Orchard Chicken Salad

Enjoy fresh fruits, spicy scallions, crunchy almonds, and tender chicken in this delicious and refreshing Orchard Chicken Salad. Perfect for sandwiches, salads, or lettuce wraps.

Chicken salad is one of those miracle recipes. You can stir in a multitude of spices, herbs, fruits, and veggies and come away with a myriad of amazing flavor combinations.

It took me awhile to learn this. My old standy-by chicken salad contains cheddar cheese, celery, and dill weed. I was happy to stay right there in terms of chicken salad. And then I ventured out.

This Orchard Chicken Salad was my first real experiment in non-comfort zone Chicken Salad. But since we had an abundance of apple and red grapes, I thought I would experiment. This is the yummy result, chock full of fruit and seasoned with thyme.

Now there are chicken salads that go well in sandwiches and there are those that are better served as a salad. While I think this works well on a soft roll, I prefer to serve it in lettuce wraps or atop a bed of greens. It just kind of invites you to dig in with your fork.

How Do You Make Homemade Chicken Salad?

In a large mixing bowl you want to combine your cubed cooked chicken, grapes, onions, cranberries, and apple.

Then in a smaller bowl, whisk together mayonnaise, vinegar, thyme, and black pepper. And pour over your chicken mixture and toss to coat it together. You want to make sure to refrigerate until ready to serve.

If you are making this for a salad, then divide the two cups of salad greens onto two plates. And divide the  chicken salad mixture. Then top each plate with 1 Tablespoon of sliced almonds.  This is also good as a sandwich filling.

How Long Does Chicken Salad Last?

Chicken salad can last for 3 to 5 days as long as you keep it covered and in the refrigerator.

If you leave the chicken salad out, do not leave it out for more than 2 hours at room temperature otherwise you will need to toss it!

How to make this good and cheap:

Here are some of the strategies you can use to make this recipe more economical:

• Stock up on ingredients when they are on sale. For instance, when I see a great price on dried fruit or chicken, I’ll buy 4-5 packages/containers and stash them for later.
• Use a whole chicken! Cooking a whole chicken (or buying one that Costco roasted for you) can be more economical than buying chicken pieces. Plus, you can use the carcass to make homemade stock. You can easily make this salad with turkey when the whole birds go on sale in the fall.

How I make this recipe easy:

Since one of you mentioned getting a rotisserie chicken every time you go to Costco, I’ve started doing the same. What a game changer! Having a pre-cooked rotisserie chicken makes my prep work a lot easier. The cost of the chicken is comparable to a whole chicken uncooked — and they taste great! Plus, the work is done for me.

Having the right kitchen tools can really make your time in the kitchen more enjoyable. Over time, I’ve honed my collection so that they are perfect for my needs. Here are the tools that I use for this recipe:

• plastic cutting boards – I have blue boards for veggies and white boards for meat.
• Ergo Chef chef’s knife – I’ve had my set for several years and they work well.
• salad spinner – I love this large model salad spinner with a salad serving bowl.

Print

Orchard Chicken Salad

Prep Time

10 mins

Total Time

10 mins

 

Enjoy fresh fruits, spicy scallions, crunchy almonds, and tender chicken in this delicious and refreshing Orchard Chicken Salad. Perfect for sandwiches, salads, or lettuce wraps.

Course: Salad

Cuisine: American

Keyword: chicken salad, orchard salad

Servings: 8 servings

Calories: 135 kcal

Author: Jessica Fisher

Ingredients

• 2 cups cubed cooked chicken
• 1/2 cup red grapes cut in half
• 2 green onions chopped
• 1/4 cup dried cranberries use unsweetened for whole 30
• 1 cup diced apple
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/8 teaspoon black pepper

Instructions

1. In large mixing bowl, combine chicken, grapes, onions, cranberries, and apple.
2. In smaller bowl, whisk together mayonnaise, vinegar, thyme, and black pepper. Pour over chicken mixture. Toss to coat. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
3. For a salad, divide two cups of salad greens onto two plates. Divide chicken salad mixture. Top each plate with 1 Tablespoon sliced almonds.
4. Also good as a sandwich filling.

Recipe Notes

• Stock up on ingredients when they are on sale. For instance, when I see a great price on dried fruit or chicken, I’ll buy 4-5 packages/containers and stash them for later.
• Use a whole chicken! Cooking a whole chicken (or buying one that Costco roasted for you) can be more economical than buying chicken pieces. Plus, you can use the carcass to make homemade stock. You can easily make this salad with turkey when the whole birds go on sale in the fall.

Nutrition Facts

Orchard Chicken Salad

Amount Per Serving

Calories 135 Calories from Fat 54

% Daily Value*

Total Fat 6g 9%

Saturated Fat 1g 5%

Cholesterol 31mg 10%

Sodium 128mg 5%

Potassium 132mg 4%

Total Carbohydrates 9.7g 3%

Dietary Fiber 1g 4%

Sugars 5.5g

Protein 10.5g 21%

Calcium 1%

Iron 3%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Originally posted October 4, 2010. Updated May 14, 2017.