This creamy and crunchy Chicken Salad with Grapes and Walnuts hits all the notes. A flavorful chicken salad with crunchy nuts and sweet, juicy grapes. Spoon onto a bed of lettuce or scoop on a sandwich!
Chicken Salad Recipe with Grapes and Walnuts
Classic recipes like this chicken salad with grapes and walnuts never go out of style. A meal that can be served to guests or just for meal prepping during the week. All of the ingredients for this chicken salad will stand up to being stored for a few days in the refrigerator!
The addition of sweet grapes and toasted walnuts makes for a delicious sweet and crunchy addition to this chicken salad, but don’t think that you have to add them if you don’t want to.
If you’re tastes are a bit more simple, the base for this chicken salad recipe is extremely delicious on it’s own!
How To Make The Most Delicious Chicken Salad
- Start by roasting bone-in, skin on chicken breasts. Roasting chicken on the bone results in more juicy, tender chicken then using boneless chicken breasts.
- The skin also helps to keep the moisture in the chicken, although we’re going to remove that once we assemble the salad.
- Once the chicken has cooled, remove it from the bones and discard the skin. Dice the chicken into bite sized pieces and place into a large mixing bowl.
- Whisk the ingredients for the sauce together in a bowl and set aside.
- Gather the rest of the ingredients for the chicken salad, sliced grapes, toasted walnuts (and/or pecans) and add to the bowl with the chicken.
- Pour in the sauce and mix together to combine. Cover and chill the chicken salad at least an hour before serving.
Tips For Making The BEST Chicken Salad
- Use the Right Chicken: Like we mentioned above, bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts are the way to go if you’re looking for moist, flavorful chicken salad.
- Toast the Nuts: Lightly toasting the nuts brings out more flavor.
- Use Fresh Herbs: Using fresh herbs, in this case tarragon, brightens the flavor of the sauce. You can also use parsley, thyme or basil instead.
- Chill: After assembling the chicken salad, cover and let it chill in the refrigerator for at least and hour before serving to let the flavors blend together.
Ways To Serve Chicken Salad with Walnuts and Grapes
For a light meal option, we like serving this chicken salad on a bed of lettuce. This recipe is so full of flavor that not much else is needed.
However, you can serve this salad on bread or a roll, or in a wrap for sandwiches. Scoop it up with your favorite crackers of just get in there with a fork!
Chicken Salad Variations
- Use Different Nuts: We used walnuts and pecans, but you can use one of the other or even different nuts. Sliced almonds, pistachios and chopped peanuts or cashews are all good options.
- Switch Up the Herbs: Tarragon adds a delicious flavor, but you can keep it simple with fresh parsley or even try fresh thyme or basil.
- Use Raisins: Instead of grapes, try using raisins for a sweet bite.
- Lighten It Up: Lighten up this chicken salad by using plain greek yogurt instead of the mayonnaise, or cut the mayonnaise and sour cream in half and swap out the rest for the yogurt.
Looking For More Salad Recipes with Chicken?
- Chicken Caesar Pasta Salad
- Chicken Salad with Caramelized Onions
- Buffalo Chicken Pasta Salad
- Chicken Salad on Apple Slices
Chicken Salad with Grapes And Walnuts
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
Print Recipe
Pin RecipeChicken Salad with Grapes and Walnuts is a perfect lunch or light dinner! A creamy, tangy mayonnaise and herb sauce coats tender, juicy chicken, toasted walnuts and sweet grapes!
Ingredients
- 1 cup walnut halves – or 1/2 cup walnuts and 1/2 cup pecans
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- 1/4 cups sour cream
- 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon fresh chopped tarragon
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1/2 – 1 teaspoon fresh black pepper
- 6 cups of diced chicken breast (see note*)
- 1 1/2 cups grapes sliced in half or quartered if large (green or red)
Instructions
- Place the nuts in a dry skillet over medium heat and toss while toasting for 3-4 minutes. The nuts are ready when they turn slightly brown and you can start to smell them toasting. Remove from the heat and let cool.
- Whisk the mayonnaise, sour cream, mustard, vinegar, tarragon, salt and pepper together in a small bowl.
- Add the diced chicken, grapes and cooled nuts to a large bowl. Pour in half of the sauce and toss to combine all of the ingredients. Add more sauce to your liking, reserving the rest for refreshing the chicken salad after it’s been in the refrigerator. Extra sauce is also super delicious on sandwiches!
Recipe Notes
For the Chicken: We like to roast bone-in, skin-on chicken for this chicken salad. Depending on the size of the chicken breasts you’ll need between 3 and 4 breasts to get 6 cups of large diced chicken. You can also use a rotisserie chicken, but you’ll likely need 2 or a larger chicken to equal the 6 cups of chicken.
- Category: Dinner
- Method: No Cook
- Cuisine: American
