How To Make Shredded Chicken:
The only cooking this recipe requires is for the chicken. You can cook your chicken in instant pot, crockpot, or by boiling on stove top. Even better buy rotisserie chicken to save time! Here are different methods for cooking your chicken:
Instant Pot: Cook 1 lb chicken with ¼ cup water on manual for 14 minutes. You can also follow this instant pot shredded chicken recipe if you need help
Crockpot: Cook 1 lb chicken with ¼ cup water on low for 6 hours. You can also follow this crock pot shredded chicken recipe if you need help
Stovetop: Boil 1 lb of chicken in water for 10-14 minutes until thoroughly cooked
Rotisserie chicken : Simply buy a cooked chicken and pull the meat off with forks to save time!
Tip for shredding chicken: You can pull apart chicken with two forks but if you want to save time place your cooked chicken breasts in your kitchen aid mixer and give a few quick turns with the paddle attachment. You can also mix them with the beaters of a hand mixer.
What Makes This Chicken Salad Healthy
This healthy chicken salad swaps the mayo out for a simple, lightened-up dressing made from Greek yogurt, which has less saturated fat and sodium, and more protein than mayonnaise. Chicken breast gives a healthy, high-quality protein boost, while added veggies and fruit like celery and onion add flavor, crunch, and fiber!
The Best Greek Yogurt Chicken Salad Recipe
Looking for a healthy chicken salad recipe? My Greek yogurt chicken salad recipe is flavorful, crisp and completely delicious. Made with Greek yogurt instead of mayo, this chicken salad is much healthier than anything store-bought!
This post may contain affiliate links. Delightful E Made is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.
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How Long Does Chicken Salad Keep
When properly stored, the chicken salad will last for 3 to 5 days in the refrigerator. Because Bacteria grow rapidly at temperatures between 40 °F and 140 °F chicken salad should be discarded if left out for more than 2 hours at room temperature.
I hope you all enjoy this easy, healthy recipe as much as we do!
Dont forget to when you make this recipe or any of my other recipes!
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Two Ways To Prepare Your Chicken For This Healthy Greek Yogurt Chicken Salad Recipe:
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Greek Yogurt Chicken Salad Sandwich
Lighten up your traditional chicken salad recipe with protein-packed FAGE Total Greek yogurt a restaurant quality lunch that you can easily make at home!
Prep
½ cup pecans or walnuts, coarsely chopped
½ cup FAGE Total 5%
2 tablespoons milk or water
1 ½ tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 lemon, juiced
2 cups cooked chicken, diced
½ cup green seedless grapes, cut in half
½ cup red seedless grapes, cut in half
¼ cup parsley, coarsely chopped
½ teaspoon salt
Multigrain or bread of your choice, sliced and toasted
Steps
How To Make Greek Yogurt Chicken Salad
This Greek yogurt chicken salad is super simple to make.
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From the plump grapes to the sweet cranberries, this lightened up sandwich wont even taste healthy! PROMISE!
This is one of my favorite ways to whip up a light, healthy lunch when Im in a rush.
All you need is some leftover rotisserie chicken from the night before, Greek yogurt, some grapes and apples, and youre golden.
Yes, Greek yogurt. I promise you.
You wont miss the mayo. At all.
Trust me on this one. Youll thank me tomorrow. And the next day. And the next. And pretty much for the rest of your life.
Is Chicken Salad Healthy
I lightened up this recipe by using greek yogurt instead of mayonnaise. Plain Greek yogurt adds a creamy texture to replace the mayonnaise, but most importantly it adds in a lot of protein!
I also added a generous amount of celery in this recipe because Im a sucker for a good crunch!
Celery offers a good amount of antioxidants and fiber. Celery is mainly water, which means it is low calorie.
If youre on a weight-loss journey, this is great news!
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Can You Substitute Yogurt For Mayo
Lastly, I want my food to taste good and even though I dont prescribe to a particular kind of diet, health is important to me. I know how easy that darned extra 5 pounds youd like to lose turns into 10. Yogurt can be substituted for mayonnaise one to one as in this lighter chicken salad. Its delicious and helps keep the calories down. We really dont miss the mayo.
No bread keeps it low-carb too. Use lettuce as a wrap or cut celery and use them as scoops. Your body will thank you for the extra fiber.
Rolling this salad in a tortilla or stuffing it in a pita is perfect for lunch. Make them the night before and just grab them on the way to work. Kiddos love wraps, and who doesnt love a picnic? Does wine go with this no mayo wrap? Definitely, a nice chilled white is what Id choose.
