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Pickle lovers, this one is for you! Dill Pickle Chicken Salad makes the perfect quick and easy lunch or dinner. Enjoy this tangy, addictively flavorful chicken salad with veggies or crackers for a high-protein meal or stuffed in a croissant for a heartier meal.
If you love chicken salad and other easy and simple lunch recipes, be sure to check out my Italian Grinder Chicken Salad, Chicken Caesar Pasta Salad, BLT Chicken Salad, Buffalo Chicken Salad, Street Corn Chicken Salad, Chicken Avocado BLT Pasta Salad, Chicken Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad.
Why You’ll Love Dill Pickle Chicken Salad
Quick and Easy: This is an easy 15-minute meal that’s great to keep in your back pocket for busy weeks when you don’t have much time to meal prep.
Simple Ingredients: Veggies, herbs, pickles, chicken, a little mayo, and sour cream. This is wholesome and simplistic, with tons of flavor and texture.
High Protein: Chicken salad is always a great option when you want to watch your carbs. Pair this chicken salad with cucumber rounds or celery stalks for dipping and you have a high-protein, lower carb meal.
Lots of Pickle Flavor – Some pickle recipes lack the tangy dill flavor we love. This dill pickle chicken salad really packs a pickled punch. We use lots of chopped pickles, briney pickle juice in the dressing, and tons of fresh chopped dill. This is a pickle lover’s dream!
Key Ingredients
Chicken – Rotisserie chicken is my favorite option because it allows you to skip the prepping and poaching steps first.
Dill Pickles – It’s important to grab dill pickles rather than sweet pickles as they won’t pair well. Grab your favorite brand.
Ranch Seasoning – We’ll use powdered ranch seasoning as the dry seasoning in the chicken salad dressing, along with salt and freshly cracked pepper.
Fresh Dill – Aromatic dill weed is chopped up for the ultimate dill flavor. In a pinch, you can substitute dry dill.
Veggies – For the crunchy texture, we’ll use minced celery. For aromatic elements, we’ll also use a combination of green onions and sweet yellow onions.
Creamy Dressing – mayonnaise and sour cream are used together for a creaminess and added tang. We’ll add in some pickle juice for added pickle flavor.
How to Make Dill Pickle Chicken Salad
Debone and shred the rotisserie chicken and chop and dice all the other ingredients.
In a large bowl, add the mayonnaise and sour cream. Sprinkle in the ranch seasoning, salt, pepper, and fresh dill weed, then pour in the pickle juice. Whisk until smooth. Taste and adjust if needed with another splash of pickle juice or more ranch seasoning.
Add the chicken into the bowl along with the diced pickles, celery, and both onions. Fold everything together from the bottom up so the dressing gets evenly dispersed over all the ingredients. Stir until everything is coated.
Cover tightly and refrigerate until ready to enjoy. It lasts about 4 days in the fridge.
Variations
Lighten it Up
The most common request I get is how to lighten up this chicken salad. The downside of most chicken salad recipes is that they are usually mayonnaise-based. You can easily substitute the mayo and sour cream for an all-Greek yogurt dressing.
I like to opt for a 4% plain Greek yogurt because it’s a little higher in fat (nowhere near mayo, though), so it will provide more creaminess than nonfat yogurt. You can find a very popular version here with my Street Corn Chicken Salad, which uses this yogurt dressing base!
Make it Spicy
Add diced-up pickled jalapenos and banana peppers for a nice kick of heat. This will contribute nicely to the pickle flavor while adding some spice.
Looking for More Recipes?
Chicken Avocado BLT Pasta Salad
Chicken Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad
I hope you enjoyed this recipe for my tangy Dill Pickle Chicken Salad. Be sure to comment below with any questions or feedback!
If you make these or any other recipes, don’t forget to tag me on IG @BadBatchBaking to be featured in my story. Seeing your recreations makes my day!
Dill Pickle Chicken Salad
Ingredients
- 2.5 cups rotisserie chicken shredded
- 1/2 cup dill pickles chopped
- 1/3 cup celery finely diced
- 1/4 cup green onions diced
- 1/4 cup yellow onion minced
Dressing
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 1/3 cup sour cream
- 1 tablespoon ranch seasoning
- 1 tablespoon dill pickle juice
- 2 tablespoons fresh dill weed chopped
- 1/2 tsp each salt and cracked pepper
Instructions
- Debone and shred the rotisserie chicken and chop and dice all the other ingredients.
- Make the dressing at the bottom of a large mixing bowl. Add mayonnaise and sour cream. Sprinkle in the ranch seasoning, salt, pepper, and fresh dill weed, then pour in the pickle juice. Whisk until smooth. Taste and adjust with another splash of pickle juice or more ranch seasoning if needed.
- Add the chicken into the bowl along with the diced pickles, celery, and both onions. Fold everything together from the bottom up so the dressing gets evenly dispersed over all the ingredients. Stir until everything is coated.
- Cover tightly and refrigerate until ready to enjoy. It lasts about 4 days in the fridge.
Notes
The most common request I get is how to lighten up this chicken salad. The downside of most chicken salad recipes is that they are usually mayonnaise-based. You can easily substitute the mayo and sour cream for an all-Greek yogurt dressing. I like to opt for a 4% plain Greek yogurt because it’s a little higher in fat (nowhere near mayo, though), so it will provide more creaminess than nonfat yogurt. You can find a very popular version here with my Street Corn Chicken Salad, which uses this yogurt dressing base! Make it Spicy
Add diced-up pickled jalapenos and banana peppers for a nice kick of heat. This will contribute nicely to the pickle flavor while adding some spice.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Here are some additional photos for your Pinterest boards:
What an incredible chicken salad recipe! I ended up using grilled chicken , light mayo, and light sour cream since that’s what I had on hand. I also added banana peppers as per the recommendation. Thank you so much for the recipe!
This is the best chicken salad I’ve ever tried and it’s definitely being added as a weekly or bi weekly staple! Made a double batch two days ago and my family devoured it so I made another double batch tonight for meal prep this week 😊. Thank you for sharing!!