So you have made your amazing chicken salad., your family is coming over what do you serve with it to make your lunch or BBQ POP. For a big group here are the top 20 Ideas for what goes with a chicken salad in 2024 – we also make some specific suggestions for what kids like with potato salad and it often helps them eat a few veges!
As there are countless varieties of chicken salad, so too are their ingredients. Chicken salad with spicy mayonnaise Chicken salad made from sweet and savory ingredients.
You might be interested to see how far ahead can you make chicken salad.
Traditional or Homestyle chicken salad has usually gone into croissants or sandwiches with some extra mayonnaise. For those who like it, hot try a little Nandos sauce, not too much mixed in or add some soy sauce plus a dash sesame oil for that southeast Asian flavor.
Let’s recap what is usually in a chicken salad recipe as that will help you generate some of your own ideas as to the best complimentary ingredients that go the chicken salad.
The chicken salad’s starting ingredients are chunky chicken. It can be chicken breast which is wrapped in aluminum foil and braised to keep in the juices or a rotisserie chicken from your local store, slow-cooked pull apart (shredded) chicken, or even chicken from a can.
Now usually people add some more base ingredients like
- grapes
- walnuts
- radish
- carrots
- celery
- fennel
- onions
- green beans
- parsley
- chives
Here is our Top 20 List of What to Serve with Chicken Salad for 2024
- Crakers
- Bed of Lettuce
- Egg Salad
- Potato Chips
- Cheese Sticks – Cheeder Straws
- French Fries
- Baked Sweet Potato Wedges
- Dill Pickles
- Cous Cous Cranberry Salad
- Leek and Potato Soup (Thickened) See our Instant Pot Recipe
- Coleslaw
- Oven Roasted Veggies
- Raw Crips Vegetables
- Fruit Salad or Platter
- Crispy Baguette
- Pasta or Pasta Salad
- Chicken Noodles (Drained)
- Green Healthy Smoothie
- Croissants
- Thin Fresh White or Multigrain Bread
How much chicken salad to serve at a party or for a large group
1. How To Serve Crakers with Chicken Salad
The best way to serve chicken salad to hungry guests is to serve a variety of crackers like water crackers, rice crackers, and even graham crackers.
What are the best crackers to serve with chicken Salad?
The best cracker to serve with chicken salad is a partially crushed Craker – it gives a crunchy texture to the salad
2. How to Serve Chicken Salad on A Bed of Lettuce
Take a baby close lettuce or your favorite style lettuce and carefully peel off the leaves so they stay whole and simply place one or two tablespoons of chicken salad in them. They are a good low-carb option when it comes to serving chicken salad.
3. Egg Salad And Chicken Salad
Often folks with top a salad with eggs, but serving a creamy – and I like slightly curried egg really works well with chicken salad – it gives the whole dish a unique flavor.
4. How to Serve Potato Chips with Chicken Salad
Do your kids love potato chips but hate chicken salad? If you answered yes then having them scoop some creamy chicken salad onto a crunchy chip will have them eating chicken salad all day long. Just make the rule 1 chip – 1 scoop
Actually, adults love this way too.
5. Serving Cheese Sticks and Straws with Chicken Salad
Cheese sticks or straws, especially tasty tangy cheese adds real flavor to the dish. I love these with lettuce and chicken salad.
They also sit well on a vegetable plate.
6. Frenchs Fries Make Kids Eat Chicken Salad
Who does not like deep-fried chips? Well, again this gets children interested. My favorite way is actually to take a small portion of the chicken salad and mix it in with the thick french fries. It kind of reminds me of adding mayo or ranch dressing to fries it gives them a tangy flavor.
7. How to Serve Chicken Salad with Baked Pub Style Potato Wedges
Do you love chicken salad but find it a bit intense in the way it tastes? If so, then you need to try these baked potato wedges!
These delicious pub-style potato wedges are perfect served alongside a healthy chicken salad. Not only will they taste amazing, but they also look really impressive too.
For extra flavor sprinkle just a touch of olive oil infused with chili powder.
8. Dill Pickles Served with Chicken Salad – What Is the Best Way?
Homestyle dill pickles (or store-bought) are crunchy, tangy flavor brings a chicken salad alive.
