Easy Chicken Salad with Grapes

This super quick and Easy Chicken Salad with Grapes is made with the help of a food processor! My version is filled with veggies, chicken breast, and red grapes in a creamy dressing. Perfect to make-ahead for lunch this week!

Things I love: chicken salad! Croissants, crisp red grapes. Things I don’t love: time spent chopping veggies and shredding chicken, the effort spent chopping veggies and shredding chicken…

My point is I love chicken salad, but I don’t love all the work. Enter my food processor!! It has like one job, and it was built for this moment.

Instead of wasting my hand power away by finely mincing veggies and shredding chicken, this recipe uses the food processor to do both in just seconds!

What are the ingredients in this Easy Chicken Salad with Grapes?

The ingredients in this recipe are fairly common, and it’s a great use of leftover cooked chicken. The only thing you may need to go out of your way for is the fresh dill, but you can also use dried.

Here are the ingredients I used to make my Easy Chicken Salad with Grapes, along with why each one is important.

• celery – Along with carrot, this is the main veggie base for our chicken salad. It adds crunch and bulk.
• carrot – One medium or two small carrots add some nice color and a little more crunch to the salad. And carrots are good for you!
• red onion – I’m not even a huge red onion fan, but it’s necessary here to add a bit of contrast to the creamy sweetness of the rest of the salad.
• boneless skinless chicken breasts – Best made with leftover cooked chicken breasts, two 8-ounce breasts is perfect. You can also use 3 cups of rotisserie chicken.
• red grapes – Washed and halved red grapes make the perfect sweet addition to the other flavors, especially the chicken and the dill.
• mayonnaise & Greek yogurt – I prefer a combo of mayo and Greek yogurt. This makes it nice and creamy while not overdoing it on the tangy yogurt taste.
• honey – There’s a lot of savory going on so a tiny touch of honey is the best way to round out this cold lunch salad.
• fresh dill – Add some fresh green goodness to this chicken salad with dill. It ties everything together and looks gorgeous on top! You can also use dried dill instead.
• dijon mustard & garlic powder – These are two flavors I just love in my tuna and chicken salads. Feel free to skip either if you don’t like them.
• salt & fresh ground black pepper – To help season and bring all the flavors together, I add a bit of fine sea salt and fresh ground black pepper to my chicken salad.
• to serve: sliced bread, lettuce cups, croissants, crackers, your choice 🙂

As long as you’ve got your cooked chicken ready to go, this recipe comes together super quickly.

If you’re trying to serve this chicken salad immediately, I would recommend starting with all your ingredients straight from the fridge, especially the chicken. If your chicken was just cooked and still warm, the finished chicken salad will need to be chilled before it’s served.

First, get out your food processor – I have a Cuisinart 8-Cup Food Processor (affiliate link!). Cut the veggies into big chunks so they fit into the bowl, then put the lid on and pulse for about 10-12 seconds. The veggies will become very finely minced – that’s what you want!

Take the lid off and dump all those veggies into a bowl. Next, add the cooked chicken in big chunks (no need to clean out the bowl in between). Pulse about 5-7 times, watching the chicken as you go.

This will happen quickly, so be sure not to over process! We don’t want blended chicken (?? gross!), we want finely shredded chicken. After you’ve processed the chicken, pour it into the bowl with the veggies.

Finally, add everything else to the bowl and stir until it’s all creamy. If your chicken was just cooked and still warm, be sure to refrigerate the chicken salad before serving.

What equipment do you need to make this recipe?

My method for making chicken salad involves using a food processor to finely mince the veggies and finely shred the chicken, very quickly.

If you don’t have a food processor, that’s okay. You can use a hand mixer to shred the chicken (as fine as you can get it), and you can mince the veggies by hand (again, the finer the better!).

What kind of food processor do you recommend?

My recommendation disclaimer is that I’ve only ever had one food processor, but that should tell you something, right? It means I’ve never needed to replace it!

It’s the Cuisinart 8-Cup Food Processor (affiliate link!) – and it works great for this recipe. This appliance has never let me down for grating cheese, processing chicken and veggies, blending nuts and dates, among other things.

