Greek Yogurt Chicken Salad
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Greek Yogurt Chicken Salad is the perfect healthy meal. Made with no mayo, high in protein, low fat and low carb. Great for weight loss, easy & yummy! Keep it keto with no fruit, or make it with apples! You can serve it on a sandwich or a salad.
If you’re like me and you hate mayo – you’re going to love this greek yogurt chicken salad. It’s everything you love about regular salad (creamy/crunchy/yummy!) but better for you!
I’m not a mayo girlie (sorry if you love it!) so I previously never really ate chicken salad. Now that I know you can make it with greek yogurt, I meal prep it almost every week!
This healthy chicken salad is protein packed, delicious and super easy to make (use a rotisserie chicken to save time!)
Here’s why we like it:
Why you’ll love this recipe:
- No mayo – Like I said before.. mayo is just not for me. Plus, it’s relatively high in fat and offers little to no nutrition value. Greek yogurt is higher in protein, low fat and low calorie
- Low fat/high protein – Greek yogurt helps to make this chicken salad low in fat and high in protein. In 3/4 cup there are 24g of protein and only 9g of fat which comes from the pecans. You can omit them if you’re looking for less fat!
- Great texture – This chicken has a mix of crunchy pecans, apples and celery, with the creamy yogurt and chunks of moist chicken breast. Lots of good texture!
- Light and fresh! – This chicken salad is super filling while tasting really light and fresh!
This greek yogurt chicken salad is also really versatile in terms of how you serve it. Sandwich, salad, lettuce wrap.. you can choose! Let me show you how simple it is to make!
Ingredients for this recipe
To make this greek yogurt chicken salad you’ll need:
- shredded chicken – you can cook it yourself and make crockpot shredded chicken, instant pot shredded chicken, or buy rotisserie chicken!
- non fat plain greek yogurt – full fat yogurt works too
- apples – we like it with dried cranberries too
- celery
- pecans are totally optional but add a nice crunch!
- salt, pepper
- fresh parsley
This healthy chicken salad is pretty easy to customize/substitute your ingredients, so check below in the green box for ideas on how to make it just the way you like!
If you like buffalo sauce, you need to try our Buffalo Chicken Salad!
Substitutions
This chicken salad is SO versatile. You can easily customize it with whatever you like/don’t like or have on hand. Here are some ideas for you:
Chicken – You can sub chicken for tuna if you’d like. We also have a Greek Yogurt Tuna Salad recipeI have not tried canned chicken in this recipe but I think it would work. You can use a rotisserie chicken that you shred to save time!
Yogurt – I like to use plain, unflavored, non-fat greek yogurt in this recipe. You can use 1%, 2%, or full fat yogurt if you like. We don’t recommend using a flavored/sweetened yogurt in this recipe.
Parsley- If you don’t have fresh parsley, you can sub with 1/4 teaspoon dried parsley. If you don’t have or like parsley you can substitute with some fresh dill, thyme or even basil! Fresh herbs do make a difference, but this chicken salad is still good even with dried herbs!
Dairy Free – I have not tried this with dairy free yogurt, but I think it would work. Make sure that your yogurt is unsweetened, plan yogurt.
Grilled Chicken – This salad is great with leftover grilled chicken. We love it with this balsamic chicken!
Fruit- You can omit the fruit if you’d like to. Apples can also be subbed for grapes or berries. If you’re going to use a dried fruit like raisins or dried cranberries – I’d recommend cutting the amount in half.
Celery– If you don’t like or don’t have celery omit it. You can also substitute with red onion.
To make lower calorie- You can omit the amount of pecans or cut back on the amount to save calories.
Keto – If you are following a strict keto diet – it’s best to omit the apples from this recipe.
Honey – If you want a hint of sweetness, add a teaspoon of honey or maple syrup
Mustard – 1-2 teaspoons of mustard is a delicious add in!
Pecans – Feel free to omit or substitute with your favorite nut. Some people like shaved almonds in their chicken salad.
Everything Bagel Seasoning – If you are a fan of everything bagel seasoning, try our Everything Bagel Chicken Salad!
Taco – For a Mexican flavor, try our Taco Chicken Salad.
How to make Chicken Salad with Greek Yogurt
Making chicken salad is REALLY easy.
- Cook your chicken and shred. There are instructions below to make it in the instant pot, crockpot, or the stove.
- While the chicken cooks, chop your veggies/nuts.
- Stir all the ingredients together in a bowl.
- Enjoy in a sandwich, on a salad or right out of the bowl!
How to make Shredded Chicken:
The only ‘cooking’ this recipe requires is for the chicken. You can cook your chicken in instant pot, crockpot, or by boiling on stove top. Even better – buy rotisserie chicken to save time! Here are different methods for cooking your chicken:
Instant Pot: Cook 1 lb chicken with ¼ cup water on manual for 14 minutes. You can also follow this instant pot shredded chicken recipe if you need help
Crockpot: Cook 1 lb chicken with ¼ cup water on low for 6 hours. You can also follow this crock pot shredded chicken recipe if you need help
Stovetop: Boil 1 lb of chicken in water for 10-14 minutes until thoroughly cooked
Rotisserie chicken : Simply buy a cooked chicken and pull the meat off with forks to save time! (Make sure to save the bones and make bone broth with it!)
