Leftover rotisserie chicken, apples, celery, and dried cranberries in a light creamy Greek yogurt based dressing combine to create this light and delicious healthy chicken salad with apples and cranberries.
Which reminds me of a classic Waldorf salad - only lighter - and with chicken.
I served this chicken salad with apples and cranberries for lunch on a bed of mixed greens and baby arugula. And garnished it with a little shredded carrot and chopped cucumber.
Easy, healthy chicken salad with apples and cranberries
All I can say is, "YUM."
I rarely cook chicken just to make chicken salad. It seems like too much work. Instead, it's a recipe I tend to make when there's leftover home cooked or rotisserie chicken staring back at me from the fridge.
To keep this chicken salad with apples and cranberries lighter and healthier, I use plain nonfat Greek yogurt and a little Hellman's light mayonnaise to dress it without drowning it.
WW Friendly Low Fat Apple Cranberry Chicken Salad
Adding apples and celery is a tasty way to add flavor and crunch for minimal calories and points.
This chicken salad with apples and cranberries would be yummy on whole wheat crackers or a toasted english muffin or stuffed into a pita too.
How Many Calories and WW Points in this Chicken Salad?
According to my calculations, each serving has 220 calories and
5 *SmartPoints (Green plan)
3 *SmartPoints (Blue plan)
3 *SmartPoints (Purple plan)
5 *PointsPlus (Old plan)
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Variations:
- No chicken?
Substitute leftover turkey, canned chicken or canned tuna. - No mayonnaise?
Use all plain Greek yogurt instead. - No yogurt?
Use all light mayonnaise instead. - No dried cranberries?
Most any chopped dried fruit would work.
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Healthy Chicken Salad with Apples & Cranberries
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups chopped cooked chicken
- 3 stalks celery, chopped
- 1 cup chopped apple, about 1 large; I used a Pink Lady and kept the peel because it was organic
- ¼ cup dried cranberries
- ½ cup nonfat plain Greek yogurt
- 2 tablespoons Hellman's light mayonnaise
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons chopped parsley (optional)
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Place the chicken, celery, apple and cranberries in a bowl and stir to combine and then set it aside.
- In a small bowl, stir together the yogurt, mayonnaise and lemon juice.
- Add this to the chicken mixture and stir to mix well.
- Stir in the parsley if desired. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Equipment
Recipe Notes
*PersonalPoints® calculated by WW. *PointsPlus® and SmartPoints® calculated by Simple Nourished Living; Not endorsed by Weight Watchers International, Inc. All recipe ingredients except optional items included in determining nutritional estimates. SmartPoints® values calculated WITHOUT each plan's ZeroPoint Foods (Green plan, Blue plan, Purple plan) using the WW Recipe Builder.
If you like this apple cranberry chicken salad, you might also like:
Favorite Chicken Salad Recipes for Weight Watchers
My Favorite Chicken Salad Recipes, including curried chicken salad, Greek grilled chicken salad, chicken avocado salad, mustard broccoli chicken salad, fruited quinoa chicken salad and more.
Creamy Chicken Salad Recipe - with celery, dried cranberries, and smoked almonds dressed in a combination of light mayonnaise and nonfat Greek Yogurt with 13.6 g fat, 14.6 g carbs. 2.8 g fiber, 39.5 g protein and 8 WW Points+ from Cooking Light found at MyRecipes
Curried Chicken Salad with Apples and Raisins - fruit studded chicken salad for two with with 222 calories and 6 WW Points+ from Cooking Light found at MyRecipes
Ellie Kriger's Curried Chicken Salad - with grapes, almonds and cilantro has 325 calories and 6 WW Points+ per serving from Ellie Krieger found at the Food Network
Lighter Chicken Salad - from chicken cooked in broth so it needs less dressing with 4 WW Points+ from Gina at SkinnyTaste
Mango Chicken Salad - with yogurt, fresh mango, and mango chutney with 6 WW Points+ from Alanna at Kitchen Parade.
For More Delicious Weight Watchers Salad Recipes
Martha is the founder and main content writer for Simple-Nourished-Living.
A longtime lifetime WW at goal, she is committed to balancing her love of food and desire to stay slim while savoring life and helping others do the same.
She is the author of the Smart Start 28-Day Weight Loss Challenge.
A huge fan of the slow cooker and confessed cookbook addict, when she's not experimenting in the kitchen, you're likely to find Martha on her yoga mat.
This post contains affiliate links to products I like. When you buy something through one of my Amazon links or other (affiliate links), I receive a small commission that helps support this site. Thank you for your purchase!
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Jan
Love this recipe! My husband likes it too! Instead of apples I use red grapes cut in half. Serve on a bed of lettuce or a flat out! Yummy!
Edith
Do you think this will be good if I make it a day ahead?
Marilyn
I have made this salad twice. Both times I used grapes instead of cranberries. It is really good. I'm sure I will made it again. Thank you!
Brandi
I believe if you substitue grapes instead of dried cranberries, then the entire recipe would be 2 points on Purple. You'd only have to count the light mayo.
Jeanne Walz
Delicious! I made a wrap out of it. Total 4 freestyle points. Filled me up. Husband loved it too!
Judi Gowin
We love this salad. Using the greek yogurt adds great flavor without the extra points. Thank you for sharing again.
Marge
I made this salad during the heat of summer when I was having company for the day. It was a winner as everyone enjoyed it. I used rotisserie chicken to further shorten my prep time; a sure hit.
Leslie Jones
Exactly what is a serving? 1/2 cup or what?
Martha McKinnon
Hi Leslie, the recipe says that the serving size is about 1 cup. Hope this helps. ~Martha
Tracey
Great for lunch. Added more craisins than called for to add a little more zing. Put it in a wrap. Just two extra points. Delicious!
Iamlinny
Recipe is deelish but I can't figure out how the points were figured. For purple only the light mayo and dried cranberries would be counted, I believe. I just cancelled my membership with WW, so I can't get to the recipe calculator.
Ms. Nikki C.
This was so delish and extremely quick to make. I whipped it up b4 work and ate it for lunch. Really a delicious salad!
Maria
Can this be frozen?
Martha McKinnon
Hi Maria, I haven't tried it but I don't think so. I believe it would be soggy and watery when defrosted. Hope this helps. ~Martha
Anne
I made this salad per the recipe directions and it was delicious. I brought it to work for lunch for a few days and it stayed fresh to the end. I put it in a wrap, on greens, and made a sandwich. This is especially good when it is hot outside and you want something refreshing for your meal. This recipe will be added to my regular rotation.