Rachel's Cranberry Chicken Salad

Fruity and Fabulous! This is a great chicken salad and a great way to use up some leftover grilled chicken that I hand on hand. I LOVE dried cranberries so this chicken salad was right up my alley. I chopped up the chicken and opted to used celery in place of the green onions. I also chopped up a Red Delicious apple vs. shredding it. I mixed the dressing in a separate bowl before folding it into the chicken and other ingredients. For the dressing I used Hellman's light mayo and cut it with a bit of reduced fat sour cream I also used curry powder vs. dill. I'm a huge fan of dill, but for this salad I felt the curry powder just paired better. I let this set in the fridge for a few hours, after sneaking a few bits and WOW, what a wonderful combination of flavors! This was so good on whole grain bread. Thanks Rachel for a wonderful recipe!

Made this today, it was DELICIOUS. I used red onion instead on green. I will definitely make this again!

This was great but I did change a lot, I didn't use apples or lemon juice, I used walnuts, bacon, celery, and no onion. I served it on a good bread and it was wonderful, perfect for summer. Loved the dill

FANTASTIC! What a terrific way to use left over chicken. I didn't measure a thing because I didn't feel it was necessary. My changes were to skip the green onion, used red apple for green apple, and almond slices for pecans. That's because it was what I had on hand. I love the way the dried cranberries add a sweetness and the nuts add the crunch. Such a FANTASTIC easy recipe. Thank you for sharing Rachel! You made my day!!

I gave this recipe to one of in-house corporate cafe employees. She made 20 sandwiches ahead of time and they all went in less than an hour! By the time I got there, they were gone. She has requests from all over the building to put that on the menu again! Excellent recipe!

Excellent! This is my favorite chicken salad recipe. Easy to put together, fresh and flavorful. The dill adds the perfect touch. Rotisserie chicken works well in this recipe, too and is a great timesaver. I make this a lot for light suppers during the summer. Thanks, Rachel!

Absolutely my favorite chicken salad. I've used cranberries, cherries, even currents.... people rave about this recipe.

Very tasty and satisfying dish. I think I will double the recipe next time so we have more left-overs!

Very good! I made this for a picnic lunch we had at a winery - goes well with a nice cool, crisp white wine. The pecans and dried cranberries add interesting flavors. I made it the night before and it was definitely better after the flavors blended together. Delicious!

VERY GOOD!!Ieven used a large sized canned chicken Costco style) and followed the recipe without modifications except I used walnuts as Idid'nt have pecans..We all loved it.This would be perfect for a ladies luncheon or a light dinner in hot weather.A winner.

I didn't have green onions or dried dill weed, however, I added vidalia onion vinaigrette in place of the mayo and it turned out fabulous! I loved the dried cranberries in there!

Easy recipe! I followed recipe with the exception of toasting the chopped pecans and adding about 1/2 t. of curry powder. Thanks for sharing this enjoyable recipe!

Oh wow, I make a pretty good chicken salad but this one was amazing! DH and I both loved it. I just estimated the ingredients and left out the apples because I didn't have any, plus I don't think it would keep as well, and substituted dry onions for the green. I also added a few stalks of finely chopped celery. This is a keeper!

Very Yummy...yet I felt something was missing a bit.

Delicious! I made this on Sunday, and it was even better by Wednesday. I had it in a wrap and even by itself. I left the chicken & apples in chunks instead of grinding them down. I left out the onion to avoid bad breath! It was great, and I will make it again.

this didnt work out for me, i dont know where i went wrong, but i think its because of the food processor. tasted like it was missing something. think i needed more chicken or something, it kinda was watery between the apples and celery

The perfect chicken salad! I used canned chicken, red apple (green would have been better), light mayo and left out the dill. My family ate the whole batch at lunch today. Wish there was some leftover!

I served this at a recent party and have 4 requests for the recipe. Nice flavor and texture. Use as a sandwich filling or alone as a luncheon entree. Delicious!

