Southern Style Chicken Salad Recipe with Grapes

Southern chicken salad recipe is made tea-room style with seedless red grapes, toasted pecans and cubed chicken breast. Serve it on croissants, a bed of lettuce, or your favorite bread.

Total time for the recipe to be finished.Total Time 45 minutes minutes

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Chicken salad sandwiches are a refreshing go-to on a hot summer day, with that perfect mix of creamy and crunchy textures and just the right balance of sweet and savory. It’s a versatile dish that works just as well for easy weekday meals as it does dressed up for tea parties, showers, or church potlucks. Some folks say you shouldn’t mess with a classic, and honestly, I agree—this easy chicken salad is made the real Southern way, the kind your mama and grandmama would nod in approval at. Want to switch things up? Try the Southern hot chicken salad—it’s a vintage favorite with a little extra sass.

🧾 Ingredients

A true, Southern-style chicken salad recipe only uses chopped white breast meat (not shredded.) I think this gives it the best flavor, perfect texture, and will earn you brownie points among all the traditionalists out there. However, if you'd prefer to use dark meat, it works and is a bit less expensive.

This classic recipe is best made with red grapes but green work, too.

When I owned a tearoom, the most popular bread for making a chicken salad sandwich was plain raisin bread! (Not cinnamon swirl.) I think it has something to do with the sweet combination of raisins and grapes.

📖 Recipe

Southern Chicken Salad Recipe

4.45 from 25 votes

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Southern chicken salad recipe is made tea-room style with seedless red grapes, toasted pecans and cubed chicken breast. Serve it on croissants, a bed of lettuce, or your favorite bread.

Course lunch

Cuisine Southern

Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes minutes

Cool: 15 minutes minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes minutes

Servings:6 servings

Calories:766

Author:Marye Audet-White

Ingredients

• ▢ 1 pound chicken breast
• ▢ 2 cups chicken stock
• ▢ 1 ½ cups seedless red grapes, About ½ pound. Halved and make sure they are the firm ones not the soft ones. Use green or black in a pinch.
• ▢ 1 cup celery, diced
• ▢ 1 cup pecans, chopped and toasted
• ▢ ½ cup green onions, sliced
• ▢ 1 cup mayonnaise
• ▢ ¼ cup sugar, or as desired
• ▢ 2 tablespoons whipping cream, more as needed
• ▢ Salt
• ▢ Freshly ground black pepper
• ▢ Smoked paprika to garnish
• ▢ 6 croissants, split in half

Instructions

• Simmer the chicken in the chicken stock until cooked through and tender.
• Remove the chicken from the stock and reserve the stock for another use.
• Cool for 10 to 15 minutes.
• Cube the cooked chicken and place in a bowl.
• Add the grapes, celery, pecans, and green onions.
• Stir gently.
• Mix the mayonnaise and 2 tablespoons of the sugar.
• Stir into the chicken mixture.
• Add the cream if needed to thin it out a little.
• Taste and add more sugar if you like it sweeter - I like mine a little sweet.
• Mix in the salt and pepper.
• Pile on the cut side of the bottom croissant.
• Sprinkle with smoked paprika.
• Top with the other half of the croissant.

Notes

Storage:

Leftover chicken salad is just as delicious as it is the first day! And, storing it is easy.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, or spoon the chicken salad into an airtight container. It'll keep in the fridge for four days before getting watery. (Plus, after that amount of time, the chicken will go bad.)

I don't recommend freezing it. There are too many components that just don't thaw well.

Tips

• One of the best ways to cook the chicken breast is to add a bunch of chicken breast and about 1 cup of chicken stock to a slow cooker and cook it on low for about 6 to 8 hours.
• Adjust the amount of sugar you use to your own taste.
• Toast the pecans in a 350F oven for about 5 minutes, stirring often and watching carefully.
• Make sure the grapes are the kind that are firm and sort of "pop" when you bite down on them.
• This is best if you let it chill in the fridge for an hour or so to let the flavors blend but you can eat it right away.
• You can use a store bought rotisserie chicken - just cube the breast meat and save the dark meat for another recipe.

You'll find more helpful tips and variations in the body of the post.

Nutrition Facts

Calories: 766kcal | Carbohydrates: 45g | Protein: 23g | Fat: 55g | Saturated Fat: 13g | Cholesterol: 109mg | Sodium: 608mg | Potassium: 560mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 22g | Vitamin A: 735IU | Vitamin C: 4.4mg | Calcium: 59mg | Iron: 2.2mg

Nutrition information is estimated as a courtesy. If using for medical purposes, please verify information using your own nutritional calculator. Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

This recipe has been tested several times. If you choose to use other ingredients, or change the technique in some way, the results may not be the same.

🔪 Instructions

1. Poach chicken in chicken broth until cooked. Let cool.
2. Whisk together the mayo, cream, sugar, paprika, salt, and black pepper.
3. In a large mixing bowl, toss the remaining ingredients.
4. Add the dressing to the bowl and stir everything together. Southern chicken salad needs to chill in the fridge until serving time.

