This simple, healthy chicken salad recipe is made with breast meat from a cooked rotisserie chicken, fresh lemon and dill. Fast and easy, and perfect for all diets including low-carb, keto, Whole30, Paleo, gluten-free and of course, WW.
Chicken Salad with Lemon and Dill
Chicken Salad with Lemon and DillI love having easy lunches in my refrigerator for when I need a quick lunch on the go. Keeping my refrigerator stocked with healthy lunch options prevents me from getting hangry, and making bad choices! A few of my go-tos lately are chickpea egg salad, chickpea tuna salad, and asparagus, egg and bacon salad. This chicken salad is inspired from my local health food store. It’s so simple, made with just 4 ingredients not counting salt! For a more traditional recipe, you can try my classic chicken salad recipe.
I love making my chicken salads from a supermarket rotisserie chicken. You can purchase them so cheap, and it makes for a juicy, tender chicken salad with minimal effort. If you don’t want to use a rotisserie chicken you can also cook the chicken breasts yourself if you wish in the slow cooker or poach it on the stove.
How To Cook Chicken Breast in the Slow Cooker
If you prefer to cook the chicken breast yourself in the slow cooker, cover the chicken with enough chicken broth (or water and salt) to cover, about 2 to 3 cups. Cover and cook on low until the chicken easily shreds, about 4 hours.
Chicken Salad Tips and Variations
- Other herbs would be wonderful here, swap the dill for basil, chives or parsley.
- You can serve this so many ways. If you want to keep it low carb, serve this with salad greens and cucumbers, in lettuce cups, or make a lettuce wrap. To serve with grains, this would be great with a quinoa salad, bean salad, in a wrap or on whole grain bread.
- You can refrigerate up to 4 days.
More Chicken Salad Recipes You Make Like:
- Cilantro Chicken Salad
- Chicken Salad with Avocado
- Lighter Classic Chicken Salad
- Houston’s Grilled Chicken Salad
- BBQ Chicken Salad
Chicken Salad with Lemon and Dill
Ingredients
- 10 1/2 ounces cooked skinless boneless chicken breasts, from 1 whole rotisserie chicken
- 2 tablespoons fresh dill
- zest and juice of 1 lemon
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
Instructions
- Remove the chicken legs, wings and thighs from the rotisserie chicken and set aside for another meal.
- Remove the skin from the 2 breasts and remove the meat from the bones. Break the chicken into chunks with your hands or a knife and place into a large bowl. Add the fresh dill, lemon juice, lemon zest, olive oil and salt.
- Refrigerate until ready to eat.
White meat Chicken, dill & lemon are a great combination! Very bright and tasty! I used canned chicken breast and a combo of plain, non-fat Greek yogurt, and Miracle Whip, with lemon juice and black pepper as a dressing. It tastes so fresh in a lettuce wrap. Definitely going to be a regular item on the menu!
Simple and delicious! I doubled the lemon but that’s certainly not necessary!
Very good. Delicious and light.
I cooked my chicken breasts in the slow cooker then shredded them the next day. The recipe was moist and flavorful. A perfect summer lunch
Love this recipe for lunch or a light dinner. I sometimes add celery and/or red onion as well. I always substitute parsley as not a big fan of dill.
Easy! Delicious! Two of my favorite adjectives! I had the rotisserie chicken and this was a great way to use it!
Added some light Mayo to cream it up !
Can’t wait to try these recipes
I made this yesterday and it was amazing! Super healthy and delicious! Thank you for the recipe! I will definitely be sharing this!
This simple but flavorful recipe was so fresh and clean. My 3rd time making it. I live in NC and I have dill in my herb pot that is going crazy. Wonderful way to use it. I have shared this recipe link with several folks already. I prepared this while my chicken was still warm so that it really absorbed the lemon and dill. Thank you for such a refreshing chicken salad.
Glad you enjoyed it!
This was so easy and delicious. I paired it with a small avocado cut up and it was so good. It was great to have 3 lunches ready for the week. Thank you again, Gina <3
So so delicious and simple!! I ❤️ Skinnytaste!
That looks amazing! Sometimes less really is more! Thanks!
This is a really easily and delicious recipe! It’s great to make ahead of time and know you have lunch/dinner prepared. I didn’t have rotisserie chicken so I grilled up some boneless, skinless chicken breasts to dice. It’s filling with a salad or over some cauliflower rice. This recipe is definitely going into the lunch rotation.
Super easy, super yummy! As soon as my kids like flavor I’m sure they’ll be into this one too 🤣
The lemon and fresh dill makes this a very refreshing dish! I served it by itself, but imagine it would also go well over lettuce and cucumbers as shown in the pictures.
I really enjoyed this, I had it with a big salad.
Loved it too!
Question Gina: I was thinking to take this to work over a bed of butter lettuce, and putting the 1 TBS olive oil, lemon juice, dill, salt in a separate container (the same quantity for 3 servings of chicken, but instead for 1 serving chicken with lettuce) and then dressing the whole thing at work, or does the chicken need to marinate in that combo? If so, would you suggest adding additional dressing for the lettuce? Or would you suggest doing it with lettuce? I don’t want to add too much extra oil for my lunch. Thanks so much!! Your website is my favorite for healthy recipes!!
Apologies I meant “Or what would you suggest when doing the chicken salad with lettuce?”
I was so disappointed in a recipe that I made today (not from your site) that I decided not to use my shredded chicken in the recipe, and then I saw this recipe on your meal plan, so I was excited to salvage my shredded chicken in time for lunch tomorrow!
