Juliet’s Chicken salad
Chicken salad is one of my favorite quick meals.
My recipe for Juliet’s chicken salad has a few substitutions, but I think you will like the spin I put on it.
Since it is my recipe for chicken salad, we’re calling it Juliet’s chicken salad.
It seems weird to refer to myself in the 3rd person, so I won’t keep repeating my name 🙂
My chicken salad is great with leftover grilled chicken.
Chicken thighs are my preference, they have more flavor, but chicken breast will totally work.
You can even pick up a rotisserie chicken and use that!
Now for the recipe.
My recipe is a bit different than most chicken salad recipes.
The first thing you will notice is that I do not use mayo.
I have never been fan of mayonnaise (or Miracle Whip).
Instead of traditional mayonnaise, I use Greek Yogurt in my chicken salad.
I try to use Greek yogurt as a substitute in quite a few recipes.
It has less fat and less calories with more protein than mayonaise.
My favorite brand of Greek yogurt is Fage, with Oikos coming in at a close second (my apologies to John Stamos).
Here’s what you need to make my chicken salad:
- 2 Cooked chicken thighs (or chicken breast)
- 2 celery stalks
- 1/4 medium white onion
- 1/4 C. sliced almonds
- 1/4 C. dark sweet cherries (or dried tart cherries)
- 1/2 C. Greek yogurt
- 1 TBSP chopped parsley
- Salt / Pepper to taste
Chop [or shred] 2 grilled chicken thighs and add to a large bowl.
Slice 2 celery stalks, rough chop the parsley and dice 1/4 medium white onion.
Then add to them all to the bowl with the chopped chicken.
Chicken salad is one of those things that is fun to put your own spin on.
Greek Yogurt is my first major change from the traditional.
Some people add grapes, others add dried cranberries to their chicken salad.
As for me, I add dark sweet cherries (YUM!).
You can also used dried tart cherries.
My preferred dark sweet cherries are from Trader Joe’s because they don’t add anything, like SUGAR.
They add a nice punch of flavor, a bit sweet and a bit tart – kinda like me!
Roughly chop 1/4 cup dried tart cherries and toss them in the bowl with the rest of our ingredients.
Add 1/4 C. almonds to the bowl.
last but not least, fold in 1/2 cup Greek yogurt and gently mix it all together.
Once the ingredients are all mixed together, salt & pepper to taste.
OR, if you want to kick it up a notch, I love this spice mix from The Gourmet Collection.
Sprinkle a bit in and mix it up, you will thank me
A bit of garlic and red pepper – there is also black pepper in the mix.
It kicks it up a notch.
That’s it – wasn’t that easy?
You can eat Juliet’s chicken salad right away or let it sit for an hour so that all the flavors and marinate together.
Then top a crostini, slice apple or some greens.
I slathered some lemon olive oil on my favorite rosemary puglise bread and grilled it.
Doesn’t it look DELICIOUS?
If you have any left over, store it in a covered dish in the fridge.
Ohhh, I think the chicken salad is even better the next day.
I hope you enjoy my spin on chicken salad.
You can also have a bit fun with the recipe and change it up to make it your own.
It goes great with my watermelon salad, too. You can get that recipe over here.
Don’t forget to pin the recipe and save it for later.
Juliet's Chicken salad
Juliet's chicken salad is a delight served topping crostini, a slice of apple or in a sandwich.
With greek yogurt and tart cherries, my twist on the traditional chicken salad will soon become a family favorite for quick supper, bbq's, picnics and potlucks.
Ingredients
- 2 grilled chicken thighs
- 2 celery stalks
- 1/4 medium white onion
- 1/4 C. almonds
- 1/4 C. dried tart cherries
- 1/2 C. Greek yogurt
- salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
Chop [or shred] 2 grilled chicken thighs and add to a large bowl.
Slice 1 celery stalk and dice 1/4 medium white onion, add to bowl with chicken.
Roughly chop 1/4 cup dried tart cherries, add to bowl with chicken.
Add 1/4 C. almonds and fold in 1/2 cup Greek yogurt.
Gently fold mix.
salt & pepper to taste.
Love the idea of adding the cherries! I have some right now and can’t wait to make this amazing salad!
The cherries are a nice spin on the recipe. Just remember if the chicken salad sits over night, the cherries like to “share” their color 🙂
Using Greek Yogurt is a great idea and that spice blend looks delish. Anice light summer lunch!
Greek yogurt can be used as a substitution for SO MANY things.
I could eat it for lunch, dinner or a quick snack over APPLES.
Oh dear, now I need to make more.
I love chicken salad, this looks so delicious!!!
I hope you like it Karen!
I can’t wait to try this! We also have some extra chicken breasts, and this would be a great way to use them.
Left over chicken is perfect for this, because it is typically seasoned so it adds an extra bit of flavor.
I hope you like it.
I can’t wait to make this!
This is so good… especially the cherries!
This sounds delicious. Thanks for sharing!
we love chicken salad. I’ll give the greek yogurt; seems like it maybe a bit healthier for my husband
The Greek yogurt does make it healthier – I hope he likes it!
This looks so yummy. I was actually wondering this morning what I should do with the leftover chicken breast I have in my fridge – well, this is it! Thank you.
Cherries on the salad! Genius!!! It just looks so good! I need to try this! YUMMY!!!
Juliet, this looks delicious! I love the idea of using Greek yogurt. My husband and I will definitely try it this week!
This looks delicious! I’m not a fan of mayo either!
Greek yogurt is a great mayo substitute – I use it for dips all the time, too.
This recipe looks so good … I love greek yogurt as as substitute for so many things. And the dried cherries! I’m having friends for lunch next week and this will be on the menu! xo
Greek yogurt is just the BEST substitute for SO many recipes.
I hope you like it with the dried cherries, too!
So glad I saw your recipe today! I’ve been looking for something new to try for the weekend and with it being so hot here at the mo, salads are on my list. This Chicken salad recipe looks so healthy and yummy! I love that you used Greek yogurt instead of mayo, I do that too! Thanks for the recipe!
Your Chicken Salad looks delicious and I will be trying it soon. Your awesome post is featured on Full Plate Thursday, 542 this week. Thanks so much for sharing with us and come back to see us real soon!
Miz Helen
Fabulous! I just pinned it to my easy chicken recipes board!! Thanks!
Thank you Kim <3
Thank you so much for including my favorite chicken salad recipe.
xo – Juliet