Chicken Salad Chick Fancy Nancy is a fruity chicken salad with grapes, apples, pecans, and celery.
Flavorful Fancy Nancy Chicken Salad
Chicken Salad Chick offers delicious homemade Southern favorites and specializes in chicken salad. They understand that everyone has a different notion of what the perfect chicken salad should be. You can choose from more than a dozen varieties, including simple, nutty, fruity, savory, or spicy. There’s a chicken salad for everyone.
This Chicken Salad Chick Fancy Nancy recipe is made with a generous amount of chicken tenders that shred easily when pulled apart after cooking. The chicken tenders are cooked in flavorful chicken stock, and the tenders absorb some of these flavors.
The celery is finely minced, so there are no large pieces. Dry ranch salad dressing mix contributes a special character, and the salad is dressed with Fuji apples for crispness, seedless grapes for a sweet crunch, and pecans for a touch of nuttiness. Fancy and tasty indeed!
If you are not lucky enough to be located near a Chicken Salad Chick restaurant, you can make this copycat Fancy Nancy Chicken Salad at home.
The great thing about chicken salad is that it fits every occasion – lunch, light suppers, potlucks, baby showers, lake days, beach trips. You could say it’s the little black dress of spreads! Chicken Salad Chick uses Duke’s mayonnaise, which is superior mayonnaise. However, I’ve used Hellmann’s with excellent results.
How long is Chicken Salad good for?
This recipe will keep in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to three days. Since this salad has chicken and mayonnaise, it should not be left out at room temperature for longer than two hours.
Chicken Salad Recipe with Grapes, Apples, and Pecans
Make the best chicken salad sandwich with this easy Fancy Nancy Chicken Salad recipe. It’s just great for a hearty lunch or a quick informal dinner. Good ole’ Nancy will keep everyone coming back for more!
Ingredients for Homemade Chicken Salad
Here’s what you need to make Fancy Nancy chicken salad:
- Chicken
- Chicken stock (low sodium)
- Mayonnaise
- Dry Ranch salad dressing mix
- Red seedless grapes
- Fuji apple
- Pecans
- Celery
- Salt and pepper
How to Make Chicken Salad with Apples, Grapes, and Pecans
- Cook the chicken in chicken stock until done. Use two forks or a stand mixer to shred chicken.
- Add remaining ingredients to another bowl.
- Add shredded chicken and stir to combine. For best flavor, make the salad a couple of hours in advance. Keep salad refrigerated until serving.
- Serve on top of lettuce or in a sandwich.
Serving suggestions for homemade chicken salad?
You may wonder what you should eat your chicken salad with or what should you put it on. Let’s cover how you can turn it into a copycat for Chicken Salad Chicken.
- A bed of leaf lettuce if you want to enjoy it as a scoop, be sure to serve with some wheat Keebler crackers
- A croissant with leaf lettuce and sliced fresh tomatoes
- Wheat Berry bread with leaf lettuce and sliced fresh tomatoes
How to store Chicken Salad with Grapes, Apples, and Pecans
I personally like to make this chicken salad the day before I serve it. I think waiting makes everything taste a little better. So you should store this in your refrigerator in an airtight container. Chicken salad lasts for 3 to 4 days when left in your refrigerator.
How do I plan for the amount of chicken salad to make per person?
You may want to serve this recipe for a party or other gathering. The rule of thumb for chicken salad is to plan on 1 cup per person. This gives someone a very filled sandwich or an ample scoop of chicken salad to enjoy. This recipe makes about 6 cups of chicken salad. So this recipe will serve six people.
More Chicken Salad and Salads with Chicken Recipes
- Original Chicken Salad Recipe
- Applebee’s International, Inc. Oriental Chicken Salad
- Arbys Salads Grilled Chicken and Pecan
- Panera Salads Green Goddess Cobb Salad
- Jason Deli Nutty Mixed Up Salad
- Subway Orchard Chicken Salad
- Mediterranean Grain Bowl Recipes
- Very Berry Salad
- Chicken Salad Recipe with Fruit and Nuts
- Chopped Chicken Salad
Top Copycat Recipes
Be sure to check out more of my easy salads and the best restaurant copycat recipes.