Thanks so much for the recipe. This was really Delicious. I used leftover roast chicken.

This had a nice blend of flavors. I forgot to add the dill and used plain fat free yogurt(twice as much, and still a little dry) instead of mayo. I usually prefer plain yogurt rather than mayo but I think next time I'll use a small amount in the mix. I would also add more apple since it wasn't very noticeable to me even though I shredded most of a yellow delicious. It took a couple of tries to pick a shredder with holes big enough to not make apple mush so I think for me dicing would be easier.

Great chicken salad. i did make some changes bc i always do. i used half light mayo half sour cream and a bit of miracle whip for taste. didnt really measure anything just kept adding till it tasted good. i used some dried tarragon (fresh would have been better) instead of dill weed and it added a great flavor that it was lacking before! curry would have also been good to add instead of the tarragon. i used celery instead of green onion, i used chopped red apple instead of the green (about half an apple). and fresh lemon juice bc i didnt have the lime. it tastes better the next day. i love chicken salad and this was a great starter recipe

Made this and put it over lettuce for a healthy main dish. We did add a little of ranch dressing over the top of the finished product. My boys ate it up quickly and the hubby liked it- although he later made a hamburger because he was a little hungry. Next time I will make that as a lunch meal instead of a main dish for dinner.

I didn't have any dried dill weed and I didn't even measure, but still tasted great which I love! So happy to have another good recipe on hand for when I have leftover chicken.

This was the best chicken salad I have had. The only thing I did was I added a few red grapes! I will be making this again for sure!!

LOVE this recipe! I didn't measure, just added the ingredients in proportions that looked good to me. I substituted lemon juice for the lime juice and walnuts for the pecans. I also didn't have quite enough mayonnaise on hand, so I added in some sour cream and WOW did that ever make the dish! I was tasting all along and the sour cream really made a difference--I'll add that in every time I make this recipe from now on.

Made this several times now, always a hit!

Served in Pita w/ lettuce. Omitted the pecans. Chicken breasts were seasoned with pepper, olive oil, montreal chicken seasoning, onion powder, minced garlic. Pounded before cooking and cooked in microwave for 4 minutes, then chopped it up. Had green beans and rice with it...

I made this and took to work for dinner. I thought I'd have enough for another meal or so, but it was so popular at my house it was all gone by the time I got home. Thanks for a great recipe.

This chicken salad is amazing! I made exactly as instructed and was very pleased with the combination of flavors and textures. I'll be making this again. Thanks for sharing your recipe, Rachel!

Loved this! Followed the recipe just as it was printed.

A very basic and good chicken salad recipe. You can substitute or add all sorts of ingredients with this base.

This salad is now my new favorite.If you don't love this I don't know what you must like. It is great in sandwiches and on toast. The texture is perfect and the cranberries added the perfect touch. Everything blended perfectly. Totally five stars. Thanks a bunch for sharing!

FANTASTIC! I have made this recipe many times and I still love it. Very easy to customize and make your own. I like to add extra cranberries and use walnuts instead of pecans.

DH was asking if I could make a cranberry chicken salad so I thought I'd give this a go. We like "real" chicken so I boiled fresh chicken and found the salad to be quite dry. Other reviews used canned chicken which is probably why they did not run into a dryness issue. I began adding more mayo and lime juice but was then afraid the mayonnaise would drown out the lovely fruit so I added a splash of whipping cream and it was perfect, just what DH wanted.

My favorite style of chicken salad. I soak the cranberries in hot water for a couple of minutes; just long enough to soften them (not mushy). I just eyeball the ingredients and it's always good. The flavor combinations are wonderful.

I made this for a ladies luncheon at church. Kept to the recipe exactly except I tripled the recipe. (Used a prepared chicken from Sam's) Instead of taking it in a bowl, I used a cookie scoop and placed a scoop of the salad in mini cupcake papers and placed on a tray. So pretty to display them that way and since there was so much other food there, this was a perfect amount for each lady. Thanks for a very good recipe.