🥫 How to store leftovers

Leftover chicken salad is just as delicious as it is the first day! And, storing it is easy.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, or spoon the chicken salad into an airtight container. It'll keep in the fridge for four days before getting watery. (Plus, after that amount of time, the chicken will go bad.)

I don't recommend freezing it. There are too many components that just don't thaw well.

💭 Things to know

Expert Tip: Taking chicken salad to a picnic? Wondering about the best way to keep it cold? Simply place the serving bowl into a larger bowl filled with ice. You could also use an insulated cooler if you have one.

• Cook the chicken in the crockpot—it'll be super tender and you don't have to fuss with the stove. Find instructions under the recipe card.
• "Sandwich" the grapes between two cutting boards or Tupperware lids, and apply pressure on top with one hand. Then, use your main hand to easily slice through all of the juicy grapes at once. Quick and easy!
• For the best chicken salad sandwich, choose sweeter bread. Buttery croissants, Hawaiian sweet rolls, or soft potato rolls are all great ways to complement the flavor. Whole grain bread works fine, too!
• Serve Southern chicken salad as a dip, spooned over a bed of lettuce. Don't forget an assortment of yummy crackers or bread slices!

👩‍🍳 FAQs

📖 Variations

This Southern chicken salad recipe is pretty much perfect, but if you get the urge to switch it up, here are some great options.

• Chicken breasts are the best, but you can use a store-bought rotisserie chicken if you need to. Just save the dark meat for another time or ALL the southern great-great-grannies are going to be rolling over in their graves.
• Some people like a bit of sweet pickle relish in their chicken salad. If you grew up eating it this way, don't let me stop ya now!
• We prefer green onion because the flavor is more subtle. You can swap it for diced sweet or red onion if that's your personal preference.
• It's not exactly a Southern-style chicken salad without pecans, but you can use toasted almonds, instead, if you have 'em in the pantry already.
• Garnish with fresh parsley if you're a fan of herbs.

📚 Related recipes

• Full of juicy apples and crunchy celery, Southern Tuna Salad tastes fabulous tucked into a lunch box or featured for an afternoon tea party.
• Deviled Ham Salad is a super versatile meal and hits the perfect notes of sweet and spicy. Serve it on rolls for lunch or as a party app—either way, it's a guaranteed hit!

🍽️ Serve with...

Chicken salad served on soft white bread, like this Amish white bread, is the perfect hot weather meal. I like to keep things easy by serving things like this cool summer fruit salad and some icy cold hibiscus lemonade.

Next time try this simple tomato sandwich!

✍🏻 A note from Marye...

This southern chicken salad is served in small tearooms and cafes all over Texas, usually piled high on flakey, buttery croissants and accompanied by goblets of icy cold sweet tea.

If you've always had the shredded dark meat chicken salad sandwich then honey, get your jaws ready because you are in for a treat!

To me there's nothing quite as fancy and a really good chicken salad sandwich made in the southern style.

Big pieces of cubed chicken breast, sweet red grapes, buttery, toasted pecans, and a little sugar in the mayonnaise.

Ok, maybe for some of you a lot of sugar in the mayonnaise - I like it sweet and I'm pretty sure that I put in twice the amount I'm telling you to put it.

The main thing is you can't use dark meat, you can't shred it, and dear Lord don't use salad dressing (Miracle Whip). It has to be mayo.

I love that there are certain ways to do things like taking meals to people when someone takes sick, or there's a new baby, or a death in the family.

I like that there are rules and boundaries - like not calling someone on the phone between 9 pm and 9 am, or holding doors for people, or taking off your hat when you enter a building.

And I like that ladies will argue at length about what should or should not be in a good southern chicken salad recipe.

It doesn't take very long before the "bless your hearts" and "her mama was always a bit... touched" start flying around.

And those are fighting words.

I like that little old ladies (which I am quickly becoming) will walk up to you in a dressing room and tell you that you look better in the red dress than in the blue one because the blue one makes you "look a mite puny, darlin".

I mean, I 'll take all the help I can get.

I love church potlucks where everyone brings what they are known for making.

It's where Southern women really compete, christian or not. They could have attended church that morning, shouted A-MEN to every reference to loving your neighbor but if there's a potluck these ladies in their hats and high heels will grit their teeth, clutch their pearls, and create perfection on a plate just to make sure it's the best one there.

If mental fight club was a thing you'd see it at those potlucks.

It can get fierce.

Now, you don't have to put on your fancy hat, fix your lipstick, or develop a drawl to enjoy this chicken salad sandwich but you might consider adding maybe a pitcher of tea and inviting someone over to share some great food and good fellowship.

Porch and rockers optional.

First published July 30, 2017. Last updated June 12, 2023 for better images and more information.