This healthy chicken salad is the ultimate combination of creamy, crunchy, and sweet. It’s easy to throw together, customizable, and healthier than traditional chicken salad. Perfect for lunch, dinner, or a quick snack!

Chicken salad has always been one of my favorite go-to recipes for a number of reasons. First and foremost because it tastes ahhhMAZING! What’s not to love about something that is savory, creamy, crunchy and sweet???

It comes together in minutes with leftover chicken or a chicken you cook ahead of time. Perfect for easy lunches or quick dinner on busy weeknights. If I don’t have any leftover chicken, I make my Easy Slow Cooker Whole Chicken the day before I want to make the chicken salad.

Chicken salad is easy to customize. Allergic to nuts? Leave them out. Not a fan of grapes? No worries substitute some chopped apples or raisins for the grapes. The possibilities are endless!

How is this chicken salad healthier than traditional chicken salad?

This chicken salad is healthier than traditional chicken salad because I use a combination of yogurt and avocado mayonnaise.

Before we started clean eating, I always used Hellman’s Mayonnaise for my chicken salad. Once I started reading ingredient labels, I ditched the Hellmann’s and just used plain yogurt or a combination of yogurt and a little sour cream.

A few years ago, I discovered Primal Kitchen Mayo with Avocado Oil. I compared the ingredients to my beloved Hellmann’s and was excited to find that it was a much healthier/cleaner option.

Hellman’s Real Mayonnaise Ingredients: soybean oil, water, whole eggs and egg yolks, vinegar, salt, sugar, lemon juice concentrate, calcium disodium edta (used to protect quality), natural flavors

Primal Kitchen Mayo with Avocado Oil Ingredients: avocado oil, organic cage-free eggs, organic cage-free egg yolks, organic vinegar, sea salt, organic rosemary extract

The first thing I tried it in was my chicken salad. YUMMY! I like the combination of yogurt and the avocado mayo. You can use all avocado mayo or all yogurt or your favorite combination of the two. 

Enjoy this healthy chicken salad for lunch, brunch, dinner, or a quick snack! See serving suggestions at the bottom of the recipe.

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Best Healthy Chicken Salad

This healthy chicken salad is the ultimate combination of creamy, crunchy, and sweet. It's easy to throw together, customizable, and healthier than traditional chicken salad. Perfect for lunch, dinner, or a quick snack!

Cuisine American

Prep Time 20 minutes

Servings 8

Ingredients

• 6 cups shredded chicken (can chop instead if desired) I used a 4 1/2 pound whole chicken
• 4 stalks of celery, chopped
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1 cup red seedless grapes, halved
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 3/4 cup avocado oil mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup plain yogurt can use greek or regular
• salt, to taste
• pepper, to taste

Instructions

1. Stir shredded chicken, celery, onion, grapes, and garlic powder together in a large mixing bowl.

2. Add mayo and yogurt to chicken mixture and combine well. Use more or less based on preferred amount of creaminess.

3. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

4. Can be served immediately but I prefer to refrigerate for at least one hour.

Recipe Notes

Serving suggestions:

Serve in whole wheat pita pocket, whole grain tortilla, or on whole wheat bread with lettuce, tomato, and avocado. Add to a salad or place in lettuce cups for wraps. It also makes a great snack served with whole grain crackers. 

If preferred, you can use all yogurt instead of using the avocado mayo.  

This recipe makes a lot. It can easily be halved or quartered, which is especially helpful if you have leftover chicken from another meal.

We recommend using organic ingredients whenever possible.

What’s your favorite way to eat chicken salad? Let me know in the comments below. 🙂