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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Just made the chicken salad and it was wonderful! One of the many recipes that I’ve found here that I love!! Thank you!
I am going to make this recipe with canned chicken. (My husband bought a bunch of cans “on sale”)
Does the recipe stay the same? Example, the amount of salt.
Thank you
I would reduce the salt to taste since canned chicken can be a little salty.
What do you mean by the statement “serve over a salad” lettuce? Or…
Hi David, when not serving as a sandwich we love to serve over a bed of lettuce or as a great protein addition to our favorite salad.
Delicious, Dijon mustard brightens the flavor. Loved it. This is my new go to recipe for chicken salad.
Excellent chicken salad recipe. Highly recommend.
This is yummy, has all your recipes are.
I use your recipes every day. Thank You
Thank you for those sweet words, Sherry! We are glad to have you along for the journey :)
Simple and delicious! I put it on pita bread and add some mixed greens. So good!
This is my recipe now! The your homemade seasoned salt was the clincher. I used a poached chicken breast (onion, bay leaf, garlic, peppercorns and lemon juice in the poaching water) so this was extra flavorful. Thank you for a great recipe.
You are very welcome, Georgetta. Glad you loved it!!
Yummy chicken salad! I used left over rotisserie chicken chunks, 1 hard boiled egg, cucumber (didn’t have celery) for crunch, toasted chopped pecans, craisins, green onion, lemon zest plus juice, Duke’s Mayo. Served on top of my summer home grown garden tomatoes. Sublime!
Oh, dear! That sounds delicious, Deborah. Thanks for sharing!
Absolutely fabulous! I made chicken breasts in the instant pot; then made the eggs in the instant pot. I like eggs in mine; I also added dill diced pickles.
This is the BEST chicken salad recipe ever!! I’ve made it so many times. I use rotisserie chicken and that makes it even better!! I also used red onions and add a bit more celery. Just love it.
I just made this for lunch with leftover rotisserie chicken and my husband and I loved it. The flavor was excellent! I have to say I’ve tried several other recipes in the past but this is by far the best I’ve ever made! I will definitely be making this again. Thank you so much for sharing!
Made this last night, followed the recipe exactly, and it was excellent! Great flavour and a great base so each of my family could add whatever they wanted – red grapes, dried cranberries, pecans, walnuts, shredded carrots, etc.. And we all loved it! Thank you for the recipe, this will go into the recipe box now.
You’re welcome Christine! Great idea to have everyone add in their own favorites!
Is this per serving for the nutritional info and do you know what the measurement is? (1/2c? 1c?). Thank you! We had it tonight and it was delicious!
Yay Connie, the serving size is ½ cup of chicken salad.
How do you use frozen shredded chicken? Do you thaw it first and what is the best way to do it? In the fridge over night? What is the safest way?
Hi Tamara, for this recipe, we usually use leftover chopped chicken, but if wanting to use frozen I would let it defrost overnight in the fridge.
Excellent recipe and easy to make . I used a rotessorie chicken and cut it off the bone.
Made thus recipe using left over ready-made rotisserie chicken and it was delicious! I would make it again.
Great recipe! Followed directions exactly. A little strong on the seasoned salt, so I added a splash of lemon juice and that seemed to balance it. Delicious!
My family loves this recipe for an easy lunch when we travel. I can always count on you for a great recipe, thanks!
You’re so welcome Esther! So happy to hear how much you love this chicken salad!
This is really a great recipe. I didn’t have dijon mustard so I used yellow instead. Other than that, I made it as listed. What a great way to use up left over dry chicken breast. Next time, I’m going to throw some craisins in it. Thanks for sharing.