Recipe

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This canned chicken salad turns this pantry staple into a high-protein, flavor-packed meal you’ll actually look forward to eating. Use it for sandwiches, wraps, or eat it as is with crackers.

This recipe proves that you can make a delicious and totally satisfying chicken salad with canned chicken.

Flavorful Chicken Salad with Canned Chicken

I used to think of canned chicken as “emergency food” and would not understand why my husband bought the multi-pack from Sam’s on repeat. That changed when I took his pantry staple for a spin and made an epic canned chicken salad.

It’s a little creamy, tastes fresh, with that crave-worthy crunch found in an epic chicken salad. The best part is that it feels as if you cooked the chicken for salad yourself!

Is Canned Chicken Salad Healthy?

While slightly higher in sodium than when you cook the chicken for salad yourself, this salad is high in protein and just as good-for-you as its homemade or rotisserie chicken counterpart. To make this meal healthier, swap mayo for Greek yogurt and use a low-sodium canned chicken in water.

Should You Rinse Canned Chicken?

I like to quickly rinse the chicken that’s in the can before I use it to make chicken salad because it eliminates the gelatin that changes the canned chicken’s texture. While not required, my husband says it improves the texture.

Making Canned Chicken Salad

I usually double this recipe and keep it in the fridge for up to 4 days; it makes great meals later in the week. Here’s how to make it:

Combine
Combine lemon juice, mayonnaise, salt, and pepper in a bowl.
Add the chicken
Add the rinsed canned chicken and break it up into smaller pieces, or shred it, depending on the chicken texture you prefer. Then, add chopped celery and cranberries. Mix to combine.
Chill and serve
You can enjoy this canned chicken salad immediately or chill it before serving to absorb the flavors.

Ways to Serve Chicken Salad

This tasty chicken salad makes awesome lunches you’ll never get tired of! You can use it to stuff an avocado, serve it over a bed of greens or lettuce cups, with crackers, assemble a chicken salad wrap, a sandwich, or fill a croissant. And my kids’ favorite: chicken salad quesadilla!

Canned Chicken Salad (Simple & Delish)

Servings: 2

Prep Time: 5

Total Time: 5

This canned chicken salad turns this pantry staple into a high-protein, flavor-packed meal you'll actually look forward to eating. Use it for sandwiches, wraps, or eat it as is with crackers.

5 from 5 votes

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Ingredients

12.5 ounce can of canned chicken
¼ cup mayonnaise, or plain Greek yogurt
½ lemon, juiced
¼ teaspoon salt & pepper
1 rib celery, finely chopped
¼ cup dried cranberries

Instructions

Prep:

Open the can of chicken and rinse the chicken under running water to remove some of the canned gelatin. This is optional, but helpful if you don't like the slimy texture in canned chicken.

Make the chicken salad:

In a bowl, combine the lemon juice, mayonnaise, salt, and pepper.
Add the canned chicken to the bowl, and with a fork, break up the large chicken chunks into smaller pieces or shred it as fine as you like. This step is about the texture you prefer.
Add the chopped celery and dried cranberries to the bowl and toss to combine the chicken salad with the dressing, until all pieces are coated well.