Chicken Salad with Dill Pickles

This chicken salad with dill pickles is delightful and so scrumptious. The chicken is cooked with pickle juice for extra flavor, then shredded and loaded with fresh, chopped dill pickles and crunchy celery, and coated in a creamy, rich, mayo based, herby-dill dressing. This dill pickle-y chicken salad is fresh, bright, and savory. Serve on a croissant, wrap, or pretzel bun for a lunch worth getting excited over.

This dill pickle chicken salad starts by using your choice of a pressure cooker or slow cooker to cook the chicken. These methods ensure moist, tender, and more flavorful chicken.

Just as important are the ingredients that the chicken is cooked with. Thanks to a little basic food science I keep in my back pocket from my dietitian training and schooling, I decided to test this recipe by adding pickle juice to the chicken broth that the chicken is cooked in. This combination of salt, acid, and liquid helps to gently breakdown the chicken, or tenderize it, while keeping it moist and flavorful.

After cooking the chicken, the rest comes together super quickly. Pickles and celery add the best crunch factor to this chicken salad. A simple, creamy mayo and mustard dressing (with extra pickle juice and dill, of course) brings it all together and then it’s ready for selecting your favorite chicken salad vessel. I love using a wrap or a pretzel bun, but you can also stick with one of the classics and opt for some sliced sourdough bread, a croissant, or crackers.

This chicken salad recipe with dill pickles is crunchy, delicious, and perfectly dill pickle-y. I can’t wait for you to give it a try!

Why you’ll love this recipe:

• Delicious twist on classic chicken salad recipe for pickle lovers
• Two easy options for cooking the chicken: pressure cooker or slow cooker
• 30 minutes start to finish (with pressure cooker method)
• Option to use rotisserie chicken (see notes in recipe card)
• GOOD chicken salad: crunchy and creamy with tender, moist shredded chicken
• Perfectly dill pickle-y with pickle juice, chopped dill pickles, and dried dill
• Tasty AND protein packed (makes for a satisfying and filling lunch with about 20 grams protein per serving)
• No reheating required – refreshing no-heat lunch option perfect for hot, summer days or picnics at the beach
• Gluten-free and dairy-free (just happens to be!)

Ingredients

• Boneless skinless chicken breast: Chicken breasts are best for chicken salad, although because they are so lean they can easily become dry. Follow my directions for cooking the chicken to avoid ending up with a dry chicken salad!
• Chicken broth: I like keeping a jar of chicken broth base in my refrigerator so it’s always on hand when I need to make chicken broth.
• Pickle juice: Helps tenderize the chicken while cooking and gives that delicious dill pickle flavor to the salad.
• Dill pickle slices: Chopped up and added to the chicken salad for some great crunch and tart, pickle flavor. I like using Grillo’s pickles–they’re extra crunchy and fresh. You can find them in the refrigerated pickle section.
• Celery: Classic chicken salad ingredient and for a little more crunch.
• Mayonnaise: Mayo works really well as the creamy base for the dressing on this chicken salad. It adds some richness and fat to balance out the tart, acidic pickle flavor.
• Mustard: The combination of mayo and mustard in chicken salad dressing is so good. The mustard also compliments the pickle flavor.
• Dill: Extra dill to bring out the pickle flavor. Adds the best herby taste to this chicken salad.
• Sugar: I think a little sugar takes any chicken salad up another level. Balances out the saltiness from the rest of the ingredients.
• Salt: A touch more salt to enhance the rest of the flavors. Feel free to adjust or omit if needed.

Equipment

• Pressure cooker (Instant Pot or Ninja Foodi) or slow cooker (Crockpot) – I love my Ninja Foodi for making perfect shredded chicken fast and for having so many other useful functions.
• Kitchen scale – super handy for weighing out chicken
• Stand mixer or handheld mixer – optional for shredding chicken
• Two cup liquid measuring cup
• Measuring cups and spoons
• Chef’s knife and cutting board
• Mixing bowl – This set comes with lids and is so cute!
• Wooden spoon or silicone spatula

How to Make Chicken Salad with Dill Pickles

1. Cook the chicken. You have two options for this: pressure cook or slow cook. I’ve tested a lot of shredded chicken recipes and used many different methods, but these are my two tried-and-true ways to end up with perfectly tender, pulled chicken that’s flavorful and not dry. Pressure cooking helps keeps the moisture and flavor in the chicken (plus, it’s so much faster). Slow cooking in a Crockpot leads to tender, moist shredded chicken because the proteins are broken down very gradually and at a low temperature.
2. Prep the ingredients. This recipe is super simple, so you only need to chop two things: celery and dill pickles. When the chicken is done cooking you’ll shred it (by hand with forks or with a stand mixer or hand mixer. I like to add the broth back to it to let the chicken soak up some moisture before draining and adding the rest of the ingredients.
3. Mix together. Add everything to a bowl (making sure to drain the chicken broth from the shredded chicken) and stir with a spoon until well coated and combined.
4. Let chill. Scoop a spoonful to taste how yummy this chicken salad is, then let the it chill in the refrigerator for a couple hours. This will also allow the flavors to come out.

