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
- ½ teaspoon seasoned salt
- ⅛ teaspoon black pepper or to taste
- 1 teaspoon chopped fresh dill or ¼ teaspoon dried dill, optional
Instructions
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In a medium bowl, add chicken, mayonnaise, celery, green onion, mustard, salt, pepper, and dill if using. Mix well to combine.
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Taste and season with additional salt and pepper if desired.
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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
Cuisine American
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I always follow recipes exactly as they’re written, to see what I like or dislike about it before tweaking it a little to my own personal tastes.
I followed this one on everything except the green onions, since I didn’t have any. I used finely diced red onions instead and OMG this chicken salad came out so good!!!
It’s definitely a classic, very similar to what I grew up with. This will be my only go-to for leftover chicken. The only thing I plan to change about it is adding in some hard boiled eggs. Delicious!
So happy to hear that! Thanks for trying our recipe.
This is one of those recipes I just keep returning to. I had more than 2 cups left over chicken, so a slight variance of recipe. I used chopped red onion ( just our preference) mayonnaise, mustard, seasoning salt , pepper, dill as listed. I peeled and diced a small apple. Mixed everything but did have to increase on the mayo as I had more chicken than recipe called for. When doing the taste test, found it was missing the sweetness, probably because it was a small apple that was used. I added 2 heaping teaspoons of dried cranberries and that did the job. When it is 38 Celsius outside, one looks for meals whereby no stove, etc. If you haven’t tried this recipe, give it a go. It is certainly enjoyed in this house!
That sounds delicious, Rose Ann! Thanks for sharing.
This recipe is my go-to for chicken salad, but I also love trying new variations.
Best Ever Chicken Salad. My go to recipe.
Absolutely delicious!
Delicious old school style, love it!
My new go-to! I used to just throw ingredients together for chicken salad but I actually measured everything and it was perfect. I made 2 batches since I had a lot of rotisserie chicken to use up and ran out of dijon. I dislike people who change recipes – how can you say a printed recipe is good if you change half the ingredients?!?! But here I go…. I still wanted that deep tang like dijon and regular yellow mustard wouldn’t do it so I used a 1/2 tsp of ground horseradish. Surprisingly it tasted good! So IF you don’t have dijon you can try this. Thank you for a perfect chicken salad (the first original batch).
My wife poo pooed the recipe prior to having it for dinner. I made it and she had two sandwiches!
This was truly abnormal for her. I heard three or four times how great they were.
Such a great recipe! I made it exactly as listed and turned out perfect! I made the filling the night before serving and the flavours were perfect the next day. SWP Employee
This chicken salad is a hit each time I make it. I use a roasted chicken and shred it.
This recipe is the only one I use! Have tried so many. This is exactly how chicken salad should taste! AMAZING! I make this chicken salad for my meal prep during the week!
Absolutely WONDERFUL! Didn’t have to bother anyone. YOU DID IT ALL.
Exactly what I wanted for chicken salad sandwiches. I used 2 boiled chicken breasts and half fat mayo though and didn’t have any seasoning salt so just used regular salt. Turned out great!!
Love it, so simple and delicious. family favorite.
Delicious! My family loved it!
The best chicken salade I ever tasted :) Thank you
This was delicious! Just the way my mother and grandmother made theirs.
Best I ever had
This is my go to recipe for chicken salad. Made it many times and it’s super simple and delicious.
I usually add a teaspoon of Worcestershire and a splash of red wine vinegar or lemon juice for a little extra acidity.
Just made a batch with a seeded jalapeño and it’s amazing. Can’t wait for it to marinate in the fridge for a few hours and let the flavors come together.
Made this yesterday and not only was it simply easy to make; it will be one of my go-to recipes, delivering on fantastic taste!!! Love the DILL added, does make a big difference in taste!