Super easy to make and tastes great! I'm a 26 year old male with NO cooking experience and I encountered NO problems! I used chopped cashews and it came out GREAT!

Yummy! My husband liked it too. The only change I made was that I used dried cherries instead of dried cranberries because that was what I had in my pantry.

Yum. I leave out the dill. Sometimes adding celery, otherwise exactly the same =)

Very good. Tastes great as a salad over romaine with balsamic vinaigrette.

I’ve made this chicken salad a couple times and used a Fuji apple and walnuts since that’s what I had on hand, and omitted the dill weed since I didn’t have any. However, it still tasted delicious!! Love this recipe!!!

~sigh~ I loved this! So good, cool and refreshing. I used fat free mayo, chopped the apples not shredded and toasted sesame seeds in place of the pecans. I only had a tablespoon of dried cranberries so I added fresh grapes and blueberries. For some added fiber I added in a tablespoon of flax bran. Served over a bed of spinach. Delicious!

This was delicious! I have made it often and is a favorite! Great for luncheons and hot summer evenings and well, anytime! I have used red onion as a substitute and it is great also.

This recipe was simple and delicious!!!! I used green onions and celery I also used a gala red apple instead of green and chopped it instead of shredding. I used mayo and sour cream and seasoned it with curry. My two kids absolutely loved it!!!! Thanks for sharing this awesome easy recipe!'nnn

That was really good! I didn’t add the apples or pecans, because I didn’t have any. It was still very tasty and will definitely make again

Very delish, I added shredded carrots. This is a keeper.

I used rotisserie chicken. I halved the green onion amount (sometimes use onion powder) and the other 1/2 I added celery. I usually don't add apples because the cranberries are sweet enough and often I have an apple dessert. This is easy to make for a brunch the night before and then I'll serve it with croissants.

Exactly what i was looking for. Had to use red onion, as that's all i had on hand, but will use green next time. And i grated old cheddar in because i love it with apple and pecans. I doubled the recipe, but substituted 1/2 cup of sour cream, for the extra 1/2 cup of mayo. Thank you!

Made it as is, many times,.....I chop up the apple, rather than shred it...delish! If I have grapes, I'll throw some in as well.

I have made this recipe many times and it always comes out magnificent! Very easy and never leftovers! I do not add anything I make it just as written.

Love this salad. It's the only chicken salad recipe I will make! Easy to change up too, but I never leave anything out. Sometimes I add pepitas or sunflower seeds. Sometimes I do pecans, sometimes walnuts. And I don't like my salads too saucy so I scale back the Mayo and often cut it half and half with plain Greek yogurt. My small children LOVE it too!!!

I didn't have an apple or the cranberries the first time I made this. . . I added chopped green pepper. Also added a bit of chicken granules and used more pecans. The second time I didn't have a green pepper but did have an apple and cranberries:) Great both ways. I probably used less mayo . . just enough to mix. I realized I prefer chicken shredded better than cubed, and chopped apple better than grated - just me turning picky in my old age. Thank you Rachel, I'll make this again!

Wonderful! Took a reviewers suggestion and added a bit of sour cream. Mine tended to need a lot more salt to add a bit more taste. I subbed in walnuts. My 4 yr old gobbled it up!

I love this recipe! I do omit the nuts but other than that I follow the recipe as is. I've made this for a pot lucks and everyone loves it. The best part of this recipe besides the yummy taste is that it takes little time to make it. Thank you for sharing your recipe.

This is so yummy! I did add a bit more light mayo, since I found it a bit dry.

Absolutely delicious just the way it is!

Sub pecans for walnuts and lime for lemon because that what i had on hand. Family enjoyed it . I will make this dish again.

