This really is the perfect go-to salad for sandwiches or on top of a green salad.
You could easily add crumbled bacon, or raisins, or cashews, or even mix in a little curry powder to the mayo. Of course, homemade mayo puts this salad over the top. But again, a good quality store-bought mayonnaise works perfectly well, too. After cooking the chicken, the salad comes together in only about 15 minutes!
How To Make Chicken Salad
EXPERT TIP: Cook the chicken up to 3 days before assembling and serving. You can also make the homemade mayonnaise several days in advance, too!
Although chilling the salad after it’s mixed is recommended, we think to let the salad return to room temperature is great for taste when serving.
Watch us show you how easy it is to make this truly incredible recipe!
Other “Best-Ever” Salads to Try
What Makes It So Delicious?
So many folks have made this salad and asked us in complete sincerity: “What makes this chicken salad recipe so darn delicious?”
Well, there are several reasons, we believe: Here are some of the main ones:
- Roasting the chicken ensures flavorful, juicy chicken for the salad. In a pinch, you could certainly use a rotisserie chicken from the supermarket.
- The addition of seedless grapes, almonds, and fresh dill are part of what makes this dish so wonderful.
- A mix of mayonnaise, Dijon, and lemon juice adds a freshness that is just so very delicious. It all adds up to the best chicken salad sandwich you can imagine!
Homemade Mayonnaise Adds More Freshness
If you really are in the mood to make this truly the BEST-EVER chicken salad…make your mayonnaise from scratch.
There’s nothing better than homemade classic mayonnaise (click for recipe).
Of course, good-quality store-bought mayonnaise will work just fine, but we absolutely LOVE making it from scratch! One thing to keep in mind, though, homemade mayo has raw egg in it, which could be an issue with the very young, the elderly, or anyone with a compromised immune system.
It’s all about using fresh ingredients.
Fresh dill and parsley add a layer of flavor that we think puts this salad over the top.
If you can’t get fresh, dried will work, just use half the amount that you would be using if fresh.
And it’s even better after it sits in the fridge for a few hours, or overnight! This chicken salad sandwich recipe is really about as good as they come!
I mean, just look how delicious this looks!
Wait until you taste it!! You and those around you will love it!
If you are looking for an easy chicken salad recipe that tastes like something you’d get at an amazing restaurant, you need to look no further!
You can almost taste how good this is just by looking at it.
There is a reason this is hands down the most popular recipe on How To Feed a Loon!
Best-Ever Chicken Salad FAQs
- How far advance can it be made? We recommend serving soon after the salad is assembled. However, you can prepare the chicken and the dressing up to several days in advance. We will say the salad is even tastier after it sits in the refrigerator for a few hours. We just suggest bringing the salad back to room temp before serving. But that’s just a suggestion!
- Is a rotisserie chicken okay to use? Absolutely! We feel pretty strongly that the roasted chicken pieces yield an even tastier salad, but a good-quality rotisserie chicken will work, too. Just please don’t use canned chicken. Please.
- What other ingredients could I include? The sky is practically the limit: We love dried cranberries, sliced apples, cashews or peanuts, even capers! Fresh oregano, rosemary and/or thyme is great, too!
- Can the salad be frozen? Yes! Freeze for up to 1 month in an air-tight container. Let thaw completely and return to room temperature. You may need to make a small batch of the dressing just to stir in before serving after it’s been frozen, but that’s not 100% necessary.
Ready to make the best lunch dish in town? Go for it!
And when you make it, take a picture and post to Instagram and tag @HowToFeedaLoon and #HowToFeedaLoon
Best-Ever Chicken Salad
Ingredients
- 4 lbs chicken parts (bone-in, skin-on thighs and breasts work well) (You'll need about 4 cups)
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 cup grapes seedless, halved (red and green varieties are great)
- 1 cup almonds thinly sliced
- 2 stalks celery finely diced
- 3 scallions thinly sliced (white and green parts)
- 2 tbsp dill fresh, chopped
- 1 tbsp parsley fresh, chopped
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
- 1 tsp Kosher salt (start with 1/2 teaspoon, then add more, to taste)
- Freshly ground pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F
- Rub the olive oil all over the chicken pieces and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
- Bake for 45 to 55 minutes, or until internal temp reaches 165°F using an instant-read thermometer.
- Remove the chicken from the oven and let cool. Remove the skin then pull the meat from the bones and roughly chop.
- In a large bowl, mix together the chicken, grapes, almonds, celery, scallions, dill, & parsley.
