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Keto chicken salad is a favorite for lunch in our house, whether it’s eaten with a fork, in a lettuce wrap, or spooned on top of sliced cucumber. I load this chicken salad recipe up with all kinds of goodies so that every bite has loads of flavor and texture.
When the sun finally starts peaking out and the weather finally starts warming up, I immediately start thinking of lazy summer days and firing up the grill.
Summer food is the best food, if you ask me!
In our house, we do a lot of simple lunches, especially during the hot summer months when we don’t want to mess with the oven or leave the pool.
This low carb chicken salad is a summer staple for us, but we do eat it all year long. It’s hard to resist since I load it up with all kinds of goodies.Chicken Salad Ingredients:
This keto chicken salad is absolutely packed with all of my favorite things! I like lots of flavor and texture in my chicken salad.
You’ll need shredded chicken, mayonnaise, mustard, hard boiled eggs, dill pickles, minced onion, chopped pecans, fresh dill, vinegar and salt and pepper.
Feel free to sub in sunflower seeds or sliced almonds for the pecans.
You may use dill relish in place of chopped pickles, but check for hidden sugars as a lot of relish contains sugar.
How to make chicken salad:
We often start with a rotisserie chicken from the store to keep it really easy, but if you have an Instant Pot (affiliate link), it works perfect for cooking chicken to shred.
Just pop in a couple pounds of chicken breasts or thighs with a cup of broth and use the poultry setting for 15 minutes. I always do a full natural release to ensure the meat is tender. It seems to get tough if you quick release.
You can also throw your chicken in a slow cooker and cook it on low for around 3 hours and then shred it with a couple of forks.
Let your chicken cool completely before mixing together your chicken salad.
Stir together the mayonnaise, mustard, pickles, pecans, onion, dill, and vinegar and then toss in the shredded chicken.
Give it a taste and add salt and pepper as needed.
This tastes best after it’s had at least an hour to chill out in the fridge, but you can eat it right away if you’re in a hurry.
Store tightly covered for 3-5 days.
Low carb chicken salad:
Everything in this chicken salad recipe is low carb, but traditionally chicken salad is served between bread.
You could try your hand at this low carb bread recipe or, if you’re not strictly keto, you can check out some of the lower carb breads available at the grocery store. Healthy Life is a brand that’s widely available and has around 6 net carbs per slice, depending on the variety you choose.
Low carb tortillas make a great wrap.
I usually choose to serve my keto chicken salad in a lettuce wrap. Both romaine hearts and butter lettuce work well – romaine is crunchy and butter lettuce is soft. Choose whichever texture you prefer.
I’ve also cut a cucumber in 1/4 thick rounds and spooned a little chicken salad on top. It’s delicious and adds great crunch.
More low carb chicken recipes:
Stuffed Chicken Breast: You should read the reviews on this recipe!
Low Carb Chicken Parmesan: A family favorite!
Crockpot Chicken Fajitas: We all love Mexican food!
Low Carb Chicken Casserole: Total comfort food!
Lemon Garlic Chicken: The creamy sauce is seriously outrageous and so easy!

Keto Chicken Salad
This low carb chicken salad is packed full of goodies to add major flavor!
Ingredients
- 2 cups cooked, shredded chicken
- 2 boiled eggs, chopped
- 1/4 cup chopped dill pickles
- 1/4 cup chopped pecans
- 1/4 cup minced yellow onion
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 1 teaspoon yellow mustard
- 1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar
- 1 teaspoon fresh dill
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Add everything but the chicken to a mixing bowl and stir well to combine.
- Add the chicken to the mixture and stir well to coat.
- Taste and add salt and pepper, as desired.
- Chill for 1 hour before serving for best flavor.
Notes
Store tightly covered in the refrigerator for 3-5 days.
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Nutrition Information
Yield 4 Serving Size 1Amount Per ServingCalories 394Total Fat 33gSaturated Fat 6gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 25gCholesterol 155mgSodium 420mgCarbohydrates 3gFiber 1gSugar 1gProtein 21g
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33 comments
Amazing! Didn’t have any dill but added celery. My new favorite lunch.
Sounds like a great addition!
Best chicken salad I’ve ever made! Me and my boyfriend just started Keto and we make this in bulk—perfect go to for lunch.
