Creamy shredded chicken with sweet dried cranberries, crunchy celery, and chopped pecan in every bite. Simple to make and healthy, this tasty chicken salad can be a quick afternoon snack or meal.
Yup! That’s right! I have another quick and easy recipe for you! And if you’re on a gluten free diet, this will be totally perfect for you too =)
This chicken salad really only requires six ingredients: chicken, mayonnaise, pecan, dried cranberries, celery, and bread or crackers. And all you need is a bowl, fork, and measuring cups. No cooking required. It’s that easy. So go ahead and give it a try.
There’s so much flavor in this simple recipe. The dried cranberries give the salad a slight sweetness, the stalk of celery chopped into bits adds some crunch, and the pecans add a slight nuttiness. Although the mayo isn’t exactly healthy, there’s not too much of it, and it does help make the salad creamy. You’ll love eating this salad whether as a snack with crackers or a meal with bread.
As I’ve said before, I’m not on a gluten free diet, but I’ve noticed that many of my readers are. So beginning with the last post, if a recipe is gluten free, I’ll categorize it as gluten free. I hope it will help make searching for recipes easier =)
First, shred the chicken. You can use leftover Rotisserie chicken or canned chicken. I actually used canned chicken from Costco since I didn’t have leftover chicken. Make sure to shred it.
Add about 1/3 cup mayo and mix so that the chicken is evenly covered with mayo. I used Best Foods mayo, which clearly states on the back panel that it’s gluten free.
Add in dried cranberries, chopped celery, and chopped pecans. Then mix thoroughly until all the ingredients are evenly incorporated.
You can serve this chicken salad with gluten free crackers as a snack. I’m not on a gluten free diet so I used Ritz crackers.
Or you can make it into a sandwich using Glutino bread, or any other gluten free bread. I used Glutino white bread since I still had some left from my Baked Egg Topped with Asparagus on Toast post.
Or cut them into fourths to create festive tea sandwiches. Yes, I know. It’s messy. lol. But it’s still so very good.
Place the chicken salad or sandwiches in the refrigerator for about a half hour so that they can become cold.
Serve cold. Enjoy!
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littledogslaughed says
I love, love, love chicken salad and am always looking for new ways to *dress* it up-this sounds wonderful! Thank you for posting-
Andrea Giang | Cooking with a Wallflower says
Thank you! I hope you’ll like the recipe =)
jheem says
yum!
Andrea Giang | Cooking with a Wallflower says
Thank you!
Alanna Waldrop says
Hi, Andrea! I love your site! This looks delicious. Since I am allergic to soy, I can’t have mayonnaise, but I just figured out a great way to substitute avocado for mayonnaise, and it really works. I am definitely going to try this!
Andrea Giang | Cooking with a Wallflower says
I hope you’ll like the recipe with avocado! I love the creaminess of avocado and I’m sure it’ll taste just as good =)
Atelier_Athrain says
looks super yummy yummy yummy
Andrea Giang | Cooking with a Wallflower says
Thank you!
jacksjottings says
I do not eat much meat but if you offered me one of these healthy, delicious, delights I would eat it with relish, perhaps in stead of mayonnaise. 🙂
Andrea Giang | Cooking with a Wallflower says
Thanks!
jacksjottings says
🙂
adrankent says
Reblogged this on Learn How to Cook and commented:
I have red the inspiring post of this. Gonna reblog this
essbee14 says
Oooh – I love the addition of the cranberries. Yum!
Andrea Giang | Cooking with a Wallflower says
Thank you! I love dried cranberries in my salads. It adds extra flavor. =)
everettabbott says
Oooooo…. Thrive has a wonderful chicken salad recipe, but I’ve never thought to try Cranberries! This looks great. Thanks for the idea. :]
Andrea Giang | Cooking with a Wallflower says
The cranberries add a little sweetness to the recipe so you don’t have to add any more seasoning =)
kzmclain says
Wow. One look at your photo and my mouth began to water. It looks scrumptious.
Andrea Giang | Cooking with a Wallflower says
Thank you!
lcsoup says
My mouth is watering!