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This Strawberry Pecan Chicken Salad with poppyseeds is a delicious salad with all the flavor and crunch. Only about 10 minutes to prep! Crisp celery, pecans and poppy seeds give this simple chicken salad a fun twist on the traditional chicken salad recipe.
Table of Contents
- Why You Will Love This Strawberry Pecan Chicken Salad:
- Recipe Ingredients and Substitutions:
- How to make this recipe:
- Recipe Tips:
- Strawberry Pecan Chicken Salad Storage Instructions:
- How to Serve This Strawberry Chicken Salad:
- Other Salads To Try:
- Strawberry Pecan Poppy Seed Chicken Salad Recipe
- Shop This Post:
This recipe was originally published June 2018 and copy was updated to include process photos and updated copy.
Summer time means a lot of things but in the kitchen it means a whole lot of berries to me! And I love all the berries in my chicken salad!
I love grabbing a rotisserie chicken because in our house that always means leftovers. This crunchy strawberry pecan chicken salad is my repeat recipe all summer. ( But if it’s soup weather, then all my rotisserie chickens are going into this Chicken Noodle Soup 100%!)
Any recipe that allows me to use up leftover food is a hit. I like to use up every last morsel in the fridge if I can! Less food waste is best!
Fresh and crunchy–that is where it’s at with this one!
Why You Will Love This Strawberry Pecan Chicken Salad:
- Only 10 minutes to prepare. Chop up a few ingredients, shred your chicken and stir all the ingredients together. Not much to this strawberry chicken salad–it will probably take more time gathering the ingredients than actually making the recipe!
- Full of crunch. If you love crunch, this chicken salad is for you! Pecans, celery, poppy seeds–just the right amount of crispy crunch that you will love.
- A great way to use up leftover chicken. The thing I love most about this recipe is that it is a great way to reduce food waste. I don’t like eating the same old chicken every night, so using up the grilled chicken or leftover rotisserie chicken to make this salad allows another day out of it but in a whole different way!
- Great for your weekly meal prep! This salad is great to munch on throughout the week. It will keep in the fridge for up to 5 days so you can make it a sandwich, eat it on crackers, and more after making it early in the week.
Recipe Ingredients and Substitutions:
- chicken: rotisserie chicken is our preference but any chicken that can easily be shredded will work. Leftover chicken is great as long as it is not seasoned in a way that may not work with these flavors.
- celery: a touch for crunch
- strawberries: fresh strawberries, not frozen. The berries are best added just before serving if you are not eating this strawberry chicken salad until the following day as the red color really bleeds into the salad. If that doesn’t bother you, add them when you make it.
- onion: green onion, very thinly sliced. Red onion is also a good option, but go light, very thin diced and only about 1-2 tablespoons.
- pecans: raw pecans or unsalted roasted for best results. You can lightly toast the pecans if desired.
- poppy seeds: these add great crunch and a light nutty flavor. Grab them in the spice aisle at the grocery!
- mayo: your favorite mayonnaise will work great–lots of arguments over Miracle Whip in my house growing up, but classic mayo is my preference.
- Greek yogurt: I prefer the full fat for all the flavor and tang. You can also use sour cream if you don’t have any yogurt on hand. Extra mayo is another option
- dijon mustard: this adds just the right amount of flavor to the chicken salad. If you don’t have any dijon mustard, a bit of ground mustard can still add a touch of the flavor you may get from the dijon.
- lemon juice: freshly squeezed is ideal but you can use the bottled stuff if needed
- salt/pepper: you can really add these to taste!
I always have just about all of this in the house other than chicken. So when I grab the chicken–I already know the plan!
How to make this recipe:
- Add the chicken, poppy seeds, celery, pecans, pepper, and onion into a mixing bowl. Toss to combine. (steps 1 and 2)
- Add in the mayo, dijon mustard, Greek yogurt and lemon juice. Stir to combine. If you don’t have Greek yogurt, it is fine to just use all mayo. I love the extra tang you get from the Greek yogurt personally. I would not recommend skipping the dijon mustard though. (step 3 and 4)
- Fold in the strawberries. Enjoy right away or chill for about 30 minutes to allow the flavor to really kick in. If you aren’t serving this rotisserie chicken salad within the hour or so, I suggest holding off on the strawberries until serving. (steps 5 and 6)
Recipe Tips:
- Wait on adding the strawberries if you are not serving this salad until the next day. If you don’t plan on serving this until the next day or quite a bit of time after you make it, hold off on tossing the strawberries in until about 10-15 minutes before serving as the red bleeds into the salad and they really lose color. If you don’t mind, then add them!
