This chicken salad with grapes and apples recipe is a creamy savory salad that gives both a soft and some extra crunch, with the added celery and pecans for the crunch and softness of the chicken.
It’s delicious served alone on a bed of lettuce as a salad recipe or even on your favorite bread as a sandwich recipe. (We used pretzel slider buns for these!)
A cool and creamy sandwich is fantastic in the summertime but there’s something about enjoying this chicken salad during the fall because it uses apples, pecans, and red grapes.
Our reader’s favorite tuna salad recipe is another sandwich that is easy to make and wonderful to switch in and out with this one. Or, this curry chicken salad is a great twist when wanting to mix things up!
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Flexible: Some may not like the addition of celery, and although it’s a great way to take the flavor to the next level, you can leave it out and still have the crunchy texture with the apples and pecans.
- Make-ahead recipe: This chicken apple salad can be made in advance for a great lunch or even a quick dinner idea for an easy meal! However, if serving as sandwiches, it’s best to wait until serving to add it to bread.
- Ready in only 10 minutes: If you already have the cooked chicken, this chicken grape salad comes together in about 10 minutes! Just a little dicing and mixing is needed and you’re ready to enjoy.
- Fun flavors: A classic chicken salad may be more creamy (less texture) than this recipe but the fun flavors of the grapes, apples, celery, and pecans can add so much fun to each bite.
- For an event: Although this is a great option for a meal at home, this chicken waldorf salad (as some call it) can be classy for an event such as a baby shower or even bridal shower.
Ingredients Needed for the BEST Chicken Salad
I’ve highlighted some of the ingredients below with some relevant notes. Aside from this, the ingredients needed are pretty basic, and you can get most of these at the grocery store, to make the best chicken salad recipe.
- Chicken – Although we baked boneless chicken breast for this recipe, you can use a store-bought rotisserie chicken or even canned chicken. (Tip: I’ve found that canned chicken can resemble the taste of tuna, so for best quality, I opt for making chicken myself or using pre-baked/cooked chicken instead.)You can also cook chicken in advance in the Crock Pot.
- Lemon Juice – You can choose to leave this out but lemon juice will help prevent the apples from turning and it also helps blend with the mayonnaise.
- Grapes – It’s recommended to use seedless grapes and also red grapes, instead of green. The juicy grapes add such a wonderful twist to the bite.
- Apples – Red apples are a great addition and add a sweetness to the chicken salad whereas green apples (like a granny smith apple) add a tartness we prefer red but you may want to try green and that’s ok!
- Pecans – If you prefer to use walnuts in chicken salad, that’s absolutely fine to use instead of pecans.
- Mayonnaise – We prefer to use the brand Hellman’s or Best Foods for this recipe and all of our salads like this one. You may choose to use plain Greek yogurt or even a mixture of mayo and sour cream instead and that’s perfectly fine!
- Bread – If serving as a sandwich, using regular sandwich bread is great! But you can also mix things up by using a croissant (like we used for our egg salad), a bagel or even slider buns, such a pretzel slider buns like we used here.
How to Make Chicken Salad
This is an easy chicken salad recipe, and it doesn’t require a lot of ingredients or equipment.
*Be sure to see the recipe card below for the full ingredients list & instructions!*
If you haven’t cooked your chicken yet or haven’t purchased pre-cooked chicken, make sure this chicken is cooked before beginning with step one.
STEP 1. Diced items. In a medium-sized bowl, add cooked chicken, celery, grapes, apples, and pecans. (Image 1).
Tip: Make sure you use a bowl that’s big enough to stir and combine the chicken salad, as you’ll be mixing it all together in this first bowl that you use.
STEP 2. Make creamy dressing. In a separate small mixing bowl, whisk together mayonnaise, lemon juice and salt and pepper until evenly combined (Image 2).
STEP 3. Combine. Pour the creamy mixture over the chicken mixture (Image 3).
