Of all my chicken recipes, the chicken macaroni salad recipe is the one I bring out most often. The base of this salad is a delicious macaroni salad, it’s a perfect union of chicken pasta recipes and barbecue party side dishes.
Excellent for tailgates, backyard cookouts, or if you just want a zesty dish, the chicken macaroni salad recipe is light enough to accompany grilled meats but it’s a filling enough pasta recipe to be a quick standalone lunch meal. I’ve yet to find a time when it wasn’t the perfect recipe to make!
Macaroni salad is a warm-weather must-have! Try my Hawaiian macaroni salad, tuna macaroni salad, and my classic macaroni salad.
Let’s make this salad!
What I Love About Chicken Macaroni Salad
Aside from it being crazy simple to make on my end, I’ve gotten a ton of rave comments over the years when I bring this dish to parties. A few of my favorites:
- So creamy!
- Those pops of dried fruit — yum.
- Eggs and chicken? So much protein!
- The right amount of crunch from celery and nuts
Chicken Macaroni Salad Recipe + Ingredient Notes
Usually, a “base chicken pasta salad” recipe is fairly straightforward, with pasta, a mayo sauce, and chicken. But over the years, I’ve livened mine up with different textures and flavor profiles to give you a truly rounded chicken macaroni salad experience!
Dressing:
- Mayonnaise: Duke’s is my favorite mayo, but if you live on the West coast, use Best Foods.
- Sour Cream: Adds a creamy tang to the dressing.
- Orange Juice: Adds a light citrus flavor to the dressing.
- Orange Zest: Adds an incredible orange flavor punch.
- Poultry Seasoning: What even is poultry seasoning, you may ask? Typically, it’s a combination of nutmeg, thyme, marjoram, rosemary, and pepper — so if you don’t have any premixed poultry seasoning in your cupboard, whip up your own!
- Dijon Mustard: What’s in a Mustard? I don’t know about you, but I get a little intimidated when I go down the condiment aisle anymore. There are about forty different types of mustard alone. Dijon? German? English? Yellow?
- What’s the difference? French Mustard (also known as Dijon) has a stronger bite of heat, though not quite as intense as the straight-up Spicy mustards. But if French Mustard is still too mustardy for you, you can switch it out for the milder Yellow or Honey mustard.
- Salt + Pepper
- Tarragon: This adds a delicious citrusy, licorice flavor.
Salad:
- Elbow Pasta: Use a good quality pasta like Barilla (no endorsement) cooked in well salted water, just to al dente.
- Onion: Use red onion.
- Parsley: Wash carefully to remove any sand or grit.
- Cranberries: Dried cranberries. If you have the time or desire feel free to plump these up. Simply cover with boiling water, allow to sit for 15-20 minutes, then drain.
- Pecans: Either pecan or walnuts work in this recipe. Walnuts have slightly higher protein, but both pecans and walnuts offer similar benefits.
- Celery: Adds the perfect crunch.
- Rotisserie Chicken: You can use leftover chicken instead if you have it on hand.
- Golden Raisin: You can use golden or regular.
- Eggs: Large hard boiled eggs.
Tips
- Butcher like a pro: Hate taking apart rotisserie chickens? Some tips I’ve picked up are, first of all, to thoroughly let your chicken cool. No one wants to handle scalding hot meat. This also frees you up to use your hands (in rubber gloves) to break down your chicken, which I’ve always preferred — it lets you really get in there to make sure you get all the meat.
- There’s a good step-by-step chicken walkthrough here!
- Cranberry Rehydration: One tip you’ll see in the recipe below is to soak the dried cranberries. Why? Doing this rehydrates the berries a bit, making them plumper and giving them a fuller, yummier flavor.
Storing + Freezing + Make-Ahead
- How Long Can You Keep This? You can store chicken macaroni salad recipes in a sealed container in the fridge for 3-5 days. But if you’ve had this dish sitting out at a party for any length of time, I’d toss the leftovers. The sour cream in the dressing can do icky things if not refrigerated, so better safe than sorry!
