Chicken Salad with Apples & Walnuts

This chicken salad with apples and walnuts is one of those recipes I keep coming back to. It’s fresh, crunchy, and creamy all at once.

What I love about it is how the sweet and savory flavors work together. The fruit adds a nice sweetness, and the walnuts give it that satisfying crunch in every bite.

The dressing is light but still creamy. It’s made with a mix of mayo and greek yogurt, so it doesn’t feel heavy at all.

You can eat it on its own, put it on a croissant, or serve it over some greens. It works great for lunch, meal prep, or even a quick dinner.

It takes very little effort to put together, and you can have it ready in about 30 minutes. Most of that time is just letting it chill in the fridge.

What Makes This Recipe So Good

Every Bite Has Something Different – The mix of creamy chicken and crunchy walnuts with sweet apples and juicy grapes gives you an exciting new texture in every single forkful.

The Dressing Is Perfectly Balanced – The combo of mayo and Greek yogurt with a touch of honey and lemon creates a lighter dressing that is creamy without feeling heavy.

Sweet and Savory in One Bowl – Honeycrisp apples and dried cranberries bring just enough natural sweetness to make the savory chicken taste even better.

Ingredients

• 3 cups Cooked Chicken Breast, diced
• 1/3 cup Mayonnaise
• 3 tbsp Greek Yogurt
• 1 tbsp Fresh Lemon Juice
• 1 tsp Honey
• 1 large Honeycrisp Apple, cored and diced
• 3/4 cup Toasted Walnuts, roughly chopped
• 1/2 cup Red Grapes, halved
• 1/3 cup Celery, finely diced
• 1/4 cup Dried Cranberries
• 1/4 tsp Salt
• 1/4 tsp Black Pepper

Directions

Step 1

In a large bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, greek yogurt, fresh lemon juice, and honey until the dressing is smooth and light.

Step 2

Season with salt and black pepper. Stir to combine.

Step 3

Add the diced cooked chicken breast and toss until every piece is thoroughly coated in the creamy dressing.

Step 4

Fold in the diced honeycrisp apple, halved red grapes, diced celery, and dried cranberries. Stir gently until the fruits and celery are evenly distributed throughout the salad.

Step 5

The lemon juice in the dressing helps keep the apple from browning, so don’t skip it.

Step 6

Add the toasted walnuts and fold them through. Keep the pieces chunky so they add great texture in every bite.

Step 7

Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to let all the flavors come together. Serve chilled on its own, piled onto a flaky croissant, or scooped onto a bed of mixed greens.

Pro Tips

How to Cook the Chicken

Poaching the chicken breasts is the best way to get tender, juicy meat for this salad. Place them in a pot, cover with water by about an inch, add a pinch of salt, and bring it to a gentle simmer. Cook for about 15 minutes until they’re cooked through, then let them cool completely before dicing.

If you boil the chicken too hard or too long, it’ll turn rubbery and dry. That’s really noticeable in a cold salad where the chicken is front and center.

You can also use leftover rotisserie chicken if you have some. It adds a little extra flavor and saves you a step.

Toast the Walnuts Yourself

Toasting the walnuts makes a big difference here. Raw walnuts taste a little flat and bitter, but once you toast them they get nutty and rich and actually taste like something.

Spread them on a baking sheet in a single layer and bake at 350°F for about 6-8 minutes. Shake the pan halfway through so they toast evenly. Pull them out as soon as they smell fragrant and look a shade darker.

They go from toasted to burned really fast, so keep an eye on them. Let them cool down completely before adding them to the salad so they stay crunchy.

Make Sure the Chicken Is Completely Cool

Let the chicken cool all the way down to room temperature before mixing it into the dressing. If you toss warm chicken into the mayo and yogurt mixture, the heat will thin out the dressing and make everything watery.

A watery dressing won’t cling to the chicken or the fruit the way it should. You’ll end up with a pool of liquid at the bottom of the bowl instead of a creamy, well-coated salad.

Related Recipes

• High Protein Chicken Caesar Wrap
• High Protein Chicken Lettuce Wraps
• High Protein Greek Chicken Bowl
• High Protein Garlic Butter Chicken Bites
• High Protein Chicken Burrito Bowl

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use rotisserie chicken for this salad?

Absolutely, and it is actually one of the easiest shortcuts for this recipe. Just remove the skin and bones, then dice the meat into bite-sized pieces – you will need about one whole rotisserie chicken to get roughly 3 cups of diced meat.

Rotisserie chicken adds a little extra flavor compared to plain poached or baked chicken breast, which makes the salad even tastier with almost zero extra effort.