A healthy cranberry walnut chicken salad recipe – creamy, crunchy and delicious with sweet & sour notes. This chicken salad with cranberries and walnuts features simple ingredients like cooked chicken breast, avocado, cranberries, walnuts and celery root tossed with creamy mayonnaise. You can opt for an avocado dressing for healthier (mayo free) chicken salad version.
Cranberry Walnut Chicken Salad Recipe Overview
Making this walnut cranberry chicken salad is so effortlessly easy and can be prepared in advance! The salad can be customized to your liking and enjoyed for picnics, holiday potlucks, quick lunches or dinners. I usually make this salad and this creamy shrimp cabbage salad when I have guests.
This cranberry chicken walnut salad features a combination of tender chicken meat, chewy sweet cranberries, toasted walnuts, creamy avocado, crisp celery root and sweet red onions, tossed with homemade mayonnaise and a pinch of lemon juice to brighten up the flavor. For those who prefer to avoid mayo, you can use a creamy mayo like avocado dressing which is also dairy free.
This chicken salad with cranberries has a well-rounded taste is loaded with texture! It’s creamy, crunchy, savory, sweet, salty, slightly tart and addictive.
Related: Chicken Beet Salad With Avocado Dressing
If you love healthy creamy salads for easy meals, you’ll want to try this Olivier salad (Russian potato salad), this creamy chickpea salad, a healthy coleslaw, a harvest chicken salad or this deliciously layered potato and egg salad.
Ingredients For This Cranberry Walnut Chicken Salad
- Cooked chicken breast – poached or roasted, or other chicken leftover meat. Like these chicken cutlets for example.
- Dried cranberries – for sweetness and chewiness.
- Walnuts – add crunch. Pecans, pistachios, pumpkin seeds, almonds or peanuts will also work.
- Avocado – will provide a slightly nutty / buttery taste.
- Celery root (celeriac) – it has a creamier and less pungent flavor than the celery stalks themselves.
- Red onion – or scallions.
- Lemon juice – the tanginess will round up the flavor.
- Mayonnaise – I used a quick homemade mayonnaise recipe that uses egg, avocado oil, mustard, vinegar, lemon and salt – ready in 1 minute. Or use a creamy avocado dressing.
- Apple – optional as an extra ingredient for a crisp sweet taste. Honeycrisp, Fuji, Pink Lady, Granny Smith and Empire are great in salads.
Find the complete printable recipe with measurements below.
The Best Chicken Meat For Making A Chicken Salad
A mix of chicken thighs and chicken breast. The combination of dark and white meat helps with texture and flavor but you can use whatever you prefer, it not really a big difference.
Quality: don’t use old tough overcooked meat. Poached meat or leftovers from a previous roast work the best. Poaching the chicken keeps it moist, so you’ll need less dressing to bind the chicken salad. Or use a rotisserie chicken as the last resort.
How To Make The Walnut Cranberry Chicken Salad
1. Prepare The Ingredients
- Chop the cooked chicken with a knife, I like cubes. You can also shred the chicken into bite-size pieces using two forks or your fingers.
- Also chop the onion, avocado and walnuts. Grate the celery root for a finer texture, it’s easier to chew this way and it will not release any extra liquid as the celery stalks do.
- Prepare the mayonnaise or use a healthy store-bought version. I used a quick homemade mayonnaise recipe that uses egg, avocado oil, mustard, vinegar, lemon and salt – ready in 1 minute.
2. Assemble The Salad
- Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Scoop the mayo over the chicken salad and stir to combine, making sure its thoroughly coated with the mayo.
- Serve this cranberry walnut chicken salad on its own or paired with something.
How To Enjoy This Salad
- Serve the cranberry walnut chicken salad on top of a bed of greens, in a tortilla/wrap or even sandwiched between two hamburger buns.
- On top of potato fritters, cabbage fritters or other veggie fritters.
- A part of a poke bowl.
- As crepe filling.
- On a slice of sourdough bread.
- For lower-carb option, serve with lettuce as wraps or with a green salad.
Easy & Quick Prep Tip
- Use a food chopper (pulsing) or a stand mixer (with the paddle) to shred the chicken in just 1 minute. If you prefer larger cubes, use a knife.
- To avoid the browning of avocado, squeeze the lemon juice over the cut avocado cubes, give it a mix then add to rest of ingredients.
How To Make The Salad In Advance
Chop all ingredients and gather into a bowl, except the avocado (add it before serving) because it will brown when exposed to air. Mix with mayo the day you’re planning to serve it or at least 2 hours in advance.
Allowing the flavors to meld is the key. That’s why if I’m planning on eating the chicken avocado salad on the day I make it, I’ll prepare it at lunch so it can sit and build the flavors until dinner, or make it a day ahead.
Recipe Variations & Add-ins
- Turn this cranberry walnut chicken salad recipe into a more substantial dish by adding boiled eggs.
- Use other dried fruits, like raisins, chopped prunes or cherries.
- No celery root – then use the celery stalks or some shredded cabbage. It will also make it lighter.
- Add chopped fresh apple for a crisp sweet taste.
How To Store
Storing leftovers: Refrigerate the chicken avocado salad for up to 3 days in an airtight container.
Can you freeze the chicken salad with avocado? Do not freeze it, especially if you’ve used mayo. Mayo doesn’t freeze well and tends to separate once it has thawed.
Other Hearty Salad Recipes You Might Like
If you made this chicken salad with cranberries and walnuts, then please leave a star rating and a comment below the recipe card.
Your feedback is really helpful for me and readers!
More Chicken Recipes:
Cranberry Walnut Chicken Salad With Avocado Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 large cooked chicken breast - poached or roasted, or other chicken leftover meat
- 1 large avocado
- 1 cup dried cranberries
- ¾ cup walnuts - or pecans
- 1 cup celery root (celeriac) - grated
- ½ medium red onion - or scallions
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- ¾ cup mayonnaise - or avocado dressing
- 1 medium apple - optional as an extra ingredient
Instructions
Prepare The Ingredients
- Chop the cooked chicken with a knife, I like cubes. You can also shred the chicken into bite-size pieces using two forks or your fingers.
- Also chop the onion, avocado and walnuts. Grate the celery root for a finer texture, it's easier to chew this way and it will not release any extra liquid as the celery stalks do.
- Prepare the mayonnaise or use a healthy store-bought version. I used a quick homemade mayonnaise recipe that uses egg, avocado oil, mustard, vinegar, lemon and salt – ready in 1 minute.
Assemble The Chicken Avocado Salad
- Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Scoop the mayo over the chicken salad and stir to combine, making sure its thoroughly coated with the mayo.
- Serve the avocado chicken salad on its own, on top of a bed of greens, or even sandwiched between two hamburger buns.
Notes
Tips For Making This Chicken Salad
- For those who prefer to avoid mayo, you can use a creamy mayo like avocado dressing which is also dairy free.
- To soften the dried fruits, soak in warm water for 15 minutes before adding to the salad. Pat dry, make sure they don’t have water inside.
- Garnish with chopped greens: dill or parsley.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator.
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Samo
Friday 2nd of September 2022
Delicious and healthy!
Angy
Wednesday 26th of January 2022
Delicious! It became my go to chicken salad since going gluten and dairy free!
HealthyTasteOfLife
Wednesday 26th of January 2022
Thank you! Enjoy!