Harvest Chicken Salad is perfect for when you’re craving a lighter, healthier meal this fall. Loaded with apples, pears, dried cranberries, pecans and a creamy, tangy Greek yogurt dressing.
Hi friends! Danae from Recipe Runner here today and I’m still trying to figure out how it’s the middle of October. We’ve been having such a weird fall in Denver this year. It actually didn’t even feel like fall until last week.
I went from shorts and tank tops two weeks ago, to having to wear my winter coat early last week. It was cold, rainy and even a little snow. Not exactly my favorite kind of weather. However, it did spur the trees to change colors and now they are finally all beautiful shades of yellow, orange and red.
While soups and carb heavy meals always taste extra good on the cold and dreary days like we had last week, I like to change things up and have a couple lighter meals like the Harvest Chicken Salad during the week too.
I often feel like so many of the recipes you see in the fall and winter are heavy and quite frankly make me want to take a nap after I eat them. That’s fine once in a while, but I can’t do it non-stop for 5-6 months. If I did I’d probably have to go buy a whole new wardrobe to fit my new size.
This Harvest Chicken Salad will still give you plenty of fall flavors, but in a lighter and lower carb way depending on how you serve it.
So, what makes this chicken salad different from others you’ve had? First it uses two of fall’s best season fruits, apples and pears. Apples are fairly common in chicken salad, but the pear adds an extra bit of sweetness and texture.
You’ll also find dried cranberries and toasted pecans because I need plenty of crunch in my chicken salad.
To keep things on the lighter side, this chicken salad is made with a dressing that primarily uses plain Greek yogurt. There are a couple tablespoons of mayonnaise in the dressing, which you can omit if you’re opposed to it. However, I think mayonnaise brings in a flavor you really can’t reproduce with anything else and a couple tablespoons in the whole recipe isn’t going to set you back much in terms of fat and calories.
You can serve this chicken salad in lettuce cups, wrapped in a tortilla or go the traditional route and pile it between two slices of hearty bread. Enjoy!
Harvest Chicken Salad
Ingredients
- 2/3 cup plain Greek yogurt
- 2 tablespoons mayonnaise, optional, replace with Greek yogurt if you prefer not to use it
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 1 tablespoon whole grain mustard
- 1/2 of a lemon, juiced
- 2 teaspoons honey
- 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
- Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
- 3 cooked chicken breasts, diced
- 1 apple, cored and diced
- 1 pear, cored and diced
- 1/4 cup dried cranberries
- 1/4 cup toasted chopped pecans
Instructions
- In a large bowl whisk together the Greek yogurt, mayonnaise, milk, mustard, lemon juice, honey, onion powder, salt and pepper. Taste for seasoning.
- Add in the chicken, apple, pear, cranberries and pecans. Stir everything together until it's coated in the dressing. Taste for seasoning then serve in lettuce cups, wrapped in a tortilla or on bread.
Nutrition
More Lighter Meals for Fall
Harvest Quinoa Salad
Autumn Chopped Salad with White Cheddar Dressing
Harvest Chicken and Vegetable Skillet
I can tell that you like colors, flavors and textures a lot! It shows in your salads! I love this idea, and I think I’m going to use it for the brunch after Thanksgiving, but not include chicken. I was just thinking a few minutes ago that I needed to include a fruit salad, and one with a creamy, not sweet yogurt dressing would first in perfectly! Thanks!