Classic Chicken Salad or Loaded with Mix-Ins? What’s Your Go-To?

[Charlotte Robert]

For those of you who make chicken salad regularly — do you prefer keeping it classic (just chicken, mayo, seasoning), or do you like adding mix-ins like grapes, apples, nuts, or fresh herbs?

I’ve noticed even small additions completely change the texture and flavor balance. Curious what combinations you all swear by — and what you absolutely avoid 👀🥗

[weinoo]

5 hours ago, Charlotte Robert said:

For those of you who make chicken salad regularly — do you prefer keeping it classic (just chicken, mayo, seasoning), or do you like adding mix-ins like grapes, apples, nuts, or fresh herbs?

I’ve noticed even small additions completely change the texture and flavor balance. Curious what combinations you all swear by — and what you absolutely avoid 👀🥗

 

This topic might help a little...

 

 

As might this one:

 

 

[Darienne]

Our take is chicken, mayo, green onions and celery, salt and pepper.  Period.  Oh, I chop the chicken finer than my husband does.

[lindag]

Dried cranberries (re-hydrated).

[BeeZee]

I lean towards curried chicken salad, with some finely chopped green apples, or honey-mustard-mayo with celery for crunch. Chicken being rather bland, I like the dressing to have some punch.

[blue_dolphin]

I have my personal “classic” tuna salad and egg salad, both just like my mom used to make. I rarely make chicken salad but when I do, it’s always something different, no “classic” there.
 

Restaurants in my area commonly offer a range of salads that can be “upgraded” with the addition of sliced, grilled chicken, steak or salmon.  That’s not what comes to my mind when I think of “chicken salad” but I guess they are. 

[Darienne]

1 hour ago, lindag said:

Dried cranberries (re-hydrated).

I'm going to try that next time.

 

[Tropicalsenior]

3 hours ago, BeeZee said:

Chicken being rather bland, I like the dressing to have some punch.

I feel the same way. Add-ins for me just don't give chicken salad enough flavor.

If it's poached chicken or rotisserie chicken I try to go with a very Tangy dressing but I prefer to prepare the chicken in a way that it has more flavor to begin with.

The other day I marinated finally diced raw chicken breast in soy sauce, hoisin sauce and rice wine vinegar. Sauteed it just until it was done and let it cool. Dressed with a light Sesame ginger dressing and used it on an arranged dinner salad. It was delicious.

[Tropicalsenior]

In one of the threads that Mitch gave us, someone mentioned putting boiled eggs in chicken salad. I like chicken and I like boiled eggs but I just can't see combining the two textures.

I much prefer homemade mayonnaise, especially for chicken salad, because you can customize it to your own taste. But it has a very short shelf life and I seem to throw away more than I use.

Every time I make a full batch it turns out perfectly. But whenever I try to make a half batch or a quarter batch I have a dismal failure.

Edited 17 hours ago by Tropicalsenior (log)

[Maison Rustique]

I almost never make it but I saw a recipe for it not long ago (did not save it) that had the usual mayo, onion, celery, but also had pimento and water chestnuts. I thought the water chestnuts sounded good for texture.

[dans]

I typically swap some of the mayo for sour cream to add a little tang. My wife liked it with cut up grapes and slivered almonds.

[Charlotte Robert]

On 2/13/2026 at 6:28 PM, weinoo said:

 

This topic might help a little...

 

 

As might this one:

 

 

 

 

Thanks so much, Mitch! I’ll dig into those threads — I had a feeling this topic had history 😄

It’s funny how something as “simple” as chicken salad can spark so many strong opinions. I’m looking forward to seeing what combinations people have experimented with over the years.

[Charlotte Robert]

On 2/13/2026 at 7:51 PM, Darienne said:

Our take is chicken, mayo, green onions and celery, salt and pepper.  Period.  Oh, I chop the chicken finer than my husband does.

I love the confidence in that “Period.” 😂

There’s something really comforting about a stripped-down, no-nonsense version. And I completely agree — how finely the chicken is chopped makes such a difference in texture. I think that alone can change the whole experience.

[Charlotte Robert]

1 hour ago, dans said:

I typically swap some of the mayo for sour cream to add a little tang. My wife liked it with cut up grapes and slivered almonds.

 

Nice swap — sour cream would add just the right tang.

Grapes and slivered almonds are such a great sweet-and-crunch combo too.

[MaryIsobel]

I used to frequent a sandwich shop whose chicken salad was mayo and sour cream 50/50, diced chicken, celery, cashews, all diced fairly small seasoned lightly with curry powder - it was habit forming!