Pickles are classic and work so well when they are just plunged into a chicken salad! If you want to be totally decadent the use some Creamy Dressing – Honey Mustard.
9. How To Serve Cous Cous Cranberry Salad With Chicken Salad
We all know cranberries go with turkey – but they also work well with chicken. Do you want to serve cranberries to your guests but don’t know where to start? If you want to serve cranberry salad with chicken salad then you should consider the sweet but tangy flavor of the cranberries and the texture of the cous cous. The cous cous while neutral on flavor adds a nice body to the overall dish
10. Leek and Potato Soup (thickened)
Chicken and Leek is a famous combination served in restaurants and cafes around the world. They make casseroles and pies so serving leek and potato soup with chicken salad just makes sense.
Thicken the soup using cornstarch and you will have a really tasty dish that is great in both the summer and the wintertime.
11. What to Serve with Chicken Salad for Lunch – Coleslaw.
Coleslaw is another summer classic salad (see how much per person) and goes well with chicken salad giving it a tangy crunch.
12. How To Serve Chicken Salad with Oven Roasted Vegetables
Roasting vegetable like green beans, squash, yams and carrots as healthy sides for a chicken salad makes it a complete meal.
To serve chicken salad with roast vegetables just arrange them so that the colors bring life to the dish. Remember people eat with their eyes first.
13. Serving Chicken Salad with Raw Crisp Vegetables at A Picnic
Do you love picnics but hate the fact that you always end up eating the same boring food? Well, here’s a solution! Make your own raw vegetable plate or platter using ingredients that you already have at home.
Picnics are fun, but they can also be quite expensive if you don’t plan ahead. So, if you want to save money while having fun, then making your own raw vegetable plate and serving it with chicken salad is healthy, cheap, and easy.
What’s more, they can all be prepared ahead of time at home, put into their own airtight plastic containers, and put in the cooler while in transport. When you get to the picnic spot take out your environmentally friendly plates and build really attractive-looking platters with chicken salad and colorful vegetables your guests will love it.
14. Fruit Salad – What Fruit Goes with Chicken Salad.
My favorite fruit with chicken salad is mangoes, follow by melons and grapes. You can either serve these individually or together as a side dish to the chicken salad. You can also serve a fruit salad if it is not too sweet and does not have a lot of liquid. If there’s too much liquid drain it first before adding the fruits to the chicken salad.
15. Crispy Baguette
Making a chicken salad sub with some crispy rolls is a great way to eat chicken salad on the run. Again from the buffet have a picnic with guests can put their own feelings into the baguette is a great way to make your salad go further. Furthermore, it’s an easy way to get kids involved in making their own lunch.
16. How To Serve Pasta Or Pasta Salad with Chicken Salad.
Are you looking for ways to serve pasta or pasta salad with chicken salad? Serving a plain pasta with chicken salad gives you a carbohydrate that bulks out the salad and makes it go further. Add a little lemon juice and a pinch of salt for final seasoning.
A Pasta Salad is usually served as a separate side dish.
17. Chicken Noodles and Salad.
Using some egg noodles from instant noodle packets or chicken noodle soup is a great way to add some flavour and cheaply bulk out your salad. First, boil and cook the noodles then make sure you drain them while letting them cool down just a little bit before mixing them with the chicken salad. Kids love doing this as you all know how much they love instant noodles and it’s a way to get some chicken and veges into their diet.
18. Green Healthy Smoothies Goes Well with Chicken Salad.
On a very hot day having some green smoothies premade so that they can be served with your chicken salad can be a great idea. Chicken salad can be quite sweet and pairing it with the bitterness and healthiness of a green smoothie is a really good idea and quite refreshing. It also looks really attractive.
19. Croissants
This is probably the most popular bread or bun to mix with chicken salad. Put about 1 to 2 tablespoons into a small croissant or 3 to 4 tablespoons into a large one. You can then add further ingredients like honey mustard feta cheese or anything else that you have available to make the final product. Have some cheese straws and fresh dill to make them look different.
20. Thin Fresh Bread
Making chicken sandwiches from creamy chicken salad is a classic. I like white bread but you can also use multigrain bread both are great.
You can add greek yogurt, sour cream, or miracle whip to the sandwich – this makes it great comfort food and a complete meal. You just can not beat chicken salad sandwiches.