Looking for a quick and easy lunch or dinner? Quick & Easy Chicken Salad is the perfect choice! It’s ready in 30 minutes or less, and can be served as a salad or sandwich. It can also be dressed up a bit for events such as showers, brunches, or other gatherings. My family loves this chicken salad and devours it pretty quickly, so make sure you make plenty.
What makes this chicken salad so easy is that fact that it uses mostly pantry and fridge staples. If I don’t already have some hard boiled eggs in the fridge, then I start by using my handy Dash egg cooker. It perfectly cooks 6 hard boiled eggs in 16 minutes. I have used so many methods of making hard boiled eggs over the years. I have tried them all (see Deviled Eggs post for that discussion)! For me, nothing has provided more consistent results than the Dash. This chicken salad only uses 4 hard boiled eggs, so you will have a couple left over if you use this egg cooker.
The pantry staple that I always have on hand is canned white meat chicken. I buy the two-pack of 12.5 ounce cans, which yields about 7.5 ounces of white meat chicken each. I use it to whip up this quick chicken salad for lunch or dinner. I also use it for one of our favorite appetizer dips: Buffalo Chicken or Buffalo Chicken wontons. It’s great to have on hand for last minute gatherings where you want to make something homemade, but not take a lot of time. If you choose, you can use rotisserie chicken or baked or roasted boneless, skinless chicken breast instead. Simply shred or cut into small pieces. Use about 2 cups for this recipe.
This chicken salad gets its great flavor from several other items I always have on hand: onion, celery, dill relish, mayonnaise. For the onion and celery, I always mince them into very small pieces. I love a chunk of celery in my sandwich, but the rest of fam, not so much. So chopping it into very fine pieces works best.
Let’s talk about the relish for moment. I am not a fan of sweet relish. I don’t even buy it, as a matter of fact! I find it too sweet. So anytime relish gets used in this house, it is of the dill variety. Even if you are team sweet relish, you may want to give dill relish a try in recipes like this chicken salad, potato salad, and even on a bratwurst or hot dog. We love it!
For the mayonnaise, we always go for Kraft Mayo rather than the sweeter Miracle Whip I grew up eating. Again, I prefer things less sweet when making savory dishes. But choose what you prefer with relish and mayonnaise. Whichever mayo product you choose, you will only use a small amount (1/4 cup) so it’s not swimming in mayo!
I also like to make and store things in one container so there are fewer dishes to clean. I love these Luminarc Stacking 5 piece nesting glass bowls with lids. I make, store, and serve all from the same container. And if you are looking for some high quality measuring cups, look no further than this Food52 stainless steel measuring cup set that’s dishwasher safe. I love the way these look and perform!
There are many serving options for this chicken salad. You can serve it on a bed of lettuce with some sliced or chopped tomatoes. It makes a beautiful stuffed tomato salad! Serve it on toast with or without cheese slices (no cheese for me, thanks), dill pickle slices, or thick tomato slices. It’s perfect on little slider buns, croissants, or any bread of your choosing (I love rye and sourdough).
Quick & Easy Chicken Salad is great to have on hand at the start of the week for your meal prep lunches, too. Make it soon and let me know what you think. Enjoy!
Quick & Easy Chicken Salad
Ingredients
- 2 cans white meat chicken (SEE NOTE BELOW) 12.5 ounce cans (7.5 ounces drained, each)
- ¼ of a small onion, minced (do not use dried) (chopped into very small pieces)
- 3 stalks celery, minced (chopped into very small pieces)
- ⅓ cup dill relish
- ¼ cup mayonnaise
- 4 hard boiled eggs, peeled & chopped small
- salt & pepper to taste optional
Instructions
- Drain chicken and add to medium bowl.
- Add minced onion to chicken in bowl.
- To mince the celery, cut stalk in half crosswise, then into very narrow strips lengthwise, as shown. Line up celery in strips and cut across into tiny pieces.
- Add celery to chicken and onion in bowl.
- Next add dill relish.
- Mix with fork to blend, breaking up chicken chunks.
- Add mayonnaise and mix thoroughly.
- Add chopped eggs to mixture and fold in just to blend.
- Season to taste with salt and pepper, if desired.
- Serve on a bed of greens or on a sandwich with the bread of your choice.
NOTE
- If you prefer, you can use 2 cups of shredded or chopped rotisserie, baked or roasted chicken.