- Other possible add-ins: sliced almonds, sunflower seeds, chickpeas, raisins, craisins, chopped boiled eggs, grapes and more!
Strawberry Pecan Chicken Salad Storage Instructions:
To store this strawberry chicken salad, add to an airtight container and refrigerate for about 3-5 days. If the salad dries out a little when in the refrigerator, stir in a tablespoon or so of mayonnaise before serving.
Freezing is not recommended as the texture and consistency of the mayo isn’t quite the same after thawing.
How to Serve This Strawberry Chicken Salad:
- Crackers! That’s one of my musts when it comes to a good chicken salad.
- Toss this pecan chicken salad on some toast and you have got a nice sandwich with all the more crunch.
- Add some color by adding the chicken salad to lettuce wraps.
- Add it on top of a big salad.
- Eat it straight from a spoon–no extra anything required!
Other Salads To Try:
- Ramen Cabbage Salad
- Tortellini Caprese Salad
- Simple Pasta Salad with Grilled Lemon Garlic Zucchini
- Strawberry Arugula Goat Cheese Salad with Pretzel Crusted Chicken
- Simple Mayo-Free Egg Salad
- Chickpea Avocado Salad
- Caprese Farro Salad
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Strawberry Pecan Poppy Seed Chicken Salad
Ingredients
- 2 c shredded chicken
- 2 celery stalks, chopped into 1/4 in. pieces
- 1 green onion, chopped thin
- 5-6 large strawberries, diced
- ⅓ c chopped pecans
- ¼ c mayonnaise
- 2 T Greek yogurt, plain
- 1 tsp dijon mustard
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 1 T poppy seeds
- ½ tsp pepper
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Cut and chop ingredients accordingly.
- In a mixing bowl, add all the ingredients except the strawberries. Stir to combine and evenly coat. Add more mayo or yogurt to adjust to desired consistency.
- Fold in strawberries–or you can wait until just before serving to add the strawberries if serving at a later time.
- You can serve this salad immediately or chill for about 10-20 minutes before serving.
Notes
- Store leftovers in an airtight container for 3-5 days.
- Wait on adding the strawberries if you are not serving this salad until the next day. If you don’t plan on serving this until the next day or quite a bit of time after you make it, hold off on tossing the strawberries in until about 10-15 minutes before serving as the red bleeds into the salad and they really lose color. If you don’t mind, then add them!
- Other possible add-ins: sliced almonds, sunflower seeds, chickpeas, raisins, craisins, chopped boiled eggs, grapes and more!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Amazing
Love to hear this so much!
I am not creative in the kitchen at all. This recipe sounds delicious, but we have a bit allergy in our family. What would you recommend as a substitute?
Hi! I’m assuming that was nut allergy?? Gotta love autocorrect. If that’s the case, you could skip the pecans all together, or you could add some crunchy sunflower seeds even. Let me know if it was something else!
For some reason I can’t pin this. I’ve tried different browsers, using the widget on the side, the widget on the picture, and the browser app button. They all say something’s gone wrong. I tried when this initially came out and today. No change.
Hi Sherwood! I am having the same issue for some reason as well. I am working with my web people to see if they can figure out the issue. I will keep you posted!
Figured I hadn’t tried in a while, so I gave it another go. Finally got it!
So so so happy to hear! Thanks for letting me now!
This looks soooo yummy!!! Saving the recipe!
Hope you love it Jillian! It’s turned into a big hit around here!
That is too funny! I love mayo but I know people who don’t like it and prefer Miracle Whip. I enjoy both, depending on what I am eating it with. This recipe looks great, I need new ideas to liven up my chicken salad.
I know, crazy right??
Looks delicious! I never thought to take this twist to chicken salad!
I was quite pleasantly surprised! Thanks!
What’s better than fruit in chicken salad!? I love the touch of dijon here and those poppy seeds! Can’t wait to add this to my summer lunch menu!
It’s perfect for summer!
I don’t buy into the whole this isn’t good for you type of thing anymore. There are so many different foods that have been bad for a person over the years just silly. We like our mayo and will enjoy it all summer and year long.
I love your outlook Candy! ❤️
Yummm – This looks like a real deli style sandwich. I love mayo so I won’t have any mayo issues. I have my family coming to stay this weekend and I think this will be a great filling for the couple of lunches i will have to prepare! I will go and get a beautiful loaf of sourdough and it will be a super lush meal.
This will be perfect on sourdough!!!