Healthy Chicken Salad (4 Ways)

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Love chicken salad? In this post, we’re sharing our go-to healthy chicken salad recipe + 4 different chicken salad recipes for you to try using shredded chicken, a Greek yogurt sauce, and different add-ins.

Healthy Chicken Salad Recipe

If there is one thing our head recipe developer, Linley, has taught me — it’s that you should always make chicken salad with leftover chicken no matter the type of chicken. Grilled chicken legs – shred it and make chicken salad. Baked chicken breast – shred or dice up the leftovers and make chicken salad.

She truly is the queen of taking something boring and making it delicious. In this post, we’re sharing 4 ways to jazz up your boring old chicken salad. Of course, we put our healthy twist to it with a delicious Greek yogurt-based sauce and flavorful add-ins.

What is in classic chicken salad?

Classic chicken salad is typically made up of shredded chicken breast, celery, onion, grapes, mayo, and lemon juice.

Is chicken salad healthy?

Chicken salad is high in protein and typically low in carbohydrates making it a healthy recipe option.

It All Starts with Shredded Chicken

Every good chicken salad begins with shredded chicken. Feel free to make your own or buy store-bought or use rotisserie chicken (my favorite!).

If you make your own, make sure to chill the chicken before mixing it with the rest of the ingredients. If you’d like to make your own shredded chicken, we have a handful of tutorials to help you out:

Shredded Chicken in bowl.
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What to Add to Your Chicken Salad

We are all about add-ins when it comes to chicken salad. Our classic chicken salad recipe calls for:

  • apple
  • red onion
  • celery
  • craisins
  • sauce: our classic chicken salad sauce is Greek yogurt-based. It also calls for lemon juice, honey, a little garlic powder, salt, and pepper.

Other fun add-ins to try

You can really add any and everything to your chicken salad. Try any of the following:

  • bacon
  • beans
  • raisins
  • buffalo sauce
  • fresh herbs
  • tomatoes
  • cucubmer
  • seeds
  • pickles
chicken salad in jars.

How to Serve Chicken Salad

We love chicken salad because you can serve it in a variety of different ways to really keep mealtime interesting.

Mason Jars: add your favorite greens to the bottom of a mason jar and top it with a serving of one of these chicken salad recipes! Screw the top on and you’re ready to go.

White jars stacked.

W&P

Jars

The W&P Porter Seal Tight Jar holds 16 oz. and is perfect for oats, soups, salad, etc.

Bento Boxes: Glass bento boxes are the latest craze and a genius way to pack these chicken salads for on-the-go. Add a serving of chicken salad along with more veggies, fruit, and your favorite crunchy for a balanced meal prep lunch.

Wraps: Are you a chicken salad wrap fan? The good news is, all 4 of these recipes are deliciously wrapped inside your favorite tortilla! Add some greens and any other add-ins your heart desires, a serving of chicken salad, and you’ve got an epic wrap ready to eat! Pro tip: we find that classic white tortillas wrap the best and would avoid using corn tortillas.

Storage

Store chicken salad in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

4 healthy chicken salad recipes.

If you LOVE healthy chicken salad so much that you’re looking for more recipe inspiration, check out some other Fit Foodie Finds chicken salad recipes below!

Healthy Chicken Salad – 4 Ways

Keep reading to find 4 amazing healthy chicken salad recipes that are oh-so flavorful and super easy to make!

Southwest Chicken Salad

Love southwestern flavors? Try our healthier southwest chicken salad! It’s made with a citrus-infused southwestern yogurt sauce and a little bit of hot sauce to top things off!

Southwest Chicken Salad

Classic Greek Yogurt Chicken Salad

Our Classic Healthy Chicken Salad with Apples is a classic recipe made with a healthy twist! It’s very similar to Waldorf Chicken Salad, but made with a delicious yogurt sauce, a little bit of honey, and lemon juice!

Cranberry Chicken Salad.

BLT Chicken Salad

Please tell me you’re a BLT lover! This BLT Chicken Salad is so yummy and healthy too! The chicken salad sauce is so yummy and made with yogurt, a little bit of ranch seasoning (secret ingredient) and lemon juice!

BLT Chicken Salad in bowl.

Creamy Pesto Chicken Salad

Healthy creamy pesto chicken salad?! Uh, yes, please! Our pesto chicken salad is made with classic Caprese ingredients and a yogurt-based pesto sauce that you’re going to love!

Creamy Pesto Chicken Salad.
5 from 2 votes

Best Chicken salad

Looking for the best chicken salad recipe? Here's our go-to chicken salad made with shredded chicken, apples, dried cranberries, and a yummy sauce.
Prep: 20 minutes
Cook: 0 minutes
Total: 20 minutes
Servings: 4
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Ingredients 

  • 1 lb. cooked shredded chicken breast
  • 1 large green apple, finely chopped
  • 1/4 cup finely diced red onion
  • 2 large celery stalks, finely diced
  • 1/3 cup dried cranberries, or Craisins
  • 1 cup plain Greek yogurt, any %
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 1 tablespoon honey
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • ground pepper, to taste

Instructions 

  • Place shredded chicken, green apple, red onion, celery, and dried cranberries into a large bowl. Mix and set aside.
  • Create the sauce combining yogurt, lemon juice, honey, garlic powder, salt, and pepper.
  • Add sauce to the shredded chicken mixture and mix until combined. Serve and enjoy.

Watch It

Nutrition

Calories: 195 kcal, Carbohydrates: 16 g, Protein: 28 g, Fat: 2 g, Fiber: 2 g, Sugar: 12 g

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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About Lee Funke

Lee is the founder of Fit Foodie Finds and based in Minneapolis, MN. She started this website in 2010 as a way to share her love for real food and wellness. The internet has changed so much since then and so has Fit Foodie Finds. Today we're a female-run recipe website publishing hundreds of tried and true recipes developed and tested by our team.

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Ella
January 13, 2022 1:20 pm

Loving these fresh ideas! Can’t wait to try them out.

Lacey
Lacey
September 15, 2020 9:22 am
Recipe Rating :
     

5 stars
I made the Southwest Chicken Salad and it was so good! I ate it as an open faced sandwich on toasted bread. So easy to make and assemble -I meal prepped it for my lunch. I’m excited to try the other 3 kinds!

Danny Rose
February 4, 2019 7:10 am

How many servings does this recipe make?

Courtney
Courtney
January 22, 2019 6:31 am
Recipe Rating :
     

5 stars
Made the cranberry chicken salad yesterday and it was perfect! Could you update the nutritional info as it seems like it was forgotten above? Thanks!