Healthy Chicken Salad Recipe

Need a quick lunch? A tasty dinner? A satisfying snack? This healthy chicken salad recipe does it all. Talk about versatility.

Instead of mayonnaise, this chicken salad recipe uses Greek yogurt to make the meal much more nutritious. With lean chicken, veggies, and nuts, you’ve got a dish that’s high in protein, fiber, vitamins, minerals, and healthy fats.

What’s more, there are quite a few different ways you can serve this healthy chicken salad. It never gets old and is perfect for meal-prepping leftovers.

Read on for how to make and serve it.

Here’s what you’ll need to make this classic chicken salad recipe with a healthy twist. These ingredients are enough for two dinner-sized servings, so you can make it for yourself and someone else or have some for leftovers.

Ingredients for the salad: 

• 2 cups shredded cooked chicken

• 1 celery stalk, diced

• ¼ cup red onion, diced

• ¼ cup raw pecans, chopped

• ½ cup red grapes, halved

• 8 leaves of butter lettuce or 4 large leaves of romaine lettuce

Ingredients for the dressing:

• ½ cup plain Greek yogurt (2%)

• 1 tsp. apple cider vinegar

• 1 tsp. liquid allulose or raw honey

• ½ tsp. poppy seeds

• ⅛ tsp. pink Himalayan sea salt

• ⅛ tsp. black pepper

Swaps and Substitutions 

There are a few swaps you can make if you don’t like any of these ingredients, have something else on hand, or want to mix it up. 

For example, you could sub in: 

• Different nuts like almonds, walnuts, or pine nuts (or seeds if you have a nut allergy)

• Lean protein like turkey or tuna instead of chicken

• Shredded jackfruit, mashed chickpeas, or crumbled tofu for a vegetarian version

• Chopped apples instead of grapes 

• More veggies like green onion, sliced cucumber, or carrot

• Dried fruit like cranberries or apricot

• Herbs like fresh dill, parsley, or cilantro

• Dijon mustard or lemon juice for a kick

• Olive oil instead of Greek yogurt to make it dairy-free

If you do go with chicken, you can cook your own chicken breasts, get a pre-cooked rotisserie chicken, or use leftover chicken from another meal.

Time to get cooking. This recipe is quick and easy. You’ll just need a bit of prep time before throwing all the ingredients together.

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time: 0 minutes

Total time: 15 minutes

1. Place chicken, chopped celery, onion, pecans, and grapes in a large bowl.

2. In a separate bowl, combine all dressing ingredients. 

3. Mix dressing ingredients into chicken and vegetable mix.

4. Scoop into lettuce leaves and enjoy.

Here are the nutrition facts for one serving of this healthy chicken salad recipe:

Calories: 281

Total fat: 14 grams

Saturated fat: 3 grams

Trans fat: 0 grams

Sodium: 190 milligrams  

Total carbohydrates: 10 grams

Dietary fiber: 2 grams

Total sugars: 7 grams

Added sugars: 0 grams

Protein: 28 grams

The beauty of chicken salad is that it can be enjoyed in so many different ways. Here are a few of our favorite ways to serve it up: 

• As a sandwich. Chicken salad sandwiches are a classic lunch that’ll keep you satisfied all afternoon long. Go for whole-grain bread for extra fiber. 

• With crackers. Top whole-grain, low-salt crackers or rice cakes with some chicken salad to make a nutritious snack.

• In lettuce or whole-grain wraps. In our recipe, we scoop chicken salad into lettuce leaves. You’ll get an extra serving of veggies and a light, nutrient-rich meal. To make it a fuller meal, use whole-grain wraps or pitas.

• On salad greens. Instead of wrapping in lettuce, serve chicken salad on a bed of lettuce (or other greens like kale or spinach) to make a salad. Add your favorite salad ingredients or serve as-is.

• On quinoa, farro, brown rice, whole-grain pasta, or baked sweet potato. Choose your favorite grain (or sweet potato) and serve up the chicken salad on top.

• On its own. Grab a fork and dig in!

Chicken salad is ideal for meal-prepping healthy lunches or dinners ahead of time. You can keep chicken salad in the fridge in an airtight container for up to five days. 

It doesn’t freeze well, but you can prep and freeze shredded chicken and chop veggies ahead of time, if needed. 

Beyond being tasty, there are many reasons we think this is one of the best chicken salad recipes out there.

It’s High in Protein, Fiber, and Healthy Fats 

Chicken, Greek yogurt, and nuts are high in protein — and protein is such an important macronutrient. It can help you feel full and satisfied as well as build and maintain muscle.

High-protein chicken recipes (or other lean protein sources) are useful when you’re on a weight loss journey. How so? Protein can reduce your appetite and food cravings and help you retain muscle as you’re losing fat.

The celery, onion, grapes, lettuce, and nuts offer fiber, another key nutrient that can keep you feeling full and satisfied. Fiber can also stabilize blood sugar levels, improve bowel movements and gut health, and even lower cholesterol to reduce the risk of heart disease.

And the pecans (or any nuts you choose) are a source of healthy fats. There’s research linking nuts to long-term weight management, as they can help regulate appetite and satiety (fullness). Nuts also provide B vitamins, vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin E, magnesium, and potassium. Some nuts are higher in certain vitamins - for example, chestnuts tend to have the highest value in vitamin C, and almonds have plenty of Vitamin B. 

It’s Quick 

It doesn’t get much quicker than a 15-minute meal. You can throw this easy chicken salad recipe together in minutes with minimal prep time, making it ideal for easy lunches or busy weekday dinners.

To save you even more time, you can meal-prep a batch of chicken salad to have leftovers. Simply store in the fridge then serve in a different way to keep it interesting.

For example, you could eat it on a baked sweet potato for dinner and then enjoy it in lettuce wraps for lunch the next day.

It’s Customizable 

This chicken salad recipe can serve as inspiration, but feel free to go nuts (literally). Sub out the pecans for other nuts, the chicken for other lean protein sources, and the celery and onion for other veggies. Or add different fresh herbs and condiments to mix up the flavor.

Have it in a sandwich, on crackers, over salad greens, or with brown rice. The list is endless.

Is chicken salad healthy? Not always. Traditional recipes use mayonnaise, which is high in fat. Our healthy chicken salad recipe swaps mayonnaise for Greek yogurt, so you still get that creamy texture with less fat. 

Serve it in lettuce wraps, on salad greens, or on grains for a nutritious meal.