But if you don’t, no worries — this copycat Classic Carol recipe brings the same cozy, comforting flavor straight to your kitchen. It’s easy to make, perfect for family meals or holiday gatherings, and tastes just as good as the original.

What makes this recipe stand out is the little details: poaching chicken tenders in broth for extra richness, using Duke’s mayonnaise for that signature tang, and adding a touch of dry ranch seasoning for depth. Chop the celery extra fine for the best texture, and if you want to boost the nutrition, stir in some chopped hard-boiled eggs.

As for serving, the possibilities are endless. Pile it high on a croissant or sandwich with fresh lettuce and tomato, scoop it over a crisp salad, or simply enjoy it with your favorite crackers. However you serve it, this chicken salad is classic Southern comfort in every bite.

Ingredients

• 1 ½ lbs chicken tenders

• 32 oz low-sodium chicken stock

• ½ cup Duke’s mayonnaise

• 2 Tbsp celery, finely minced

• 2 tsp dry Ranch salad dressing mix

• ½ tsp ground black pepper

• ½ tsp salt

Instructions

1. Poach the chicken

• In a large pot, bring chicken stock to a boil.

• Add chicken tenders, cover, and immediately remove the pot from heat.

• Let the chicken sit in the hot stock for 20 minutes, until fully cooked and tender. Remove and let cool slightly.

2. Shred the chicken

• Use a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment to shred quickly, or use two forks to shred by hand.

3. Mix the dressing

• In a medium bowl, combine mayonnaise, celery, ranch seasoning mix, salt, and black pepper. Stir until smooth.

4. Combine

• Fold in the shredded chicken until evenly coated. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed.

5. Chill & serve

• Transfer chicken salad to an airtight container. For the best flavor, refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving.

• Serve on a bed of lettuce, in sandwiches, or with crackers.

Tips for Success

• Duke’s mayonnaise gives the most authentic flavor, but any rich, tangy mayo will work.

• Make it ahead — the flavor improves after chilling.

• For crunch, add extra celery or chopped pecans.

Storage

• Refrigerator: Store in an airtight container for up to 4 days.

• Freezer: Not recommended, as mayonnaise separates when frozen.

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes
Servings: 6

Share the image below to your beautiful Pinterest board if you like this Chicken Salad Chick – Classic Carol Chicken Salad Copycat Recipe! 🙂

What is Chicken Salad Chick 

Based in Auburn, Alabama, Chicken Salad Chick is a fast-casual restaurant brand and chicken salad franchise.

The business has more than 200 franchisee restaurants and retail locations throughout around 20 different U.S. states as of July 2022.

In 2016, Chicken Salad Chick was listed as the 37th fastest-growing U.S. company on the Inc. 5000 list.

What Makes Chicken Salad Chick so Good

I believe this recipe is special due to a few different components.

Only chicken tenders are needed. After cooking, chicken tenders break apart beautifully to shred.

The celery is very finely diced, so there are no noticeable huge bits.

Dry Ranch salad dressing mix also imparts a distinct taste.

I decided to cook the chicken tenders using chicken stock for this recipe. I believe this gives the dish more taste levels. Onions, carrots, and celery are used to make high-quality chicken stock. Some of this taste is absorbed by the chicken tenders.

Salad Choices at Chicken Salad Chick Restaurant

Your best bet for a wide variety of delicious chicken salads is the Chicken Salad Chick restaurant. They provide a classic, sweet, nutty, savory, fruity, and hot chicken salad.

Are you seeking a fantastic chicken salad recipe? This salad is flavorful and just made. You’re going to start to love this recipe.

What Mayonnaise To Use For Chicken Salad Chick?

Chicken Salad Chick restaurant uses Duke’s mayo, so that’s the one we’re going to use with this recipe. If you want, you can also use Hellman’s mayo, but this is a copycat recipe after all, and to make it 100% authentic, we’re going to follow the recipe.

Is this Chicken Salad Chick Salad Recipe gluten-free?

Yes, if you follow the recipe, it is gluten-free. Hidden Valley Ranch Original Dressing Mix and Duke’s Mayonnaise are gluten-free products. The ingredients you use to make the salad will determine this.

To be certain, you must examine the label on each one. chicken stock from the grocery store has gluten in it.

