This basic chicken salad recipe has tender chicken, a creamy dressing, crunchy celery, and onion. It’s a simple, classic recipe that's easy to customize, making it perfect for your favorite chicken salad sandwiches, lettuce wraps, and various other uses.
🐓Ingredients
Chicken—shredded or chopped rotisserie or other precooked chicken
Mayonnaise
Vegetables—celery, red onion
Pantry ingredients—lemon juice, dried parsley, Dijon mustard, salt, black pepper
Jump To (scroll for more)
- 🐓Ingredients
- 👨🍳How to Make Chicken Salad
- ✔️Tips to make it right every time
- 🐓What chicken to use
- 🥣Optional ingredients to make it your way
- 😊Is chicken salad healthy?
- ↕️How to make this a "for two" or "family size" recipe
- 📋Other brunch recipes
- 🍽️Serving and what to eat with chicken salad
- ❄️Storage
- ❓FAQs
- 👨🍳Jump to Recipe
The four essential ingredients for classic chicken salad recipes are chopped or shredded precooked chicken, mayonnaise, celery, and onion (red or green), plus salt and pepper to taste. Most recipes also add lemon juice, dried or fresh parsley, and Dijon mustard, which I have included.
It is a great recipe to use leftover chicken and other ingredients. Serve it as a chicken salad sandwich, wrap, on lettuce, or with crackers.
👨🍳How to Make Chicken Salad
1. Dice celery and red onion.
2. Shred or chop precooked or rotisserie chicken.
3. Combine rotisserie or precooked chicken, mayo, lemon juice, Dijon mustard, salt, and pepper to taste. Add other optional ingredients.
4. Refrigerate it for at least an hour to allow the flavors to combine. Then, serve on sandwiches, salads, crackers, or wraps.
For more details, keep reading. See the Recipe Card below for complete instructions and to print.
✔️Tips to make it right every time
Most chicken salads use a ratio of 2 cups of chicken to ½ cup of mayonnaise, but there is some flexibility for personal preference. Adjust the amount of mayo based on the salad's dryness.
You can use Miracle Whip or Mayonnaise, either low-fat or regular. Some people use plain Greek yogurt to replace mayonnaise. I suggest the olive oil containing mayo.
The lemon juice adds a fresh flavor, and I highly recommended it. It can be fresh if you have it. A medium lemon will have about two tablespoons of juice.
Almost all chicken salads contain some onion, generally diced green or red onions. Onion powder may be used, but fresh onions are important for their crunch and texture.
🐓What chicken to use
The most common way to get chicken is to use leftover rotisserie chicken, but any leftover or precooked chicken will work. It should be diced or shredded chicken.
You can quickly cook your raw chicken breasts. Cook them to 165° for safety, but do not cook them higher to keep them moist.
- Bake them for about 35-40 minutes in a 350° oven.
- OR poach in water. Bring them to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer, and cover for about 20 minutes, depending on their size and thickness.
🥣Optional ingredients to make it your way
Try some of these delicious optional ingredients. This is not a comprehensive list, but it may give you some ideas.
- Nuts—almonds, pecans, walnuts, cashews
- Spices—garlic, paprika, curry powder, cayenne pepper, fresh herbs
- Fruits—grapes, raisins, craisins, apples
- Other—bell peppers, olives, hard-boiled eggs, pickles, pickled jalapenos, shredded or cubed cheddar cheese
😊Is chicken salad healthy?
Chicken salad can be healthy if made with healthy ingredients for the salad and dressing. Chicken is a good source of protein, and your choice of other ingredients will determine how healthy it is. However, a deli-made chicken salad is unlikely to be healthy due to the fat content.
By using low-fat mayonnaise in the dressing, the calories per serving will decrease from 255 to 132, and the fat will reduce from 25 to 10.3 grams. This will make it a healthy chicken salad that fits a healthy diet, such as a low-calorie and low-fat diet. It is already gluten-free unless you add something with gluten.
↕️How to make this a "for two" or "family size" recipe
The full recipe makes 4 servings. Perfect for our "for two" household for two meals. But you can easily adjust it to make it for one or two servings. Also, easy to increase to as many servings as you want.
- Use the recipe card and adjust the number of servings needed.
- Use the amount of ingredients in the ingredient list, not the instructions—those do not adjust.
📋Other brunch recipes
Check out these other picnic or brunch recipes: Caprese Pasta Salad, Broccoli Salad with Bacon and Raisins, Simple Spinach Salad, Broccoli Slaw, and Chipotle Chicken Salad.
