Sonoma-Style California Chicken Salad
California Chicken Salad! A Sonoma-style cold, creamy chicken salad loaded with succulent grapes, finely diced onion, toasted nuts, and a medley of sweet & savory flavors and seasonings. It’s quick, easy, and great to make once and eat all week. Low carb & Whole30 recommendations included.
Does this chicken salad look familiar? This is my take on the Sonoma chicken salad, and it’s just as delicious as the signature salad bar dish from Whole Food Market -if not better! Imagine morsels of tender chicken with finely diced onion, and toasted pecans soaked in a creamy, zesty dressing with a burst of grape in every bite!
Sonoma-style is my favorite variation of chilled creamy chicken salads. The ingredients are simple, and the recipe comes together in minutes with ready-made rotisserie or leftover chicken. The sweet vs. savory and soft vs. crunchy flavors and textures in this California chicken salad are delicious!
I should add that you can make also make this Sonoma chicken salad with low carb, Paleo, and Whole30 ingredients. It’s a flavorful and compliant protein option to have prepped for when you need something quick, satisfying, and delicious. Wrap it in lettuce leaves and enjoy the BEST California chicken salad
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Ease. With leftover cooked chicken, it takes less than 10 minutes to make.
- Flavor. Everything about the dynamic combination of ingredients works.
- Versatility. You can make it paleo and Whole30.
- Serving. It’s great for weekday lunches and served at brunches, showers, and casual get-togethers.
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Chicken – Using leftover rotisserie or cooked chicken makes prepping chicken salads much easier. What’s most important is that the chicken is juicy, tender, and shreds easily. You can use chicken thighs if you like the deeper, meatier flavor. See below for how to make chicken breasts for chicken salad in your Instant Pot.
- Grapes – You can use any seedless green, red, or purple grapes or a colorful medley of grape varieties.
- Onion – Sweet onion is best, but you can also use red onion, green onion, or chives.
- Toasted Nuts – Adds another layer of yummy crunch. Pecans, almonds, and walnuts are great here.
- Dressing – Everything gets tossed in a creamy sauce made with mayo and Greek yogurt (or sour cream). As for flavor, apple cider vinegar, Dijon, poppy seeds, and honey create the perfect balance of tang, warmth, sweetness, and savory.
How To Make California Chicken Salad
Step 1: Cook chicken breasts. If you still need to cook your chicken, get started on that first (I usually use leftover rotisserie chicken). Once cooked, rest for 5-10 minutes, then shred or chop the chicken into small pieces.
Step 2: Prep grapes, vegetables, and herbs. Meanwhile, slice the grapes in half, and finely dice the onion.
Step 3: Toast raw nuts. Toast your raw nuts in the oven or a dry pan, let cool, then chop small.
Step 4: Combine ingredients. Whisk dressing ingredients ( mayo, yogurt, vinegar, honey, dijon, and poppy seeds) together in a small bowl. Add chicken, grapes, onion, and toasted nuts to a large bowl. Then pour the dressing on top and toss until the ingredients are evenly dispersed, and the chicken is well saturated in the creamy dressing. Season with salt and pepper. Chill before serving. Enjoy.
How To Make Shredded Chicken In The Instant Pot
When I don’t have cooked chicken on hand for chicken salad recipes, I use this pressure cooker technique to make shredded chicken quickly.
Step 1: Combine ingredients. Add chicken breasts seasoned with salt and pepper to the Instant Pot. Then pour in a cup of water, chicken stock, or chicken broth.
Step 2: Pressure cook chicken. Secure the lid, set the pressure valve in the sealed position, and pressure cook on high for 10 minutes. Let the pressure release naturally for 5 minutes, then quick release the rest. Let cool slightly before shredding.
Recipe Tips
- Shred chicken with a mixer. Add the chicken to a bowl (or stand mixer) and shred using the paddle attachment.
- Chop the onion very finely. If the pieces are too large, they will overpower the dish, and no one wants to bite into a surprise chunk of onion.
- Prep in advance. Sonoma chicken salad tastes even better when made up to a day in advance. Keep it covered in the fridge and re-stir before serving.
