Chicken Waldorf Salad is tender chunks of chicken mixed with celery, grapes, apples, toasted walnuts, and mayonnaise. This delectable recipe is one of our favorite chicken salad recipes. You can serve it on a bed of spring greens, stuffed in a sun-ripened tomato, or stuffed in a whole wheat pita.
The Best Waldorf Chicken Salad
This refreshing and healthy Chicken Waldorf Salad with Grapes is perfect for a light lunch or a delicious side dish. This easy recipe is full of flavor and texture from juicy grapes, crisp apples, tender chicken, and crunchy nuts.
It is scrumptious, easy, quick to prepare, and fancy enough for company. This delectable salad comes together in about ten to fifteen minutes. This recipe calls for already-cooked rotisserie chicken, which you can purchase at almost any grocery store or club warehouse, such as Costco or Sam.
Ingredients Needed
- Apple: Granny Smith, Honeycrisp, or Fuji
- Lemon juice: fresh is always best
- Chicken: cooked rotisserie chicken or see below on how to poach the chicken
- Celery: for a little crunch and texture
- Grapes: just make sure they are seedless. I prefer red, but you can use green
- Nuts: walnuts, pecans, or pistachios
- Mayonnaise: I love Duke’s mayo
How do you make Chicken Waldorf Salad?
First, grab a large bowl for mixing. Cut the chicken, celery, and grapes. Toast the walnuts in the oven for about five to seven minutes. Cut the apples and toss with the lemon juice in the bowl. Add the chicken, celery, grapes, toasted walnuts, and mayo to the bowl and stir to combine. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve over leaf lettuce, a thin bed of spring greens, or with crackers.
Variations and Substitutions
- If you don’t like walnuts or have them on hand, use other nuts, such as toasted pecans or sliced or slivered toasted almonds.
- Are you looking for a lighter version of Chicken Waldorf Salad? Substitute half of the mayo with non-fat Greek yogurt.
- Do you want to dress it up even more? Add half a cup of dried cranberries or dried cherries.
- Do you want to sweeten it up a little bit? Add two tablespoons of honey.
- Want to make a wrap or a sandwich with the chicken salad? It is delicious on pumpernickel, rye, or European whole grain.
- You can substitute seedless green grapes for seedless red grapes.
- You can use any crisp apple like Granny Smith, Cripps Sweet, Fuji, Honeycrisp, or Gala.
Can you substitute poached chicken?
Yes, you most certainly can. Add a couple of boneless skinless chicken breasts to a pot, cover up halfway with chicken broth, and add parsley, a small stalk of celery, a little piece of onion, and a clove of garlic. Bring to a boil, then turn to simmer.
Simmer uncovered for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and cover for fifteen minutes. Now, remove the chicken breasts from the chicken broth, and you can cube or shred the chicken and use it in this salad and other salads.
This fantastic salad is easy, quick to fix, delectable and dependable. Put the ingredients on your shopping list today, and let me know what you think!
More Chicken Recipes
Chicken Waldorf Salad Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 Granny Smith apple cored peeled and diced
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 2 cups chopped rotisserie chicken
- 2 stalks celery chopped
- 1 cup red seedless grapes halved
- ½ cup walnuts toasted and chopped
- ⅔ cup mayonnaise
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Instructions
- In a bowl, combine the apple and lemon juice. Add chicken, celery, grapes, toasted walnuts and mayonnaise. Stir to combine. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.
- Serve on a bed of spring greens or leaf lettuce.
Notes
- Don’t like walnuts or have them on hand. Use other nuts like toasted pecans or sliced or slivered toasted almonds.
- Are you looking for a lighter version of Chicken Waldorf Salad? Substitute half of the mayo with non-fat Greek yogurt.
- Do you want to dress it up even a little more? Add one-half cup of dried cranberries or dried cherries.
- Do you want to sweeten it up a little bit? Add two tablespoons of honey.
- Want to make a wrap or a sandwich with the chicken salad? It is delicious on pumpernickel, rye, or European whole grain.
- You can substitute seedless green grapes for the seedless red grapes.
- You can use any kind of crisp apple like Granny Smith, Cripps Sweet, Fuji, Honeycrisp, or Gala.
- Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Nutrition
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Trina
I like to use cumin in my chicken Waldorf recipes with light miracle whip. I would skip the lemon juice, salt pepper to do that. It will also lower your calories. Cumin gives it an amazing flavor if you like it
Nikita
Great flavors and textures in this refreshing and delightful salad. I will definitely be making this again for my family. They really enjoyed it!
Justina
My favorite chicken salad recipe! Love that sweet and savory combo, and the crunch from the apples is next level.
Cara
Chicken Waldorf Salad is a refreshing and satisfying dish that never fails to please. Thanks for the great recipe!