18 Easy Chicken Salad Recipes: Perfect Main Dishes, Lunches, and Appetizers

These chicken salad recipes offer a wonderful high-protein, delicious addition to a bed of lettuce, wraps, or breads like croissants, focaccia, and whole wheat sandwich bread.

And while the classic chicken salad is great, choosing from this list you can change up the flavor profile to everything from Caesar chicken salad, buffalo chicken salad, or curry and southwestern flavors.

These are wonderful options for no-cook light dinners, meal prepping for lunches during the week, and for serving with crackers for appetizers.

Make these quick chicken salad recipes even easier by using purchased rotisserie chicken or even canned chicken.

Another easy option that will take you just a few more minutes, save money is to throw a whole chicken in a slow cooker and use the meat for any chicken salad on this list.

Which one will you make first?

1. Cranberry Feta Chicken Salad

Not only does this chicken salad include tart cranberries and tangy feta, it’s also dressed with a sweet and savory chutney dressing.

You can use any type of chutney, either homemade or store bought, but my favorites are Rhubarb Chutney and Cherry Chutney with Tomato Chutney for a different flavor profile.

2. Caesar Chicken Salad

All the flavors of everyone’s favorite salad mixed together to serve as wraps, on lettuce or from a bowl with crackers.

You can add optional vegetables like sweet onion and sweet red pepper or just serve as-is with lettuce.

It’s a 10-minute meal that’s great for busy nights or on-the-go dinners or lunches.

3. Copycat Chick Fil A Chicken Salad

This recipe replicates the classic chicken salad from Chick Fil A with mayonnaise, dill pickles, and celery.

Perfect for sandwiches, tortilla wraps, lettuce wraps or as a pita bread filling.

4. Easy Cranberry Pecan Chicken Salad

Keeping it simple with cooked chicken (or leftover turkey!) and simple ingredients like tart cranberries and crunchy pecans, this is a great option for lunches and light dinners served on a bed of lettuce.

Make it into an appetizer by serving it with crackers, too.

5. Instant Pot Chicken Salad with Honey Mustard

Perfect for meal prep, put your Instant Pot to work for you on Sunday and have lunches all week long.

Classic chicken salad ingredients with the addition of mustard and honey to amp up the flavor.

6. BLT Chicken Salad

Two classics come together in one delicious mash-up! What a great way to use fresh heirloom tomatoes from the garden.

Serve in the traditional way on buns, bread, or croissants, or go low-carb by serving in lettuce leaves.

7. Quick Southwest Chicken Salad

What a fun riff on chicken salad with the addition of southwestern seasonings, a lime dressing, and add-ins like black beans, pepitas, jalapeños, corn and tomatoes.

Serve on a bed of lettuce or wrapped in a tortilla with additions like salsa and sliced avocado. Or put out in a bowl with tortilla chips for a unique appetizer.

8. Classic Chicken Salad

This is a quintessential mayo-based chicken salad recipe with simple ingredients and the crunch of celery and onions (red, regular, or green onions – your choice).

Serve on a bed of lettuce and topped with tomatoes for a delicious healthy lunch or light dinner.

9. Waldorf Chicken Salad

Here’s a Waldorf chicken salad that combines mayo and yogurt for a lightened up dressing along with the classic add-ins of grapes, apples and walnuts.

10. Crunchy Spicy Chicken Salad

The spice in this unique chicken salad comes from chipotle Tabasco sauce and the crunch from chopped veggies and almonds.

Serve this with chips or crackers, top a spinach salad or make a regular sandwich for picnics and work or school lunches.

11. Low Carb Pesto Chicken Salad

Give your salad a Mediterranean spin by adding pesto along with tomatoes and onions.

Sprinkle more parmesan and eat it as is, on lettuce, mixed with zoodles, or with parmesan cheese crackers.

12. Million Dollar Chicken Salad

Take your classic chicken salad ingredients (chicken, mayo, celery, onions) and throw in cheddar cheese and cooked bacon and you’ve got a loaded chicken salad.

Wrap or eat like chicken salad or serve inside hollowed-out tomatoes, sweet peppers, or avocados for a change.

13. Jalapeno Popper Keto Chicken Salad Recipe

All the things you love about jalapeño poppers – the bacon, cream cheese, cheddar cheese, and jalapeños of course, combined with chicken for an over-the-top spicy chicken salad.

14. Sun-Dried Tomato Chicken Salad

Oh, I just love this idea of adding dried tomatoes and capers to chicken salad – I’m always looking for ways to use my home-dried tomatoes.

I would love this on crackers – especially cheese crackers – as well as a bed of lettuce.

15. Dill Pickle Chicken Salad

If you like dill pickles you will LOVE this fresh take on chicken salad!

Not only does it have chopped pickles added in, it’s also dressed with a cream-cheese-dill-pickle-juice mixture. Sounds so good to eat on crackers, bread, or lettuce.

16. Curry Chicken Salad

A classic chicken salad dressing with the additions of curry, turmeric, and ginger give this salad it’s distinctive color and flavor.

Grapes, apples, onions, celery and almonds make this a full-meal deal and can be served in the classic ways, on lettuce leaves, or with crostini.

17. Strawberry Poppyseed Chicken Salad

What a fun summertime lunch idea – add strawberries and poppyseeds to your chicken salad!

You can also use Greek yogurt for the dressing. To let all the ingredients shine, I’d prefer this on a bed of lettuce.

18. Buffalo Chicken Salad

Chicken salad is perfect with the addition of buffalo sauce since the other ingredients are celery and mayo and sour cream like ranch dressings.

Spice up your chicken salad to use in wraps or for a fun – and easier to eat – change in your appetizers.