Love your recipes! Quick question… Do you have a recipe for the remainder of the chicken since you just use the breasts for the chicken salad?
I can’t wait to make this. Looks so good. Question – are the rotisserie chickens from the store healthy? Someone told me they get I jected with fat/butter and that’s why they are so juicy. I don’t know if that’s true though. It sounds better than just using plain cooked chicken brest. What are your thoughts?
I Costco chickens are injeted with salt water (basically a brine) which makes chicken juicy and flavorful. If you read the ingredients on the label, it will tell you what they put on the chicken.
I also made the chicken in the crockpot as it is the best way for moist tender chicken! Once it was cooled, I whipped up this recipe and served a slice of low cal. bread and lettuce. I do love mayo, but barely missed it! I made this for supper with the broccoli orzo recipe. Excellent:) Thank you Gina for keeping us skinny!
This is so easy and fast to make. It is simply delicious!
This is delicious and so fast! Thank you!
I LOVE this chicken salad recipe, I make this least once or twice a week! So easy to throw together… thanks Gina for another amazing recipe!
Hello! My grocery store here in Portland OR has been out of lemons for a few weeks because of the drought in CA, do you have a back up idea instead of Lemon?
So good!! I made this the other day for lunch throughout the work week and it is fantastic! My 14yr old son really enjoyed it as well. I love the lemon/dill flavor combo with the cold chicken. Delish!
Thanks Jennifer!
This was fantastic with quinoa, thank you so much for this simple but super tasty recipe.
I loved this and so did my fiance! This is so versatile. We had it with green salads. It would make an awesome base for a wrap. Great chicken salad for people who hate mayo. I used chicken breasts that I cooked in half a can of chicken broth in the crock pot. I have an herb garden and threw fresh dill in, along with about 2 Tbsp lemon juice. It was fabulous. A definite keeper!
This is so simple and tasty! I think the fresh dill really makes the recipe. Thanks Gina!!
I am obsessed with this as a jar salad for work lunches. I divide the chicken, put it at the bottom of a mason jar, layer mixed greens, cucumbers, and grape tomatoes. At work, dump it all into a bowl and the lemon juice is a great salad dressing. Yummy meal prep, for the win! Thank you!
Do you keep the olive oil and lemon juice separate then add this at work?
I used cilantro instead of dill. Was delicious!
This is a wonderful and light summer meal. I have celiac so I need to eat gluten free, and I’m doing WW, so it needs to be WW friendly as well and this is both! I used rotisserie chicken and it’s delicious! Thank you!
I made this earlier this week. I wanted something I could grab out of the fridge. This was so good! I’m going to b making it again! Full of fresh, bright flavor, perfect for wraps, or just eating right out of the container. I also warmed it up with some steamed broccoli, and I was in heaven! This recipe is a keeper!
Oh my goodness! I have tried several of your recipes (I probably cook 3-4 of them per week) and I love them all. I have come very close to commenting before, but this chicken salad has taken me over the edge. Simple, quick (I whipped it up before work this morning), fresh, and springy! It is so delicious. Sadly, my grocery store was out of dill, so I used parsley & chives — can’t wait to try it as-written. Thanks for all of your delicious creations!
You’re welcome Kasey! Glad you enjoyed it!
I agree Kasey! It’s so good! My grocery store was out of dill a few times so I used dried dill. It was just as good. Just cut the measurements in half. I make this before work too!
This was fantastic! I did the chicken in the slow cooker with broth and after shredding I spooned a few tablespoons of the broth over the chicken that I saved in the fridge and used parsley vs. dill. Excellent lunch and stayed really moist which was key.
Wow! Such a refreshing and healthful take on chicken salad. I made it today with chives and my tastebuds are dancing! Thank you! We grill skinless boneless chicken breasts every weekend to have on hand during the week.
This is a delightful way to use those leftovers especially in the summer!
Glad you enjoyed it!
New favorite lunch! wow! not a huge fan of dill but this is absolutely balanced and perfect. i sinfully kept the skin on from the rot. chicken, but still only 3 points. awesome!
Oh gosh Gina you have outdone yourself! This is soooo good! So fresh and summery! I used fresh dill from my garden. I thought I was only growing it for the butterflies! LOL! Now I’m using it for cooking! Y’all don’t hesitate to try this simple recipe!
Delicious! Made this today using the crockpot to cook the chicken. (I used about a pound and a quarter of raw chicken breast to get to the 10.5 oz of cooked, shredded chicken). I tried serving it over lettuce and cucumbers as suggested and loved it!
I was thinking the same thing!
All I did was pull the rotisserie chicken apart by hand and dressed with mint and lemon juice. Chicken salad has the connotation of adding mayo and other ingredients.
Why is everyone speaking of mayo? There is none in this receipe…
I’m confused as well!
Because most chicken salad recipes are made with mayo, and this one is not. 🙂
I was thinking the same thing!
Looks great! My husband hates mayo so this would be a good option! Curious, what do you make with/how do you use the leftover dark meat from the rotisserie?
I made a second batch of the salad for my kids using the leftover meat.
We have made this twice in one week so good! Since I am not a fan of mayo, we used 0%Greek yogurt. The entire family enjoyed!
Um, there is no mayo in this recipe.
This sound sos easy and tasty! Thank you for the recommendation!
This look great! I despise mayonnaise and this looks like a great alternative