Love to hear that! Thanks, Mariana!
I’m not one to write a lot of reviews, but felt compelled to write one for this recipe. It was really good. I had a half of a rotisserie chicken and wasn’t sure what to do with with it and decided on this recipe. I removed all the skin and deboned. Made as directed. It was really good. Will be my go to chicken salad recipe. Next time I may add chopped bacon like another reviewer suggested. Thank you.
Thanks, DeeDee!
Could you sub yogurt for mayo?
Yes, if you like that flavor it should work fine.
This was yummy. I didn’t have any dill so I used cilantro as a substitute. I ran this recipe through MyFitnessPal and the the sodium was 1227g. Wow!
Made the Keto Chicken Salad for today and rest of the week lunch. I used left over rotisserie chicken and it was delicious! Another easy step was using sandwich slice dill pickles, just a quick chop! My only regret I used a tad bit too much sea salt. Today I ate it over fresh baby spinach. Tomorrow I’m going to add a little fresh cabbage for crunch. Really enjoyed it this and will make again.
I was told you can’t use mayo while in Keto.
You can definitely have mayo, but if you’re doing strict/clean keto with a focus on ingredients you’ll want to get a mayo with a healthy oil. Most big name mayo brands have soybean oil or canola oil, which isn’t good for keto. There are quite a few these days with avocado oil and those are perfect. Look for Chosen Foods or Sir Kensington and you’ll find a good clean mayo. 🙂
This was seriously SO good. I had leftover rotisserie chicken from Costco that needed to be used, and this was perfect! I added a little bit of celery too. For anybody on keto craving a sandwich or wrap taste, try this recipe on Crepini egg + cauliflower wraps (also can be found at some Costcos in the refrigerator section) or parmesan wraps or crisps – so tasty! Thank you!
The serving size indicates 1. What does this mean, 1 whole recipe, 1 cup, tbsp. I hope it means the whole thing.
The recipe serves 4. I didn’t measure it out by volume, so you’ll just want to divide into 4 servings. 🙂
i love to make this and put it on apple slices for a refreshing lunch at work. I have made it a couple of times now and I absolutely love it!
Amazing! Didn’t have any dill but added celery. My new favorite lunch.
Celery sounds like a good addition. 🙂
Hello do you think I could freeze half of it. Thanks!
I’ve never tried freezing chicken salad, but I imagine it would work fine.
I made this chicken salad for my lunch today. DELICIOUS. I added chopped celery and I used canned chicken. I love it and will make it again. Thank you
My wife made this yesterday and it was so delicious! I wish she’ll make this salad again today. Thanks for sharing!
made it with smoked homemade and brazil nuts ad dry dill it was superlative I didnt add salt cause smoked chicken has plenty of flavor and pickles have salt.
I love lettuce wraps but I’ve recently been having a love affair with the Outer Aisle cauliflower sandwich thins so I’m going to have a chicken salad sandwich with them!
Where in the world do you find cauliflower sandwich thins??? That sounds amazing!
Amazon sells them! https://amzn.to/2YVAiPP
I found the cauliflower sandwich thins but it shows $33.00 for a pack of four. Am I reading that correctly? There are different flavors too. Which ones do you recommend? Thanks for the heads up BTW!
They’re actually 4 packs of 6 cauliflower thins. I’ve never tried them myself though. 🙂
I’m going to make this and add some bacon to it too!
@Darla try adding some sliced or slivered almonds!
Bacon sounds like a great addition!
Keto Chicken Salad. This was very quick and easy to make! I didn’t put pecans and dill weed/powder. I subbed distilled vinegar for apple cider vinegar. And I used 2-12.5:oz. cans of chicken, so I didn’t add salt. I added freshly grated black pepper. Next time I may add some cayenne or Tony Chacherie’s-creole to it, because it was a little bland, possibly due to my omittions. But I’m allergic to pecans, and didn’t have dill weed/powder.
so how did it fare with the canned chicken? I have a few cans because of all the uncertainty of Covid, so I need to use them.
I will try the cucumber chip idea, love fresh cukes. You can also poach your chicken in broth for 30 minutes and cool and shread.
Try using Lemon Cukes!
Thanks Karly,
Maggie