Variations
Whole30 Chicken Salad – With a few substitutions, this California chicken salad is perfect for Paleo & Whole30 purposes. First, be sure the chicken is prepared with compliant ingredients, then adjust the dressing. Instead of sour cream or yogurt, double up on the mayo. You can use your favorite store-bought Whole30-approved mayo or make paleo mayonnaise from scratch.
Low Carb Chicken Salad – Instead of serving your chicken salad between slices of bread, you can use lettuce wraps or cups, tomato slices, or cucumber slices for significantly fewer carbs.
Storing
As a rule of thumb, creamy salads (ham salad, tuna salad, egg salad, potato salad, etc.) should be stored in a well-sealed container in the fridge and enjoyed within 3-5 days. No freezing!
Recipe FAQ
The options are endless. These are my favorite ways to serve this Sonoma-style chicken salad.
Wrapped in romaine, iceberg, or bibb lettuce
Over a bed of leafy greens
With hearty sandwich bread like focaccia, ciabatta, a French baguette, and good old-fashioned sliced white or wheat bread
Whole-grain crackers or almond flour crackers
There’s no limit to the fruit and added flavor possibilities. You can add diced celery, diced apples or pears, dried cranberries, raisins, freshly chopped herbs (tarragon is a personal favorite in chicken salad), and sesame seeds.
More Savory Chicken Salad Recipes
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California Chicken Salad
Ingredients
- 16 oz cooked chicken breast shredded (leftover rotisserie chicken works great & saves time)
- 1 cup seedless grapes sliced in half
- ½ cup raw pecans toasted and chopped
- 2 tbsp sweet onion very finely diced
- 1/4 cup mayonnaise For a Paleo/Whole30 version use a Paleo-friendly mayo. I've got a recipe for that. 😉
- 1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt you can also use sour cream
- 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 2 tbsp honey
- 1 tbsp dijon mustard
- 1 1/2 tsp poppy seeds
- ½ tsp sea salt
- ¼ tsp fresh ground pepper
Instructions
- Whisk the mayo, Greek yogurt (or sour cream), vinegar, honey, dijon, and poppy seeds together in a small bowl.
- Add chicken, grapes, onion, and toasted nuts to a large bowl. Then pour the dressing on top and toss until the ingredients are evenly dispersed, and the chicken is well saturated in the creamy dressing.
- Season with salt and pepper.
- Chill before serving.
Notes
- Shred chicken with a mixer. Add the chicken to a bowl (or stand mixer) and shred using the paddle attachment.
- Chop the onion very finely. If the pieces are too large, they will overpower the dish, and no one wants to bite into a surprise chunk of onion.
- Prep in advance. Sonoma chicken salad tastes even better when made up to a day in advance. Keep it covered in the fridge and re-stir before serving.
- Whole30 Chicken Salad – With a few substitutions, this California chicken salad is perfect for Paleo & Whole30 purposes. First, be sure the chicken is prepared with compliant ingredients, then adjust the dressing. Instead of sour cream or yogurt, double up on the mayo. You can use your favorite store-bought Whole30-approved mayo or make paleo mayonnaise from scratch.
Nutrition
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Has anyone tried to subsititute Greek Yogurt for the Mayo?
Barbara, the yogurt would be good, it would just be a little more tangy.
i don’t get it. were chickens domesticated back then?
LOVED – we didn’t toast the almonds, use celery seed or use tarragon but it was still EXCELLENT. I used your Paleo Mayo recipe and mixed it up. We divided it into 4 servings and had it for lunches wrapped in lettuce leaves. AMAZING.
This recipe only serves 4-6 people (for regular lunch size portions), so double/triple if needed. 🙂
Looks yummy. Want to make it for a baby shower. How many does your recipe serve?
Yum, Amy, that sounds great too!!
This looks so yummy and similiar to a chicken salad I make with unsweetened dried cranberries and granny smith apples. I wonder if instead of the grapes, I could sub with peaches…. 🙂
I love chicken salad with fruit and nuts–yum!
Thank you Melissa! Let me know if you try the recipe and how you like it. 🙂
Thank you Minnie, I love tarragon! 🙂
This looks so delicious!!!
Super!!! I love the touch of tarragon honestly!