Classic High Protein Chicken Salad
By Sammi Brondo — September 1, 2026
This Classic High Protein Chicken Salad is an easy, delicious, and protein-packed meal perfect for lunch, meal prep, or a quick snack. Made with simple ingredients and full of flavor, it’s creamy, satisfying, and easy to customize. A great healthy chicken salad recipe to keep on repeat!
Lunch is the hardest meal of the day.
You’re hungry, but in the middle of doing 100 different things, so it’s hard to stop and make something to eat.
Maybe you can’t even stop and eat exactly when you’d want to.
And while I’m not someone who meal preps, I do love the idea of make ahead meals.
And that’s where this chicken salad comes in. It’s an amazing make ahead meal that’ll give you easy lunch options that you don’t have to think twice about for a few days.
It’s also customizable. You can eat chicken salad any way you want!
Enjoy it one day as a sandwich on sourdough bread. Put it over a quick salad another day. Or make a snack-style lunch plate out of it with crackers and plenty of crunchy veggies (my personal favorite).
Yes, lunch is a hard meal to figure out, but it’s also so important.
It gives us energy to continue doing those 100 things that we were doing. And it’s so important that we eat a nourishing and satisfying lunch.
Something easy like this chicken salad can really help to make that happen.
Why You’ll Love This Classic High Protein Chicken Salad
This chicken salad is easy to make – it’s made with pre-made rotisserie chicken, and simple, crunchy add-ons, like celery, red onion, red grapes, and almonds.
Because of all these delicious add-ons, it’s full of different textures and flavors that make it so satisfying.
It’s also extra high in protein. Not only does chicken contribute protein, but the sauce that ties it all together is made of a cottage cheese base, adding a fun extra boost of protein.
In fact, split in to 4 servings, this chicken salad has a whopping 30 grams of protein per serving.
And if you don’t like cottage cheese, don’t worry! It’s blended and mixed with flavorful items like lemon and Dijon mustard, so you truly can’t taste it.
This is an easy, filling, high protein lunch that you’ll come back to time and time again. It’s great to meal prep or just to make ahead for a few days and it can be eaten in so many different ways.
How To Make Classic High Protein Chicken Salad
Prepare ingredients
Prepare your ingredients to make this Classic High Protein Chicken Salad. You’ll need shredded chicken, celery, red onion, red grapes, salted almonds, fresh dill, cottage cheese, dijon mustard, a lemon and salt.
Shred chicken
Using a fork or your hands, shred the chicken into small pieces. You can also use a stand mixer with a paddle/whisk attachment on low speed for 20-30 seconds.
Chop ingredients
Slice the celery in half lengthwise (or into thirds if it’s especially thick), and then into thin slices. Dice the onion. Cut the grapes into quarters. Roughly chop the almonds and dill.
Prepare chicken salad
Add the shredded chicken, sliced celery, diced red onion, quartered red grapes, chopped almonds, and chopped dill to a large bowl. Set aside.
Blend the dressing
In a powerful blender or food processor, add the cottage cheese, Dijon mustard, lemon juice, and salt. Blend until smooth.
Mix together
Pour the cottage cheese mixture over the chicken mixture and mix well to combine.
Serve
Serve this high protein chicken salad with crackers, in a wrap, or with bread.
If You Like This Classic High Protein Chicken Salad, Try These
- Charred Corn & Spice-Rubbed Chicken Salad: Another great high protein chicken salad, make ahead salad.
- Crispy Chicken Caesar Salad: This lunch is so satisfying.
- Crispy Veggie Tuna Melt: Make this tuna melt as is or make a batch of the tuna to eat in different ways.
- Tuna Salad with California Grapes & Walnuts: This tuna salad also has California grapes to add delicious sweetness.
- Loaded Italian Pasta Salad: A satisfying high protein, make ahead lunch.
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Chicken: You can use your hands, a fork, or even a stand mixer to shred the chicken. Using pre-made rotisserie chicken makes this chicken salad so quick and easy, but you can also cook the chicken breast yourself if preferred.
- Celery: Celery adds a delicious crunch to the high protein chicken salad. A must, IMO!
- Red onion: A little red onion adds so much flavor. Make sure to dice it finely.
- Grapes: Red California grapes are so juicy and sweet and give this chicken salad the perfect amount of subtle sweetness without being overpowering.
- Almonds: The crunch that almonds add is unmatched. Make sure they’re roasted and salted. You can also use slivered almonds if preferred, but I find that roughly chopping whole almonds adds more crunch.
- Dill: Dill is the only herb you’ll use – a little fresh dill adds tons of flavor.
- Cottage cheese: Even if you don’t love cottage cheese, just trust me on this one. It’s blended until smooth (so no worries about the texture!) and mixed with Dijon and lemon so that you truly don’t taste it.
- Dijon mustard: You’ll blend this with the cottage cheese mixture for maximum flavor.
- Lemon: The sauce uses the juice of 1 small to medium lemon.
Classic High Protein Chicken Salad Tips & Variations
- Shredding the chicken: You can use your hands, a fork, or a stand mixer to shred the chicken. If using a stand mixture, use the paddle/whisk attachment on low speed for about 20 to 30 seconds.
- Blending the sauce: I promise, even if you don’t like cottage cheese, you will like this chicken salad! It’s blended so well that you can’t taste it and you definitely won’t notice the texture. If you really prefer, you can use Greek yogurt instead, Make sure to use a powerful blender – this one is my absolute favorite: it blends SO well.
- Variations: Not a fan of almonds? Try sunflower seeds or even chopped walnuts instead. If you want to replace the grapes, you can use finely diced apple instead.
- Storage: Store chicken salad in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. I also recently found that these storage jars that are so useful (and pretty!) for chicken salad. We eat with our eyes, after all!
Frequently Asked Questions
Ingredients
- 2 packed cups shredded cooked chicken
- 3 sticks celery about 1/3 cup, sliced
- 1/4 small red onion about 1/4 cup, diced
- 3/4 cup red grapes
- 1/3 cup roasted salted almonds
- 2 tablespoons fresh dill
- 3/4 cup cottage cheese
- 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
- Juice of 1 lemon
- Salt
Instructions
- Using a fork or your hands, shred the chicken into small pieces. You can also use a stand mixer with a paddle/whisk attachment on low speed for 20-30 seconds.
- Slice the celery in half lengthwise (or into thirds if it’s especially thick), and then into thin slices. Dice the onion. Cut the grapes into quarters. Roughly chop the almonds and dill.
- Add the shredded chicken, sliced celery, diced red onion, quartered red grapes, chopped almonds, and chopped dill to a large bowl. Set aside.
- In a powerful blender or food processor, add the cottage cheese, Dijon mustard, lemon juice, and salt. Blend until smooth.
- Pour the cottage cheese mixture over the chicken mixture and mix well to combine.
- Serve with crackers, in a wrap, or with bread.
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