Lemon Chicken Salad Recipe with Apples

Lemon Apple Chicken Salad

Lemon chicken salad with apples is one of our favorite chicken salad recipes. It’s made with chicken breast meat and apples in a creamy dressing with a touch of lemon for extra flavor. If you want a change from classic chicken salad, this easy recipe is for you!

I’ve been making this lemon chicken apple salad for awhile now. The first time, I needed a way to use up leftover chicken, but it changed over the years. Sometimes, I use my favorite oven baked chicken breast recipe whenever I need cooked chicken for chicken salad. Sometimes, I use cooked rotisserie chicken. I also started making the dressing lighter by using Greek yogurt.

It’s a super simple salad recipe with minimal prep and lots of fresh flavors. There’s no celery, nuts or onions, so you don’t have a lot of chopping to do — just the apples.

Ingredients

You only need a few simple ingredients for this lemon chicken salad recipe. Here’s a quick rundown with details in the recipe card below.

• Cooked chicken — leftover chicken, rotisserie chicken or baked chicken breasts or chicken thighs
• Granny Smith apples — These tart apples go well with lemon, but you can use another variety of apple if you like
• Lemon — juice of a fresh lemon and fresh lemon zest for added flavor if you like
• Mayonnaise — adds creaminess found in traditional chicken salad dressing
• Yogurt — plain Greek yogurt or regular plain yogurt to lighten the dressing up
• Dijon mustard — for subtle flavor
• Seasonings — sea salt, black pepper and optional dried parsley

How to Make Lemon Chicken Salad with Apples

First, slice chicken into bite-sized pieces using a cutting board or large plate. Then, mix the salad dressing ingredients in a large bowl. It’s super simple — just a mix of Greek yogurt, mayo, a little bit of Dijon mustard, salt and pepper. I like to add dried parsley flakes for extra flavor, but you can skip this if you don’t have any. Fresh parsley works, too!

Then, throw in some chopped apples, lemon juice and lemon zest — optional. I used Granny Smith this time, but you can use any apple. Sometimes, I even do a combo of different apples. The lemon juice adds flavor and keeps the apples from turning brown. The zest isn’t totally necessary, so if you don’t have a zester, it’s fine. Mix in your chopped cooked chicken, and that’s it! You can also zest some lemon peel over the top and add fresh herbs like fresh parsley, fresh dill or fresh tarragon for even more flavor.