Waldorf Rotisserie Chicken Salad

This macro-friendly Waldorf Chicken Salad is a lightened-up take on the classic. It has all the creamy crunch you love—just with better macros. It’s packed with lean protein, fiber-rich apples and celery, and crunchy pecans. This chicken salad recipe is fresh, satisfying, and perfect for meal prep.

About This Recipe

One of the best things, whether you are feeding a crowd or filling your belly, is a big bowl of salad with all the fixings. It’s no secret that I LOVE big bowls of greens, which is why I love coming up with new flavors for salad combinations.

One of my new favorites is Waldorf Rotisserie Chicken Salad. It’s not totally traditional, because I’ve got my own macro-friendly spin, but it’s SO GOOD! Plus, who doesn’t love a good leftover rotisserie chicken recipe?

Ingredients and Substitutions

• Cooked chicken: Use any shredded chicken or rotisserie chicken. If you’re using rotisserie chicken from Costco, you’ll want to season it up a little before using it in your recipe. I love to buy the big bags of rotisserie chicken to use in soups or casseroles when time is short, but it does need a little sprucing up to make it taste good IMO. 
• Fresh veggies: Apple, celery, and red onion.
• Fresh Parsley: I had originally written this recipe with 1 cup of parsley, but after a few comments saying that was too heavy, I’ve reduced it to ¼ cup. Follow your heart! You can also use any other fresh herbs you have on hand.
• Toasted pecans: Feel free to sub for walnuts, almonds or skip entirely to save a few grams of fat!
• Non-fat Greek Yogurt: Use a dairy-free sour cream in place of the greek yogurt if needed. To make dairy-free: Use a dairy-free sour cream or yogurt option. The macro difference is nearly negligible if using non-fat Greek yogurt or my favorite Forager dairy-free sour cream.
• Lite mayo: I’m using avocado mayo labeled 5 fat/Tbsp. I really like the combination of the Greek yogurt and lite mayo for this chicken salad. It gives it that classic chicken salad taste while also keeping it much lighter. You can also just use more Greek yogurt or sub cottage cheese if you aren’t a fan of mayo.
• Clear balsamic vinegar: If you really want your flavors to pop, you have to try the infused vinegars from Baker and Olive. I talk about Baker and Olive a lot, but it’s because they are my family’s favorite! The peach and lemon are the absolute BEST! They are so fresh and take any dish to the next level. For this recipe, I used the lemon-infused vinegar and it is so good! You can also just use regular white balsamic or apple cider vinegar.
• Lemon: A squeeze of fresh lemon juice perfectly balances out the flavors of this chicken salad.
• Poppy seeds: Totally optional!

Dietary Adaptations

This recipe for Waldorf chicken salad is naturally gluten-free.

To make dairy-free: Use a dairy-free sour cream or yogurt option. The macro difference is nearly negligible if using non-fat Greek yogurt or my favorite Forager dairy-free sour cream.

How to Make

1. Combine all salad ingredients in a large bowl.
2. Whisk together dressing ingredients and pour over the top. Toss well!
3. Enjoy immediately or stash in the fridge for your week’s meal prep. We love this with crackers, on rice cakes, in lettuce wraps, or tossed in a bowl with finely chopped kale for a big green salad! Just drizzle a little olive oil, or additional lemon or good vinegar and give it a good toss!

Helpful Tips

1. Chicken: If using Costco’s rotisserie chicken, I like to sort through and pick out any gross chicken pieces and chop up the remaining chicken. Then I heat up a pan (for maybe a minute), and I add the chicken to the pan to season it with salt, pepper, and maybe a little garlic powder. You don’t want to leave it on the skillet for too long though, or it will give it that recooked poultry flavor. You want a quick, hot sear that brings it back to life and takes away any weird store-bought rotisserie texture. IYKYK. 
2. Chopping: For chopping and cutting, I usually just prefer a sharp knife (like these Nakano knives) and a good cutting board. But for this salad, you could also use an alligator chopper to make cutting quick and uniform. Also, it makes your veggies the perfect, even size!
3. Grapes: You might be wondering, “Where are the grapes”? I skipped them because I wanted this to be great for meal-prep, and I don’t love when they sit and get too squishy. But feel free to add some! Swapping some in for some of the apples will keep the macros essentially the same.

Serving Suggestions

We love this Waldorf chicken salad with crackers, on rice cakes, in lettuce wraps, or tossed in a bowl with finely chopped kale for a big green salad! Just drizzle a little olive oil, or additional lemon or good vinegar on top and give it a good toss!

For More Delicious Recipes:

• Light & Filling Blueberry Chicken Salad with Herb Pesto
• Almost Classic Cottage Cheese Chicken Salad
• BLT Chopped Salad with Blue Cheese Dressing
• Berry and Goat Cheese Salad
• Quick and Easy Chicken Pickle Salad
• Cobb Salad with Creamy Lemon Basil Dressing

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