Easy Chicken Salad Recipe –
Simple, Delicious & Versatile!

Chicken salad is one of the most versatile recipes you can make—perfect as a sandwich filler, a scoop over greens, or even a quick snack with crackers.

✅ Quick Answer: How do you make a simple chicken salad?
To make chicken salad, combine cooked chicken with mayonnaise, sour cream, and seasonings, then stir in fresh or rehydrated veggies like celery and onion. Chill before serving on bread, over greens, or with crackers for a quick, tasty meal.

This version uses simple pantry staples and works beautifully with either dehydrated or fresh veggies. You’ll love how creamy, flavorful, and adaptable it is to whatever you have on hand.

Chicken Salad on a freshly baked bun

This is how I made our bread for this tasty concoction, using this very simple recipe. It's also good served as a scoop atop a regular green salad.

Coming up: The ingredients and how to make a tasty quick chicken salad meal!

Top of Recipe

Chicken Salad Recipe

Enjoy as a Side, or as a Bun Filler!

Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon dehydrated celery
  • 1/2 tablespoon dehydrated red onion
  • 1/2 of a 12.5 oz. can of canned cooked chicken breast
  • 2 tablespoons real Mayonnaise
  • 3 tablespoons regular or reduced-fat sour cream
  • 3 tablespoons ricotta cheese
  • 1/2 - 1 teaspoon prepared yellow mustard (optional) 
  • salt and ground black pepper to taste

Instructions

  1. Use clean cold water to rehydrate the celery and red onion.
  2. When plump, put in a medium-sized glass bowl, add the mayonnaise, sour cream, ricotta cheese, and mustard—mix together well.
  3. Add the chicken, crumbling it a bit as you go, squeezing out any excess liquid. Stir ingredients to mix in the chicken.
  4. Place in an airtight tub in the fridge to chill.

Nutrition Information

  • Servings: 8 servings
  • Calories: 86kcals
  • Fat: 4.6g
  • Protein: 9.7g
  • Carbohydrates: 0.9g
Bottom of Recipe

Want to Use Fresh Ingredients?

If you want to use fresh ingredients that you may have on hand, do this:

Happy female eating her chicken salad on a bun

Exchange the dry ingredients in the recipe, above, for these fresh ingredients listed below!

  • 3 tablespoons of finely diced/chopped celery
  • 1/8 of a red onion, peeled and finely diced
Making chicken salad with canned chicken, mayo, and fresh celeryMaking chicken salad with canned chicken, mayo, and fresh celery.

In the above image, I used a can of Walmart's Great Value chunk chicken breast (don't knock it 'til you've tried it!), along with roughly four tablespoons of mayonnaise.

I have around two ounces of chopped fresh celery in there too. (I added finely diced red onion after that photo was taken).

Mix well, add a bit of salt and pepper to taste.

12 Veggie Add-Ins to Take Your Chicken Salad Up a Notch

Here are some other tasty veggie options to add to chicken salad too:

Carrots
Shredded or finely diced carrots add crunch and sweetness. Use regular raw carrots or dehydrate them.
Bell peppers
Diced red, yellow, or orange peppers add flavor, texture, and color.
Radishes
Thinly sliced radishes add peppery flavor and crunch.
Cucumbers
Diced cucumbers are refreshing and add moisture. English or Persian work well.
Snap peas
Slice snap peas thinly on the bias for sweet crunch.
Roasted red peppers
Diced roasted peppers add concentrated flavor.
Sun-dried tomatoes
Chop rehydrated sun-dried tomatoes for a meaty, umami taste.
Celery seed
Add celery flavor without the bulk.
Pickles
Finely chopped dill or sweet pickles add tang.
Green onions
Thinly sliced green onions provide flavor.
Capers
Chopped capers contribute briny flavor.
Water chestnuts
Diced water chestnuts add extra crunch.

A combination of any of these vegetables adds more flavor, texture, color, and nutrients to any plain chicken salad!


How to Make EASY MEALS with Dried Food

20 Taste-Tested Easy Recipes eBook or Paperback

20 Taste-Tested Easy Recipes

Containing dehydrated food... that even your kids and spouse will eat!

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Fresh food ingredient amounts are included for when you have fresh food on hand.
See which recipes are included here.


Why Canned Chicken Makes This Salad Extra Easy

What makes this an easy recipe is the convenience of canned pre-cooked chicken. These cans of chicken last for years (don't forget to check the date stamp on the can!) and are a great stand-in for fresh chicken.

Serve your chicken salad on this fantastic Fresh Bread (click for recipe!)

