This Rotisserie chicken salad has it all - crunchiness from the celery, onion, and pistachios and sweetness from the dried cranberries, grapes, and apple. An upgraded classic! Bonus, make this up to 24 hours in advance. Let's make it!
Jump to:
You'll ❤️ Chicken Salad with Rotisserie Chicken
"Rotisserie chicken salad has the perfect balance of sweet, savory, lots of texture, and crunch making this a perfect go-to salad recipe! Bonus, make this up to 24 hours in advance"
Who doesn't love chicken salad? If you want another really good recipe be sure to try my Hawaiian Chicken Salad with its delicious tropical flavors and this Mexican Chicken Salad for a little Mexican-style inspiration.
🥘 What You Will Need
Here are the ingredients and tools you will need to make rotisserie chicken salad:
Store-Bought Rotisserie Chicken - grab from your local deli or purchase already pre-shredded rotisserie chicken from your grocery store if available to save even more time.
Mayonnaise - any mayonnaise of your choice.
Pistachios - de-shelled for ease.
Seedless Red Grapes
Craisins - also known as dried cranberries, make sure to grab no sugar added to keep your added sugar amounts low!
Celery
Gala apple
Red onion
Dill - dried dill or fresh dill if preferred.
Lemon
Salt and Pepper
For exact ingredient quantities, please see the recipe card below!
🔪 How To Make It
Here are the step-by-step instructions for making rotisserie chicken salad:
Shred
Start by shredding your rotisserie chicken and placing it into a large mixing bowl.
Combine
Next, add all the remaining prepared ingredients into the large mixing bowl. Stir together until well combined.
Add salt and pepper to taste.
Chill covered overnight in the refrigerator.
Garnish and Serve
🥗 How To Serve
Garnish the top of your rotisserie chicken salad with additional pistachios and a little fresh dill.
Serve it as a sandwich using your favorite bread, or wrap it in lettuce or tortillas.
Meal idea! Serve with a fresh green side salad and Maple Balsamic Dressing or a cup of Instant Pot Chicken Soup or this Greek Lemon Chicken Soup Recipe
📖 Variations
Here are a few ways you can vary or make substitutions:
- Nuts - substitute any of your favorite nuts in place of the pistachios! I would suggest walnuts, pecans, or sliced almonds.
- Use rotisserie or grilled chicken
- Apples - substitute any dense crisp apple such as honeycrisp, fuji, granny smith, or golden delicious.
- Spice it up - try adding a little sriracha to your chicken salad for an extra kick!
- Lower fat - lower the fat in this by replacing the mayonnaise with plain greek yogurt. The consistency may be thinner more quickly, so keep that in mind and reduce the amount of greek yogurt used to start.
💭 Top Tips
- For best flavor, let your chicken salad chill in the fridge for at least 6 hours prior to serving.
- When bringing this salad to a party, especially outdoors, keep it in the fridge until served or keep it chilled over ice to prevent it from spoiling.
❓FAQs
How To Store It
Store leftovers in an air-tight container in your refrigerator for 3-5 days afterward.
How To Freeze It
This salad cannot be frozen. The mayonnaise will break down and separate and the fruit will turn watery.
Yes, you can put eggs in chicken salad. If you want to add eggs, I would hard-boiled them, chop, then mix them in when combining all the other salad ingredients together. Sometimes, the yolk soaks up additional mayonnaise so you may need to add additional to your desired consistency.
The main reason your chicken salad gets watery is that over time the fresh ingredients release water. One way to help prevent that from happening is to fold the fresh ingredients into the chicken and mayo mixture to prevent them from breaking down too early.
✔️ More Salad Recipes
If you are looking for more delicious salad recipes, check these out:
- Strawberry Goat Cheese Salad
- Seafood Pasta Salad
- Zesty Italian Pasta Salad
- Blue Cheese Wedge Salad
- Kale and Brussel Sprout Salad with Pomegranate and Pecans
📋 Recipe
Rotisserie Chicken Salad Recipe
Ingredients
- 2½ pounds rotisserie chicken (approx. 4 cups shredded)
- 1½ cups mayonnaise
- 1 cups shelled, roasted, and salted pistachios
- 2 cups seedless red grapes (halved)
- 1 cup sweetened dried cranberries
- 2 stalks celery (approx. 1 cup ¼" small diced)
- 1 medium gala apple (unpeeled, approx. 1 cup ¼" small diced)
- 1 small sweet onion (approx. 1 cup ¼" small diced)
- 1 teaspoon fresh dill
- ½ fresh lemon (juiced)
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Shred the rotisserie chicken into a large-size mixing bowl.
- Add mayonnaise and the remaining ingredients. Stir together until fully combined.
- Season to taste with salt and pepper and chill overnight in the refrigerator.
- Garnish with more pistachios and serve!
Notes
- Don't miss all of our helpful hints, substitution ideas, cooking tips, and other delicious recipes that can be found in our post. Check it out!
- VARIATIONS: Substitute walnuts, pecans, or sliced almonds for pistachios. You can omit it if needed also.
- TOP TIPS: Allow the chicken salad to chill for at least 6 hours to allow flavors to blend.
- SERVING SUGGESTIONS: Garnish with additional pistachios and fresh dill.
Nutrition
© 2023 Seeking Good Eats™
Leave a Reply