Cranberry Pecan Chicken Salad

Cranberry Pecan Chicken Salad is the best chicken salad ever. Loaded with tender chicken, juicy grapes, dried cranberries, sweet apples, toasted pecans, and green onions in a flavorful dressing, it's delicious on croissants, a bed of lettuce, or crackers.

For more easy salad recipes, be sure to try Broccoli Cauliflower Salad and Old Fashioned Ham Salad next!

This cranberry pecan chicken salad recipe is my favorite chicken salad recipe of all time because it's filled with tons of stuff and pretty much every flavor and texture.

Soft chicken, creamy homemade dressing, crunchy pecans, tart cranberries, crisp apples, and sweet grapes are all stirred together into one simple, delicious chicken salad.

And it's such an easy recipe.

There's a little bit of chopping involved, but after that, you just stir everything together. The only hard part is deciding your favorite way to eat chicken salad with cranberries. Stuffed into lettuce wraps? Rolled in tortilla wraps? Piled high on Asiago Bagels? No wrong answers.

It's a great recipe for an easy lunch, a delicious snack, or a quick dinner.

Why You're Going to Love This Recipe

• Terrific recipe for leftover chicken or leftover turkey
• Easy chicken salad recipe with simple ingredients
• Chicken salad with apples and pecans makes a killer chicken salad sandwich
• Wonderful salad for a special luncheon, baby shower, or bridal shower

Ingredients

• Diced chicken breast meat. You can use freshly poached boneless skinless chicken breasts or purchased rotisserie chicken.
• Red grapes. Red grapes add sweet flavor and pretty color. You can also use green grapes.
• Dried cranberries. Dried cranberries, or craisins, add a tart sweetness to the salad.
• Granny smith apple. Granny smith is the perfect sweet-tart, crisp apple for this salad. Honeycrisp, Fuji, and Pink Lady are also great apples for salads.
• Green onions. Green onions have just the right amount of mild onion flavor.
• Fresh lemon juice. Fresh lemon juice brightens up the dressing.
• Dried dill weed. You can use fresh dill -- you'll need about ½ tablespoon.
• Seasoned salt. Seasoned salt adds great savory flavor -- it's made from salt, sugar, paprika, turmeric, onion, and garlic. You can buy it or make your own Homemade Seasoned Salt.

Recipe Variations

• Try adding different flavors by swapping in your favorite things.
• Add chopped celery for extra crunch.
• Swap out the cranberries for dried cherries.
• Instead of toasted pecans, try walnuts, almonds, or pistachios.
• Shallots or red onion are both great substitutes for green onion.
• Fresh herbs like chives, tarragon, rosemary, or thyme add fresh new flavors.
• Plain Greek yogurt is a great replacement for sour cream.
• Garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, chili powder, curry powder, or Cajun seasoning could all work well in this salad.

How to Make Cranberry Chicken Salad

1. Toast the pecans.

Warm a heavy skillet over medium heat. Add the pecans.

Stir for 2-5 minutes until the pecans are fragrant and lightly toasted.

Immediately remove the pecans from the pan to keep them from toasting any further (or burning).

2. Make the creamy dressing.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, sour cream, Dijon mustard, lemon juice, dill weed, black pepper, and seasoned salt.

3. Assemble the salad.

To the dressing mixture, add the cooked chicken, halved grapes, cranberries, chopped apple, green onions, and pecans.

Gently fold the chicken mixture into the dressing until everything is combined and coated in the dressing.

4. Serve and enjoy.

Serve chicken salad with cranberries on a bed of lettuce or fresh spinach, on croissants or fluffy soft Dinner Rolls, or with crackers.

Storage

Store leftover cranberry pecan chicken salad in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3-4 days.

How to Serve Chicken Pecan Apple Salad for a Party

This is such a good chicken salad recipe for parties, holidays, and luncheons. And there are a ton of fun ways to serve it!

• Lettuce wraps. Butter lettuce and romaine lettuce are great choices
• Wonton cups. Bake wonton wrappers in a mini muffin pan, let them cool, and fill 'em up!
• Sandwiches. Make chicken salad sandwiches with croissants, Hawaiian rolls, pita pockets, or tortilla wraps.
• Phyllo shells or puff pastry shells. Stuff pre-made phyllo or puff pastry shells from the grocery store.
• Veggies. Fill crunchy celery ribs, mini peppers, scooped out thick cucumber slices, or tomatoes.
• Mini bread bowls. Hollow out round dinner rolls and fill with chicken cranberry salad
• Charcuterie board. Place a bowl of chicken salad on a board surrounded by various breads, meats, cheeses, nuts, and crackers.

Success Tips

• Stay close to the stove when toasting the pecans. They can go from not quite toasted to burned in seconds.
• Taste the dressing before you add the rest of the chicken salad ingredients. This is the best time to adjust the seasoning.
• If making the salad ahead of time, add the pecans right before serving to keep them crunchy.