Chicken Waldorf Salad

Salads are a great lunch option when you’re trying to stay on track with your health goals and live a healthy lifestyle. Chicken salads are especially good because they can be high in protein, can fill you up and energise you, as well as can help you to meet your veggie intake for the day. 

It’s important to know how to build yourself the best salad though — while it can be easy to just throw together whatever is in your fridge, putting a little more consideration into your ingredients can have a huge impact on the taste of your meal and will mean that you are more likely to continue to choose healthier options in the future!

Chicken Waldorf salad is a great example of a simple but delicious salad. It's a combination of ingredients like celery, grape and apple, which means that it’s filled with flavour. That’s why I’ve decided to share with you my own take on this traditional salad meal!

Chicken Waldorf Salad 

Prep time: 15 mins
Cook time: 15 mins
Total time: 30 mins
Serves: 2
Dietary preferences: Gluten-free, Nut-free option

Ingredients:

Chicken

• 500ml salt-reduced chicken stock
• 1 medium celery stalk, chopped (reserve a few leaves)
• 1 garlic clove, roughly chopped
• 2-3 sprigs of parsley
• 200g chicken breast

Salad

• 2 celery stalks, sliced
• 25-30 red or green grapes (or a mixture of both), halved
• 1 medium apple, cored and diced
• ¼ red onion, diced
• 30g walnut halves, roughly chopped (optional)
• 1 small handful fresh parsley, chopped
• 4 green lettuce leaves, to serve
• sea salt and ground black pepper, to taste

Dressing

• 100g low-fat plain yoghurt
• 50g soft goat’s cheese
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1 tbsp fresh rosemary, roughly chopped
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• sea salt and ground black pepper, to taste

Method:

1. For the chicken, place the stock, celery, reserved leaves, garlic and parsley sprigs in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat and bring to the boil. Add the chicken and return to the boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer, covered, for 10-12 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through. Remove from the heat and leave the chicken to stand in the stock for 5 minutes. Transfer to a clean chopping board and coarsely shred using two forks.

2. To make the dressing, place the yoghurt, cheese, honey, rosemary, mustard, salt and pepper in a small food processor and process until smooth and creamy. If the mixture is too thick, add one tablespoon of water at a time until the desired consistency is reached.

3. To make the salad, place the shredded chicken, celery, grapes, apple, onion, walnuts and parsley in a mixing bowl. Drizzle over the dressing, season with salt and pepper, if desired, and toss gently to combine. 

4. To serve, place the lettuce leaves in a serving bowl and fill with the chicken Waldorf salad. Enjoy!

Chicken salads filled with flavour

As you can see, chicken salad doesn’t have to be boring! There are so many ways that you can enhance the flavour of a simple salad to make it a delicious and filling meal. If you like these chicken Waldorf salad, then be sure to try out my healthy chicken and quinoa salad recipe too! 

What’s your favourite healthy salad to make? Let me know below!