Why You’ll Love This Healthy Greek Yogurt Chicken Salad
This healthy chicken salad is simply delicious! It’s a family favorite, filled with tender chicken breast, crunchy celery, a hint of sweetness from grapes, and toasted pecans. It’s perfect to prep for lunches, to make for showers or brunches, or to use up any leftover chicken you have! It’s easy to make, and good for you!
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Can I Freeze Yogurt Marinated Chicken
You can freeze the chicken before or after cooking. If freezing before, just place the chicken in a freezer-safe bag with the marinade and freeze for up to four months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator when ready to cook.
If freezing after cooking, let the chicken cool completely, then place it in a freezer-safe container and freeze for up to four months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then reheat in a skillet over medium heat until warmed through.
What Chicken Should I Use For Chicken Salad
I use and recommend Costcos pre-cooked hand-pulled rotisserie chicken breast meat. It is wonderfully convenient and a great time-saver. You can also roast chicken breasts in the oven. Check out my tutorial for How to Bake Chicken at Food.com.
Are you looking for more Costco meal prep ideas? Check out my post for Things I Buy at Costco for Healthy Meals and Snacks.
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Substitution Options For Healthy Greek Yogurt Chicken Salad
The original recipe calls for a dry ranch packet. I know not everyone loves using pre-made packets for things, but lets be honest they are convenient AF. For all you peeps out there with kids, or puppies, or multiple jobs, etc., I know you can appreciate the convenience factor. If you want to make your own dry ranch seasoning with spices you have in your pantry, do your thing! Here is a recipe for some homemade ranch seasoning.
Same goes for the canned chicken. You can absolutely bake or grill your chicken and shred it yourself. But again, canned chicken is easy to keep in your pantry at all times, and requires a lot less work. Rotisserie chicken is a nice option too!
You can make any modifications you want to make this healthier, but just know that Im not here to judge you for taking any shortcuts. Im all about the shortcuts these days.
Why We Love This Healthy Chicken Salad:
- No mayo Like I said before.. mayo is just not for me. Plus, its relatively high in fat and offers little to no nutrition value. Greek yogurt is higher in protein, low fat and low calorie
- Low fat/high protein Greek yogurt helps to make this chicken salad low in fat and high in protein. In 3/4 cup there are 24g of protein and only 9g of fat which comes from the pecans. You can omit them if youre looking for less fat!
- Great texture This chicken has a mix of crunchy pecans, apples and celery, with the creamy yogurt and chunks of moist chicken breast. Lots of good texture!
- Light and fresh! This chicken salad is super filling while tasting really light and fresh!
This greek yogurt chicken salad is also really versatile in terms of how you serve it. Sandwich, salad, lettuce wrap.. you can choose! Let me show you how simple it is to make!
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Ideas For How To Serve Chicken Salad
There are plenty of ways to serve your just-made, delicious, and healthy chicken salad. Here are just a few:
- Serve as a sandwich on slices of thick, whole-wheat bread or serve open faced with a slice of melted cheese.
- Pass as an appetizer in phyllo cups, hollowed out slices of cucumber, or serve in endive lettuces leaves.
- Stuf in a pita with greens, made into a wrap of lavash bread, or in between an everything bagel.
- Place a scoop on a bed of fresh greens, spinach, or grilled greens or scooped into avocado halves.
How Do You Keep Chicken Salad From Getting Watery
Ok, no one wants a gross watery chicken salad making your bread soggy and your life suck. No one needs that. The best way to keep your chicken salad from getting watery is to serve it right away.
Its those dang delicious veggies that cause the problems here. When they are all chopped up, they leak water into your chicken salad. So the longer it sits around waiting for you to either eat it up or push it to the way back of the fridge to be forgotten for months, the more watery it will get.
BUT, if you do want to save it and keep it in the fridge for a later date, you have a couple of options.
Lets make this healthy chicken salad recipe with Greek yogurt and yummy spices!
Tag us on Instagram and give us a rating and review right here in the comments! And dont forget to pin and save it for next time!
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Healthy Chicken Salad Recipe With Greek Yogurt
Dreaming of summer over here as the weather turns warmer . This is what we like to call our first fake spring in Minnesota and if you havent figured out why we are moving to Hawaii, thats your first clue. Either way, when its not quite warm enough to start grilling chicken kabobs , its a perfect time for an easy healthy chicken salad recipe with Greek yogurt. This recipe is such a good spring time, I can taste the sunshine, meal especially if you pair with some fresh strawberries.
