This lightened up Greek yogurt chicken salad is high in protein and full of flavor, thanks to the tasty combination of tender meat, juicy grapes, crisp celery, and crunchy pecans.
Table of Contents
If you love classic sandwiches, don’t miss this easy chicken salad, this old-fashioned egg salad sandwich recipe, this tuna salad recipe, and our favorite pastrami Reuben, too!
Chicken Salad with Greek Yogurt and Mayo is the Perfect Make-Ahead Meal
I’ve made a lot of chicken salad over the years, and this recipe is absolutely a winner! It has just the right amount of Greek yogurt and mayo, so the salad holds together and is moist and flavorful, but it’s not drowning in dressing. This chicken salad also includes a satisfying variety of textures and flavors, thanks to the added fruit, veggies, and nuts for crunch. Add hardboiled eggs or pickle relish for even more flavor!
Finally, Greek yogurt chicken salad is a healthier, quick meal that you can make in advance. If you start with a store-bought rotisserie chicken, the entire dish is ready in about 10-15 minutes! And since the chicken salad is best when it has a chance to chill for at least 2 hours before serving, it’s a great make-ahead option for parties, luncheons, or busy weeknight dinners when everyone is on different schedules and you need an easy solution that’s ready in the fridge.
Ingredient Notes and Tips for Success
- This recipe uses a combination of equal parts mayo and yogurt in the dressing, which is a nice balance of flavors and textures. Greek yogurt is very tangy, while mayo has more flavor and salt. If you omit the mayonnaise entirely, it will drastically change the taste and texture of the salad (so I don’t recommend it).
- Duke’s is our favorite mayo, while we prefer a whole milk yogurt for the best flavor and texture. This adds extra protein to the dish, and has far fewer calories than mayo.
- Dried tarragon is an herb that pairs really nicely with chicken. Feel free to omit the tarragon if you don’t like the flavor, or add a different herb such as chives, basil, dill, rosemary, or thyme.
- The shredded meat from a store-bought rotisserie chicken is a quick shortcut that yields delicious results, since the rotisserie chicken is moist, tender, and already seasoned. If you like dark meat, it adds great flavor to chicken salad. We like a combination of both white and dark, but you can use whichever you prefer.
- If you’d prefer to cook your own chicken at home to use in this salad, you’ll need about 1 ½ lbs. of raw, boneless skinless chicken breasts or thighs to equal about 3 cups of cooked, shredded meat. You can boil the chicken until cooked through (about 12-18 minutes), and then shred with two forks or dice into small pieces when it’s cool enough to handle.
- Alternatively, you can cook the chicken in a crockpot for 1-2 hours on HIGH, then shred and cool before using in the salad. If you’re shredding a lot of cooked chicken at once, use the paddle attachment in a stand mixer to make the job easy!
How to Make Chicken Salad with Greek Yogurt
If you’re starting with cooked, diced chicken, this recipe comes together with about 10 minutes of prep time — no baking required. You’ll find detailed directions in the recipe card below, but here’s the overview:
- Whisk together the dressing.
- Add the remaining ingredients. The amount of dressing in a chicken salad recipe is truly a matter of preference. I like to err on the side of less dressing; however, if you like a wetter salad, increase the yogurt or mayo to taste.
- Cover the chicken mixture and chill for at least 2 hours.
Serving Suggestions
Chicken salad is a great option to keep in the refrigerator and pull out when you need a quick snack with crackers, when you need an easy lunch, or when you want a simple, make-ahead, light dinner or potluck option. Perfect for meal prep!
- Make chicken salad sandwiches on dinner rolls, in pita, on this baguette bread recipe, or on this Dutch oven bread;
- Make chicken salad wraps by rolling the salad in a tortilla with lettuce and tomato, or as lettuce wraps;
- For a decadent brunch, try serving chicken salad biscuits (on Aunt Bee’s 3-ingredient biscuit recipe) or chicken salad croissants (perfect for baby showers and bridal showers);
- Keep it simple and light and serve the salad on top of a bed of lettuce;
- Set out the salad in a bowl and serve it as a dip with crackers (like Ritz, Wheat Thins, or Triscuits) or chips;
- Pair the sweet and savory chicken salad with sour cream blueberry muffins, corn muffins, cranberry bread, cranberry walnut bread, cranberry muffins, banana nut bread, pumpkin muffins, or lemon poppy seed cake.
- Or for an impressive presentation, scoop out the seeds from a cantaloupe melon and serve the salad inside the center of the fruit. It’s a delicious sweet-and-savory combination.
Did you make this recipe?
If you enjoyed this recipe, please leave a comment with a 5-star review at the bottom of the post. Thank you!
Greek Yogurt Chicken Salad
Ingredients
- ½ cup mayonnaise (I prefer Duke’s brand)
- ½ cup plain Greek yogurt (I use whole milk Greek yogurt)
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 2 teaspoons dried tarragon
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- ¼ teaspoon garlic salt
- ¼ teaspoon onion powder
- 3 cups cooked, shredded chicken (such as from a rotisserie chicken)
- 2 stalks celery, diced
- 1 cup toasted pecans, chopped
- 1 cup red grapes, quartered
- Kosher salt and ground black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- In a large bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, Greek yogurt, Dijon mustard, vinegar, tarragon, sugar, garlic salt, and onion powder.
- Stir the chicken, celery, pecans, and grapes into the mayonnaise mixture until well combined. Taste and season with kosher salt and ground black pepper, if desired. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or up to 2 days.
- Serve the chicken salad on sandwiches, with crackers, or on a bed of greens.
Notes
Nutrition
Recipe Variations
- If you don’t have any celery on hand, or if you just don’t care for the taste, you can substitute with extra nuts, extra grapes, dried cranberries, diced or grated sweet onion, scallions or green onion, diced or grated carrots, water chestnuts, or diced green apple. The flavor will obviously be a little different, but any of those will work.
- Swap out the grapes and use sweetened dried cranberries instead. If you prefer a Greek yogurt chicken salad without fruit, just replace the grapes with an extra cup of chicken.
- Many Southern chicken salad recipes include chopped hardboiled eggs. You can feel free to add those, too!
- Use sour cream instead of Greek yogurt, or replace the Greek yogurt with extra mayo.
- You can use lemon juice instead of the vinegar, and feel free to swap out the pecans and use almonds or walnuts instead.
- Stir in sweet pickle relish or chopped dill pickles.
- Add different fresh herbs such as fresh dill, parsley, chives, thyme, rosemary, or basil. Sliced green onions (scallions) are also delicious in the salad.
- Cooking just for two? Cut all of the ingredients in half to prepare a smaller portion. If you’d like to serve a larger crowd, you can easily double or triple all of the ingredients.
More Chicken Salad Recipes to Try
Best Chicken Salad Recipe
2 hours hrs 10 minutes mins
Curried Chicken Salad
1 hour hr 15 minutes mins
Southern Chicken Salad
1 hour hr 15 minutes mins
Originally published in May, 2023, this post was updated in April, 2025.
Sounds so good! Since I cook for just one, I often prepare the ingredients and either combine them or, more often, store them separately and not add the dressing until I make one or two portions. I can often use less dressing and it keeps the salad from getting “wet” when I keep the salad ingredients for several days. I would love to be able to mix the whole salad at once but, unfortunately, there’s no one to help me eat it.
Sounds like a great way to handle cooking for one!