Cranberry Chicken Salad

This Cranberry Chicken Salad is a simple homemade recipe with the sweetness and tartness of cranberries. A great use for leftover or rotisserie chicken or leftover turkey.

I cook a lot for this blog and also for the love of cooking. And it is common that I end up with too much food.

So I love to cook for others and give care packages for them to take home.

That is how this Cranberry Chicken Salad started.

It was intended to be gifted to someone.

But once I had my in house taste tester try it out, there was NO way the Chicken Cranberry Salad would be leaving the house.

A good problem to have, I suppose.

I love recipes like this chicken salad because they serve as a great recipe to twist and modify as you like!

(You should probably also head over to my Leftover Turkey Apple Salad as well!)

It is absolutely delicious as is, but very flexible and forgiving.

Want more celery? Go for it!

Prefer shredded chicken? Not a problem!

Want a lot of chopped pecans? Sounds great!

Make the recipe, taste, and modify as you want to make it just perfect for you.

I made this into a Cranberry Pecan Chicken Salad because I love the texture of nuts.

You can also make it a Cranberry Walnut Chicken Salad.

Or just skip the nuts altogether if preferred.

Pecans are a little sweeter than walnuts but they both work beautifully in this recipe.

Chicken Options

Leftover chicken, or even rotisserie chicken, are both great options for this Chicken Cranberry Salad.

And if you happen to be near the holidays, it is also a great leftover turkey recipe!

Any chicken that has a somewhat neutral flavor profile will be great. Flavors like herbs, garlic, and lemon will work very well.

Chop it into your preferred size chunks. I like to leave them a little on the larger size.

You can cut the chicken as small as you like, or even shred it. You just might need more of the

How to Serve this Cranberry Chicken Salad Recipe

There are so many ways that you can enjoy this recipe for cranberry chicken salad.

One of my favorites is to toast up some wheat bread, add a layer of mayonnaise, some lettuce, and a LOT of the chicken salad.

Add some cheese, melt it under a broiler, and you have a chicken melt sandwich.

It is also great inside of a wrap or on a big bed of lettuce.

And of course, you can always just eat it straight!