Harvest Chicken Salad Recipe

This chicken salad recipe is like a flavor and texture explosion. With cranberries, smoky bacon, blue cheese and pecans, it is sure to be a favorite!

As much as I hate to say this, I never likes my mothers chicken salad recipe when I was young. Everyone else loved it, but I didn't. I think it was because it was just a “regular” chicken salad. Well – this is anything BUT that!

This recipe is like a flavor and texture explosion. The cranberries are sweet, which is a nice contrast to the smoky bacon and pungent blue cheese. The celery and pecans add crunch, while the chicken and bread are nice and chewy. Add all of that to a light, tangy dressing, and you've got a whole lot of goodness in one sandwich!

Perfect for lunch of dinner or as a way to use up leftover chicken, you could also serve this chicken salad recipe as an appetizer on top of crackers or inside individual size pastry cups (although if you choose to do that, I suggest chopping everything up a little smaller).

We like a lot of blue cheese, so that's how the recipe is written. It has a strong flavor, so you may want to start with less and add more to suit your tastes. If you don't like blue cheese, a sharp white cheddar would also be delicious in this.

Although we use both mayonnaise and yogurt, this is not swimming in sauce. It's just enough to lightly coat everything so if you like a wetter sandwich, you may want to play around with the ingredients to stretch it.

Cooked chicken breast can be quite dry and really soaks up any sauce it's combined with. The more you chop it, the more sauce it will use. If you shred the chicken, you might just want to go ahead and double the sauce ingredients.

Enjoy!

Harvest Chicken Salad Recipe

This chicken salad recipe is like a flavor and texture explosion. With cranberries, smoky bacon, blue cheese and pecans, it is sure to be a favorite!

4 from 1 vote

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Author: Mindi

Ingredients 

• 2 cups cooked chicken chopped
• 1/2 cup apple diced (I used honey crisp)
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt
• 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 cup blue cheese crumbles
• 1 green onion thinly sliced
• 1 small celery stalk thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup dried cranberries chopped
• 4 strips of bacon cooked and crumbled
• 2 tablespoons toasted pecans chopped
• Salt & pepper to taste
• 8 " ciabatta loaf toasted

Instructions

• Add the mayonnaise, yogurt and apple cider vinegar to a bowl and whisk until smooth.
• Next add the blue cheese, celery, green onion, cranberries, pecans and bacon and stir to combine.
• Add the chicken and apple and stir to combine.
• Taste and adjust to your liking. Add salt and/or pepper as needed.
• Spoon onto the ciabatta and serve.

Harvest Chicken Salad Recipe