Walnut Cranberry Chicken Salad is the perfect dish that you can enjoy as a lunch, dinner, or even a snack. During the high temps and humidity that comes with the summer months, this is a refreshing food to serve. If you use the cheats for this recipe, you don’t have to cook anything! Just cut up the meat on a rotisserie chicken and mix in the rest of the ingredients. Serve as-is, on fresh bread, or on your favorite crackers. That’s it! Super easy, yet it has a gourmet taste to it.

Ingredients Needed

This out of the ordinary chicken salad is really easy to make. You will just need a few key ingredients and you will be able to dig in a few minutes later! Here is what you will need:

1 Rotisserie Chicken family size approx 6lbs, chop the chicken
3 Celery Stalks chopped
1 cup Craisins chopped
1 cup Walnuts chopped
1/3 cup Mayonnaise

The beauty of this recipe is that you can customize it to whatever your favorite ingredients are. Perhaps you enjoy the recipe as it stands, but you don’t have certain add-ins. You can make some substitutions with raisins instead of craisins, or chopped apples or grapes. Further, you could switch up almonds instead of walnuts. There is no right or wrong here, just yummy tasting food!

How To Make

Cut up all chicken, celery, and walnuts.
Add chicken, celery, walnuts, and mayonnaise to a large bowl and mix well.
Serve by itself or on bread.

It only takes a few minutes to toss some chicken with a simple dressing and a few add-ins. You can customize with whatever you have on hand. Sub the cranberries for raisins, or chopped fresh apples or grapes. Further, you can use almonds instead of walnuts. Just go for it!

Low Carb

Although this recipe is fairly healthy the way it is now, you could make it lighter by using Greek yogurt instead of mayonnaise. Or you could go even further and make this a low carb, keto-friendly dish by skipping the bread and crackers and serving the walnut cranberry chicken salad in lettuce cups or over mixed greens. Doesn’t that sounds delicious? Aside from the sugars in the craisins, this is relatively low in carbs recipe. Therefore, this is a great recipe to make, when you want to limit carbs and eat a high protein meal.

Gourmet Meal

This cranberry walnut chicken salad is so much more than a delicious sandwich spread. This chicken salad is not your regular sandwich filler. Some might describe this as gourmet. It seems ironic that this easy to make, simplistic recipe can taste gourmet. Yet, it is above and beyond any homemade sandwich you can toss together in a pinch!

The sweet flavor of the craisins with the savory taste of the rotisserie chicken is the perfect balance. Next, add in the crunch factor with the celery and walnuts and you have one yummy chicken salad! A sandwich ‘meat’ that will make your mouth water and wish it was time to dig in!

Whether you prefer this cranberry walnut chicken salad on a fresh baguette, on crackers, in a lettuce cup, or by itself, you honestly, cannot go wrong whichever way you opt to eat this scrumptious meal!

Need More Ideas?

If you are like me, you want to find more options for meals that are different. Of course, the dishes need to be yummy too. Here are a few recipes that might peak your interest: