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Chicken salad with Grapes is a delicious recipe for easy meal prepped lunches, but it’s also fantastic to take on picnics and to potlucks. Chicken Salad seems to be one of those things that a baby shower just can’t be without which I’m thankful for because I’m a serious chicken salad fanatic. I like to eat it on top of’a bunch’a lettuce, in a toasty roll or scoop it up with chips, crackers, celery, or spoon. I’ll take it anyway I can!
I make this Chicken Salad with Grapes version just lil healthier by mixing light mayo and non fat greek yogurt together. I like to add just a kiss of honey for sweetness instead of sugar. This recipe is absolutely full of amazing flavor, totally simple to make, and is totally some of the best chicken salad I’ve ever made! If you’re not a big fan of fruit in your chicken salad, I get it. I used to be that person too. Check out my original Skinny Chicken Salad it’s doesn’t have any bells or whistles, but it’s also top notch!
This makes a great salad for lunch, a light summer supper, and takes hardly any time to mix all together. When warmer weather hits, I almost always have a dishes of chicken salad, egg salad, and/or pasta salad in the fridge for grab and eat lunches that require zero work and no heating the kitchen up. I love eating it just with some lettuce or crackers, but it also makes for the best sandwiches and wraps.
How to make Chicken Salad with Grapes
You’ll need to prep just a few ingredients! Wash and slice red seedless grapes in half, dice celery, and grab some sliced almonds.
Toast your almonds!
Have you ever toasted almonds before? Super simple. I always grab sliced or slivered raw almonds (usually found in the baking aisle at the store) and toast them up before adding them into any recipe. Toasted almonds add a whole different level of flavor that you’ll sure appreciate when you take a bite.
Simply grab a pan and heat over medium heat. Add raw sliced or slivered almonds to the pan and shake the pan/stir almost constantly for about 3-4 minutes over medium heat. You’ll be able tell they’re toasty by the golden brown color and delicious smell.
In a bowl stir together 1/4 cup light mayo, 1/4 cup nonfat greek yogurt, 2 tsp apple cider vinegar, 1 tsp honey, 1/4 tsp celery salt, and 1 tbsp dried minced onion.
Wanna know a secret to really good chicken salad? Canned chicken breast. I don’t know why, but it just always tastes so much better. I forgot how much I preferred canned chicken breast in chicken salad until I was organizing my pantry and realized I had a lot of canned chicken because we bought some before the “lockdown” started back in Illinois.
Not a fan of canned chicken breast? No problem at all. Use some homemade shredded or diced chicken. You can always grab a rotisserie chicken from the store for ease too!
Add the celery, grapes, toasted almonds, chicken, and mayo/yogurt mixture and stir together real well.
This Chicken Salad with grapes is so simple and delicious! The perfect recipe for healthy meal prep or a quick meal!
Prep Time10 minutesmins
“Fridge Time”20 minutesmins
Course: Main Course, Salad
Cuisine: American
Keyword: chicken, chicken salad, lunch, meal prep
Yield: 4cups
Author: Star @ the skinny-ish dish
Materials
2 ½cupschicken (chopped or shredded)(I like using canned chicken breast, but use whatever you prefer)
1/2cupdiced celery
1/2cupred seedless grapesquartered or halved depending on size
1/4 cupsliced almonds(chopped pecans work well too)
1/4 cuplight mayo
1/4cupnon fat greek yogurt
1tbspdried minced/chopped onion(you can find this with other spices in the stores)
2tspapple cider vinegar
1/4tspcelery salt(can use regular salt if need be)
1tsphoney
Instructions
Toast almonds: In a nonstick pan over medium heat shake/stir sliced almonds until fragrant and light golden brown.
In a bowl stir together mayo, greek yogurt, honey, dried minced onion, celery salt, apple cider vinegar, and honey then add diced/shredded chicken breast, diced celery, grapes, and almonds. Make sure it's combined well. Cover and store in refrigerator for at least 25 minutes before eating to let the flavors hang out and meld together (it also softens the dried onion).
