The easiest and most delicious chicken salad you’ll ever eat! Fine. If you love pickles and mustard. But if you’re reading this, maybe you’re curious even if you thought you didn’t… so I’m thinking…. it’s time to try! This is NUMBER ONE in my house. I’ve been asked politely never to let it run out! Ha.
In the summer, when nobody wants to turn on the oven if we can avoid it, I love having recipes on hand that don’t require actual cooking. This definitely fits the bill!
Although I don’t know a time of year where I don’t appreciate a recipe that doesn’t require actual cooking. Just saying.
It seems like everyone has their own version of chicken salad. I’ve seen and tried a lot of them through the years. I’ve decided I prefer a simple recipe with ingredients that I always have on hand. And of course never packed with mayo … because PURPOSE DEFEATED.
It’s kind of a chicken salad meets egg salad. And I know the hard boiled eggs will throw off a few of you, but I love the addition! If you don’t, feel free to swap for 75 grams of additional chicken. If you’re a macro-counter, it’s only going to change the macros by +2 protein, -2 fat per serving. For me, the combination of the chicken, hard-boiled eggs, celery, green onions, dill, and sweet pickles is SO ADDICTING. It’s fresh and crunchy, and tangy and sweet. I double it of course, and my girls, Ross, and I all fight for whatever makes it past day-one!
How to Make Pickle Chicken Salad
Here’s what you need for the bulk of this pickle chicken salad:
- Rotisserie chicken breast (or other cooked chicken breast)
- Hard-boiled eggs
- Celery or fennel
- Dill pickles
- Green onion
- Sweet relish
- Fresh dill
Chop, shred and combine all of the ingredients in a bowl. If I’m using rotisserie chicken that doesn’t have a ton of flavor, I like to heat it up in a pan (for JUST a minute) and season it with salt, pepper, and maybe a little garlic before adding it to my recipe. A super quick, hot sear kind of brings it back to life and takes away any weird store-bought rotisserie texture, without giving it that re-cooked poultry flavor. Nobody wants their chicken salad tasting like it’s reheated leftovers. (Even if it is! That’s your secret to keep.)
Once you have the bulk of your pickle chicken salad tossed together, it’s time to make the dressing. For that you will need the following ingredients:
- Low-fat mayo (I used Hellmans at 3.5 fat per Tbsp)
- Non-fat Greek yogurt
- Red wine vinegar
- Mustard
- Salt and pepper to taste
Whisk the ingredients together and add them to the pickle chicken salad in a large bowl. If you want to tweak the macros on the dressing and use all Greek yogurt, go for it! You’ll save a little fat and add a little more protein to your salad. But not much. It’s up to you. Either way you make it will be delicious.
Once it’s mixed I like to serve this pickle chicken salad on rice cakes, corn thins, crackers, or even on a sandwich. As an ever lighter snack, we love it in jicama tortillas (just super thin sliced jicama rounds we find at Trader Joe’s) or wrapped in lettuce. It’s great stuffed in pitas with tons of sprouts and extra mustard! This is making me hungry.
It’s so versatile and everyone in my family loves to have this on hand for snacking. (Ok four of us.) If you count your macros, you know it’s so nice to have snacks around that you know will balance out your carbs, fats, and proteins just perfectly without much thought. This one’s a winner.
Love This Recipe? Try These:
Quick & Easy Low Carb Buffalo Chicken Pizza
Chipotle Grilled Chicken and Mango Cobb Salad
For more on how macros work into my very normal life– haha– be sure to follow me on Instagram @lillieeatsandtells. And if you try this recipe, share it on Instagram and tag me so I can see it! I love seeing what you create from my recipes.
Pickle Chicken Salad
Disclaimer: the grams I’ve listed manually after each ingredient are accurate for a single recipe, but they will not multiply if you choose the 2x or 3x option. Please make sure and multiply on your own!
Ingredients
- 2 cups rotisserie chicken breast * (or other cooked chicken) (300 g)
- 2 hard-boiled eggs, chopped (75 g)
- 1 ½ cup celery, chopped fine (150 g) fennel works too
- 1 ½ cup dill pickles, chopped (200 g)
- ½ cup green onion, chopped (60 g)
- ¼ cup sweet relish (60 g)
- 2-3 Tbsp dill, chopped (8 g)
- 2 Tbsp low-fat mayo (30 g)
- 3 Tbsp non-fat Greek yogurt (45 g)
- 1 Tbsp red wine vinegar (15 g)
- 1 Tbsp mustard (15 g)
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients from chicken to dill.
- Make a quick dressing by whisking Mayo, Greek yogurt, vinegar, and mustard. Mix dressing in salad and add salt and pepper to taste.
- Eat on rice cakes, corn thins, crackers… wrapped in lettuce or build a sandwich!
Notes
Nutrition
Tried this recipe?
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Just made this and it is delicious!! Super easy and wow, what a serving size 🙂
Glad I came upon you on Insta. Thanks for all your work
So yummy.
This is a family favorite. We double it and eat it all week! So good!
I was a little skeptical, but I love chicken salad and egg salad. Fantastic! I love this and it will help keep me on track for easy, macro friendly lunches. Great on corn thins!
Delicious!! You really can’t go wrong with any LEAT recipes!!
Me and my parents are obsessed with this. It’s so good. Have made it multiple times now.
This was so good. I’m not a big fan of the ingredients individually but together it was so delicious and the balance of flavors was perfect. Will definitely make again.
We double or triple this recipe every time! So good!!!
SO GOOD
Such a great chicken salad! I make it to snack on all the time!
