Pickle lovers rejoice! This Dill Pickle Chicken Salad, is made with oven baked, slow cooker, or Instant Pot chicken, crunchy pickles, red onion, fresh dill, mayo and garlic. It’s an easy and delicious way to mix up your Whole30, Paleo, and Low Carb weekly meal prep!
Why We Love It
There’s nothing worse than boring chicken salad, am I right? Well, here’s the answer to your meal prep blues: Dill Pickle Chicken Salad! It’s absolutely delicious, made with pickle brined chicken, lots of fresh herbs, red onion, diced dill pickles, and creamy mayo.
It’s crunchy and oh so satisfying, but best of all, it’s Whole30, Paleo, Gluten Free AND Low Carb! So whatever healthy way of eating you’re following, this recipe is for you.
And if you like fun takes on traditional meal prep lunches, you may also like my Mexican Tuna Salad, Tuna Salad Cucumber Cups, Pesto Chicken Salad, or my Butter Chicken Meal Prep recipes!
If you are looking for something a little more indulgent with that delicious dill pickle flavor, check out this Fried Pickle Dip.
Recipe Ingredients
Okay, here’s what you need to make this happen:
- Chicken Breasts
- Mayonnaise: Use sugar free, Whole30 mayo.
- Garlic Powder
- Black Pepper
- Red Onion
- Dill Pickles & Pickle Juice (the brine in the pickle jar, just for cooking the chicken).
- Fresh Dill
You might notice that there’s no added salt in this recipe. That’s because the pickles are already salty enough! If you find you need a little salt at the end, though, feel free to sprinkle away!
Making the Recipe
What makes this chicken salad extra flavorful? It’s ALL in the way you cook your chicken! In basic terms, your chicken is going to be brined and poached in the pickle juice! There’s no better way to infuse more flavor in your chicken than this.
Step 1: Cook the Chicken.
Either add the chicken and pickle juice to a baking dish, cover, and cook in the oven, or cook together in the slow cooker or Instant Pot. This method of cooking helps to infuse all the wonderful pickle-y flavors in the chicken!
If you’d rather skip this step, you can use store-bought rotisserie chicken, regular grilled chicken, canned chicken, or leftover chicken. It will still be absolutely delicious, and you’ll still get a bunch of pickle flavor from the herbs and diced pickles!
Step 2: Prep the other ingredients.
Once your chicken is cooked, allow it to cool. Meanwhile, dice the pickles, onion, and dill.
Step 3: Mix & Serve.
Lastly, all you’ve got to do is mix everything together! Season to taste with salt and pepper, but start with little or no salt, since the pickles tend to add a good amount of salt to the dish. You can always add more once you taste it!
What to Serve with Chicken Salad: I like to serve Dill Pickle Chicken Salad in lettuce wraps, over crunchy romaine salad, with bell peppers, or seed crackers.
To Store Chicken Salad: Cover tightly and store in the refrigerator for up to 3-4 days, per USDA.
More Easy Meal Prep Recipes
✨ Making this recipe? I’d love to hear about your experience with it. ✨
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Dill Pickle Chicken Salad
Ingredients
Chicken
- 1.5 lb chicken breasts
- 2 cups dill pickle juice
Dill Pickle Chicken Salad
- 3/4 – 1 cup mayo
- 1 cup diced dill pickles
- 3 Tablespoon diced red onion
- 1 Tablespoon fresh dill
- 1 teaspoons black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
Instructions
Cook the Chicken
- Oven Instructions: Preheat your oven to 375. Season the chicken lightly with black pepper. Add the chicken to a medium baking dish and pour in the pickle juice. Cover tightly with tin foil and bake for 40 minutes.
- Slow Cooker Instructions: Add the chicken and pickle juice to your slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 2.5 hours or high for 1.5 hours.
- Instant Pot Instructions: Add the chicken and pickle juice to your Instant Pot. Cover and set to High Pressure for 10 minutes. Allow for a NPR (Natural Pressure Release) by allowing the steam to dissipate slowly, and without turning the vent knob.
Prep the Ingredients
- Once the chicken is cooked, set it aside to cool. Meanwhile, dice the pickles and red onion and chop the fresh dill. Once the chicken is cool, dice the chicken into bite-sized pieces, or however small you prefer the pieces of chicken to be.
Make the Chicken Salad
- In a large bowl, mix all of the ingredients together. Start with less mayo and add more if you like a little more. Season to taste and enjoy!