Out of Chicken? Try This Easy Tuna Salad Instead

If you have a couple of spare cans of tuna lying around, then try our tasty tuna salad too! The tuna salad is also breeze to make.

We have another recipe from John, AKA "Grandpa Yogi" over in the UK, and he calls his recipe "Tuna Pasta Bake," and as you might have guessed, it contains tuna and pasta, with the addition of crème fraîche, and mushrooms. Please, check out his mouthwatering recipe here for Tuna Pasta Bake. Wow, I'm so hungry right now...

Speaking of another tuna recipe, check out my Tasty Tuna Fish Soup here.

Whenever tuna and chicken cans go on sale, you bet I stock up on them, and so should you—put it away at today's prices, because you don't know how much more they will cost next week or next month.

I visit our local Sam's Club or BJ's Club and pick up 'chicken towers' or 'tuna towers'. They're priced right. When a trip to the big box stores is inconvenient, I'll look out for buy-one-get-one's at our local grocery store (Publix).

But hey, with the advent of Big-Box store delivery, let them deliver and do the heavy-lifting! (I love Walmart's delivery service - Bernice - you go girl!)

Dehydrating Onions: What You Need to Know (and Why Dogs Can’t Have Them)

When you visit our "How to dehydrate onions" page, you'll see this warning:

Air Ventilation Warning
How to Keep Your Kitchen (and Pets)
Safe from Onion Odor

You may also wish to have your windows OPEN or put the A/C on
while you're dehydrating onions or garlic... as the powerful odor
can certainly circulate throughout the entire house!

If you ABSOLUTELY LOVE onions and garlic,
it's not such a bad thing, but if you don't...
just sayin'!

Air Ventilation
Warning
How to Keep Your Kitchen
(and Pets) Safe from Onion Odor

You may also wish to have your
windows OPEN or put the A/C on
while you're dehydrating onions or
garlic... as the powerful odor
can certainly circulate throughout
the entire house!

If you ABSOLUTELY LOVE onions
 & garlic, it's not such a bad thing,
but if you don't... just sayin'!

When you're busy dehydrating onions, it's not just about the aroma filling the house. Did you know that onions are poisonous to dogs?

Here's why:

  • Onions contain a compound called thiosulfate, which is toxic to dogs. Thiosulfate causes oxidative damage to red blood cells, leading to hemolytic anemia.
  • Onions also contain another compound called N-propyl disulfide, which can disrupt the metabolism of dogs and cats. This leads to a condition called Heinz body anemia.
  • The sulfur compounds in onions bind to canine hemoglobin molecules in red blood cells. This causes the red blood cells to rupture or burst.
  • Dogs lack the enzyme pathway that allows humans to digest onions safely. So onions remain in dog's bodies and continue to damage their red blood cells.
  • All forms of onions are toxic to dogs - raw, cooked, or powdered. The toxicity appears to be dose-dependent, so larger quantities are more dangerous.
  • Onion toxicity can cause these symptoms: vomiting, diarrhea, weakness, pale gums, elevated heart rate, and breathing difficulties in dogs. It can take 3-5 days after ingestion for signs to appear.
  • Some breeds like Japanese breeds (Akita, Shiba Inu) may be more susceptible to onion toxicity. So please DO NOT FEED any onions to dogs.

Garlic and Dogs: Why You Should Be Careful

Pretty much the same warning about onions applies to garlic. It, too, sounds the alarm. Though a small amount of garlic is unlikely to cause problems in most dogs, just know that their systems don't process garlic efficiently.

Chicken Salad Questions Answered

How long does homemade chicken salad last in the fridge?

Homemade chicken salad lasts 3–4 days when stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Always keep it chilled and discard if it develops an off smell or watery texture.

Can you freeze chicken salad?

It’s not recommended to freeze chicken salad with mayo or sour cream because the texture separates. Instead, freeze just the cooked chicken and add the dressing fresh when ready to serve.

What can I substitute for mayonnaise in chicken salad?

Try Greek yogurt, mashed avocado, or hummus as lighter alternatives. Each adds creaminess with a different flavor twist.

What goes best with chicken salad?

Chicken salad pairs perfectly with fresh bread, crackers, lettuce wraps, or as a topping over leafy green salads. Add fruit like grapes or apple chunks for a sweet crunch.

Chicken salad is a recipe you can always count on—easy, flavorful, and endlessly adaptable whether you’re using fresh, canned, or dehydrated ingredients.

And if you’d like even more ways to turn dried foods into delicious meals, be sure to grab your free 5 Dried Food Recipes You’ll Actually Love PDF below. It includes family favorites like carrot soup, minestrone soup, split pea soup, spicy beef jerky, and even banana cinnamon rolls!

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