Enjoy chicken salad with lettuce, toasty bread, crackers, chips, or celery!
Notes
WW Points: 3 (points for 1/2 cup serving)
180 calories. 9.5g fat, 1g saturated fat, 6g carbohydrates, 1g fiber, 3.5g sugar, 0g ADDED sugar, 17g protein (for one full cup)
While you don't have to incorporate grapes to make your dish a true chicken salad, there are plenty of reasons to do so. Amidst tender, creamy, and crunchy ingredients, quartered grapes provide the perfect burst of juicy sweetness in your mouth that you just can't get from, say, dried cranberries.
Generally, chicken salad will only last three to five days, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). You must store the chicken salad in the fridge to maintain its freshness. As a refresher, the fridge should be set at 40 degrees Fahrenheit or below per the USDA.
Chicken salad ingredients, like grapes, nuts, and chicken, freeze well and don't have too many issues defrosting. But many of chicken salad's other common ingredients don't fare well in the freezer. Produce like fresh celery and onions have high water content and will become somewhat mushy once thawed from the freezer.
The chicken salad that's beloved today originated in Wakefield, Rhode Island. In 1863, Liam Gray, founder of Town Meats, was the first to mix leftover chicken with grapes, mayonnaise and tarragon. From then on, chicken salad was a hit, and Town Meats turned the salad into something of a delicacy.
How to make chicken salad taste better. The secret ingredient you should be adding to your chicken salad is pickle juice (via Cookies and Cups). You can (and should) add chopped pickles for extra tang and crunch, but if you like to keep things simple, just a splash or two of the pickle juice will do.
Certain ingredients, like the type and amount of mayo used, may significantly increase the calorie and saturated fat content of chicken salad, which may ultimately make it less nutritious than it could be. Just one small 1/2-cup (about 4-ounce) serving of chicken salad often contains 400 calories or more.
Leftovers can be kept for 3 to 4 days in the refrigerator. After that, the risk of food poisoning goes up. If you don't think you'll be able to eat leftovers within four days, freeze them right away.
Leaving cooked chicken out for more than two hours, whether it is covered or not, is not safe. There may be enough bacteria present to give you food poisoning.
A foul or off-putting odor is a clear sign of spoilage. Mold is never a good sign. Discard any chicken salad with visible mold growth. Fresh chicken salad should have a light color.
Crackers are the perfect pairing for the creamy, rich flavors found in our chicken salad. We love the chicken salad/cracker combination so much that our Meal Pack comes complete with 4oz of southern-style chicken salad, a wooden spreader, and salad water crackers for serving.
You would typically need around 2 to 2.5 pounds of chicken salad per person, so for 100 people, you'd need approximately 200 to 250 pounds of chicken salad, depending on portion sizes and other dishes you're serving. It's essential to plan and prepare well in advance to ensure you have enough for everyone.
Grapes are safe for chickens to consume, whether green, red, or black. While there are certain foods that chickens shouldn't eat, grapes are not among them. It's best to use grapes as an occasional treat, giving no more than a few grapes per chicken. Their diet should consist of balanced feed, foraged greens, and bugs.
Sweet red grapes and crunchy celery make this chicken salad sing, and also balance out the slight tang from the yogurt and lemon. But go ahead and customize the mix-ins with whatever you desire (perhaps some chopped nuts or dried fruit) because this chicken salad recipe is easily adaptable.
Diced chicken is tossed with a creamy dressing and dotted with crisp celery, green onion, and fresh grapes. It's easy, healthy, bright, flavorful, and will make any summer meal a breeze. When I think of chicken salad, I think of summer's own version of comfort food.
Introduction: My name is Aracelis Kilback, I am a nice, gentle, agreeable, joyous, attractive, combative, gifted person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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