This easy chicken salad recipe with celery and toasted almonds has the perfect balance of textures with a touch of sweetness thanks to grapes and apple. It’s perfect on it’s own but great in a sandwich too!
I used a rotisserie chicken for ultimate convenience without sacrificing any flavor but you can bake up some chicken breasts if you prefer white meat only.
This chicken salad is the BEST thing ever for a warm day when you want a delicious meal without turning that oven on. Grapes add just the right amount of sweetness while toasted almonds, celery and even a bit of green onion add crunch. A drizzle of aged balsamic vinegar and a splash of lemon juice bring a wonderful depth or flavor and tang to round out this chicken salad.
Steps to Make this Chicken Salad Recipe
How do you make chicken salad with grapes?
- Place almond slivers on a baking sheet and bake at 350F (177) for about 10 minutes. Mix on sheet at 5 minute mark for an even toasting.
- Wash and chop celery. Transfer to a large bowl.
- Wash and halve grapes, peel and chop apple. Transfer to the same bowl.
- Separate tarragon and thyme leaves from stems then chop and add to bowl with grapes and celery.
- Remove meat from rotisserie chicken, chop onto 1 inch pieces and transfer to a separate large bowl.
- Add lemon juice, pepper, and salt to your bowl
- Peel, and dice apple then add to bowl.toss and set aside.
- Halve and chop green onion and add to bowl.
- Add mayo to chicken and mix to cover.
- Add balsamic vinegar to chicken and mix.
- Add apple mixture to chicken.
- Fold together and garnish with tarragon leaves and grape halves if desired.
Frequently Asked Questions
How to serve this Chicken Salad
This salad is WONDERFUL on it’s own as a main course but you can serve it on top of some mixed greens, use it to make sandwiches, or as a side dish. You can even mix in some pasta for extra carbs!
I garnished my salad with some fresh tarragon leaves, toasted almond slivers, and halved grapes. Any ingredient not covered in mayo will add som visual appeal to the salad and let people know what’s inside right away.
HOW LONG DOES CHICKEN SALAD LAST?
This salad will last 3 days if properly refrigerated. You’ll want to give it a toss before serving as the grapes might loose some of their liquid and pool on the bottom. Don’t leave this out at room temp for more than a couple hours.
Pro Tips for the BEST Rotisserie Chicken Salad Recipe
- This salad can be made a day ahead and served chilled.
- The recipe calls for muscat grapes but red grapes work well too.
- Adding balsamic vinegar will create a darker color than you might expect from a classic chicken salad but the depth of flavor is amazing!
- If you prefer white meat only sub the rotisserie chicken for four bone in skin on chicken breasts. Salt and pepper them an bake at 375F for about 40 minutes or until the internal temp is 165F.
If you like this chicken salad try these recipes out!
If you’ve tried this chicken salad recipe then don’t forget to leave a rating and let me know how you got on in the comments below, I love hearing from you!
Chicken Salad Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup celery chopped
- 1 cup muscat grapes halved
- 1/2 cup slivered almonds toasted
- 1 tbsp fresh thyme
- 2 tbsp fresh tarragon
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 green onions halved and chopped
- 1 cup mayo
- 1/2 cup apple peeled and diced
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar 15mL
- 1 rotisserie chicken
Instructions
- Place almond slivers on a baking sheet and bake at 350F (177) for about 10 minutes. Mix on sheet at 5 minute mark for an even toasting.
- Chop celery, halve grapes, halve and chop green onion, peel and chop apple. Transfer to a large bowl.
- Separate tarragon and thyme leaves from stems then chop and add to bowl with grapes and celery.
- Add mayonnaise, lemon juice, pepper, and salt to your bowl toss and set aside.
- Remove meat from rotisserie chicken, chop onto 1 inch pieces and fold into the mayo mixture.
- Add the celery apple mixture to chicken and fold together.
- Garnish with tarragon leaves and grape halves if desired.
Video
Notes
- This salad can be made a day ahead and served chilled.
- The recipe calls for muscat grapes but red grapes work well too.
- Adding balsamic vinegar will create a darker color than you might expect from a classic chicken salad but the depth of flavor is amazing!
I make a similar chicken salad but I add pasta and use pecans instead of almonds along with grapes, celery and onions. I use a mayo and European style yogurt for the dressing. I cook cut up chicken breast in chicken broth and moscato wine garlic and dill.
Sounds yummy!
I am delighted that you developed this awesome chicken salad recipe. I can’t wait to make it for my next party! Thank you, John!
In my market these are called SLICED almonds not SLIVERED. Do you have a preference John?
Was exactly what my family and I had hoped for on a warm summery evening! Wonderfully crisp from the apples and grapes and the fresh tarragon was just the right herb to pair it all with! Delightful! Thank you, John!
I watched the video then followed it and the recipe and ended up with the absolute best chicken salad I have ever had. Thank you for sharing it and making a video of it as well.
Delicious! The balsamic makes a big difference.
Turned out perfect. Thanks!!!
I made 7 batches of this for my sons wedding. We made a simple cold serve refreshment table. It was amazing.
We had to substitute the almonds with roasted shelled Sunflower seeds. Because of our remote area I had to use dried herbs and the grapes were just the sweetest I could find in our location.
I can’t tell you how blessed I felt to have such luck with this recipe.
It is now in my keepsake recipe collection for weddings and the like.
Thank you, John. It was as you said…. the best.
I’m SO happy you enjoyed, thanks for sharing!!
Soooo good!! And different from all the other chicken salads I’ve had. It’s the balsamic vinegar, I think. Whatever it is, thank you, John!!
So happy you liked it Kate. Thanks for the comment and rating!
I love the freshness of the grapes, lemon, and balsamic against the creaminess of the mayo and chicken. I will be making this again! I substituted dried herbs as fresh are difficult to come by this time of year.