you in advance!
Hi Jaemi, 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! Enjoy!
This was a delicious recipe. I added fresh lemon zest and lemon juice and used two cans of Costco chicken breasts and fresh dill. I didn’t add any additional salt and pepper. It’s a great basic recipe that can be doctored up if you wish.