Waldorf Chicken Salad
Waldorf Chicken Salad is the perfect brunch recipe—delicious, eloquent, and easy to make with tender chunks of chicken, apples, grapes, nuts, and celery in a creamy dressing. It is super easy to make and will impress everybody.
🍽️Serving and what to eat with chicken salad
Chicken salad sandwiches are the classic way to eat chicken salad. They are made with toasted bread, croissants, or lettuce wraps. For a light lunch, serve it with fresh fruit or fruit salad, a green salad, or summer pasta salad.
Another classic way is a "cold plate" with chicken salad, sliced tomatoes or fruit, and crackers.
❄️Storage
Chicken salad should be sealed in an airtight container and will last refrigerated for 4 days. The mayo and the vegetables do not freeze well, so freezing is not recommended.
❓FAQs
It is the same as shredded chicken salad. But the chicken is chopped into small cubes, and the ingredients are frequently presented on a platter so you can assemble what you want—a more dramatic presentation.
A cup of cubed or shredded cooked chicken weighs about 4-5 oz. You can use rotisserie or any precooked chicken, even drained canned chicken.
👨🍳Jump to Recipe
Basic Chicken Salad Recipe
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Ingredients
- 2 cup chicken - cooked, cubed or shredded
- ½ cup mayonnaise—low-fat preferred
- ½ cup diced celery - about one medium rib
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- ½ red onion - small diced
- ½ teaspoon parsley dry
- ½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
- ½ teaspoon salt - to taste
- ¼ teaspoon pepper - to taste
Some Optional Ingredient Suggestions
- Nuts - Almonds. Pecans, Walnuts, Cashews.
- Spices - Garlic, Paprika, Curry Powder, Cayenne Pepper
- Fruits - Grapes, Raisins, Craisins, Apples
- Other - Bell Peppers, Olives, Eggs, Pickles, Pickled Jalapenos
Instructions
- Dice 1 stalk of celery and half a small red onion.
- Combine the celery and onion with 2 cups of diced or shredded chicken, ½ cup of mayonnaise, ½ teaspoon of dry parsley, 1 tablespoon of lemon juice, ½ teaspoon of Dijon mustard, ½ teaspoon of salt, and ¼ teaspoon of pepper. Add other options if desired.
- Mix well. If you have time, refrigerate it for at least an hour to allow the flavors to come together. Then serve on a sandwich, salad, crackers, or wrap.
Recipe Notes
Pro Tips:
- Adjust the ingredients for the amount of chicken you have.
- One medium chicken breast will make about 1 ½ to 2 cups of diced chicken.
- A medium celery rib will make about ½ cup of chopped celery.
- One lemon will yield about 2 tablespoons of juice.
- Regular or low-fat versions of mayonnaise or Miracle Whip will be fine.
- If sealed well, chicken salad will last 4 days in the refrigerator. However, the mayo and vegetables do not freeze well, so freezing is not recommended.
Your Own Private Notes
To adjust the recipe size:
You may adjust the number of servings in this recipe card under servings. This does the math for the ingredients for you. BUT it does NOT adjust the text of the instructions. So you need to do that yourself.
Nutrition Estimate
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Inspired by Martha Stewart's Classic Chicken Salad but with a few minor changes and many options added.
Editor's Note: Originally Published December 16, 2012. Updated with expanded options, refreshed photos, and a table of contents to help navigation.
Gail says
How do you poach the chicken?
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan says
Hi Gail,
Place a couple of chicken breasts in hot water in a medium sauce pan. Cover with hot water. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Decrease to simmer and cover. Cook to 165° internal temperature—about 20 minutes but varies with size and thickness. Can be speeded up by cutting the chicken into a couple of large pieces.
Dan
Kiersten Kees says
You ought to be a part of a contest for one of the highest quality websites online. I will recommend this blog!
Lissa says
How much canned chicken would i need for 16 people
DrDan says
Hi Lissa,
Welcome to the blog. Cooked diced chicken does not have an exact conversion to weight and then they dump "packing water" in also.
Having said that 1/2 cup of diced chicken should weigh 4-5 oz. There are variables with hydration and size of the dice. A half cup is a large serving. I would make 1/3 to 1/2 cup of chicken per person. Better a little too much than not enough.
Our local Sams Club sells cut up rotisserie chickens from the day before that I usually use for this and my cleaning lady gets the local Meijers (think kind of a Walmart) will strip the meat off the bone for free. I also keep a few cans (12 oz each I think) in the pantry. It yields about 8 oz which is really "cooking for two" size.
Dan
Money Baby says
A lot
Chris says
This is how I like mine. I don't enjoy the ones that have grapes, apple, and/or nuts in them. I guess that's just because this is how my mom made it, without all the frills.