This chicken salad with grapes combines chicken, red grapes, celery, green onions, and pecans in a lemon-Dijon dressing. The grapes add sweetness and juiciness, while the celery and toasted pecans provide plenty of crunch.

I adapted this recipe from my Apple Walnut Chicken Salad. This version swaps in grapes and pecans and adds Dijon, green onions, and parsley.

The mayonnaise and sour cream make the dressing creamy, while the lemon juice and Dijon keep it from tasting heavy. The salad works with roasted chicken, rotisserie chicken or a combination of breast and thigh meat.

You can serve it in a croissant, on sandwich bread, in lettuce cups or with crackers. It’s naturally gluten-free when made with gluten-free mayonnaise and Dijon. If using rotisserie chicken, check that its seasoning is gluten-free as well.

What’s To Love

Uses leftover or rotisserie chicken.
No added sugar.
Great to make ahead because the grapes don’t brown and the dressing stays creamy overnight.
Easy to double for meal prep, showers, and potlucks.

Ingredient notes

Please scroll down for the full recipe. These are just some notes on select ingredients.

Chicken – I go into detail about this below.
Grapes – seedless red grapes add sweetness and color. Halve them so they distribute evenly throughout the salad. If your grapes are especially large, you may want to quarter them.
Pecans – toasting the pecans improves their flavor and makes them crisper. Let them cool completely before adding them so they don’t warm or thin the dressing.
Mayonnaise and sour cream – the combination makes the dressing creamy without relying entirely on mayonnaise. Low-fat mayonnaise also works and stays creamy overnight when paired with full-fat sour cream.
Dijon mustard – adds tang and rounds out the dressing without making the salad taste strongly of mustard.
Celery and green onions – chop them finely so they spread evenly through the salad rather than creating large, overpowering pieces.

What kind of chicken works best?

Chicken breast gives the salad a lighter flavor and firmer texture, while thigh meat is richer and more tender. You can use either one or combine the two.

Rotisserie chicken is the quickest option, but remove the skin and bones before measuring the meat. Leftover meat from my Oven Roasted Whole Chicken also works well. If you only have frozen chicken breasts, you can prepare this Air Fryer Frozen Chicken Breast and let it cool completely before dicing.

If you’re roasting the chicken yourself, start with about 700 grams (1 1/2 pounds) of boneless, skinless chicken breast. That should give you approximately 3 cups (420 grams) of cooked and diced chicken, although the exact yield will depend on how much moisture the chicken loses during roasting.

How to make chicken salad with grapes

Toast the pecans in a dry skillet or in the oven, and then let them cool completely.
Add the mayonnaise, sour cream, lemon juice, Dijon, salt and black pepper to a bowl.
Stir until smooth.
Combine the chicken, grapes, celery, green onions, parsley, and pecans.
Stir in the dressing, cover, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Tips for Success

Make sure the chicken is completely cool before adding the dressing. Warm chicken can loosen the dressing and make the salad seem oily or watery.
Dry the grapes and celery well after washing them. Excess water on the produce can thin the dressing as the salad sits.
Fold everything together gently so the grapes stay intact and the chicken doesn’t break down too much.
Taste the salad again after chilling. Add a little more lemon juice, salt, or black pepper if the flavors need brightening.

Make ahead and storage

For the best texture, prepare the chicken salad no more than 24 hours before serving. Keep it tightly covered in the refrigerator and stir it gently before serving.

If you’re making the salad a day ahead, I recommend reserving the pecans and stirring them in shortly before serving so they stay especially crisp.

Store the chicken salad in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days from the day it was prepared. The dressing should remain creamy, but the pecans will gradually soften and the grapes may release a little moisture as it sits. Do not freeze.

For the best flavor, let the chicken salad sit at room temperature for about 5-10 minutes before serving so it isn’t extremely cold straight from the refrigerator.

How To Serve Chicken Salad with Grapes

Spoon it into a croissant with lettuce for a filling lunch.
Make a sandwich using my 100% Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread or your favorite gluten-free bread.
Serve it in butter lettuce or romaine leaves for a lighter option.
Pair it with crackers, cucumber slices, or other fresh vegetables.

If I haven’t sold you, here’s a review from one of the photographer’s taste testers:

“I really liked the sweetness of the grapes against all the other savory flavors. I feel like sometimes chicken salad can taste a bit plain, and this was not like that at all. It also really helped that all the ingredients had quite different textures. There was a good amount of crunch, but also creaminess, and then the juiciness of the grapes. I would 100% eat this again.”

❤️ Have you tried this chicken salad with grapes? ❤️

Please leave a ✍️ review and ⭐ rating to let me know how it turned out. I appreciate it so much! 💛