Autumn Chopped Chicken Salad may just become your new favorite fall salad! Every bite is loaded with crisp pears, tangy cranberries, toasted pecans, feta, and juicy chicken.
We love Fall Salads like our popular Apple Broccoli Salad and Beet Salad with the same dressing you see here (it’s really THAT good!). This Chicken Salad has all of the best flavors of Autumn and it’s a feel-good salad.
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Fall Chicken Salad Recipe
This Fall Chopped Chicken Salad is easy, healthy and loaded with the best ingredients. It is paleo (if you use a goat/sheep milk feta), gluten-free and guilt-free, with all the flavor. This salad is perfect as a main course or side salad.
I sent text messages to all of my sisters telling them about this salad before it was posted – sometimes when things are just THIS GOOD, I just can’t help but share and I’m so excited to share it with all of you! Don’t judge my use of strange descriptors. I didn’t plan to share this screenshot with the world until just now. 
Ingredients for Chicken Salad & Balsamic Vinaigrette:
We love that the entire salad can be prepped ahead of time for parties and arranging. Just shake and add the homemade balsamic vinaigrette just before serving.
Seriously, friends, the dressing takes this salad to the next level. It couldn’t be easier and is a keeper of a recipe. You’ll want it on all of your Fall salads!
How to Make Chopped Chicken Salad:
This salad really requires very little effort. Cutting the chicken breasts in half cuts the cooking time in half and a salad spinner will make the lettuce prep easy peasy. Do you use a salad spinner? They are a wonderful tool and you’ll never have another soggy salad!
- Step 1: Season and sauté chicken and toast pecans
- Step 2: Chop and spin dry Salad – place in a large bowl.
- Step 3: Slice Pears and Cooked Chicken Breast and arrange over romaine lettuce in strips along with cranberries, feta and pecans.
How to Make Balsamic Vinaigrette:
The simple balsamic vinaigrette will win you over. It has the perfect combination of flavors and all you need is a mason jar to shake and serve. My friend Natalia shared this dressing recipe with me and it worked perfectly on this salad.
Combine dressing ingredients in a small mason jar. Cover with lid and shake vigorously to combine. If any separation occurs, shake again just before using. Drizzle balsamic vinaigrette over the salad, adding it to taste then toss to combine. We usually use about 3/4 of the dressing. Leftovers are a great problem to have! 😉
P.S. I prefer pressed garlic for this using a garlic press – you get more garlic flavor in the dressing.
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Can I Substitute Feta Cheese?
If you aren’t a fan of feta cheese or don’t have it on hand, try goat cheese instead. It has a similar, wonderfully tangy flavor that pairs really well with all of the ingredients and dressing in this salad. We use goat cheese and feta interchangeably in this salad.
Can I Use Rotisserie Chicken?
YES! We love the easy substitution of using chopped rotisserie chicken to make this a Rotisserie Chicken Salad. It becomes a no-cooking required salad that comes together quickly and is just as impressive. During the holidays, you can use leftover turkey to make it a Thanksgiving-worthy Turkey Salad.
More Chicken Salad Recipes:
We love chicken salads around here because they are a meal in themselves and are perfect for to-go lunches and meal prep!
- Avocado Chicken Salad – our most popular salad
- Chicken Potato Salad – A twist on the classic “Olivier”
- Chicken Mango Avocado Salad – Cheesecake Factory copycat!
Watch Natasha Make Chicken Salad:
I hope this Chopped Chicken Salad and Balsamic Dressing become a new favorite for you!
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Autumn Chopped Chicken Salad
Ingredients
Autumn Chopped Chicken Salad Ingredients:
- 1 lb chicken breasts (2 large), trimmed and halved lengthwise
- 1/2 tsp Garlic salt , (or to taste)
- 1/8 tsp black pepper, freshly ground
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 head romaine lettuce, (8 cups chopped) rinsed and dried
- 2 pears, cored and sliced
- 1 cup dried cranberries
- 1 cup pecans, lightly toasted on a dry skillet
- 1/2 cup feta cheese (4 oz), crumbled
Balsamic Vinaigrette Ingredients:
- 3 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
- 1 garlic clove, pressed or finely minced
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil, (regular olive oil also works)
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/8 tsp black pepper
Instructions
- Cut chicken breasts in half lengthwise so you have 4 thin cutlets. Season chicken cutlets on both sides with garlic salt and black pepper. Place a large skillet over medium heat with 1 Tbsp olive oil. Add chicken cutlets and sautee 3-4 minutes per side or until fully cooked through. Transfer to a cutting board and let chicken rest while preparing the salad then slice the chicken into strips.
