The Best Chicken Salad with Grapes
This delicious chicken salad with grapes gets extra crunch from celery and toasted nuts. It’s tossed in a lemony creamy poppyseed yogurt dressing and is light and so incredibly easy to make. Serve it in a lettuce cup, in a sandwich or with crackers. It’s the perfect packable meal for all your summer adventures!
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I love chicken salad. To me, it’s like summer comfort food. But some chicken salads can be boring or soggy. This chicken salad with grapes is definitely not either of those. I like to make my chicken salad with packaged rotisserie chicken breast which I can find at Sprouts or Whole Foods. The cooked chicken in the refrigerated section at Trader Joes also works well for this. I especially like their grilled chicken in this salad.
How to make the Best Chicken Salad Ever
This chicken salad recipe is light and delicious. The dressing is infused with bright lemon zest and juice for extra zing, and I add poppy seeds which makes it delightfully freckled. In this version, I used two kinds of toasted nuts —pecans for their sweetness, and walnuts for their bitter edge. But any nut will do from pine nuts to pepitas (or none at all). You do you! Here’s everything you need to make this salad:
- Roasted/Grilled/Poached Chicken Breast – my favorite (because it’s so easy) is packaged rotisserie chicken that is already shredded. I buy it at Sprouts. But if you feel like poaching or grilling chicken breasts yourself, be my guest!
- Red Grapes – do they need to be red? Yes! Just kidding. But I like red grapes both for their color and their deeper flavor.
- Toasted Nuts – I used pecans + walnuts, but almonds, pine nuts, pepitas, or pistachios would all be great in this.
- Sliced Celery – celery adds tons of crunchy fresh flavor.
- Tarragon – this anise-flavored herb is a bit controversial. If you love it, include it. If you hate it, sub it out for parsley. If you’ve never tried it — TRY IT! It adds great flavor.
- Yogurt Dressing – This dressing has Greek yogurt, mayonnaise, lemon zest and lemon juice from one lemon, a minced shallot and poppy seeds. Oh, and salt and pepper to taste. It is light and zesty and so great on this Chicken Salad with Grapes!
Frequently Asked Questions about Chicken Salad
Usually chicken salad dressing is mayonnaise-based (or mayo only). My version cuts the mayo with Greek Yogurt and adds lots of lemon zest and juice for added punch. I also like to put poppy seeds and minced shallots in my dressing for this Chicken Salad with Grapes recipe.
I like to serve my chicken salad on a bed of lettuce, in a lettuce cup, or simply with crunchy gluten-free crackers. It’s also great in a sandwich with toasted gluten-free bread.
Chicken salad should be served COLD. It’s a salad after all.
I mean, yes, you could use canned chicken to make chicken salad. But just because you CAN use canned chicken doesn’t mean you should. It is SO. MUCH. BETTER. with rotisserie chicken or homemade cooked chicken.
Summer is Salad Season!
Salad for dinner is the move when it’s too hot to think and certainly too hot to cook. Here are a few of my favorite “Salad-for-Dinner” ideas!
Fresh Fig and Scallop Salad
You’ll love this easy and fresh salad! Sweet scallops and figs combine with tangy goat cheese, crunchy toasted walnuts, spicy arugula, and crispy prosciutto in this beautiful salad for the summer.
GET THE RECIPE
Zesty Artichoke Pasta Salad with Goat Cheese
Growing up in California, I’ve always been a huge fan of artichokes – I love them steamed, grilled, and stuffed. I love them canned and jarred in herbaceous olive oil. And I love them in salads. Typically I use canned or marinated artichoke hearts in my salad recipes, but I had some small artichokes on hand. So I decided to use them in a zesty artichoke pasta salad with goat cheese, arugula, olives, roasted red peppers and crunchy pistachios that I drizzled with a lemony cumin dressing
GET THE RECIPE
The Best No Mayo Avocado Chicken Salad
This Avocado Chicken Salad is an exercise in contrasts, cool and creamy, spicy and crunchy, it’s the PERFECT way to fancy up some shredded rotisserie chicken. Of course, if you want to cook your own chicken knock yourself out. This mayo free chicken salad is healthy and totally keto friendly and it’s equally delicious over tortilla chips or in lettuce cups.
GET THE RECIPE
Salade Niçoise
I have a rather opinionated way to make this salad, and I’m always right. Ahem. Salade Niçoise (pronounced sah/lahd nee/swahz) is something we eat often in warm weather. I love it so much because it’s beautiful, easy to make, but it looks dang fancy.
GET THE RECIPE
Grilled Chicken + Strawberry Salad with Quinoa and Arugula
This hearty and flavorful strawberry salad with chicken is so full of good things it’s perfect for a light, main course summer meal. Serve it with some warm gluten-free dinner rolls and a crisp rosé wine.
GET THE RECIPE
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Light & Easy Chicken Salad with Grapes
Equipment
- medium bowl
- chef's knife
Ingredients
For the chicken salad:
- 2 cups of cubed, cooked skinless chicken breast look for packaged shredded rotisserie chicken
- 1 cup halved red grapes
- 1/4 cup toasted chopped walnuts
- 1/4 cup toasted chopped pecans
- 3 stalks of celery thinly sliced
- 3 green onions thinly sliced
- ¼ cup chopped tarragon
For the dressing:
- ¼ cup light mayonnaise
- ¼ cup low fat greek yogurt
- 2 tablespoons finely minced shallot
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon grated lemon zest
- 1 teaspoon grainy mustard
- 1 teaspoon honey
- 1 teaspoon poppy seeds
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground pepper
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk the mayo, yogurt, shallot, lemon juice and zest, mustard, honey, poppy seeds, sea salt and pepper until well mixed.
- Add the chicken, grapes, walnuts, celery, onions, and tarragon and toss gently until everything is evenly coated with the dressing.
- Serve immediately in a sandwich or in lettuce cups or keep well-chilled until ready to serve. Eat within three days.
Nutrition
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