Recipe for Healthy Chicken Salad – Perfect for leftover grilled chicken, baked or rotisserie chicken, try this recipe for healthy chicken salad.
Loaded with flavor from the dill relish and red onion with your choice of mustard. Yep, just go with it. If you didn’t know that your mama put mustard in some of your favorite salads (like this Egg Salad recipe), now you now!
3 Ways to Make this Recipe for Healthy Chicken Salad the HEALTHIEST ever!
This is going to be easy, so stick with me. Typically chicken salad is loaded with store bought mayo, not nearly enough vegetables and served on two slices of gluten-filled bread. Follow these 3 simple steps to get the best recipe for healthy chicken salad.
#1: Swap Store Bought Mayo for Homemade Vegan Mayo
It doesn’t feel easy – but it is. Just make a bowl of this homemade vegan mayo and use about 1/2 a cup for this recipe for healthy chicken salad. Or, if you don’t want to make it — try this one from Primal Kitchen. It’s vegan, delicious, creamy and does the trick.
Every shelf-stable mayo is made with some type of refined omega-6 rich vegetable oil. Most often the oil in mayo is in the form of soybean oil. Even Hellmann’s “Olive Oil” Mayonnaise has more soybean oil than olive oil!
Plus, since the only way to keep the eggs in commercial mayonnaise shelf-stable is to pasteurize them. Which means that all store-bought brands of mayonnaise contain pasteurized eggs. Pasteurized eggs are exposed to very high heat, which decreases their nutritional content. The process specifically reducing the levels of heat-sensitive vitamins, such as riboflavin, thiamin and folic acid.
#2: Add More Vegetables — Improves the Flavor and Texture Instantly
We LOVE a loaded recipe for healthy chicken salad. Depending on what’s available in the fridge or pantry, I will add chopped black olives, red bell pepper and celery. Or, sometimes I want a little kick and will throw in some jalapeno.
Load this recipe with a lot of extra vegetable and enjoy the flavor, texture and most of all – nutrient-boost.
#3: Plate Your Recipe for Healthy Chicken Salad on a Bed of Mixed Greens
Some of our favorite recipes to make for you here at Clean Cuisine are smoothie recipes and salad recipes. Want to know why? Well, for the obvious — get a delicious nutrient-boost by loading them full of vegetables
So, for this recipe for healthy chicken — not only are we going to load the chicken salad with extra veggies, but we’re going to serve it on a plate of mixed greens. My favorite.
Different Types of Mustard for Different Types of Flavor
My husband loves mustard. In fact, we have 1/2 a shelf in the fridge door dedicated to his many varieties. Thankfully, mustard is one of those condiments that is quite healthy all on it’s own.
If you love dijon mustard or spicy brown mustard, use that for the mustard in this recipe. Or, if you love horseradish combined with your mustard, use that instead. You may not need as much but you certainly should give it a try.
For us, I am a classic yellow mustard fan. We typically reach for Annie’s Organic mustard because it’s Non-GMO and so tasty. Thankfully, many major brands are considering how healthy we want to be and reducing the ingredient and GMO load in our foods.
Want More Healthy Condiments?
If you’re looking for easy homemade condiments without all of the extra ingredients, check out our summer condiments post here.
Make this Recipe for Healthy Chicken Salad a Complete Meal
It’s so easy to make this recipe for healthy chicken salad a complete meal by adding some of my favorite sides. Check out some of these recipes to pair with this recipe — or just eat it by itself. No matter what you do, you’re eating healthy in my book!
- Crusty on the outside and soft on the inside, these Cornbread Muffins would pair nicely.
- Need a bit more for your meal? Make this Veggie Loaded Flatbread Pizza
- Try this Garlicky Green Hummus with vegetable sticks
- Or, if this chicken salad is enough – go for some homemade brownies afterward.
Recipe for Healthy Chicken Salad
This recipe for healthy chicken salad is loaded with delicious vegetables, pastured chicken, vegan mayo and loaded with flavor.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 3-4 1x
Ingredients
- 4 cups cooked chicken, chopped
- 1/2 cup red onion, chopped
- 1/4 cup dill relish
- OPTIONAL: 1/2 cup celery, chopped
- OPTIONAL: 1/2 cup black olives, chopped
- OPTIONAL: 1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
- OPTIONAL: 1/4 cup pickled jalapeño, chopped
- 1/2 – 1 cup vegan mayonnaise, depending on the optional add-ins
- 2 tbsp mustard
- 1/2 tbsp apple cider vinegar with mother
- Sea salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste
- Fresh parsley, chopped
Instructions
- In a large batter bowl, add the chicken, chopped onion and dill relish. If using, add black olives, red bell pepper and jalapeno.
- In a small batter bowl, combine the vegan mayo, mustard, apple cider vinegar.
- Add the mayo mixture to the chicken bowl and stir until well combined. Season with sea salt and fresh ground pepper. Serve with fresh parsley over a bed of mixed greens.
- OPTIONAL: We love mixing up our Chicken Salad without Mayo by adding in some black olives, chopped red pepper or jalapeno’s. Have fun with it.
Last Step! If you loved our recipe, leave us a review below. This helps future recipe makers and ensures continued high-quality recipes for years to come!
Terri Willoughby
Monday 14th of June 2021
Aimee, I'm not sure why, but now when I try to print out your Clean Cuisine recipes, the print button is partially/mostly covered up & will not allow me to print it...so sad! I also, tried the pineapple dole whips and same problem! HOPE YOU CAN HELP! Thanks so much, Terri Willoughby
Aimee Harris Niedosik
Monday 14th of June 2021
Terri, I am so sorry this is happening. Our ad company made a mistake and have been trying to repair it since Friday -- thank you for the reminder, I just sent ANOTHER follow up email. If they can't get it to work, I am end up removing them completely until they can guarantee success. Will send a message ASAP when it's working again. -- Aimee