- Meanwhile, in a medium dry skillet, toast pecans over medium heat for 5 minutes, tossing frequently or until pecans are fragrant and lightly golden. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine chopped romaine, sliced pears, dried cranberries, toasted pecans, crumbled feta and cooked sliced chicken.
- Combine dressing ingredients in a small mason jar. Cover with lid and shake vigorously to combine. If any separation occurs, shake again just before using. Drizzle balsamic vinaigrette over the salad, adding it to taste then toss to combine.
Nutrition Per Serving
Filed Under
If you make this recipe, I’d love to see pics of your creations on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter! Hashtag them #natashaskitchen
This Autumn chicken salad is absolutely delicious; one you will make again and again!
Q: Do you have a go-to salad for Fall?
Let me know about it in a comment below! Speaking of chicken salads, don’t miss our chicken avocado salad which won the hearts of our readers with over 150 million views! Explore more of our favorite salads here.
Delish! Made a few changes, though. I left out the dried cranberries to alleviate any added sugars (and, I am not a fan of dried fruit), I added crumbled prosciutto, and I used shaved parm. (that is the only cheese I had in my fridge). With that yummy dressing, I’m not sure you could go wrong!
I’m so happy you enjoyed that. Thank you for sharing that with us!
I love seeing your recipe videos. This salad looks really yummy. Do you have a recipe for an autumn squash (or maybe pumpkin) soup? I had one at a McAlister’s restaurant last Fall and loved it. I think they only have it for a short time every year in the Fall. I haven’t been there in a while so I haven’t checked this year.
Great question, Barbara! We do not at this time but that is a great suggestion! I linked all of our Pumpkin recipes here for you.
Made this last night and it was a huge hit. Tried your suggestions of rotisserie chicken and goat cheese substituted for feta and it was just fantastic! Thanks, Natasha!
You’re welcome! I’m so happy you enjoyed it, Danni!
The best salad ever! So much goodness in one bowl!
Isn’t it the best, Rachael! Thank you for that great review.
As always, your recipes never disappoint! I did sub ACV for the balsamic and added some honey to sweeten. I will be using this combo a lot more often.
Thank you for sharing that with me, Rene!
This salad really has all of the best fall flavors! I made it for a luncheon and everyone loved it!
It is one of our favorites, thank you for the wonderful review!
I love the flavor that adding the pears and cranberries brings to this dish! So much flavor and a must have dish at any holiday party this season.
This is so perfect in the fall and for the holidays! Thank you for that great review, Demeter!
I made this for lunch today and it’s delicious. The ingredients all work so well together. Toss it with that dressing and it turns into one of those “I can’t stop eating this” salads. Lol Didn’t change a thing! Thank you so much for this recipe
You’re welcome, Angela! I’m so happy you enjoyed that!
I did not do this salad but would like to make. If you have only three ingredients what kind of salad can you make?
Hi Lana, there are so many options. Like our Tomato Cucumber Salad. We have all of our favorite salad recipes listed here.
We eat this once every other week! So good and refreshing.
That’s just awesome!! Thank you for sharing your wonderful review 🙂
Omigosh this salad is amazing and the dressing….. heaven. I have a version of this salad almost every night. The roasted pecans make it! Tonight, romaine, chicken, avocado (ummmm avocado!) Toasted pecans, craisons, cherry tomatoes. Oh, and black olives. YUM!
Isn’t it so great! Thank you for sharing your review with us, Steph!