I've made this recipe dozens of times and don't think I've ever made it exactly the same way twice. It's perfect just as written, or throw in whatever you happen to have on hand. Thanks so much for sharing!

This was outstanding! You can tweak it any way you like! I only made a few adjustments dictated by what I had on hand, but the apples, cranberries, and nuts (I used roasted salted sliced almonds) give this salad such great texture and crunch! I will go back to this again and again if I have any leftover chicken! Thank you Rachel :)

I used Costco Shredded rotisserie chicken and it was amazing. So good, I just upped the recipe for the extra chicken I had. Great balance of flavors

This is super yummy and a great way to use left over chicken. My husband loves it!

I used 1/2 of a rotisserie chicken, shredded. I didn't have an apple so I cut up some seedless grapes and I used almonds instead of pecans. Delicious on croissants with a slice of tomato and shredded lettuce. It's a keeper!

I made this tonight for the second time. Again, it didn't wow me. My husband liked it, but he'll eat anything so that doesn't say much. I feel there isn't enough flavor from the apple and would suggest chopping one into small chunks, and not grating it. I again couldn't detect the dill amongst the other flavors. I added celery this time and left the green onion in as well, and there was still not enough other items besides chicken. I'd suggest upping the amount of green onions at least, if not adding in another item for additional flavor. Not a bad recipe, but definitely not one I have a desire to make again.

I made this for lunch this afternoon and it turned out better than I thought it would. So much so that my very pickey 3 year old even ate half of what I made. Definitely a five star from me

Fantastic! I made it exactly according to the recipe. My husband loves it which is a miracle in itself!

So good!! Made with a little less mayo than stated. My fave chicken salad to eat over a bed of greens or toast.

Subbed celery for green onion but otherwise made as directed. Very nice, will def try again. Thanks to OP and other reviewers!

I would make again. I didn't have all the ingredients so I used red onion and celery in lieu of green onions and apples and no dill but it still was delicious. My 1st time making a chicken salad and I was quite pleased with the final result.

It turned out great! I substitute green onions for red onions and used walnuts instead of pecans because that is what I had on hand.

Excellent just the way it is!

I have been searching for the ultimate chicken salad recipe & THIS is it! I didn't have green onions (used red) but will next time for sure. Didn't use nearly all the mayo this calls for, but that's just a personal preference. Hubs & I loved this; afterwards I realized I'd forgotten the lime juice. Ack! Can't wait to try in again & make it ALL according to the recipe. Thank you Rachel for the perfect blend of flavors!

This is delicious! I poach chicken breast to make this pretty much every week. I have subbed celery for the apples, and almonds for the pecans, just depending on what's in the house. I don't usually use the dill weed. So good! Thank you for sharing this recipe!

i wanted to try something different and had leftover grilled chicken so i chose this.. i left out the apple and subbed dried cherries for the dried cranberries, which i soaked in hot water and then chopped up.. i subbed almonds for the pecans.. i felt like something was missing so followed the lead of others and added some curry powder.. that was exactly what it needed.. i don't know if the dill would be necessary at this point though.. either way, ty for something new to me

My favorite chicken salad. Sometimes I add a little strawberry salad dressing to the mayo or sweetened pecans. Doesn't really change the taste, just adds a sweetness that makes it a little special and great for company or for a potluck.

Great recipe. Very tasty. I will definitely make this again!

Amazing! Small tweaks I made....Used rotisserie chicken, finely chopped red apples instead of green, almonds instead of pecans, used lemon juice and touch of apple cider vinegar to give it a kick! Did not use Dill. Husband absolutely loved it!!! Thx!!! ;-)

Loved it !!! Had this for dinner tonight.

This was very easy and tasted good. I did feel it lacked a little flavor so next time I would probably increase the dill and the salt. Maybe add a little mashed avocado? Not sure. I would probably rate it at 4.5 stars if I could.

