Creamy Chicken and Bacon Salad

Craving a twist on the traditional Creamy Chicken and Bacon Salad? This no celery chicken salad is bursting with unexpected flavors and textures.

The taste is incredible with a mustard-mayonnaise dressing, tangy cranberries with salty feta cheese and crunchy pecans.

Much like this Mediterranean Salad that we simply love, this is also the kind of salad that you take out the fridge in the middle of the day to serve for brunch and then pull it out again to serve as a light dinner. It's the salad that keeps giving and the taste keeps getting better as it sits, so keep it refrigerated. 

Theres a real sense of connection in this creamy chicken salad and this potato salad. Be it the chunky textures, the creaminess of mayonnaise and sour cream or the richness of both, these are both absolutely delicious side dishes.

Why You Need to Make This Creamy Chicken Salad

• Convenient and No Waste: Because it stores well in the fridge, you can use any leftovers to make chicken salad sandwiches and easy lunches. 

• Simple Ingredients: You probably have all the ingredients and if you don't then you can use the simple substitutes (shared below under variations and substitutions).

• Versatile: Easy to pack and go for lunch or barbecue (braai) picnics, pot luck and most gatherings. Adjust the ingredients and make it a warm pasta salad!

Ingredients For Chicken Bacon Salad

These are some of the key ingredients, the full recipe is in the recipe card below.

Chicken: Any kind of chicken. Homecoooked chicken breasts cubed, or leftover rotisserie chicken. If you do decide to go with a rotisserie chicken, consider the salt when adding.

Crispy Bacon: Use cooked bacon bits or air fryer bacon and chop it before adding it to the salad.

Onion: I have used a combination of red onion (salad onions) and shallots for the mild flavor. Feel free to subsitute with green onions or chives.

Nuts: Pecans, toasted and chopped.

Tip: When you do toast nuts and seeds, always toast more than you need. Store in an airtight container and use for salads, dips and more. Air Fryer Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Dried Cranberries: There's a lovely sweetness and texture that dried cranberries add to a salad that's quite specific.

Feta Cheese: We love the saltiness of feta in this salad but you can leave it out of you dont like feta.

Cucumber: Add the cucumber just before serving to avoid soggines.

Tip: Place the chopped cucumber into a small bowl. Sprinkle lightly with salt for 20 minutes before you assemble the salad. Pat the excess salt and water off with a kitchen towel before using.

Creamy Dressing Ingredients For Chicken Salad

Oh I love a creamy salad dressing when necessary and this is a lot like my Broccoli Salad With A Creamy Dressing. The difference is that I used harissa paste in that one.

Mayonnaise:  Use the mayonnaise that you love. Here I went with Hellmans mayonnaise. 
Sour Cream:  Full-fat sour cream, low-fat sour cream or Greek yogurt. Helps make the mayo lighter.

​Lemon Juice:  Freshly squeezed lemon juice. 

Honey: We love a drizzle of honey to add a touch of sweetness but that's optional.

Salt and pepper:  To taste. 

Olive oil: I like a drizzle of olive oil to pull everything together.

Variations & Substitutions

• Nuts: Let's start with nuts because a lot of people cannot eat nuts so please omit them from the recipe because there is enough crunch in this recipe. If you want to subsititute the type of nuts there are many options - almonds, cashews and chopped walnuts.

• Wild Rocket: I love rocket (arugula) and always rinse it properly before using then remove the hard bits and chop it for the salad. It does have a strong peppery taste so you don't need more than a cup of chopped rocket. Feel free to swop the rocket for fresh parsley or baby spinach.

• Fresh veggies: If you don't like cucumber or if you plan on storing the salad in the fridge for a couple of hours, then swop the cucumber for celery. You can also dessed the cucumber if you are not serving immediately. Other veggies to try are cherry tomatoes, bell pepper or sweet corn.

• Onion: Use onions labeled 'salad onions' they have a milder flavor or simple chives always shine in creamy salads like this or potato salad.

How to Make Chicken Bacon Salad

Rinse the Wild Rocket: Rinse the wild rocket, it usually comes un-rinsed and should be rinsed before using. Rinse and dry well, prefably in a salad spinner only because it dries your leafy greens like magic!

Slice the Meat: Chop the bacon if not diced and normally you will be chopping the chicken pieces up into equally sized pieces (roughly). You can shred your chicken but we prefer our chicken diced or sliced but not shredded for this recipe.

Prep the remaining Salad Ingredients: Dice the onion and shallot, chop the toasted pecans and dried cranberries and once you are done with the salad prepping, move onto the dressing.

To Toast Pecans - Add them to a dry skillet over medium-low heat and keep moving them around the pan to avoid them burning. Transfer to a board and chop once cooled.

Make the Salad Dressing: Add all the salad dressing ingredients directly into a big bowl and combine. I prefer adding the salad dressing ingredients into a jug or small bowl first. This allows me to taste and adjust before combining then pour it in two parts. When you add the dressing in two parts you can be sure all the pieces are well coated.

Combine/Serve: Transfer to a large bowl or serving platter then cover and refrigerate until cold for serving. 

What to Serve with Creamy Chicken Bacon Salad

First let's agree that the best way to eat such a great salad is on it's own or as a main dish since it packed with protein and fat. The best part is that its a great dish as a summer chicken salad or to serve throughout the year. 

• Baked Potato: Top up baked potato with chicken bacon salad, it's the ultimate complete meal and finish off with cheese, sour cream, chives and fresh black pepper!

• Homemade Pita Bread: Or store-bought, stuff with this chicken bacon salad for a super delicious treat and add extra mayo or sour cream!

• Crusty Bread or Ciabatta: Add this tasty creamy chicken salad to bread with slices of fresh juicy tomatoes, lettuce, onion, pickles and to finish it off, top up with cheddar cheese for a phenominal chicken sandwich! In this chicken salad sandwich we added basil pesto to the chicken, so good.

• Add cooked pasta and turn this chicken bacon salad into an easy chicken bacon PASTA salad good enough for the whole family. You may want to swop the cucumber for celery because chicken salad recipes are good with celery. 

• Much like a potato salad, you can take this chicken bacon salad along to any large gathering, braai (barbecue) and potluck, it will be the first to go!

• Macaroi Salad:  Add cooked macaroni and a veggie of your choice for a creamy chicken, bacon macaroni salad.

Make-Ahead

This salad with the cucumber in was surprisingly still good on day 3! Maybe because the cucumber was not peeled so it helped prevent soggines? OR because the weather is colder here right now so the different elements stay fresher for longer. Regardless, this leftover chicken dish is still packed with tasty goodness!

There was even still crunch in the cucumber pieces (I cut them at an angle and not too small). The pecans came through beautifully with the extra delicious sweetness from the cranberries. Everything seemed to come together even better, really good!

More Easy Salad & Lunch Recipes

• Chicken Sandwich Recipe
• Bok Choy Fennel Salad
• Pesto Pasta and Chicken Cold Salad
• Mediterranean Farfalle Salad
• Potato Salad

⭐Rate & Review Recipe

I would love for you to please rate this recipe and leave a comment! It's a huge help and can be done in the recipe card below. THANK YOU!