Waldorf Chicken Salad

This Waldorf Chicken Salad is a fresh and flavorful blend of tender chicken, crisp apples, juicy grapes, celery, toasted walnuts, and a creamy homemade dressing. Perfect for sandwiches, wraps, croissants, or served over lettuce for an easy lunch or light meal.

Course Main Course, Salad

Cuisine American, Southern

Keyword waldorf-chicken-salad

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 6

Chill Time 2

Total Time 16

Servings

Calories 428kcal

Author Melissa Sperka

Ingredients

1 cup walnuts toasted and chopped
1/2 cup Real Mayonnaise
1/2 cup sour cream
1 Tbsp honey
1 Tbsp white balsamic or cider vinegar
1/2 tsp lemon pepper or black pepper to taste
1/4 tsp salt or garlic salt
3 cups cooked chicken chopped
2 ribs celery with leaves small dice
3 medium apples (i.e. gala or Granny Smith) bite size cubes
1 cup red grape halves
1/2 cup golden raisins

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spread the walnuts in a single layer on a baking sheet. Toast or 6-8 minutes until fragrant. Set aside to cool.
In a large bowl whisk together the mayonnaise, sour cream, honey, vinegar, lemon pepper and salt until combined.
Add the walnuts, chicken, celery, apples, grapes and raisins to the mayo mixture. Gently stir until evenly coated.
Chill in an airtight container for up to 2 hours. Serve on lettuce leaves.

Notes

Apples - This recipe works well with either Granny Smith or Gala apples.
Chicken - You can use rotisserie chicken, poached chicken, roasted chicken or leftover grilled chicken in this recipe. When doing so, consider the seasonings used initially on the chicken and make adjustments as needed.
Turkey - You could make this salad using leftover Thanksgiving turkey.
Mayo - You could replace the mayonnaise with plain greek yogurt for a lighter version.
Grapes - You could replace the grapes with craisins, dried cranberries or use classic raisins.
Nuts - You could swap out the walnuts for pecans.
Nut-Free - For a nut free version try sunflower seeds or pepitas.
Fresh Herbs - You can add parsley, dill, chives, mint or lemon thyme.
Serving Options - Enjoy as a sandwich, as a simple salad on a bed of greens, stuffed into rolls or croissants or pile onto your favorite crackers for as an appetizer or snacking.

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