Looking for a hearty and chilled salad option that would be perfect for Summer?! This Chicken Salad Recipe with Grapes and Pecans is an all-time favorite in my household and a popular option for many celebrating the Fourth of July!
This classic chicken salad recipe is a well-balanced meal that can be enjoyed with crackers, in fresh bread rolls, bagels, or croissants.
For a low carb option, serve a helping of this salad on a bed of lettuce leaves for some delicious lettuce wraps.
The chunky pieces of chicken breast with sweet and juicy grapes, crunchy salad ingredients, and chopped pecans mixed in with a creamy mayonnaise dressing will keep you coming back for more, and who would blame you?
All your favorite ingredients in one salad!
Why We Love This
- Delicious chicken salad. It’s a super simple and affordable dish that’s well known around the globe and can be enjoyed as a delicious cold main meal - great for summertime!
- There’s no cooking involved in this recipe. In fact, all you need is 15 minutes to prepare and assemble this salad.
- This Chicken Salad Recipe With Grapes and Pecans is a well-balanced meal for the family with lean healthy protein, carbs, fiber, and fats from the tangy mayonnaise dressing.
Next time try my other favorite summer salads: Creamy Tuna Pasta Salad and Caesar Salad With Dressing.
Ingredients
- Chicken - You can use cooked and shredded or chopped chicken that was leftover from other meals or made in advance for this salad. Otherwise, consider the convenience of using a rotisserie chicken.
- Red seedless grapes - Sweet red grapes work the best thanks to their sweet juicy flavor. Or you can use a combination of both red and green grapes. They do add so much flavor!
- Pecans - it is the most widely used nut for this salad but you can also use walnuts, cashews, or even almonds. Leave the chopped pecans as is or toast them first for a deeper, richer flavor. Honestly, an excellent tasty chicken salad is not the same without nuts!
- Mayo mustard dressing - I’ve opted to make my own ultra-creamy salad dressing using simple ingredients such as vegan mayonnaise (which is much healthier than regular mayo), yogurt, mustard, apple cider vinegar, and salt and pepper. You can definitely use a store-bought dressing if you would prefer but it may be a good idea to buy more than what’s called for in the recipe in case you store the salad and need additional sauce later on or want to double the recipe quantities.
- Fresh herbs - I used parsley as my preferred choice. Other great choices to use here are chives, fresh dill, or green onions.
- Vinegar - you only need a little to balance the flavors. A good alternative is a lemon or lime juice (freshly squeezed preferred).
For the full list of ingredients, please scroll down where you'll find the recipe card.
Instructions
Prep dressing. Mix all the ingredients for dressing in a large bowl.
In the same bowl add salad ingredients and mix well.
Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to 1 hour for flavors to blend.
Serve as it is as a side dish or as chicken salad sandwiches with toast, bagels, croissants, brioche buns, crackers, or lettuce.
Best served chilled!
This recipe makes a large bowl of chicken salad enough to serve 6 people as a smaller side dish portion.
Tips
- It’s important to allow this chicken grape salad with pecans to chill in the refrigerator so that all of the flavors infuse and blend well. 30 minutes to 1 hour should be an adequate amount of time to chill the salad prior to serving.
- If you don’t feel like making another batch of creamy dressing for leftover salad and you feel that the stored salad is a little dry, simply mix in a little extra mayonnaise, sour cream, or yogurt.
- I love the convenience of using a rotisserie chicken for this salad but if you prefer to cook and shred your own chicken specifically for this dish, make sure that you have factored in that additional time especially since you want the chicken to have fully cooled down before being added to the rest of the salad ingredients.
Freezing and Storing Instructions
This creamy chicken salad is best consumed within 1-2 days for best results. As it has dairy and chicken don't leave the salad at room temperature for too long (max 1 hour) to avoid food contamination.
Store the salad in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days. Unfortunately, you can't freeze this salad.
Make ahead. You can cook the chicken 1-2 days in advance and keep it refrigerated or use any leftover chicken (baked, boiled, or slow cooker chicken are all great here) for this (finely chopped). I like to shred the chicken but you can dice it into small pieces for this salad. Want super-fast? Chicken shreds beautifully and super fast using an electric hand mixer.
Salad dressing can be mixed 1-2 days in advance as well.
FAQ
Yes, definitely! This salad is loaded with lean chicken breast meat, fresh salad ingredients for great fiber, vitamins, and minerals, and the pecans provide a healthy source of fat.
In addition to that, I’ve opted to make creamy mayo dressing with vegan mayonnaise which is much healthier than regular mayonnaise.
You can decide what you would like to pair this salad with. For a low-carb meal, consider serving a portion of this salad in a lettuce leaf as a lettuce wrap instead of carb-rich alternatives.
The salad itself is completely gluten-free. You will then want to ensure that any bread rolls, croissants, or crackers that you serve with the salad are gluten-free (either store-bought or homemade).
While this particular version of the classic chicken salad is proudly American, the true origin of the first chicken salad (chicken tossed in with mayonnaise to create a salad) can be traced back to early 1800 French recipes.
Fast forward a few decades and you’ll see how this chicken salad then started to gain traction in Southern cookbooks around 1947, featuring as a popular Fourth of July food!
Thank you so much for reading about Chicken Salad Recipe With Grapes and Pecans. Please feel free to comment with any questions you may have! I love reading your feedback.
Rita
Easy Salad Recipes
For more recipes please take a look at my ALL SALAD index.
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Chicken Salad Recipe With Grapes And Pecans
Ingredients
- 2 large chicken breasts cooked and shredded or rotisserie chicken (about 3 ½ cups)
- 3 stalks fresh stalks of celery sliced medium thin
- ⅔ cups red grapes or a combination of green and red cut in half
- ½ cup pecans chopped (sub with walnuts, cashew, almond)
- ½ of a medium red onion finely diced
- 2 tablespoons fresh parsley finely chopped (optional)
- Croissants burger buns, rolls for serving
- Lettuce for serving medium size romaine lettuce or Trocadero Lettuce leaves
- green onions for serving optional
- Dressing:
- ⅔ cup of mayonnaise I used vegan mayonnaise because it is healthier
- 2 tablespoon regular plain yogurt or Greek yogurt can sub with thicker sour cream or vegan yogurt options too
- 1 teaspoon English mustard or dijon mustard
- Salt
- Black pepper to taste
- ½ teaspoon apple cider vinegar or fresh lemon juice
Instructions
- Prep dressing. Mix all the ingredients for dressing in a large bowl.
- In the same bowl add salad ingredients and mix well.
- Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to 1 hour for flavors to blend.
- Serve as it is as a side dish or as chicken salad sandwiches with toast, bagels, croissants, brioche buns, crackers, or lettuce.
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Chicken Salad Recipe with Grapes and Pecans is an easy and fresh summer salad!