How do you meal prep this chicken salad?

This Easy Chicken Salad with Grapes is definitely a classic “meal prep” meal, and I can see why! In my opinion, it’s best after a night in the fridge. Here are some ideas on how to meal prep this recipe:

1. Ingredient prep: Make sure your chicken is cooked and your veggies are ready to go so you can make the chicken salad in the next 24 hours or so. If you have leftover chicken cooked chicken breast, even better!
2. Prep for now & later: Prepare the recipe as written and enjoy a portion or two now, while saving the rest for another lunch or dinner in the next 4 days.
3. Complete prep & portion: Portion the full recipe into 4 meal prep containers so lunch is ready for the next 4 days.

What should you serve with this chicken salad?

There are a few different ways to serve this chicken salad, all work with meal prep!

• On a croissant – I really like this way!! So yummy
• On any bread you like – This chicken salad has a lot of flavor and will go well with any bread you normally like
• On lettuce wraps – Less exciting than croissants but still very delicious
• With pretzel or crackers – Add some crunch and make it a snack box like the one pictured below

Store in portioned containers or in one large container with a lid in the fridge and enjoy within 4 days. Store any bread or crackers separately – lettuce and pretzels usually do okay in the fridge.

I would not recommend freezing this recipe due to the mayonnaise and celery. It would definitely have a weird texture after thawing.

I would not heat this recipe, it is best served cold from the fridge. I would probably try a different chicken salad recipe without grapes if I wanted to make a hot chicken salad.

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Easy Chicken Salad with Grapes

Recipe by Danielle

This super quick and Easy Chicken Salad with Grapes is made with the help of a food processor! My version is packed with veggies, chicken breast, and red grapes in a creamy dressing. Perfect to make-ahead for the week’s lunches!

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• Total Time10 minutes
• Yield4 servings 1x

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Ingredients

Scale 1/2x1x2x3x

• 2 stalks of celery
• 1 medium carrot, peeled and top removed
• 1/4 red onion
• 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cooked (or about 3 cups shredded rotisserie chicken)
• 1 1/2 cups red grapes, halved
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1/3 cup plain Greek yogurt
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill (or 1 teaspoon dried dill)
• 2 teaspoons dijon mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt & fresh ground black pepper
• to serve: sliced bread, lettuce cups, croissants, crackers, etc

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Instructions

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1. Process veggies: Cut the celery, carrots, onion and chicken breasts into large chunks so they fit into the food processor. First, add the celery, carrots and onion to the food processor. With the lid on, pulse the veggies for about 10 seconds, until they appear very finely minced. Take the lid off and pour the processed veggies into a large mixing bowl.
   
2. Process chicken: Add the chunks of chicken breast to the food processor. With the lid on, pulse 5-7 times, until the chicken appears very finely shredded. This will happen quickly, so be sure to watch the chicken and not overprocess. Pour the processed chicken into the bowl with the veggies.
   
3. Mix it together: Add all the remaining ingredients to the large mixing bowl with the veggies and chicken, including the grapes, mayonnaise, Greek yogurt, honey, dill, mustard, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Stir together until well mixed and creamy. Add additional salt or pepper to taste.
   
4. Serve & store: Serve immediately if your ingredients were cold. If the chicken was warm, it’s best to store the prepared salad for at least 4 hours until well chilled before eating. Serve with crackers, on bread, in lettuce wraps, or on a croissant. Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
   

Equipment

Rubbermaid High Heat Spatula Scraper

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Cuisinart 8-Cup Food Processor

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(affiliate link!)

Notes

Mayo vs Greek Yogurt: Feel free to use all of either one or a combo of both like I did in the recipe. I prefer a bit of each in my chicken salad. Nutrition information estimated with My Fitness Pal and includes chicken salad only.

• Prep Time: 10 minutes
• Category: Lunches
• Method: No Heat
• Cuisine: American

Nutrition

• Serving Size: 1 1/4 cups
• Calories: 396
• Sugar: 16g
• Fat: 23g
• Carbohydrates: 20g
• Fiber: 2g
• Protein: 28g

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