Chicken Salad with Grapes is the perfect easy lunch. The combination of grapes, celery, and cashews add an irresistible crunch!
If you like chicken salad, you have to try this Chicken Salad with Grapes and Cashews!
It has lots of crunch, thanks to the celery, grapes, and cashews. And the curry powder adds the perfect amount of seasoning to make it flavorful.
I love serving it on croissants. If you’re making this for a get-together and you have a Costco nearby, they have a great deal on croissants—12 for $5! Otherwise, your local grocery store will have croissants in the bakery.
The chicken salad also works great on your favorite sandwich bread, or in this recipe for Chicken Salad in Puff Pastry Cups. I love making the puff pastry cups for special events, like a bridal shower, baby shower, or fancy happy hour. And this salad is perfect for filling it.
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Top tips
- You can swap full-fat plain Greek yogurt for the mayonnaise in any chicken salad recipe. Make sure that the yogurt says “plain” and NOT “vanilla”.
- Use unsalted, roasted nuts when adding them to chicken salad. This recipe calls for cashews, but walnuts or almonds are delicious, too!
- You can use green grapes or red grapes for this recipe.
The best chicken for chicken salad
Cooked and chopped chicken breast is traditional in chicken salad. You can either purchase pre-cooked chicken, or cook it yourself. Here are a few options:
- use chicken breast from a rotisserie chicken
- poach, bake, or grill raw chicken breast
- use pre-cooked, sliced chicken breast from the grocery store (Trader Joe’s has cooked and sliced chicken breast called “Just Chicken” that is already cooked, for example)
If you are cooking chicken breast from raw, here is a great tutorial on how to poach chicken (you can omit the seasonings—they aren’t necessary here).
If you’re using a rotisserie chicken, make sure to remove the skin before you start chopping.
Whichever type of chicken that you use, you’ll want to chop it into roughly half-inch size pieces for the salad.
Ingredients
- The base of this recipe is cooked and chopped chicken breast. You can poach or bake raw chicken breast, or use the chicken breast from a rotisserie chicken.
- Grapes add a juicy crunch! You can choose green or red grapes.
- Cashews and celery add even more crunch and texture to the salad. I used roasted, unsalted cashews.
- Mayonnaise holds it all together. You can use regular or low-fat. Or you can even substitute greek yogurt instead!
- Curry powder and salt season the salad to perfection.
How to make chicken salad with grapes and cashews
This recipe starts with cooked and chopped chicken breast. Make sure that the chicken is cooked all the way through, and chop it into bite-size pieces.
Next, halve the grapes and chop the cashews and celery. Combine the chicken, grapes, cashews, celery, salt, and curry powder in a large bowl.
Fold the mayonnaise into the chicken mixture with a spatula.
Now the chicken salad is ready to serve! You can serve it right away, or refrigerate it for up to 8 hours before serving.
Make it ahead
Chicken Salad with Grapes and Cashews is best served on the day that it’s made. If it sits too long in the refrigerator, it can get watery.
You can make it up to 8 hours in advance of serving. Store it, tightly covered, in the refrigerator until you’re ready to serve it.
Can I freeze chicken salad?
Chicken salad does not freeze well—the mayonnaise will separate as it defrosts, making the salad watery. Keep chicken salad in the refrigerator until you’re ready to enjoy it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Croissants, sourdough bread, and multigrain bread are all great choices for enjoying chicken salad.
If you purchase very small grapes, you don’t need to cut them in half. However, most grapes will need to be halved so they aren’t too large for the salad. To easily cut grapes in half, place them on a round plastic lid (such as from a Cool-Whip container), and place another round plastic lid on top. Hold your hand over the top lid to hold the grapes in place, and hold a sharp knife horizontally to slice the grapes in half between the lids.
Substitute an equal amount of low-fat mayonnaise for regular mayonnaise in any chicken salad recipe. It won’t be quite as rich, but it will still be delicious.
Yes! Just leave out the cashews if you prefer. Or, you can substitute another nut such as chopped almonds, pecans, or walnuts.
Chicken salad can sit out for 2–3 hours at room temperature. It will last several days in the refrigerator, but may start to get watery as the days go by.
Variations
Here are a few ideas to make it your own!
- Use red grapes or green grapes
- Replace the cashews with chopped almonds, walnuts, or pecans
- Use low-fat mayo or even Greek yogurt in place of the full-fat mayo
- Add a few sliced green onions to the salad
- Add 2 teaspoons of Dijon mustard to the mayo
Serving suggestions
A simple bed of green leaf lettuce is perfect for adding color to a chicken salad sandwich.
If you’d like, you can also add sliced tomatoes or thinly sliced red onion.
The chicken salad is best served on the day that it is made. The grapes can release liquid into the salad as it sits, making the salad watery after a day or two in the refrigerator.
More chicken salad recipes
- Hot Chicken Salad (topped with potato chips and melted cheese!)
- Chicken Salad in Puff Pastry Cups
Have you tried this recipe? Please leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating and/or comment below!
📖 Recipe
Chicken Salad with Grapes and Cashews
Ingredients
- 2 cups cooked and chopped chicken breast
- 3 stalks celery, finely chopped
- 2 cups green grapes, halved
- ¾ cup unsalted cashews, chopped
- 1¼ cup mayonnaise
- ¼ teaspoon curry powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- To serve: croissants, green leaf lettuce
Instructions
- Place the chicken, celery, grapes, cashews, curry powder, and salt in a large bowl. Toss to combine. Stir in the mayonnaise.
- Cut croissants in half lengthwise. Place a leaf of green leaf lettuce on the bottom of each croissant half and top with chicken salad. Place the remaining croissant half on top. Serve immediately.
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