Cherry Craisins lend the perfect amount of sweet and tart to an otherwise traditional savory chicken salad. It makes a delicious sandwich, lettuce wrap or salad topping any day of the week.

Cherry Craisin Chicken Salad

Chicken salad is a dark horse favorite lunch for me. Dark horse means something like runner-up, in case you were wondering. I had never heard of the dark horse term until Adam started making me choose a dark horse to win a Nascar race. Those were the days when I cared a little more about things like Nascar races. Now I don’t have time to care, nor do I have time to even pretend to care. I’m more of a ball sport girl anyway.

Since you’re not here to read about me rambling on about sports and what a dark horse favorite is, lets talk about the chicken salad because that’s what you’re really here for.

I really love the cherry craisins in this chicken salad. It’s such a nice change-up from the regular chicken salad with grapes. The grape version is pretty tasty but sometimes I think the grapes are too sweet or even too big. The craisins are sweetened from the cherry juice but still have a slightly tart taste that’s expected from cranberries. They’re also smaller and closer to the size of the celery and larger chicken chunks so they mix in really well.

One tip I’d like to share is that the chicken you use makes a difference. You’ll have more flavor in a roasted chicken than you would with poached chicken. I used leftover rotisserie chicken, which makes making this chicken salad super easy! I also like to dice the chicken and then shred most of it with my fingers to get a very fine shred. I leave some of the chicken in slightly bigger pieces but the fine shred on most of the chicken really helps the chicken salad stay together. I get really annoyed when I’m eating diced chicken salad and it’s constantly falling out of my sandwich. Like, über annoyed. I’m eating a sandwich, not chicken fingers. I don’t want to keep picking up pieces and stuffing it back into the bread. I made my sandwich once, I don’t want to keep making it over again. See how annoyed it makes me? I even get annoyed just thinking about it.

Be sure to get this Cherry Craisin Chicken Salad on your lunch menu asap. It’ll be a nice change from your turkey, ham or pb&j. Enjoy!

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