LOOOOOVE this salad in a pita! I made a double batch (should have been a triple, ha) and then sent it to all my friends. It’s amazing and such a huge portion for little macros.
Wasn’t so sure but after making it I can see why it is a weekly necessity! It’s an easy grab out of the fridge and a delicious meal or snack. First recipe I’ve tried of yours which makes me excited to try everything else you’ve got on here. 😘👌🏻
So yummy and so simple! Perfect thing to have for lunches and snacks all week long!
I make this at least once a week! It’s one of our favorites. I omit the sweet relish because I absolutely hate that trash pickle other than that I keep everything as the recipe calls for.
I’m not a fan of pickles at all but I tried this recipe because I love chicken salad and wow, SO GOOD!
So good!!! Great for meal prep!
I made this tonight and wish I hadn’t planned it for dinner because I wanted to keep it all for myself! DELICIOUS!!
This is a winner!! Great to keep in fridge and have for easy lunches on a hot summer day when you do not want to cook. Also a great dish to bring to gatherings, all my girlfriends raved how delicious it was. Splurge on some really good refrigerated pickles, the shelf pickles always feel soggy to me.
***I noticed when you choose a multiplier for the recipe it changes the cups measurement, but it doesn’t update the grams…keep an eye out if you are making a larger portion.
Genius. I crave this — always.
Soooo good! I kept seeing people making this and raving. I figured there was no way it could live up to the hype! It absolutely did!
Soo good. On rotation every week!!
Ok I was a little skeptic of this recipe. Like…a pickle chicken salad? Uhh what. Haha BUT it was so good!! And refreshing and the perfect amount of savory and salty and even a little sweet? (Must have been the sweet relish?) definitely want to make again. It was so easy to put on a sandwich or make it into a wrap!
I’ve made this 3 times now in the past three weeks because it really is THAT GOOD. So yummy and it always fits my macros so well! Perfect amount of dill. I’ve even made it with canned chicken because I happened to have some on hand and it was still super yummy. Which reminds me, I need to get more celery because I’m out of pickle chicken salad. Lol
So good!!! My new favorite!
LOVED this recipe. Added some extra greek yogurt. Can’t wait to make it again!!
Ii don’t like pickles in my food so I’m not sure what made me want to try this recipe – maybe how much Lillie raves about it? But I made it and now I make it once a week. It is unbelievably delicious. It’s light and fresh and tasty. I leave the relish out – I just can’t do relish- and make it with egg whites only – but it’s still AMAZING! Even if you think it’s not something you’d be into – just try it.
Loved it! Make this today – you won’t regret it!
I LOVE chicken salad. This recipe put chicken salad OVER THE TOP! This was absolutely delicious! Will be making regularly. SO GOOD!!! My husband was blown away by it too! He loved it! So much flavor. I did Sub most of the dill pickles for bread and butter pickles so I used A regular relish instead of a sweet relish! Seriously, it was amazing!!
So so yummy!! I’ve had it 2 weeks in a row and I can’t get enough!
This was delicious!
Easy and delicious! The first time I made it I ate it for 3 days in a row. I loved it on some Chips with some extra jalapeño mustard. Soooo good! Definitely added to the lunch rotation.
So easy to make and truly, DELICIOUS! I added a tablespoon of pickle juice as I like things extra salty and pickle-y. Yum!
Staple lunch prep! I love how versatile this is – you can have it with crackers, in a wrap, in a sandwich or even piled on a bunch of greens. And it’s foolproof, you can totally eyeball most of it and it comes out amazing every time!
This was soo tasty! Loved all the flavors! Tried with rotisserie chicken and leftover grilled chicken I had in the fridge and both ways were delicious! I’ve also tried with dill pickles and bread and butter pickles. I love how you can change little things but the base still stays the same! Every way is good!
So easy and delicious!
I have made this two weeks in a row with grilled chicken and it is incredible! I love that she puts the weights so I don’t have to dirty any extra dishes I just use my scale for each item. So so much easier! Make this!!! You won’t regret it!
I love this recipe. It’s got great flavor with out making you feel guilty. It is perfect to make a batch of for the week for quick and easy lunches. I make it Sunday and it’s still good on Friday. If I say I have made it 3 out of the last 4 weeks for lunch, I’m not lying. You must make this.
Huge fan of egg salad and chicken salad so to have the two combined is 🤯 amazing!!!
This is SO flavorful! It will definitely become a lunch staple. So delicious!
This chicken salad is ADDICTING! It’s to die for and tastes even better the next day. I eat it by the spoonful, on top of cucumber slices, and in lettuce wraps.
I am not one for a lot of chopping or ingredients I don’t have in my fridge, but WOW! It’s like the ultimate chicken salad with potato salad vibes. I hate to admit I eat it for lunch and dinner because it’s just sooo refreshing!
I made this for my husband’s lunches and he said it was the most delicious lunch I’ve ever packed him! He also asked me if I got the recipe from his mom (who lives in russia). Apparently this is just like the chicken salad his mom made him growing up. Lol. Thanks for making my husband happy and nostalgic!
This was so yummy!! I didn’t have Greek yogurt on hand so just left it out (no substitution) and I had to use canned chicken since that’s all we had, but I used your pan fry trick on it and it came out great!! I’m loving it with crackers, in a lettuce wrap, or just with a spoon out of the bowl.
Oh. My. Gosh. Just made a double batch for the first time and SO glad I did. This seriously was the best chicken salad EVER! Even my kids loved it!! Thank you so much!!