Cranberry Chicken Salad

This classic cranberry chicken salad recipe has plenty of crunch, thanks to crisp celery and chopped walnuts. Keeping simplicity in mind, this recipe calls for a rotisserie chicken, so there’s no need to go through the process of cooking chicken before beginning the salad assembly. Other key components include Swiss cheese, dried parsley and pumpernickel bread for a cranberry chicken salad that delivers a protein-packed meal with all the flavor. It’s the ideal sandwich when you’re craving something a little more than just a simple grinder, and it’s easy enough to make ahead and keep on hand for the week to come.

Ingredients for Cranberry Chicken Salad

• Mayonnaise: Anything you have on hand is fine, or consider making your own ahead of time to keep on hand.
• Honey Dijon mustard: We recommend honey Dijon for this recipe, but if you have a favorite homemade mustard, you can absolutely use it here.
• Pepper: Fresh ground pepper has a higher flavor impact than preground pepper and tastes wonderful in this salad as a balance to the sweetness of the dried cranberries.
• Rotisserie chicken: Make life easier by cubing or shredding a rotisserie chicken. Leftover turkey also works well.
• Swiss cheese: You’ll be shredding the Swiss cheese prior to adding it to mix; if you can’t find any pre-shredded, you can finely chop sliced Swiss cheese before adding it to the salad.
• Celery: Chop your celery into manageable bites–this is key to adding a nice light, tender crunch throughout the salad.
• Dried cranberries: With just a hint of sour and a nice balance of sweet, these are a must for this salad.
• Walnuts: Purchase chopped walnuts for an even easier assembly process. Pecans are also appropriate to use if you don’t have walnuts on hand.
• Dried parsley flakes: Dried parsley has a milder, more understated flavor as compared to fresh parsley, which means that it won’t compete with the other flavors in this salad.
• Lettuce: Use lettuce of your choice: Romaine, butterhead and red leaf are all excellent choices here.
• Pumpernickel bread: Pick up a loaf at the bakery, or make your own fresh bread.

Directions

Step 1: Mix the salad

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In a large bowl, combine the mayonnaise, mustard and pepper. Stir in the chicken, cheese, celery, cranberries, walnuts and parsley.

Editor’s Tip: Let it sit in the fridge for a few hours, covered with an airtight lid or wrap. This will allow the ingredients to settle a bit, resulting in a more flavorful cranberry chicken salad.

Step 2: Assemble the sandwiches

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Place lettuce on eight slices of bread and top each with 1/2 cup cranberry chicken salad. Top with remaining bread, slice and serve.

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Recipe Variations

• Change up the bread: Pumpernickel not your thing? No worries. Swap out the bread for a wrap, your favorite bread or even a large lettuce leaf or two if you’d prefer to stay away from bread products.
• Dress up the mayo: To give this salad a little extra cranberry flavor, mix up a small batch of cranberry mayo. To do this, in a small bowl, combine 1/2 cup of mayo with jellied cranberry sauce one teaspoonful at a time until the desired taste has been achieved, mixing well to combine.
• Add some spice: Add a teaspoon of curry to the mayo and mix well. This does add a distinct flair, but it’s delish.

How to Store Cranberry Chicken Salad

To store any leftovers not in a sandwich, pop a lid on the mixing bowl that you used or an airtight wrap. To store any leftover assembled sandwiches, simply wrap in plastic wrap or equivalent and store in the fridge.

Can you make cranberry chicken salad ahead of time?

Yes. We recommend making the salad and storing in the fridge until you’d like to serve the sandwiches, rather than pre-assembling the sandwiches. This will keep the bread from getting too soggy. Just be sure to consume the salad within three to five days.

Cranberry Chicken Salad Tips

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Can you make this dairy-free?

Yes. To make this dairy-free, leave out the cheese and use dairy-free mayo and bread.

What’s the best way to make this gluten-free?

If you’re avoiding gluten and want to pass on gluten-free bread, we recommend serving this as a salad. You can do this by topping a bed of lettuce with your desired amount of cranberry walnut chicken salad, making a lettuce boat, or even just eating it as-is, using a spoon or potato chips as utensils.

What do you serve with this cranberry chicken salad recipe?

Keep it simple–serve this yummy sandwich with potato chips and a pickle.