Tip for shredding chicken: You can pull apart chicken breasts with two forks – but if you want to save time – place your cooked chicken breasts in your kitchen aid mixer and give a few quick turns with the paddle attachment. You can also ‘mix’ them with the beaters of a hand mixer.
Storage
This healthy chicken salad is great for meal prep because it lasts for a while in the fridge!
How long does chicken salad with yogurt last in the fridge? : You can keep this chicken salad in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 4 days. After that it will lose it’s freshness.
Can you freeze chicken salad? We do not recommend freezing this chicken salad. The fruit/yogurt will get funny after freezing.
Will it be okay out of the fridge in a lunch box/on the go? Because this has cooked chicken in it and dairy, we wouldn’t recommend leaving it out of the fridge for more than 2 hours.
How to Serve Healthy Chicken Salad
You can serve this chicken salad however you like! We like it:
- on a sandwich or a strawberry goat cheese salad with a healthy salad dressing or some chips on the side
- on top of apple slices
- in lettuce wraps
- as a healthy ‘dip’
- with Simple Fruit Salad
FAQ for Low Calorie Chicken Salad
Greek yogurt can be used instead of mayonnaise pretty much interchangeably. It’s great in baked goods, savory recipes and especially chicken salad.
Greek yogurt is better for you than mayo. It’s higher in protein, lower in calories, and lower in fat!
The easiest way to make greek yogurt taste like mayo is to add a little bit of fat to it, or buy a higher fat greek yogurt. Adding a little olive oil to your greek yogurt will help thin it out and give it a similar ‘mouth feel’ to mayo.
Chicken salad really isn’t bad for you, but it could easily be made healthier with a few swaps. Using greek yogurt in place of mayo considerably cuts down on the fat content. Using chicken breasts/lean meat instead of dark meat can also help make chicken salad better for you!
Love chicken? Check out our favorite healthy chicken breast recipes!
Greek Yogurt Chicken Salad
Ingredients
- 2.5 cups cooked shredded chicken about 1 lb
- 1/2 cup plain nonfat greek yogurt
- 1 tablespoon fresh parsley chopped finely
- 1/2 cup celery diced finely
- 1 cup apples chopped
- 1/4 cup pecans chopped
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Cook chicken. Bring a pot of water to a boil and boil chicken for 10-14 minutes. You can also cook chicken in the instant pot, crockpot or buy a rotisserie chicken and shred it.
- While chicken is cooking, chop parsley, celery, apples and pecans.
- Once chicken is cooked, shred the chicken by pulling apart with 2 forks.
- Add chopped ingredients, spices, greek yogurt and shredded chicken in a bowl.
- Toss together using a spatula until all ingredients are thoroughly coated with yogurt.
- Serve on a sandwich or over a salad.
Thanks for the terrific addition to my favorite salad recipes! The pairing of Greek yogurt and chicken is perfect. The apples, celery and pecans (lightly toasted) create a perfect balance of flavor and texture. Great with lettuce and tomatoes. Jim
This is the best chicken salad recipe! So easy and good and the best part is that you’ll have it for lunch / dinner for a few days! I’m currently obsessed.
Just made this again. So yummy every time!
SO GOOD!!!
Sooooo delicious and fresh! I put mine in a spinach wrap, it was awesome!!
Came out tasting delicious, using for meal planning for work. Thanks for this recipe!
Surprisingly a pretty good recipe! I’m not a huge chicken salad fan but wanted something I could easily meal prep for lunches for the week. It’s so light which I loved and I love Greek yogurt so this was a fun recipe! Plus my picky eater sister loved it for the additional protein!
I always use Greek yogurt as a substitute for mayo (I don’t even like mayo.) My secret is to add a little olive oil along with the spices. I never thought of adding mustard but it’s a good idea! I always use full fat yogurt as well. Fage is my favorite brand.
I will be trying this recipe soon.
Hope you love it!
Love this, so tasty and quick. I omit the celery and serve the salad on the large ribs of celery instead of breads.
I made a batch of your chicken salad yesterday on a whim since I had all the ingredients on hand. I swapped out the pecans for slivered almonds.
Wow. This was so easy and scrumptious. I have a nice big batch of it to eat this week. Thank you so much for all your recipes and useful content that you provide on Instagram.
I have made this many times. I have also given it to a friend who is going through chemo. Everyone I have served it to has loved it. It’s easy to make, healthy and tastes great! I love the different textures as well.
This recipe is delish !!! It was so good, I had it for breakfast , lunch, and dinner. Different twist with the apples, since I’ve usually done grapes. Ill make again!!