I made this salad tonight with a few tweaks because I didn’t have pears, so I used strawberries, and only had spring mix salad. But it was so good! My entire family of 5 loved it, and it’s very hard for all five of us to agree on food choices. Thank you for this awesome recipe. Will be putting this into heavy rotation.
Hi Sheena! That’s so great! It sounds like you have a new favorite!
Any ideas on what I can add if I omit the chicken? I’m bringing this to a potluck where some folks are vegetarian. Some ideas of extras that I can add would be so helpful.
Hi Patricia, you could try another fruit like apples, or just add a little more of everything else. This salad would still work great omitting the chicken. Roasted and diced sweet potatoes might also be a nice substitute.
Hi Natasha! So I tried this salad and another one where it calls for feta cheese. I realized I’m not a lover of feta cheese, what other kind of cheese can I substitute? What other kind would be perfect in this salad?
And 2nd question, the dressing is very acidic, what can go instead of balsamic vinegar? Or maybe use balsamic vinegar but also add something else? Thank you very much for answering!
You could just omit feta if you don’t like it. We love it with Feta it has a distinct tangier & saltier flavor profile. If you are looking for something more mild a cheese like Cotija or Parmesan may work. Ricotta may also work but I haven’t tried it in this salad.
Ok, next time I will put parmesan cheese. Also, I was wondering about the dressing, if theres something else that I could add so it wouldn’t be so acidic.
there is definitely room to experiment! You might try a poppyseed dressing.
If it helps the reviewer, I’ve made a version of this salad using goat cheese instead of feta and, for the dressing, I used a creamy poppyseed along with 2 T. balsamic vinaigrette. It was excellent!
I’m so happy you enjoyed that. Thank you for sharing that with us!
Goat cheese works well too, yum!
I used blue cheese in our salad goes well with the pears. it was delicious
This looks like the salad of my dreams. I love it when salads have nuts and fruits in them.
Hi Megan! I love a salad with a good crunch!
Hi Natasha! Love your recipes!
Just want to know if I can use the chicken breast from a large rotisserie chicken. Also can you give me an alternative for feta cheese. Thanks, Judy
I think Rotisserie Chicken will work. You could just omit feta if you don’t like it. We love it with Feta it has a distinct tangier & saltier flavor profile. If you are looking for something more mild a cheese like Cotija or Parmesan may work. Ricotta may also work but I haven’t tried it in this salad.
Goat Cheese would work nicely also!
Thanks Paula!
for some reason the video says that you need to watch it off youtube i thought it was a glitch but it is not
Yes, the video is posted vie Youtube and linked within this blog post 🙂 Enjoy!
For some reason the video gives me an error. It doesn’t play.
Hi Eliester, I’m hoping that was just a temporary glitch since it is showing ok for me. Is it still displaying an error for you on the chicken salad video? If so, please let me know what browser and device you are using to view. It is a youtube embed so it should be working on every device.
Thank you for your promptly response. Yes, it still shows the error. I’m using my LG nexus phone to view it, but don’t worry. I’ll just use another device.
Love your channel! Keep up the good work!
Blessings from Panama
Thank you Eliester! I hope it works out for you!
This salad totally reminds me of one from Wendy’s I would pickup for lunch from time to time! Makes me want to make it ASAP.
Now you can make your own!! Thank you for sharing that with me!
Wow, this is another tasty recipe of yours, and just in time. I was thinking about changing your chicken-pekan-apple salad to use pears instead of apples today when this one came up on the front page.
Perfect timing!! I hope you love it! Thank you for the great review!
I loved it. The only thing I regret: the hole in my stomach was not large enough to fit all inside (made half the recipe for 1 person, probably ate 2/3 of it).
I will most definitively make this one again soon!
That’s a good problem to have lol! I’m so happy you enjoyed that!
Wonderful web site. Lots of helpful information here. I am sending it to some buddies
ans additionally sharing in delicious. And obviously, thank you to your effort!
Thank you!
Hello Natasha! What could we use instead of the vinaigrette?
Thanks in advance 🙂
Hi Elizabeth, there is definitely room to experiment! You might try a poppyseed dressing.