I love this salad idea. Because I did not have some ingredients I made few changes: instead of apple I added green seedless grape, instead of pecans I added walnuts and because I love avocado I tried to add an avocado to it. Its came out just perfect!!!

Delicious and easy to throw together and is particularly good as a dip for pita chips. I was looking for a dish to use with leftover roasted chicken. I followed the recipe exactly. This will be our go-to chicken salad.

This is absolutely a 5-star recipe. I also add some sliced grapes for a little extra. I've left the lime juice out a few times and found that it isn't really missed.

yum! I used leftover rotisserie chicken from Costco and nixed the apple ,dill and lemon juice. I used pistachios instead of Pecans. I am sure the Pecans would be delish just didn't have any at hand. Also used plain greek yogurt instead of mayo.Wrapped in a whole wheat tortilla and added some spinach.. Wonderful clean lunch!

I have had a thing for the chicken salad at Costco for a few years now. Saw this recipe and tried it out today and all I can say is WOW! Theirs pales in comparison, and it's quite a bit less expensive to make. This will be a regular menu item for us. It's perfect for a snack and is great in wraps. Two thumbs up!!

Just made this recipe for my lunch and even though I was missing 2 ingredients (apple and lime juice) it was still a delicious, sweet and savory combination tasting chicken salad that had a wonderful crunch from the pecans. I put it on a hearty organic whole wheat bread with a strong nutty flavor and added some crisp lettuce to make a fantastic chicken salad sandwich. I will definitely keep this as a go to when I have leftover Costco roasted chicken.

This has become my go-to chicken salad. I love all the flavors. I use cashews instead of pecans just because I'm not much of a fan. It's wonderful.

This is so good! We used a package of the Costco grilled chicken breast strips chopped up. We didn't really measure anything but used all the the recipe called for. Served on croissants with cheddar or muenster cheese! Yum!!!!!

Made Cranberry Balsamic Glazed Chicken Thighs the night before. Deboned & Shredded the leftover chicken. Finely diced 1/2 an apple instead of shredding and used walnuts insead of pecans. Turned out better than expected. Will make again.

Used Vegenaise instead of real mayo. Substituted celery for the apples, and pepitas for the pecans, only because I did not have them on hand.

It was delicious, I substituted walnuts for pecans, omitted the dill and used red onions instead of scallions, definitely will make again.

I love this recipe and my family too. I only added jalapeño peppers to give it a kick and instead of dill I added thyme and cilantro. I mixed the herbs and spices with the mayo and then mixed it with the hard ingredients. Delish!!!!

Ver good except next time I won't add a whole tablespoon of lime. Thank you!

It's a perfect recipe for summer. We usually make sandwiches with this salad.

OMGoodness, this salad is awesome. Thank You for sharing! DQ

This chicken salad is terrific! I have been looking for a recipe to try and make it like my local hometown coffee café and this is it. My only changes were using a chopped red apple instead of green, and I added a few drops of liquid stevia to the mayo mixture to give it a hint of sweetness. This will definitely be my go-to recipe from now on.

Kids loved it

This was delicious and a big hit at my daughter-in-law’s baby shower. We served it on Hawaiian dinner rolls spread with a light layer of pineapple cream cheese. I left out the green onions- some family members don’t like onions- but I had added a little shake of paprika to the mix. So good!

kids loved this for a school lunch bag

I love this recipe, and in fact, it may become my "go-to" recipe for chicken salad! You may adapt this to the things you have on hand, as I did. I doubled the recipe, used rotisserie chicken, so no need for salt and pepper; threw the whole Fuji apple in; added a bit more mayo and eyeballed the pecans. I love the addition of dill, and the lime juice was inspired. To stretch it a bit, next time I will add diced celery. Again, loved it, and thanks for submitting!

This turned out absolutely delicious!!!!! I did not add onions but it turned out absolutely wonderful. I used chicken thighs. I also put the chicken salad on top of raw green spinach it was absolutely delicious.