Whether you’ve just made homemade chicken soup or have leftover chicken from dinner, this shredded chicken salad with cranberries and apples is the best solution for turning boring ‘ole cooked chicken into a delicious meal. Transform your leftovers into something great and enjoy them as a quick lunch throughout the week.
What makes this shredded chicken salad with cranberries and apples so good?!
I absolutely hate throwing away food. It really upsets me when I see good food go to waste. Therefore, I love recreating new things with my leftovers, so they never get boring. This shredded chicken salad with cranberries and apples is the perfect recipe for repurposing. You can use nearly any type of leftover chicken (or canned chicken or rotisserie chicken), mix it up with some celery, cranberries, and apples, and you’ve just taken the chicken-you’re-sick-of-since-you’ve-been-eating-it-for-2-nights-now and turned it into a great portable lunch.
Perfectly packable and customizable, this chicken salad makes the best sandwiches, cracker topping, or wraps. The apples and celery add a delicious crunchy texture. And, the cranberries add a little sweetness to the savory chicken. SO yummy!
Ingredients
- Cooked Chicken
- Celery
- Apple
- Dried Cranberries
- Mayonnaise
- Plain Greek Yogurt
- Salt and Pepper to taste
A few notes about the ingredients:
- For the chicken, I used cooked chicken thighs leftover from my matzo ball soup! If you don’t have leftover soup chicken, you can use canned chicken, grilled chicken, baked chicken, or rotisserie chicken. Have some chicken leftover from dinner? Scrape off any sauce that might be on it before using it for this recipe.
- If you don't have leftover chicken, place a few chicken breasts into an oven safe dish and bake them in the oven at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes or until they are cooked through.
- Any kind of apple will work for this recipe. You might want a slightly tart apple to balance the sweetness of the cranberries.
- I used a combination of greek yogurt (for added protein) and mayonnaise to make the salad creamy. If you don’t like the tanginess of the yogurt, substitute for more mayo, and vice versa.
How do you make shredded chicken salad with cranberries and apples from scratch?
Shred your chicken using a fork. Remove any bones, cartilage, and fat, if there is any. Sprinkle salt and pepper over your chicken to season. If your chicken was originally made for a different recipe that already included seasoning, you might want to skip the additional salt and pepper.
Dice the apple and celery. I like a chunkier chicken salad so I left my apple and celery pieces pretty big, but you can cut them smaller if you’d like.
Add your dried cranberries and any other mixins of your choice, like halved grapes, toasted almonds, walnuts, pecans, or other dried fruits. Mix it all together.
Add mayo and greek yogurt. Mix again to coat everything. Adjust mayo and yogurt for your desired creaminess, as well as salt and pepper for additional flavor.
How long does homemade chicken salad last in the refrigerator?
Store chicken salad in an airtight container in the fridge for 3 to 5 days.
What can I serve with chicken salad?
This chicken salad is great on bread as a sandwich, tortillas as a wrap, or crackers as a light snack. You can also eat it as protein on top of a salad or a rice cake. It’s so good, you might just want to eat it straight with a fork! You can serve this chicken salad alongside veggies and dip, homemade potato chips, pickles, or pasta salad.
What makes this shredded chicken salad with cranberries and apples healthy?
The best part about this chicken salad is that you get to pick what kind of chicken you make it with. Choosing quality meat, meat without additives like extra sodium, helps to keep your health in check. Be sure to read the package and make sure you are purchasing chicken with no added “junk.”
In addition, you get to add fruits and veggies into your diet by hiding them in this delicious chicken salad. Also, by limiting the amount of mayo and supplementing it with something a bit healthier like greek yogurt, this chicken salad becomes healthier than store-bought or other recipes without lacking in taste.
One more tip
- If you want to switch things up, you can make this recipe into tuna salad by swapping the chicken for canned tuna instead.
Looking for more healthy recipes? Try these:
Share your cooking with me! If you make this recipe, I'd love to know! Tag @yourhomemadehealthy on Instagram or leave a comment with a rating and some feedback at the bottom of this page!
Shredded Chicken Salad with Cranberries and Apples
Equipment
- Mixing bowl
Ingredients
- 4 chicken thighs or breasts cooked
- 2 celery stalks
- half an apple
- ¼ cup dried cranberries
- ¼ cup mayonnaise
- ¼ cup plain greek yogurt
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Shred your chicken using a fork. Remove any bones, cartilage, and fat, if there is any. Sprinkle salt and pepper over your chicken to season. If your chicken was originally made for a different recipe that already included seasoning, you might want to skip the additional salt and pepper.
- Dice the apple and celery. I like a chunkier chicken salad so I left my apple and celery pieces pretty big, but you can cut them smaller if you’d like.
- Add your dried cranberries and any other mix ins of your choice, like halved grapes, toasted almonds, walnuts, pecans, or other dried fruits. Mix it all together.
- Add mayo and greek yogurt. Mix again to coat everything. Adjust mayo and yogurt for your desired creaminess, as well as salt and pepper for additional flavor.
- Store chicken salad in an airtight container in the fridge for 3 to 5 days.
- This chicken salad is great on bread as a sandwich, tortillas as a wrap, or crackers as a light snack. You can also eat it as protein on top of a salad or a rice cake. It’s so good, you might just want to eat it straight with a fork! You can serve this chicken salad alongside veggies and dip, homemade potato chips, pickles, or pasta salad.
Notes
- For the chicken, I used cooked chicken thighs leftover from my matzo ball soup! If you don’t have leftover soup chicken, you can use canned chicken, grilled chicken, baked chicken, or rotisserie chicken. If you have some chicken leftover from dinner, scrape off any sauce that might be on it before using it for this recipe.
- If you don't have leftover chicken, place a few chicken breasts into an oven safe dish and bake them in the oven at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes or until they are cooked through.
- Any kind of apple will work for this recipe. You might want a slightly tart apple to balance the sweetness of the cranberries.
- I used a combination of greek yogurt (for added protein) and mayonnaise to make the salad creamy. If you don’t like the tanginess of the yogurt, substitute for more mayo, and vice versa.
- If you want to switch things up, you can make this recipe into tuna salad by swapping the chicken for canned tuna instead.
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Lori
Been looking for a chicken salad recipe to mirror a Traverse City chicken salad that I fell in love with years ago. I FINALLY FOUND IT!!! This is delicious. Hubby likes his chicken salad dry, I like it creamy. This was a Perfect blend that we both loved. Thanks for sharing this recipe online.
Alana Lieberman
Woo! So happy you found the perfect match. 🙂