How Do You Serve This Chicken Salad
- I absolutely love chicken salad served on croissants, but to keep lunch light, I usually opt for a thin-sliced whole grain bread.
- Serve as a dip: place the chicken salad mixture in a bowl and surround it with chips, crackers, veggies, and thinly sliced apples.
- Serve on top of thinly sliced apples .
- To keep this meal low carb use lettuce wraps to serve your chicken salad.
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How To Eat Your Chicken Salad:
There are so many ways to enjoy chicken salad! Wrap it in a low-carb or gluten free tortilla with a big piece of romaine lettuce or use it as a dip of sorts for pretzels and sliced veggies . A chicken salad sandwich is always and winner and of course, it’s delicious all on it’s own or as a dinner/barbeque side dish!
Greek Yogurt Chicken Salad With Grapes And Pecans
Light and healthy, Greek Yogurt Chicken Salad has plump red grapes, crisp celery and onion and toasty pecans, dressed in a light poppyseed Greek yogurt dressing. Serves 7 servings.
I make this Greek yogurt chicken salad all.the.time.
Its my go to lunch. My I-could-eat- this-every-day-of-my life lunch. On Sunday, Ill slow cook a whole chicken just so I can shred the breast meat for this healthy chicken salad. Which will then last me all week long. And if it looks familiar, thats because this is a lighter and healthier version of one of my first recipes on this blog way back in 2010. This time I swapped in some of the mayo for plain Greek yogurt, reduced the honey and its still just as incredibly delicious.
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Can I Freeze Chicken Salad
I would not recommend freezing chicken salad. It tends to get watery after thawing out. If do you choose to freeze it, place it in a freezer-safe storage bag for up to two months. When youre ready to serve it, thaw it out in the refrigerator for 24 hours. It will be best to add more mayo to the salad to thicken it up.
No matter how you choose to serve this healthy chicken salad, youll find yourself making it on the regular. Its just that good!
Ingredient Notes & Substitutions
Chicken. If you don’t have leftover chicken, you can easily make shredded chicken with boneless chicken breast meat or you can also pick up a rotisserie chicken from the supermarket.
Here is how to make shredded chicken.
Yogurt. The best yogurt to use in this recipe is plain full-fat or low-fat Greek yogurt. It’s just the right texture to make a creamy chicken salad. If Greek yogurt is not available, it can be substituted with sour cream.
Mayonnaise. I use mayonnaise that is made with avocado oil in this creamy chicken salad, but you can use any typical mayonnaise of choice.
Fresh Herbs. Just about any combination of fresh herbs works in chicken salad. We like fresh thyme and dill. Other suggestions are parsley, basil, oregano, rosemary, and mint.
Celery. Crisp celery adds a nice amount of crunch to this chicken salad, if you don’t like celery, and you still like a little bit of crunch, add an equal amount of diced carrots.
If you like the celery flavor, but not the crunch, add a dash of celery salt.
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Greek Yogurt Chicken Salad With Avocado
This Greek Yogurt Chicken Salad with Avocado is one of my favorite quick healthy lunches to make throughout the week. Its so rich and creamy that you wont believe youre eating a chicken salad without mayo!
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Classic chicken salad is always a favorite of mine. Its great as a high protein snack with crackers and veggies or rolled up into a wrap for a quick lunch.
The problem with a traditional chicken salad recipe is its loaded with mayonnaise. One1 tablespoon of mayonnaise is 100 calories and countless grams of fat. Some chicken salad recipes call for at least ½ cup or moreyikes! As you can imagine, this can be an issue for those of us trying to be healthy.
Thankfully, I discovered a solution.
Plain Greek yogurt and a ripe avocado mashed together and mixed with chopped or shredded chicken breast. Who knew a no mayo chicken salad could be so good?!
Can You Use Plain Greek Yogurt Instead Of Mayo In Your Healthy Chicken Salad Recipe
Short and simple answer, yes! Definitely try substituting some plain Greek yogurt for things like mayonnaise and/or sour cream.
We use plain Greek yogurt a substitute for sour cream on tacos and burritos, as our favorite topping on our Healthy Beef Chili Recipe or our White Chicken Chili. We also use it as a substitute for mayo on a lot of things like this healthy chicken salad recipe.
It works so well because of the tangy flavor and the similar creamy consistency. Basically, instead of an absurd amount of mayo or sour cream, some plain Greek yogurt in your chicken salad or other recipes gives you a boost of protein and probiotics along with a nice rich creamy flavor.
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