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Cranberry Pecan Chicken Salad is Sweet tart cranberries mingling with crunchy nutty pecans all with protein filled chicken.
It’s great as a sandwich. Try it with crackers as a spread. It’s perfect on its own in a potluck!
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Baby Shower Party Food
I made this Cranberry Pecan Chicken Salad for a baby shower because both my mom and the mother to be love chicken, and chicken salads go over so well with them.
My sister in law had asked for more protein filled salads due to the possibility of gestational diabetes.
And, my menu was all about easy pre-made salads that I could just take out of the fridge and serve; no muss no fuss on the day of the shower! I served many things including Black Olive Tapenade and Wild Rice Salad.
Since the baby shower, we’ve made this Cranberry Pecan Chicken Salad many times, and it’s always a hit.
Easy to make & budget-friendly recipe
This recipe is so easy; I bought a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store. The whole cooked chicken was only $5; a pretty good deal!
All I had to do was clean the chicken, shred the meat into the bite sized pieces, and then do a little mixing. Like I said, easy!
My grocery store’s deli even carries shredded cooked chicken, so you could buy that and save yourself the step of having to clean the chicken yourself.
Great for warm weather
My Cranberry Pecan Chicken Salad is a perfect warm weather lunch or dinner accompaniment.
Chicken tastes just as good cold as it does warm, which makes it a great choice for summer. And the ingredients include pecans and cranberries so this dish is sweet, savory and crunchy all at once.
It’s quick and easy to toss this recipe together first thing in the morning and have it chilled and ready to eat for lunch.
It’s also great on bread, so you can make a sandwich if you prefer.
Check out this great Southern Chicken Salad for a different flavor spin!
Childhood memories
This is the kind of salad I would eat on crackers. My mom used to make a cream cheese and chicken salad that we would serve with crackers. Or sometimes she would stuff it into crescent rolls for a Crescent Chicken Packets dinner.
This salad totally reminds me of that chicken salad.
Kind of makes me nostalgic.
This recipe has been pinned on Pinterest over 450,000 times! That’s right, over 450,000 times and counting! And there are lots of “tried its”.
Make sure you pin it too!
Just like Grandma made
I found this recipe from Yesterfood, but I’ve seen countless others on Pinterest and Facebook, all having their own special ingredients. I’ve even gotten many comments about how Grandma used to make this with apples or grapes.
It seems that this is a special recipe for lots of people who become very nostalgic with it! And I think, that’s really cool!
Cranberries
Cranberries are a tangy northern American fruit that have become more popular over the years, moving out from their humble place as something we only served at Thanksgiving to a fruit that can be used fresh or dried in a range of dishes.
They are great in cakes and cookies or made in to a sauce to serve with a wide assortment of meats including pork, beef or chicken.
You can buy cranberries that are sweetened, or try simple unsweetened ones. Once you become accustomed to the tang of a cranberry, nothing else will do but a real cranberry with nothing in it.
Cranberries are also great fruits that may protect us from various forms of cancer.
The little red globes of fruity goodness help prevent urinary tract infections!
All of the health benefits from cranberries are substantially improved when you eat the whole fruit rather than an extract or in some other processed form.
These fruits are also great sources of vitamin E, manganese and fiber.
Pecans
Pecans are also one of the ingredients in this health conscious salad. Nuts contain plenty of anti-oxidants and anti-inflammatories, as well as lots of vitamins and minerals. So make this salad, and plenty of it, to add something nice and healthy to your day.
Recipe variations:
- grapes that have been cut in half
- any kind of nut
- raisins instead of cranberries
- add a little curry powder
- Greek yogurt instead of mayo
- splash in a dash of ranch
- throw in chopped apple
- leave the celery out
Other great chicken recipes you’ll love
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Recipe
Cranberry Pecan Chicken Salad
Ingredients
- 3 cups cooked shredded chicken
- ¾ cup mayonnaise
- ¾ cup chopped celery
- ¾ cup chopped pecans
- ½ cup dried sweetened cranberries
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon white pepper
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients and mix well. Refrigerate for an hour to allow flavors to combine. Serve chilled.
Video
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations, and should be considered estimates. Actual nutritional content will vary based on brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes, and more.
justine @ Full Belly SIsters
I love the sweet and savory elements in this dish, i could go for some right now!
Healing Tomato
This is such a wonder salad idea. The pecans really make the dish.
manilaspoon
I am not surprised this always go viral on pinterest when I share this! It looks absolutely delicious – perfect balance of flavors and textures – love it!!!
Culinary Flavors
I am at the office and I am starving! I wish I had some of this delicious salad/meal with me!
taranoland
I love fruit and nuts in salads and this with chicken looks fabulous!!
Lorie Bell
I make chicken salad often in the summer so refreshing, I use the same things as your recipe. However I add apple and/or grapes also, the more the merrier in it, I think, kind of whatever is in the fridge. Very good!
Janine
Could you post your mom’s recipe for chicken with cream cheese recipe, please. Sounds good.
Sandra
This sounds wonderful inside small cream puff shells for an appetizer or in larger cream puff shells for a luncheon!
Beverly
To make this a little lighter use 1/2 mayo and 1/2 Cool Whip – makes for an awesome Chicken Salad! I use grapes cut in half or dried cherries if I don’t have the cranberries. Family loves it served in Pita’s!
Wedding DJ Frisco Dallas Wedding DJ
I LOVE a great fall salad!! I have a salad with the same ingredients which just proves how amazing these flavours go together!
Jacquie
I make similar chicken salads but i use salad dressing chopped celery green onion tops and celery seed with grapes and pecans,or apples and walnuts,or pineapple tid bits and sliver almonds, and sometimes grilled chicken with strawberries. I mostly use chicken breast with mine
Julie Menghini
I love this simple version and it’s definitely a great warm weather recipe
kathie liess
This is my all x fav.Chicken Salad recipe. Somex’s I add a little poppy seed dressing to it but ur’s is perfect the way it is and as u said u can use apples, leave out celery, just do what ur taste buds like ! Thank u !
Nancy Girt
Loved the dressing on it. I did add celery, love the crunch to it.
Tanya
Everyone in my office loved it. I did adjust the salt and pepper (I used black pepper) to my taste. I made this the night before I needed it and the flavors just come together so nice. I may add some rosemary or thyme next time. I served this in baked wonton cups that I also found on Pinterest.
Tracy
I added Greek plain yogurt to this and almonds rather than pecans. It turned out healthier and really delicious!
Rowena
This was wonderful! I took it to a church gathering without the pecans due to possible allergies. It was so good that it got finished off very quickly.
Andrea
I used canned chicken, added an apple and took out the nuts. It was delicious!
Heather
Very good although I used plain Greek yogurt instead of mayo & added a bit of sea salt & pepper because it was a little bland. It lasted a few days for lunch and was delicious!! I will make it often.
courtney
I skipped the celery and added a green apple for crunch instead. Very good!