Make this Easy Roasted Chicken Salad Recipe from Our Kitchen

No apples, no cranberries etc…this is not your granny’s classic chicken salad recipe! Enjoy the Farmhouse 181 take on a roasted chicken salad recipe.

I love a good chicken salad y’all…or egg salad, or even tuna salad, but I have to admit that I am a little picky about it! A more traditional chicken salad recipe or one that has sweet things in it like apples, cranberries, or grapes, just does not do it for me. I don’t mind eating it, but I don’t just love it. And we definitely don’t turn our nose up to canned chicken around here, but once you have had a roasted chicken salad, I’m confident you will never want to go back.

Eat this chicken salad for lunch in lettuce wraps, tortillas, crackers, chips, or put on bread for a perfect homemade chicken salad sandwich! However you eat it, this might become your favorite chicken salad recipe that you make time and time and time again for your weekly lunch meal prep!

See full recipe card for our Roasted Chicken Salad Recipe at the bottom of the page with detailed ingredients list and full step-by-step instructions. Print to save in your cookbook binder or bookmark this page!

Why I love this Easy Roasted Chicken Salad Recipe

• It’s chicken salad with a southern savory flavor!
• This is such an easy meal, even if you make your own roasted chicken. 
• You can make this chicken salad with a store-bought rotisserie chicken if you are super short on time
• Made with simple ingredients and I have them on hand in my kitchen all the time
• I like to fix extra roasted chicken with my sheet pan chicken meal then just use the leftover roast chicken
• You can use any roast chicken you’d like. I have made with leftover wing bits, chicken breast, chicken thighs, and a roasted whole chicken
• It’s a great way to utilize and eat any leftover chicken 
• Mayo in this chicken salad might not be “the best” for you, but it is better than a fast food run for lunch!

Ingredients Needed for this Roasted Chicken Salad Recipe

• Roasted Chicken
• Real Mayonnaise
• Mustard
• White Vinegar
• Pickles
• Garlic Powder
• Onion Powder
• Paprika
• Salt
• Black Pepper
• Boiled Eggs, if desired
• Chopped Fresh Onion or Green Onions or Red Onion, if desired

Substitutions and Variations

This is a chicken salad y’all. If you don’t like something, leave it out. If you do, then put it in. No need for us to overcomplicate such a simple lunch recipe. The possibilities are endless. Bell Pepper, pickled onions, celery…you name it, you can try it. But this roasted chicken salad recipe is how we love to eat ours!

If you don’t want to make your own chicken, use your grocery stores rotisserie chicken. You can use any kind of chicken meat you like. Either light or dark meat are fine for this recipe.

Instructions for Roasted Chicken Salad Recipe

Roasting Your Chicken

Roast your own chicken, or use a leftover rotisserie chicken for this recipe. I prefer to use a whole chicken when I make it. This way you get a mix of white meat and dark meat. I usually get about 2 lbs of meat off of a whole roasted chicken. You can have roasted chicken for dinner one night, then make the chicken salad with the leftovers, or just use the whole amount of chicken meat and make a double batch. 

Here I roasted a whole chicken, uncovered in my dutch oven at 400 degrees. The chicken was about 4lbs and I cooked it for an hour and a half.

Before roasting, I patted the whole chicken dry including the cavity. Then rubbed it down with our Farmhouse 181 No Sage Poultry Seasoning. I coated the skin on the outside, separated the skin on the breast and put the seasoning under the skin, and rubbed the seasoning inside the cavity. Quarter up an onion and insert it in the chicken cavity. Then place the chicken breast side up in my dutch oven. 

Instead of tying the legs together to close off the cavity, I made slits in the excess fat near the cavity opening on each side. Then poked the opposite side leg through. Chicken was baked in the oven for about 90 minutes…I didn’t touch it in between.

If I had been making this roasted chicken for our meal, as well, and not just for this chicken salad, I would have also put butter or olive oil under and on the breast skin prior to roasting.

If you want to be even more hands off when cooking your chicken, throw it in your slow cooker or instant pot. 

When your chicken is done roasting, let it cool until it is cool enough to handle. Slice and pick the meat off of your whole roasted chicken. 

Making the Roasted Chicken Salad

Once the meat is all off, chop the cooked chicken into smaller pieces on your cutting board, or a plate. Transfer your chicken to a medium size bowl. 

To your bowl, add all of your ingredients except salt and pickles. Add these to taste. Stir until you chicken salad is well combined.

ATTENTION!!! While this chicken salad is good to eat right after making, it is THE BEST after it has sat in the refrigerator for a couple of hours. The way the creamy mayo blends with the spices is wonderful!

Store chicken salad in an airtight container in the refrigerator and enjoy this easy chicken salad all week long for an easy prepped lunch or a quick weeknight meal! 

Other Recipe Recommendations

I hope you loved this Roasted Chicken Salad Recipe and it was a nice addition to your weekly meal planning! Are you new to home cooking for your family and need some simple main course recipes to get you going? Here are a few more recipe’s you might like to try from Farmhouse 181!

• One Pan Roasted Chicken and Vegetables with Legs or Thighs – Farmhouse 181
• Best Classic Southern Meatloaf Recipe with Crackers – Farmhouse 181
• Easy Taco Soup Recipe with Rotel (Instant Pot or Crock Pot) – Farmhouse 181

Your family will be so grateful of the effort you put forth inside your home. Even if they forget to tell you…wink wink! Sometimes it’s a thankless job, but caring for our families is the job we have been called to by our Creator and it’s a job worthy off our effort…but no perfection necessary!