- Can You Freeze This? No. Recipes like this, which have a cream-based dressing as well as citrus, tend to separate in the freezer’s high temperatures, which makes a chunky sauce after it’s thawed.
- Make-Ahead: This recipe is much like all other pasta salads in that it gets better with age. The ideal way to serve this is to make it a day ahead, put it in either a bowl sealed with plastic wrap or an airtight container, and let it sit in the fridge overnight. That way, the sauce gets all friendly with the noodles and fillings, and you end up with every ounce of flavor you can get out of your ingredients. Yum!
- If you don’t have time to make it ahead, no worries! Your salad will still be delicious. Or, if you’re worried about the noodles getting too mushy in the sauce, you can either leave the dressing off until just before serving or make sure to undercook your noodles so they retain their structure.
- Food Safety: If you’d like more info on food safety check out this link.
More Yummy Pasta Salads
Once you start making pasta salads, it’s hard to stop! For more of my favorite pasta salad recipes, check out:
- Antipasto Salad
- Dill Pickle Pasta Salad
- BBQ Pasta Salad
- Greek Pasta Salad
- Italian Pasta Salad
- Tortellini Salad
- Pasta Salad With Italian Dressing
- Caesar Pasta Salad
Chicken Macaroni Salad
Chicken Macaroni Salad is the perfect all-around pasta salad for parties or summer lunches. Light, creamy, crunchy, filling -- it has it all!
Servings: 8 servings
Ingredients
Dressing
- 1 3/4 cups mayonnaise
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- 1/2 cup fresh orange juice
- 2 zest of medium oranges
- 1/2 teaspoon poultry seasoning
- 1 tablespoon french mustard
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- 1 teaspoon fresh tarragon, finely chopped
Salad
- 1 pound elbow pasta
- 1/3 cup red onion
- 1/2 cup parsley
- 1 cup dried cranberries
- 1 cup pecans, chopped
- 1 stalk celery, diced
- 1 rotisserie chicken, cut in cubes
- 1/2 cup golden raisin
- 4-6 hard-boiled eggs
Instructions
- In a small mixing bowl whisk together dressing ingredients until smoothly combined; set aside.
- Meanwhile, cook the pasta (1 pound) according to package instructions just to al dente. Drain and rinse immediately with cold water.
- In a large mixing bowl, add all salad ingredients and dressing and fold until evenly combined and coated.
Fans Also Made:
Notes
- The dressing will be salty but the pasta will need it.
- Butcher like a pro: Hate taking apart rotisserie chickens? Some tips I’ve picked up are, first of all, to thoroughly let your chicken cool. No one wants to handle scalding hot meat. This also frees you up to use your hands (in rubber gloves) to break down your chicken, which I’ve always preferred — it lets you really get in there to make sure you get all the meat.
- There’s a good step-by-step chicken walkthrough here!
- Cranberry Rehydration: One tip you’ll see in the recipe below is to soak the dried cranberries. Why? Doing this rehydrates the berries a bit, making them plumper and giving them a fuller, yummier flavor.
Nutrition
Serving: 1/8 of the recipe | Calories: 994kcal | Carbohydrates: 68g | Protein: 46g | Fat: 61g | Saturated Fat: 11g | Cholesterol: 233mg | Sodium: 1088mg | Potassium: 737mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 20g | Vitamin A: 655IU | Vitamin C: 18mg | Calcium: 87mg | Iron: 2.8mg
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Great recipe, I was looking for something different! I just cut it in half, cause it is just me. I also didn’t add the eggs, not in macaroni salad! I used Miracle Whip, instead of Mayo, didn’t have an orange for the zest, and used southwestern pre-cut up pkged chicken from the store, but it was still really yummy! Thank you
Yummm! My niece and nephews loved this!
Yaaay, I’m happy they liked this 🙂 Enjoy
I’ve known poultry seasoning to have sage in it. Can I make this recipe without pasta and have chicken salad? Ingredient combination is amazing.
Sandra
Hi Sandra. I think thats a great idea!
I’m craving some chicken macaroni salad now!!
Enjoy, Patty! 🙂