- In a small-medium bowl, mix together the mayonnaise, lemon, mustard, salt, and pepper.
- Add the mayo/mustard mixture to the chicken mixture and gently stir until well mixed.
- Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour.
- Serve on a bed of greens with sliced tomatoes and avocado. Or, serve on bread with green leaf lettuce. Add more toppings to your taste!
Video
Notes
Nutrition
This was just amazing! Family favorite now. Thank you!
That is so wonderful to hear! We are thrilled you and the family loved the chicken salad. And THANK YOU so much for letting us know and for the wonderful review. That means the world to us!!! Best, Kris & Wesley
This is delicious!!! I was preparing for a luncheon with friends. Because of a change in the weather, I wanted to go with something cool and fresh instead of hot. I thought chicken salad on croissants would be perfect. I found this recipe and it is soooo good. I didn’t have parsley or dill on hand, so I added a little Mrs. Dash. Yummy!!! Will definitely make again! Thank you!
Hi Cheryl!! Woo hoo!! So so thrilled you enjoyed the chicken salad! And sounds like you prepared it perfectly!! Thank you so much for letting us know and for the AWESOME review! That means the world to us!!! Stay in touch! Best, Kris & Wesley
I haven’t tried this yet but watching you make it, I could almost taste it. I know I won’t be disappointed. I’ve already shared it with a few chicken salad lovin’ friends. Same with your chicken gyro recipe. Muwaah!!!
P.S. You have such a great chemistry. May face hurt from grinning ear to ear while watching you two cooking together and enjoying each other’s adorableness.
Hi Emily! We are so so happy you are excited to try our chicken salad recipe. That recipe is our most popular and we just love it so much. Please let us know if you make the salad and what you think! And thank you so much for your kind words! That means the world to us!! Happy New Year!! xoxo Kris & Wesley
This has been my go-to recipe for a few years now! It’s just so dang good! Currently enjoying it on a toasted croissant.
Yay!! We think it served between a warm toasted croissant is the BEST!!! We are so so thrilled you are loving our chicken salad recipe. That makes our hearts happy. And thank you for letting us know and for the fabulous review. That means the world to us!!
I was hesitant about the grapes but it was delicious. I even contemplated putting more grapes after tasting because I enjoyed the sweetness it gave the chicken salad.
Hi Mickey! It’s amazing how the grapes work so wonderfully, right? We are glad you gave them a shot and enjoyed it so much. And thank you SO MUCH for letting us know and for the GREAT review. That honestly means so much to us!!! All the best, Kris & Wesley
This recipe is FIRE!!! The absolute best chicken salad I have ever had the privilege to make. Thank you for the video as well!! You were right – the fresh ingredients were the best. Not only did my husband love it, but my Dad too lol!! Oh thank you and have a wonderful holiday season!!
Hi Amanda! Thank you so much!! We are thrilled you and your family loved our chicken salad recipe. Have a beautiful holiday season!!! Kris & Wesley
This is my absolute favorite chicken salad! It’s our go to when asked to bring a lunch dish. The recipe is always requested after we share it with friends!
Thanks for sharing it!
Hi Madison!! You have made us SO HAPPY!! We are thrilled you’ve had such great success with the recipe and thank you SO MUCH for letting us know and for the great review. That honestly means so much to us!!! Stay in touch! All the best, Kris & Wesley
ALMONDS? And GRAPES? geesh.. no thanks!
Well, Carmen, we’ve had over half-million people share this recipe because they loved it so much. Sometimes an unexpected ingredient elevates a dish. But you wouldn’t know about this because you didn’t try it. And still, you gave us 1 star. You may not know this, but when you give a blogger’s recipe a bad rating, it sends a bad signal to Google and other search engines and lowers our visibility. Of course, it’s your right to rate the recipe however you see fit, but since you hadn’t even tried the recipe, it’s kind of harsh. We (and most bloggers) offer our content for free and rely on search volume so we can earn money from ads to keep doing what we do, make a living, and invest in our business of providing good recipe content.
Well, I am sure you know how wonderful the majority thinks of you and your delicious recipes..you are appreciated as is the hard work that goes into all that you do. Dont like grapes or almonds? Leave them out!! ❤♀️
Thank you, Jeana! That means the world to us!!
I think Carmen is probably more of a blue box mac and cheese kinda gal. This recipe is AMAZING!!!
This rating is so rude and unjustified. These ingredients MAKE the dish!!!!
I’m picky about Chicken Salads and this one is Ah-mazing.