Copycat Chick-fil-a Chicken Salad is a recipe I love to make. We love creating our own versions of restaurant favorites at home, such as Chick-Fil-a Chicken minis (one of the most downloaded recipes from our website to this date), Chick-Fil-A mac and cheese, Chick-Fil-A Cool Wrap, Chick-Fil-A sauce recipe, KFC Chicken littles, Popeyes Chicken Sandwich, McDonald’s Chicken McGriddles and many more. This Copycat Recipe is one you will want to make again and again!

Chick-Fil-A Chicken Salad Recipe

Since chicken salad isn’t on Chick-fil-A’s menu and bid farewell back in 2017, we’ve got you covered with the simplest and most delectable recipe to recreate this classic at home.

Ingredients

• 16 oz of grilled chicken breasts, cooked and chopped
• 2 hard-boiled eggs
• 5 TBSP of Celery, chopped
• 5 TBSP of sweet pickle relish
• 10 TBSP of mayonnaise
• ½ teaspoon of salt
• 1/3 teaspoon of black pepper
• Garlic powder, to your liking (this is optional)
• Green leaf lettuce

Instructions

• Add cooked chicken, salt, pepper, garlic powder, celery and relish to a food processor.
• Blend the ingredients several times until you get the desired texture. (Don’t overmix, give the salad quick pulses being careful not to puree it)
• Add eggs and mayonnaise, and mix until you get the desired outcome.

Toast

• Toast slices of bread. Serve Chick-Fil-A chicken salad on top.
• Top with lettuce and the second bread slice.
• Continue with the remaining bread slices, lettuce, and chicken salad.

Pin the image below if you like this Chicken Salad Recipe!

What you need for original Chick-Fil-A chicken salad

• Chicken breasts – The original Chick-fil-A recipe requires four chicken breasts. They can be grilled or fried. I chose the grilled chicken breast.
• Celery – adds great texture and amazing flavors to salads, especially cold ones. Celery is also used in tuna salad recipes and many more.
• Sweet Pickle Relish – This recipe is very similar to my grandma’s chicken salad recipe. It’s not good without sweet pickle relish. Many people love the sweet relish. It tastes just like the store-bought varieties. Because we like it, my simple chicken recipe uses dill relish cubes instead.
• Real Mayonnaise – I would guess that Chick-fil-A spread used Hellman’s mayonnaise or a restaurant mayonnaise. Because the recipe was not very specific, I didn’t know for certain so I used Duke’s mayonnaise. A mayonnaise with olive oil can be used to lighten things. You can also use half of the plain Greek yogurt with the mayonnaise to lighten it.
• Hardboiled Eggs – are another common ingredient in Southern-style chicken salads. They add really nice flavor and texture to the salad.
• Food Processor –  The original recipe required that you use a food processor. I used it here, but it was too processed and didn’t have the right texture. If you have a food processor, my suggestion is first to pulse the celery, then add in the chicken, and then pulse again. Alternatively, you can chop all the ingredients and mix them together.

Variations to Chick-Fil-A Chicken Salad

• Make it Sweeter You can add 1/3 – 1/2 tsp of granulated sugar if you like a sweeter version of chicken salad.
• Dill Some people don’t like sweet pickle relish so you can try dill relish instead.
• Low-carb – If you want to cut down on carbs and go gluten-free, grab some Bibb lettuce or Living lettuce and serve your chicken salad in lettuce cups.
• Onion is not in the Chick-Fil-A recipe. However, I love to add a little grated onion or finely minced yellow onions to my chicken salad. You don’t need to add much! You can also mince some green onions or chives and add them to the salad. Also, you could add some red onion slices to the chicken salad sandwiches.
• Toast-Bread Varieties I chose to use whole wheat bread because that’s what Chick-fil-A used.

How to store Chick-Fil-A Chicken Salad

The remaining chicken salad should not be consumed more than three to five days after being made and should be stored in a refrigerator using an airtight container.

Is Chick-fil-A chicken salad sandwich available at Chick-Fil-A restaurants?

No. Unfortunately, It was removed from the menu in September 2017. One of the managers of the company explained that it was not a light hearted decision but that it is necessary to occasionally offer menu items that guests enjoy. The company gets feedback from its customers to inform them of their plans for changing the menu. 

Chick-Fil-A published their famous chicken salad recipe around the same time that they stopped selling the sandwich. It was so good that I had to have it. It was delicious… heavenly.

Conclusion

If you like this chicken salad, be sure to check out this Classic Carol Chicken Salad. Chick Fil A’s copycat chicken salad tastes exactly like the real deal. It is the original. The original but “not-so-secret recipe” was picked straight from the restaurant. I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I did. If you did, please share on Pinterest and other social media pages. Thank you!