Leftover Chicken Salad

This easy chicken salad is the perfect way to use up leftover chicken! Packed with pecans, dried cranberries, crispy bacon and a creamy dressing, salads don’t come more delicious than this.

Leftover Chicken Salad

I know, the word ‘salad’ is a rarity on this blog. But we’re going to get through this together, I promise. Because when I say salad all I really mean is leftover chicken wrapped in a creamy dressing with a tonne of goodies packed in too. No wet soggy leaves, only the stuff we truly love 😏

Leftover Roast Chicken

This is usually the salad I’ll make with leftover roast chicken 1. Because there’s always leftovers (only 2 of us in this house!) and 2. Because I know the chicken is already seasoned well. If you’ve got the option, use as much breast as possible, it’ll soak up the sauce easier!

How to make Leftover Chicken Salad (quick summary)

1. Combine Greek Yogurt, Mayo, Dijon Mustard, Lemon Juice and Seasoning.
2. Shred your chicken into a bowl.
3. Add Red Onion, Dried Cranberries, Bacon, Celery and Pecans.
4. Pour in sauce and stir to combine.

Shredded Chicken Salad

If you want to make this salad with fresh chicken breasts you totally can! Here’s what I recommend:

How to make Shredded Chicken

1. Season both sides of two chicken breasts and fry each side in a large pot (just to get some colour).
2. Pour in water or chicken stock, pop the lid on and simmer/poach until cooked through (approx 8-12mins depending on size).
3. Take out, place in a bowl and shred with two forks.

Chicken Salad Sandwich

One of my favourite ways to use this salad is in a sandwich (or a wrap). Grab yourself some nice thick white bread, some crisps and you’ll be well on your way 😁

And there we have it! A quick, easy and most importantly DELICIOUS leftover chicken salad. Works great in a sandwich (above), as part of a leafy salad (below) or even just straight out the bowl!

Hey, whilst you’re here why not check out my other recipes?

Leftover Recipes

• Turkey: Leftover Turkey Thai Green Curry
• Chilli: Leftover Chilli Stuffed Garlic Dough Balls
• Chicken: Leftover Chicken and Bacon Pasta
• Cranberry Sauce: Cranberry Bacon Brie Grilled Cheese
• Bread: Bread Sauce

Shredded Chicken Recipes

• Chicken Pesto Grilled Cheese
• Chicken Waldorf Salad Bites
• Chicken Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad
• Buffalo Chicken Wraps

Alrighty, let’s tuck into this leftover chicken salad recipe shall we?!

How to make Leftover Chicken Salad (Full Recipe & Video)

5 from 7 votes

Leftover Chicken Salad

By: Chris Collins

This easy chicken salad is the perfect way to use up leftover chicken! Packed with pecans, dried cranberries, crispy bacon and a creamy dressing, salads don't come more delicious than this. Serves 4 large portions, can stretch to 6 modest portions depending on the context it's used (i.e as a sandwich you'll get more servings)

Prep: 10 minutes mins

Total: 10 minutes mins

Servings: 5

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Equipment

• Large Bowl
• Medium Bowl
• Spatula

Ingredients 

1x2x3x

Chicken Salad

• ▢ 10.5oz / 300g Cooked Shredded/Cubed Chicken (2 tightly packed cups)
• ▢ 4 rashers of Bacon (cooked, cooled & chopped)
• ▢ 1/4 cup finely diced Celery, (approx 1 stalk)
• ▢ 1/4 cup finely diced Red Onion (approx 1/2 small red onion)
• ▢ 1/4 cup / 40g roughly chopped Dried Cranberries
• ▢ 1/4 cup / 35g roughly chopped Pecans

Dressing

• ▢ 1/2 cup / 120g Full Fat Mayo
• ▢ 1/2 cup / 120g Greek Yogurt
• ▢ 1 tsp Dijon Mustard
• ▢ 1/2 Lemon (juice only)
• ▢ Salt & Black Pepper, to taste

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Instructions 

• In a medium-sized bowl, mix together the dressing. Test for seasoning and adjust accordingly.
• In a larger bowl, add the salad ingredients. Pour in the dressing and stir to combine. It'll be fairly sauce, which is what you want. It getS soaked up as it rests.
• Pop in the fridge overnight to develop the flavours, or eat right away in a sandwich/wrap, as part of a leafy salad or just by itself!

Video

Notes

a) Chicken - Leftover rotisserie chicken will work best for this recipe. I recommend using mainly breast if you can and just shred it into thin chunks (as opposed to shredding it into absolute oblivion).

b) How to make shredded chicken - You want two large chicken breasts (approx 14oz/400g), season and fry both sides to get a nice colour, then fill up with water or chicken stock, pop a lid on and allow to simmer until cooked throughout. Depending on the size of breasts this could take between 8-12mins. Pop in a bowl and shred with two forks.

c) Storage - The length of time you can safely store for will of course depend on how long the chicken has been 'leftover' for. Just tightly cover and pop in the fridge to store. Not suitable for freezing.

d) Calories - Based on sharing between 5, no bread or extra salad etc.

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Nutrition

Calories: 583kcal | Carbohydrates: 8.35g | Protein: 16.65g | Fat: 53.92g | Saturated Fat: 10.294g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 16.323g | Monounsaturated Fat: 16.407g | Trans Fat: 0.041g | Cholesterol: 62mg | Sodium: 306mg | Potassium: 290mg | Fiber: 1.1g | Sugar: 6.08g | Vitamin A: 235IU | Vitamin C: 2.7mg | Calcium: 51mg | Iron: 1.27mg

Looking for more?

You’ll find plenty more delicious comfort food like this in my Debut Cookbook ‘Comfy’

If you loved this Leftover Chicken recipe be sure to pin it for later! Already made it or got a question? Give me a shout in the comments and pick up your free ecookbook along the way!