Easy And Healthy Wild Rice Chicken Salad Recipe

Try this easy and flavorful chicken wild rice salad recipe featuring grapes and cashews. This dish is perfect for a quick lunch or a light dinner.

Chicken Wild Rice Salad Ingredients

I love this recipe. Is it a chicken salad or is it a rice salad? Since I love both types of salad, this is a perfect marriage of the two. Here are the ingredients for this classic recipe:

• Mayonnaise
• Milk
• Lemon Juice
• Dried Tarragon
• Lemon Zest
• Cooked, Cubed Chicken
• Wild Rice Blend
• Sliced Green Onions
• Sliced Water Chestnuts, drained
• Salt
• Black Pepper
• Seedless Grapes, halved
• Cashews

Since it has plenty of chicken, you get a good bit of protein, and the wild rice stretches the recipe out to serve a crowd.

To make things better, the grapes pack a punch of sweetness while the cashews and water chestnuts lend to a nice crunch. It’s a really well-rounded recipe. Make it ahead of time to let the flavors meld together.

How to Make Wild Rice Salad?

Step by Step Instructions

• Try serving in a lettuce wrap!
• In a large bowl, whisk together mayo, milk, lemon juice, lemon zest and dried tarragon; set aside.
• In a separate bowl, stir gently diced chicken, cooked wild rice, green onions, water chestnuts and salt and pepper.
• Stir the wet mixture together with the chicken mixture until blended evenly.
• Refrigerate, covered, for 2 to 3 hours.
• Just before serving, fold in halved grapes and chopped cashews. Taste, and add more salt and pepper, if needed.

Storage Instructions

Transfer leftovers to an airtight container, and store in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

For the full ingredient amounts and recipe steps by wild rice chicken salad, scroll to the recipe card at the bottom of this post.

Byerly’s Wild Rice Chicken Salad Recipe

Apparently, this recipe used to appear to the Byerly’s brochure or pamphlet. Who knows? It could have appeared on the back of a wild rice package back in the day.

All I know is that I found it in my Our Lady of Sorrows Cook Book, and someone loved it enough that they made it regularly for their family and friends.

Now that I’ve found it, I am going to be making it for everyone. It makes a really large batch that can be eaten on all week. I think it’s also a great way to transition my girls from plain white rice to wild rice.

What to serve with wild rice salad?

Wild rice chicken salad has protein and grains which means some type of fruit or vegetables would be the logical complement. Try a simple cucumber salad or a pretty fruit or vegetable plate to go along side the salad. It would also taste great with a green vegetable such as steamed or roasted broccoli.

Recipe FAQs

• Use the green and white part of the green onion.
• I prefer to use freshly squeezed lemon juice, but the refrigerated lemon juice works too.
• It’s best to stir in the grapes and cashews right before serving.
• Any type of cooked chicken works. Rotisserie chicken, grilled chicken, poached chicken, etc.

Recipe Variations

• Omit chicken, if desired, to make it a regular wild rice salad.
• Use all wild rice, or use a wild rice blend which tends to be cheaper.
• Red or green grapes work in this recipe.
• Omit cashews, if desired, or use other types of nuts such as pecans, almonds or walnuts.
• The recipe calls for salted cashews, but I prefer to use unsalted.
• Leave the cashews and sliced water chestnuts whole or chop up into smaller pieces, which ever you prefer.
• Substitute dried cranberries for grapes, for a new spin.
• Add a tablespoon of Dijon mustard or stone ground mustard.

Favorite Chicken Salad Recipes

We love a good chicken salad and we have several recipes on our site ranging from super simple with just a handful of ingredients to super fancy with all the extras.

• 3- ingredient Chicken Salad
• Low Carb Chicken Salad
• Fancy Chicken Salad
• The Best Chicken Salad
• Hot Chicken Salad from the Farmwife Cooks

Best Side Salad Recipes

Sweet Potato Salad Recipe

Easy Beet Salad

Crunchy Ranch Pea Salad Recipe

Waldorf Salad

Pantry Staples and Kitchen Utensils

• Wild Rice
• Mayonnaise
• Dried tarragon
• Water Chestnuts
• Cashews
• Large Mixing Bowls
• Whisk