Tarragon Chicken Salad with Cranberries

Tarragon chicken salad is creamy from mayonnaise and sour cream (use low-fat to spare some calories.) It’s chunky from celery, walnuts and cranberries. And, it’s a stand-out dish because everything is mixed with tarragon.

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you are enjoying a wonderful day with family and friends. 🙂

We’re going to talk turkey now. But, if the holiday is long gone, please be assured that this recipe works spectacularly with chicken…rotisserie chicken, leftover chicken from last night’s dinner and poached chicken. Any type. All of the tips below apply to turkey or chicken. 

If you have been bustling around to prepare for the big day, you may not have given much thought to leftovers. I mean they are delicious as is and you can enjoy Thanksgiving dinner over and over again this weekend. We will!

But, if you would like to put a spin on your turkey leftovers, try this tarragon chicken salad recipe with celery, cranberries, walnuts using turkey. You can whip up the base for this recipe during time-outs, parade commercials or while you are browsing the ads. After the big meal, pull about 3 cups of turkey into bite-sized pieces…and shazam. You’ve got a totally new dish.

Stash it in the refrigerator for a quick lunch or dinner. Serve it in rolls, a wrap, a croissant (or over salad greens…if you indulged a little too much!) I’ve even had this recipe on crackers. It’s great when you have guests in the house because it’s so easy to serve on a moment’s notice. (We seemed to be very discombobulated come Friday and everyone is hungry at odd times!)

You probably have most of these ingredients on hand for other dishes that were prepared. But, you can improvise too. Use any chopped nut on hand (or none at all.) Have some grapes on hand? You can use those instead of the cranberries.

Note: A rotisserie chicken was used for this salad. To poach boneless, skinless chicken breasts, place 3-4 chicken breasts in a pot and cover with water. Bring water to a boil and then reduce the heat to low. Cover and cook for about 10-12 minutes or until the chicken is no longer pink. After the chicken cools, shred it with a fork or dice it.

I’ve got a big bowl of tarragon chicken salad in the fridge…using turkey, of course. And, I’m going to need it for a quick meal after I finish Black Friday shopping with my girls!

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Tarragon Chicken Salad with Cranberries

Creamy tarragon chicken salad with celery, walnuts and dried cranberries is full of flavor and a crowd-pleaser. Make-ahead recipe for easy entertaining.

Servings: 6 servings

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup low-fat sour cream
• 1/2 cup low-fat mayonnaise
• 2 teaspoons dried tarragon
• 1/2 cup celery diced
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• 1/3 cup walnuts chopped
• 3 cups of cooked chicken or turkey shredded or pulled into pieces
• Bread rolls or croissants

Instructions

1. Mix sour cream, mayonnaise and tarragon together in a large bowl.
2. Fold in celery, cranberries, walnuts and chicken.
3. Serve as a sandwich or over salad greens.

Recipe Notes

Leftover chicken, such as from a rotisserie chicken works well in this salad. To poach boneless, skinless chicken breasts, place 3-4 chicken breasts in a pot and cover with water. Bring water to a boil and then reduce the heat to low. Cover and cook for about 10-12 minutes or until the chicken is no longer pink. After the chicken cools, shred it with a fork or dice it.

Enjoy!