Cranberry Chicken Salad
Cranberry chicken salad is one of my favorite easy lunches to make once fall shows up. It’s creamy, crunchy, and full of flavor thanks to juicy bites of chicken, crisp celery, sweet-tart cranberries, chopped pecans, apples, and green onions. The simple mayo-based dressing gets a bright kick from lemon juice and a hint of garlic powder–just enough to tie everything together. It’s even become one of my traditions to make cranberry pecan chicken salad sandwiches for post-holiday meals. Yum!
I’m a huge chicken salad lover, and when the holidays start to roll around, I like to make it festive! Enter this cranberry chicken salad. It’s rich and creamy but with an autumn twist. I add dried cranberries, plus chopped apple and pecans to this fall chicken salad to give it a festive flair. It’s juicy and slightly sweet with a wonderful nutty crunch from the pecans. I can’t stop making it, and it’s also super delicious with leftover Thanksgiving chicken, too!
I love using sweet Honeycrisp apples for this chicken salad, but truly any kind is delish in this recipe. Granny Smiths add a tart contrast to the sweet-tart cranberries and the creamy dressing.
- ¾ cup mayonnaise
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice (from ½ lemon)
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 pinch salt and pepper (to taste)
- 4 cups chopped cooked chicken
- 2 ribs celery (finely chopped)
- 1 cup pecans (chopped)
- ¾ cup dried cranberries
- 1 apple (finely chopped)
- 3 green onions (finely chopped)