STEP 4. Mix. Stir together the creamy mixture with the chicken mixture until it is evenly coated (Image 4).
Chicken Salad Sliders
If you’re making chicken salad sliders, my favorite way is to remove the top buns from the bottom (as one whole piece – slicing will come later).
Then pour the prepared chicken salad on top of the bottom buns, add on leaf lettuce, and top with the top buns. Enjoy!
Recipe Pro Tips
- Allowing chicken salad to set. Making this chicken salad ahead of time can be done, to enjoy the next day. However, the salt can “soak in” and reduce the saltiness of the recipe after chilling. So you may want to add a bit of salt before serving if you notice it has subsided.
- Serving chicken salad. Instead of only using bread or topping lettuce with the grape and apple chicken salad, try wrapping in large lettuce leaves for lettuce wraps, dipping with crackers, wrapping in a tortilla, and more!
- Adding onions. If you love the onion flavor in your sandwiches, you may choose to also add diced red onions or even green onion.
Recipe FAQs
When adding items such as grapes, apples, celery, and pecans, this can really add a lot more flavor. However, you can also add a splash of pickle juice or mustard (or Dijon mustard) for some zip.
With the addition of nuts, grapes, and apples, this can help make chicken salad more filling. However, you can also add items such as cooked quinoa as well to help even more.
It does freeze well but mayonnaise will separate after freezing so it’s best that when it has thawed, to stir the chicken salad. Note: Some ingredients can cause the chicken salad to be watery after thawed, whereas others may not so it’s best to see which brands work best for you.
What do you Serve with Chicken Salad?
Chicken salad pairs amazingly well with side dishes. This blue cheese dip with some chips, or a hearty soup such as this buffalo chicken soup.
Storage
Leftovers: If you have leftover chicken salad, store this in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3 days.
Freeze: You can freeze this chicken salad recipe but do note that when thawed, some ingredients can create a watery substance. You can stir to combine it and mix together before serving.
Similar Savory Salad Recipes You’ll Love
If you love sandwich recipes like this one, we think you’ll also love these that are perfect for lunches, easy dinners, and more!
Did you make this? I’d be so grateful if you left a “star” rating below to let me know what you thought! Then, the next time you need a quick and easy recipe, come back to Fantabulosity to browse all of my easy recipes!
Originally published: September 2023
Updated and republished: May 2025
Recipe
Chicken Salad with Grapes and Apples
Ingredients
- 2 cups diced cooked chicken
- ½ cup red, seedless grapes Sliced in half
- ½ cup diced celery
- ¼ cup diced red apple
- ½ cup pecans Broken in to pieces
- ½ cup mayonnaise We prefer Hellman's brand
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice a gentle squeeze of half of a lemon
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- leaf lettuce optional
- 9 slider buns or slices of bread, optional
Instructions
- In a medium sized bowl add the chicken, grapes, celery, and pecans.
- In a small, separate bowl, mix together the mayo, salt, pepper, lemon juice. Whisk or stir to combine.
- Pour the mayo mixture over the top of chicken mixture and stir to combine until it is evenly distributed.
If Making Sliders
- Remove the tops of slider buns, and then pour all of the chicken salad on to bottom buns. Top with lettuce, if desired.
- Then add top bun, and slice (with a bread knife for ease) on the lines of the buns, in to sliders.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered estimates. Actual nutritional content will vary with brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes and more.
Cecie says
Hi Jessica. I’ve made this great chicken salad for decades! I think it’s best with poached chicken breasts. I also add a bit of poppy seed dressing to the dressing. Give it a try. I think it makes it even better!
Jessica says
Hi Cecie! Oh yum! I’ll definitely try that sometime, thank you!
Toni says
Everyone at my house enjoyed this salad! I will definitely make it again!
Melissa says
Great recipe – it was perfect for our family lunch!
Matt says
These chicken salad sliders are so yummy and perfect for game day! The combination of flavors the sweet from the grape and crunch from the nuts is such a good bite.