I love to use leftover rotisserie chicken to make recipes like this chicken Florentine soup and these chicken bacon ranch sliders. This shredded chicken salad recipe is another easy way to rescue those legs and thighs languishing in the fridge! I add red grapes, toasted almonds, and sour cream to kick it up a notch.
Use a handheld or stand mixer to shred chicken if you can—it’s quicker and more efficient than shredding by hand. If you don’t own a mixer you can also pulse the chicken in a food processor or blender, or use your hands.
If you have a few extra minutes consider making homemade mayonnaise. This spicy garlic aioli or homemade pesto mayo will take your chicken salad to the next level, I promise! Note, the garlic in the spicy mayo may be a bit strong for this recipe so I recommend reducing or omitting it. Whether you use store-bought or homemade mayo, this quick and easy recipe is perfect for a light lunch any time of year.
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💞Why You’ll Love This Recipe
✔️ It gives leftover rotisserie chicken a purpose.
✔️ It’s a refreshing spin on plain chicken salad with celery and onion.
✔️ You can make it in less than 10 minutes!
📋Ingredients
Ingredient Notes
- Lemon Juice—Fresh squeezed lemon juice tastes the best but use bottles if that’s all you have.
- Garlic Powder—This adds a hint of garlic flavor without the overwhelming pungency of freshly chopped cloves.
It’s important to note that when making substitutions in recipes, the texture and flavor may be slightly different. However, these substitutes are the best options if you are looking to change the original recipe.
Ingredient Substitutions
- Almonds—You can substitute any nuts or seeds you have on hand. Pecans or pumpkin seeds would be nice.
- Chicken—Use any leftover chicken you want, it doesn’t have to be rotisserie chicken.
- Garlic Powder—You can substitute this with onion powder.
- Sour Cream—Greek yogurt is a good substitute for sour cream.
- Green Onions—Use chopped red or white onion or chives if you don’t have green onions.
- Red Grapes—I love the look of red grapes because they offset the lightness of the chicken and mayo but green grapes are great too.
Use the JUMP TO RECIPE button at the top of this post, or scroll to the bottom of the post, to see the PRINTABLE recipe card with ingredient measurements and complete instructions.
👩🍳 How To Make Shredded Chicken Salad
STEP 1—Toast the almonds in a small skillet until golden. Set aside to cool.
STEP 2—Use a handheld mixer to shred the chicken in a mixing bowl.
STEP 3—Stir in the sour cream, mayonnaise, lemon juice, garlic powder, salt, and pepper.
STEP 4—Add the grapes, green onions, and toasted almonds. Stir together then cover and chill in the fridge for at least one hour.
🗣Expert Tips
1. Freshly cooked chicken that’s still warm shreds easier than chicken cold from the fridge.
2. Leave the grapes whole if not serving on sandwiches.
3. Shredded chicken salad tastes better on the second day.
📝Recipe Notes
- Buy pre-toasted almonds if you want to save time.
- If using cold chicken, bring it to room temperature for 30 minutes before shredding.
- For the best flavor, use full-fat sour cream and whole egg mayonnaise.
- Once the salad is mixed together, taste it! Adjust the seasonings (do you like more lemon juice? more salt? more mayo?) until you are happy with the flavor. Note, flavors will also develop as the salad chills in the fridge.
🙋♀️Recipe FAQ
If you don’t have a rotisserie chicken on hand, place raw chicken in a pot or a slow cooker. Cover the chicken with chicken stock or salted water. Cook the chicken on a low simmer (stovetop) or on high for a few hours (slow cooker) until the internal temperature of the chicken reaches a minimum of 165ºF (74ºC).
A hand or stand mixer is the best way to shred chicken! for easy cleanup. You can also pulse the chicken in a food processor or high-speed blender. To use your hands, pull cooked chicken apart along the grain (shredded chicken should be more stringy, rather than chunky).
The obvious answer is sandwiches or wraps but if you prefer to eat chicken salad without bread try a light green salad, pickles, fruit, cheese, or soup on the side.
💃More Light Lunch Recipes
Did you make this shredded chicken salad? Please rate the recipe and tell me how it went in the comments below. Also, stay in touch with me on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest to see more delicious food and recipes!
🖨 Recipe
Shredded Chicken Salad
Equipment
- Measuring cups and spoons or digital kitchen scale
- Small skillet
- Large mixing bowl
- Electric hand mixer or stand mixer, food processor, or high speed blender
- Rubber spatula or wooden spoon
Ingredients
- ¼ cup almonds, raw, slivered
- 2 cups chicken, cooked
- ½ cup sour cream, full-fat or full-fat Greek yogurt
- ¼ cup mayonnaise
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ⅛ teaspoon black pepper, ground
- 1 cup red grapes
- 1 to 2 tablespoons green onion, sliced, to taste
Instructions
- Place a small skillet on the stovetop over medium heat. Add the slivered almonds to the skillet. Cook the almonds, stirring often, until toasted and fragrant, about 6 to 7 minutes. Carefully transfer the hot almonds to a heatproof dish to cool.
- While the almonds are cooling, make the chicken salad. Place the cooked chicken in a large mixing bowl. Use a handheld mixer on low to begin shredding the chicken. If low speed isn’t breaking up the pieces, gradually increase the speed of the mixer until most of the chicken is shredded. Finish shredding any larger pieces by hand if you need to.
- Add the sour cream, mayonnaise, lemon juice, garlic powder, salt, and pepper to the chicken. Stir to combine.
- Add the grapes, toasted almonds, and sliced green onions to the bowl. Stir everything together until well combined. Transfer the shredded chicken salad to a smaller bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least one hour before serving.
Notes
- Buy pre-toasted almonds if you want to save time.
- If using cold chicken, bring it to room temperature for 30 minutes before shredding.
- For the best flavor, use full fat sour cream and whole egg mayonnaise .
- Once the salad is mixed together, taste it! Adjust the seasonings (do you like more lemon juice? more salt? more mayo?) until you are happy with the flavor. Note, flavors will also develop as the salad chills in the fridge.
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