Chicken Salad with Grapes, Apples, & Pecans (Fancy Nancy Chicken Salad Chick Copycat)
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds chicken tenders
- 32 ounces chicken stock
- 3/4 cup mayonnaise Chicken Salad Chick uses Duke's
- 2 tablespoons celery finely minced
- 2 teaspoons dry ranch salad dressing mix
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup red seedless grapes
- 1/2 cup chopped pecans
- 1/2 to 3/4 cup Fuji apple chopped
Instructions
- Place the chicken tenders and chicken stock in a large pot. Poach over medium heat for about 15 to 20 minutes or until the chicken is fully cooked.
- Shred the chicken. The chicken can be shredded with a stand mixer by using a paddle attachment. Or shredding the chicken tenders using two forks works well also.
- In a medium-sized bowl, place the celery, dry ranch dressing mix, mayonnaise, salt, and pepper. Blend well.
- Add the shredded chicken and mix in thoroughly. Add in the grapes, chopped apples, and pecans. Stir until blended.
- Serve on a bed of lettuce or in a sandwich.
Sammi
I love this recipe! I make it quite often as my meal prep for lunches for the week. It makes a lot – my husband and I each get 3 or 4 lunches with this. I don’t change anything about the recipe. It’s delicious! Looking forward to trying more of your recipes.
Melissa
Can you share why the ranch dressing mix? I would love your thinking on this. Can you share?
Stephanie Manley
Sure it has some flavor augmentation in it, you need something to deliver a punch of flavor, the Ranch dry mix seemed to do the trick.
Amrutha
I liked this chicken salad, the grandkids ate it right up, and wanted more.
Nancy
I’m drooling over this recipe and no chicken in the house. I can’t wait to make it. Not sure about the ranch seasoning, as I need to seriously cut sodium. But nothing sounds more like summer than this pretty fruity salad/chicken! Thanks!
Have you ever tried to find the secret to Boston Market’s chicken salad? Wish you would.
Stephanie Manley
Thank you for your email, I haven’t tried the Boston Market Chicken Salad, it is getting harder and harder for me to find these restaurants, but I will keep your suggestion in mind.
Sheree
Excellent! I will probably reduce the salt and pepper the next time I make this but that’s just my personal preference. Great recipe!!!
Mary Bailey
This is my favorite chicken salad! I could eat it every day!
Judy Brown
They are wheat crackers by keebler, club crackers
Andrea
This is the best chicken salad I have eaten definitely a 5 star recipe.
Stephanie
Oh it’s a winner!
Melanie Gibson
Costco’s Chicken Salad
Chicken, Cranberries, Mayo,Celery, Pecans
winnie
Loved this chicken salad. I served it with croissants like they do.
Sharon Williams
Great flavor but mine was dry. Should I have put some of the chicken stock in the chicken when I shredded it? Family loved it and I have saved to my favorite recipes
Stephanie
I am glad you were able to make the recipe work for you.
Baltisraul
Made a big batch about a week ago. I roasted the pecans for about 9 min at 400 degrees. To keep it lower carb I used blueberries and red raspberries with a dusting of Stevia. Keep ’em coming!
Stephanie
I am glad that worked for you 😉 BTW I finally found some tarragon vinegar 😉
Marilou
Thank you! Can you make the Dixie Chick salad now?
Jennifer
So happy to see this one! It’s my favorite salad there.
Joan
Please please share their recipe for the cookies! Oh and the strawberry lemonade!
Angelina
The ingredients are what I have been using in Chicken Salad for years, BUT in this recipe, cooking the chicken in chicken broth (unless it’s low sodium) infuses waaay too much sodium per serving, to be ‘healthy’.
Stephanie
You could use low sodium broth if you like. One of the best things about cooking at home is you get to modify the recipe the way you like.
Kathy
This is a copycat recipe. Sorry you had to find out this way but fast food is usually pretty salty. Like OP said just use low-sodium stock or bouillon.
G
Maybe people don’t want healthy.
AZTraveler
Tastes spot on! I wished I could find their crackers now!
Jarrod
My mother in law loved this recipe!
Chuck Cox
I have made your chicken salad recipe for years and it’s delicious. I just boil my chicken in water instead of beef stock and I add pineapple. And I don’t I add the ranch dressing mix, but I want to try that it would be good