Fall Harvest Chicken Salad

A creamy, crunchy fall chicken salad with crisp apples, dried cranberries, pecans, and a simple maple Dijon dressing. Perfect for meal prep, easy lunches, or serving with a warm croissant.

There is something about the first hint of fall that makes me want to add apples and cranberries to everything. 🍎🍂

This Fall Harvest Chicken Salad is one of those recipes that feels a little special but is still incredibly simple to make—which is pretty much exactly what we want around here.

It combines tender chicken with crisp apple, celery, dried cranberries, pecans, red onion, and fresh parsley. Then everything gets tossed in a creamy maple Dijon dressing that gives it just enough sweetness without making the chicken salad sweet.

I served ours over fresh spinach with a warm croissant, and it was SO good.

Even better? Make a batch once and lunch is handled for the next few days. 🙌

This is the kind of recipe I love having in the refrigerator because you can completely change how you serve it depending on what you're in the mood for.

It's high in protein, meal-prep friendly, made with simple ingredients, and ready in about 15 minutes.

Serve it over greens one day, pile it onto a croissant the next, or grab some crackers and call lunch done.

That's my kind of meal prep.

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Servings: 4–6

• 3 cups cooked chicken, chopped or shredded
• 1 crisp apple, diced (Honeycrisp or Pink Lady works great)
• ½ cup celery, finely chopped
• ⅓ cup dried cranberries
• ⅓ cup chopped pecans
• ¼ cup red onion, finely diced
• 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped

• ½ cup plain Greek yogurt
• ¼ cup mayonnaise
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon pure maple syrup
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• ½ teaspoon sea salt
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper

1. Make the dressing.
In a small bowl, whisk together the Greek yogurt, mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, maple syrup, apple cider vinegar, garlic powder, salt, and pepper.

2. Assemble the chicken salad.
Add the chicken, diced apple, celery, cranberries, pecans, red onion, and parsley to a large bowl.

3. Toss everything together.
Pour the maple Dijon dressing over the chicken mixture and gently toss until everything is evenly coated.

4. Let it chill.
You can absolutely eat it right away, but if you have time, refrigerate the chicken salad for about 30 minutes before serving. It gives all those flavors a chance to come together.

Toast your pecans.

It only takes a few minutes, but it makes such a difference. Toasting them brings out that deeper, nutty flavor and gives the salad an extra crunch.

Just keep an eye on them—they go from perfectly toasted to what is burning?! very quickly. 😂

This is where you can make the same recipe work several different ways throughout the week.

My favorite is exactly how I served it here: over spinach with a warm, flaky croissant.

You can also serve it on toasted sourdough, stuffed into a croissant, wrapped in a tortilla, over mixed greens, or simply alongside your favorite crackers.

For an easy fall lunch, add sliced apples or grapes on the side and you're done.

This is a great recipe to make during your weekly meal prep.

Store the chicken salad in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Because the apple will soften over time, I personally like this one best within the first few days.

If you're making it specifically for meal prep, you can also keep the pecans separate and sprinkle them on right before eating so they stay extra crunchy.

This is exactly what House of Frantom is about.

Not complicated meal plans. Not spending Sunday cooking 17 different containers of food.

Just finding simple recipes and little systems that make feeding ourselves and our families easier during a busy week.

Make one big bowl of chicken salad and suddenly you have several lunches ready to go.

Simple ingredients. A healthier, simpler life. 🤍

Save this recipe for later, and if you make it, tag House of Frantom so I can see how you served yours!