Yes!!! Sorry for the late response, but you just made us smile from ear to ear! So so happy you enjoyed our chicken salad recipe, and thank you so much for letting us know and for the GREAT review. That means the world to us!! Stay in touch! Kris & Wesley
I feel like a drug dealer with this chicken salad, my friends are like, when you gonna make that chicken salad again? Then I start thinking about it and I have to secretly make it cuz sometimes, I don’t want to share. I’m sorry for being greedy at time, it’s just cuz it’s sooooo goood. I will try to do better about sharing with the addicts. Seriously this is the BEST chicken salad I have EVER made, this is the only recipe I use! Thank you Kris Longwell and the precious Loon for this heavenly goodness!!! Muah!
Stephanie! This might possibly be the best comment we’ve ever received! WE LOVE YOU!!! Keep on peddlin’ our chicken salad! LOL!!! We are so so freakin’ happy that you are loving the chicken salad and THANK YOU SO MUCH for your amazing (and hilarious) response and for the FABULOUS review! You have no idea how happy this makes us!!!! xoxoxoxo Kris & Wesley
I can totally relate! When I first discovered this recipe, I ate it every day for about a month. I even started to not tell my husband I had made more, I wanted it all to myself. I finally realized this was not healthy! I had to break my “addiction”! The fresh dill and grapes really take it over the top, so fresh and vibrant!!!
This is EVERYTHING!!! Thank you so much, Cindy! The chicken salad is pretty addictively yummy!!! LOL!!
Recipe on computer is different than recipe viewed on phone. Recipe only prints in the same version as computer view. I bought the recipe ingredients based on my phone view. Confusing. Anyways I made the recipe with walnuts and mint. Not sure about the one with dill. Wish I didn’t have to type up the recipe that I made
Hi Alyssa,
This one truly has us stumped. We have no idea how that could have happened, and this recipe has millions of views and 600K shares, and we’ve never heard this issue before. Is there any chance you could have been viewing someone else’s recipe on your phone? Our chicken salad recipe hasn’t changed since we published it 6 years ago and we don’t have any recipes that have both walnuts and mint in the dish. So strange. We’ve checked on multiple mobile phones, and in each case, it’s our recipe with fresh dill (no mint and walnuts).
Well, we’re really sorry this happened and sorry you felt you needed to give us a poor rating. We hope you do try our version with the dill. It’s our most popular recipe on the blog!
Best,
Kris & Wesley
Best chicken salad ever. I Loved all the recipes that you shared in this blog.
OMG! This IS the best ever Chicken salad I’ve ever had. Judging buy all the comments I can see I’m not alone. Thanks and this will be my go-to.
Pat!!! We are so SO SO happy you loved our chicken salad recipe!! And thank you so much for letting us know! Please stay in touch!! Best, Kris & Wesley
I love this recipe and have had lots of compliments when I make it. I do add about a 1/4 cup sour cream to it and I have friend s that don’t like celery so I use water chestnuts as a substitute
Hi Mary! We are so happy you have had such great success with our chicken salad recipe! And your modifications sound perfect! Thank you so much for letting us know! And please stay in touch! All the best, Kris & Wesley
I have been on a quest to make the perfect chicken salad. Your (aptly named!) chicken salad recipe is by far the best I have tried! I am so thrilled to keep this recipe on hand that is now a staple meal in our home. Thank you for your thoroughness and your fun video – you two crack me up! Also, I love the backstory on “how to feed a loon.” 🙂 Looking forward to trying many more of your delicious recipes. Cheers!
Katie!! You have no idea how thrilled this makes us!! We love that you had such great success with our chicken salad recipe!! And thank you for letting us know and for your kind words. That truly means the world to us! Please stay in touch! All the very best, Kris & Wesley
I love this recipe! I use pecans instead of almonds because my husband prefers them. I use a whole rotisserie chicken and shred it instead of chunks, just my preference. I also add half of a honeycrisp apple, chopped. The sweet crunch complements the non- sweet celery crunch really well. Please try it! The apple really sets it off.
I just made this using leftover roasted chicken. I made it exactly to the recipe except I used diced red onion, as that is what I have on hand. Used fresh dill and parsley from my herb garden. OMG this is good! It is really hot here today and this will be the perfect lunch on a bed of greens. So glad I found your site!
Maureen!! We can’t even begin to tell you how happy this makes us!!! Fresh dill and parsley from you garden sounds heavenly!! We are THRILLED you had such great success with the recipe and THANK YOU SO MUCH for letting us know and for the awesome review. That means the world to us!! Please stay in touch! All the very best, Kris & Wesley