Notes & Tips

Substitutions & Additions

• Try dressing up this chicken salad even more by adding bacon bits, shredded cheddar cheese, or finely diced red onion.
• Feel free to use a shredded rotisserie chicken as a shortcut. Generally, a rotisserie chicken will give you about 2-3 cups of shredded chicken, so try picking out a bigger rotisserie chicken since this recipe requires about 3 cups of shredded chicken.
• You could substitute the chopped pickles for dill relish, although it will have the same flavor, you won’t get that same crunch you’d get from using pickles. Also, depending on the size of your container of relish, you may not have the amount of “pickle” juice needed for the recipe.

What to Pair with Dill Pickle Chicken Salad

Try serving this chicken salad on:

• The classic chicken salad vessel, AKA the croissant
• Toasted, homemade sourdough bread (classic, cheddar, or this fun dill pickle sourdough)
• Tortilla wrap, as pictured here in the recipe
• Multigrain crackers or saltines
• Stonefire Naan Rounds (I love these! Pop them in the toaster and then add chicken salad on top as an open faced sandwich)
• Warm, toasted pretzel bun – for quick, easy homemade pretzel buns try my pizza dough pretzel recipe

For other topping ideas, try:

• Cheese: cream cheese or a slice of cheddar or havarti
• Crispy bacon slices
• Crunchy lettuce
• Tomato slice
• Dill pickle chips or sour cream and cheddar chips (I’m a huge fan of chips on sandwiches!)

Storage

This chicken salad with dill pickles keeps well in the refrigerator for up to 4-5 days. Make sure to stir it up from the bottom of the bowl each time before serving to mix the liquid that has settled on the bottom. I would not recommend freezing this chicken salad.

Other Recipes You Might Like…

• Chicken Bacon Ranch Sandwiches
• Chicken Tikka Masala Sandwiches
• Hot Honey Chicken Sandwiches

Print Recipe

Chicken Salad with Dill Pickles

This chicken salad with dill pickles is delightful and SO scrumptious. Cooked with pickle juice for extra flavor, loaded with chopped dill pickles and crunchy celery, and coated in a creamy dill-mayo dressing, this chicken salad is fresh, bright, and savory. Serve on a croissant, wrap, or pretzel bun for a tasty lunch.

Prep Time10 minutes mins

Cook Time20 minutes mins

Total Time30 minutes mins

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: American

Keyword: chicken salad, dill pickle, dill pickle chicken salad, easy, lunch, quick

Servings: 8 servings

Author: Kate Reeder

Ingredients

• 1.5 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts*
• 1 ½ cups chicken broth
• ½ cup + 2 tbsp pickle juice split for cooking chicken and adding to shredded chicken
• 2 cups dill pickles** drained (reserve pickle juice)
• 2 celery ribs
• ¾ cup mayonnaise
• 2 tbsp mustard
• 1 tsp dill weed
• 1 tsp sugar
• ¼ tsp salt

Instructions

Two options for cooking the chicken:

• Option 1: Pressure cooker method (Instant Pot/Ninja Foodi)

  Add the chicken breasts to the pressure cooker pot. Heat the chicken broth and 1/2 cup of pickle juice together in the microwave for about two minutes, then add to pressure cooker pot to cover chicken (this speeds up the process). Cover with the pressure cooker lid and set the steam valve to "seal". Program to pressure cook on high for 10 minutes. Once the chicken is done cooking, manually (and carefully) switch the steam valve to "vent". Remove the lid once the steam has escaped.

  Option 2: Slow cooker method

  Add the chicken breasts and chicken broth to a slow cooker and let cook on low heat for 6 hours.
• When the chicken is done cooking, remove it from the broth and place it into a medium to large sized bowl. Shred it with two forks or a handheld mixer (or a stand mixer if preferred).
• Add enough of the broth mixture to the shredded chicken to cover it. Let this cool while prepping the other ingredients. This helps to prevent the chicken from drying out.

Making the chicken salad:

• Finely dice the dill pickle chips. Chop the celery into thin slices.
• Drain the shredded chicken well by tipping the bowl into the sink while keeping a clean hand firmly on the chicken or with a colander.
• Add the pickle juice (2 tbsp), mayo, mustard, chopped pickles, and chopped celery. Stir well.
• Sprinkle the dill, sugar, and salt evenly over the mixture, then stir well until all ingredients are evenly incorporated. If the chicken salad seems a little dry, simply add another 2 tbsp mayo and mix again.
• Cover the bowl and set in the refrigerator to chill for at least 2 hours. Serve on a croissant, pretzel bun, toasted sourdough, or tortilla wrap with cream cheese, cheddar, or havarti.

Notes

*Notes about the chicken:

1. I like to use my kitchen shears to cut each chicken breast in half, lengthwise so that the shredded pieces are not super long (see instruction photos).
2. Having a kitchen scale is really helpful for recipes, like this one. Using the right amount of chicken will result in the perfect proportion of chicken and mix-ins to dressing so you don’t end up with dry chicken salad.
3. You can also use shredded rotisserie chicken or pre-cooked shredded chicken you may have on hand. If using, measure 3 cups cooked, shredded chicken and omit the chicken broth and 1/2 cup pickle juice. Skip to “making the chicken salad” section in the instructions.

**I like to use Grillo’s pickle chips (affiliate link)–they’re extra fresh and crunchy!

 

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