Cranberry Pecan Chicken Salad (Cape Cod Chicken Salad)
The Cape Cod Chicken Salad is a simple Cranberry Pecan Chicken Salad that’s light on mayo and lower fat than so many other chicken salad recipes. In just 10 minutes you’ll make the best chicken salad with cranberries, pecans, celery, and a touch of honey
Pack your Cape Cod Chicken Salad into a sandwich with this semolina bread or pita pockets, or go light with just a bit of lettuce. Either way, hit that Jump to Recipe button, and let’s make a cranberry pecan chicken salad!
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Ingredients
This Cape Cod chicken salad is related to the chicken salad sold at Costco. They pride themselves on selling a chicken salad that’s all about the white meat chicken that’s first in the ingredients.
Making chicken salad with pecans and dried cranberries is the perfect way to use up leftovers from these juicy cast iron chicken breasts, Dutch oven pulled chicken, or rotisserie chicken. Of course no one will fault you if you cook up some chicken specifically to make this recipe!
Please don’t skip the part where you toast the pecans. Toasted pecans are crispier and nuttier and worth the effort, whether you’re using them in this cranberry chicken salad, to top a feta and kale salad, or baking them into a Thanksgiving turkey meatloaf or sweet treat.
The honey isn’t critical, but just a touch gives you a hint of sweetness to go with your dried cranberries. This is particularly helpful if you’re using unsweetened craisins!
Please see the recipe card below for complete information on ingredients and quantities.
Variations and substitutions
There are lots of ways you can vary your Cape Cod chicken salad:
- Sub in walnuts for a cranberry walnut chicken salad, or use chopped almonds, hazelnuts, or pine nuts.
- Sub dehydrated cherry tomatoes, chopped grapes, or apples for the cranberries.
- Take your chicken salad to the Mediterranean with olives, capers, pine nuts, and a bit of lemon juice.
- Make a Chinese chicken salad with thinly sliced cabbage, carrots, and slivered almonds.
Recipe tips and tricks
This cranberry chicken salad recipe is incredibly easy to make. Simply chop cooked chicken into cubes of the size you prefer. Add in the cranberries, toasted pecans, and celery.
Tip from the wise quacker: the easiest way to toast nuts is to put them in a small pan in a hot oven for five minutes or so until they start to smell “toasty.” You can also toast them on the stove top, but be careful they don’t burn.
Stir your cranberry pecan chicken salad together with mayonnaise, salt and pepper, and a teaspoon of honey if you’re using it. I’m all about light on the mayo in chicken salad – you need only enough to hold everything together.
Serve immediately or store in an air-tight container in the refrigerator.
How to serve chicken salad
Serve this chicken salad with cranberries and pecans as a sandwich with a pita pocket, challah roll, or one of these sandwich breads spread with a cranberry sauce from dried cranberries. You can also grab a tortilla and make a chicken salad wrap.
Serve with:
- Fresh fruit, raw carrot salad, or lightly steamed green beans or other green vegetables
- A salad like a simple green side, rocket and pear salad, or rainbow salad bowl.
- Roasted or mashed sweet potatoes or butternut squash.
- A slice of leek and squash quiche.
Recipe FAQs
Nuts and nut oils go rancid over time. Stored nuts at cool room temperature for a month or two, up to a year if stored in the refrigerator, and even longer in the freezer.
The USDA says that you should keep cooked chicken in the refrigerator for no more than three or four days.
Once you’ve made your Cape Cod chicken salad, it shouldn’t be frozen. If you want to save this recipe for later, you can freeze the cooked chicken breast for several months.
Related chicken recipes
Check out the best chicken recipes from the Ugly Duckling Bakery archives like:
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Recipe
Cranberry Pecan Chicken Salad (Cape Cod Chicken Salad)
Ingredients
- 1 cooked chicken breast cubed, about 1.5 cups
- ¼ cup dried cranberries chopped
- ¼ cup pecans, walnuts, or other nuts toasted and chopped
- 1 celery stalk chopped fine
- 1 tablespoon mayonnaise plus more if desired
- 1 teaspoon honey optional
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Put the chopped chicken, cranberries, nuts, and celery into a medium bowl.1 cooked chicken breast, ¼ cup dried cranberries, ¼ cup pecans, walnuts, or other nuts, 1 celery stalk
- Add the mayonnaise, salt and pepper, and honey if using, and stir to combine. Taste and adjust seasonings.1 tablespoon mayonnaise, ½ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon black pepper, 1 teaspoon honey
- Serve immediately or store in the refrigerator for up to three days
Notes
- Just like humans, chicken breasts come in a variety of sizes. The chicken breasts we buy are often large – about 8 to 10 ounces – so please adjust accordingly.
- Check out this cast iron chicken breast recipe to learn how to make perfectly cooked chicken breasts every time.
- Toasting the pecans makes them crispy and brings out their nutty flavor. You’ll need about one-half cup of nuts for one quarter cup of chopped nuts.
- This cranberry chicken salad recipe recipe calls for a small amount of mayonnaise just to hold the ingredients together. Feel free to increase the amount if you like your Cape Cod chicken salad with more mayo.
- Serve as a sandwich, in a pita, or with just a bit of lettuce on the side.
Nutrition
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