If you think a salad can’t fill you up, think again. This awesomely crunchy and flavorful Kale and Chicken Salad is chock full of juicy chicken breast, almonds, celery, and lots of fiberlicious kale to keep your belly full. And flavor? Oh don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten about the flavor. A tangy, sweet, and creamy honey Dijon dressing drenches the salad in tons of flavor. Throw a few sweet golden raisins on top for a pop of sweetness and you’ve got salad magic. And the best part? All of these ingredients hold up well to refrigeration, so this salad is perfect for your weekly meal prep. 🙌
If you love regular chicken salad, I think you’ll love this kale and chicken salad as well. It has all the same flavors as traditional chicken salad, but the ingredients are piled onto a bed of greens and the dressing is made slightly thinner so that it’s pourable instead of acting like a thick binder. And just as with regular chicken salad, there is a lot of room for customization here, so keep reading for some ideas.
Can I Use Different Greens?
Sure! If you’re not into kale, you can swap it out with your favorite greens. I think a crunchy green like Romaine or finely shredded cabbage would probably be best, but you could use any green that you like to use for fresh salads.
What Kind of Chicken to Use
I used plain chicken breast that I cooked quickly in a skillet and then diced, but you can take a shortcut and use store-bought rotisserie chicken instead. You’ll need about 1.5 cups of chopped cooked chicken for this recipe.
Raisin Substitutes
I love the mildly sweet golden raisins in this recipe, but you could swap them out with dried cranberries, chopped apples for more crunch, or even fresh grapes (sliced).
Dressing Options
If you don’t want to make your own homemade dressing for this salad, a store-bought honey mustard or poppyseed dressing would be awesome with the flavors in this salad.
How to Meal Prep Kale and Chicken Salad
The sturdy, crunchy nature of the ingredients in this salad means that it holds up extremely well to refrigeration without much effort. I would store the dressing on the side just to maintain maximum crunch-factor, but other than that, all of the ingredients can be stored together in single-serving containers. The prepped salads will stay good in the fridge for about 3-4 days. 
Crunchy Kale and Chicken Salad
Servings 4Ingredients
Salad
- 1.5 cups chopped cooked chicken ($4.33)
- 6 cups chopped kale ($1.25)
- 1 cup chopped celery ($0.37)
- 1/3 cup sliced or slivered almonds ($0.79)
- 1/3 cup golden raisins ($0.47)
Dressing
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise ($0.50)
- 3 Tbsp apple cider vinegar ($0.18)
- 1.5 Tbsp honey ($0.27)
- 1/2 Tbsp Dijon mustard ($0.09)
- 1/4 tsp salt ($0.02)
- 1/4 tsp Freshly cracked black pepper ($0.02)
Instructions
- Chop the cooked chicken into small, bite-sized pieces. Clean the celery and chop into similar small bite-sized pieces.
- Remove the kale from the stems, tear it into 1-2 inch pieces, rinse well in a colander, and drain well.
- To make the dressing, whisk together the mayonnaise, vinegar, honey, Dijon, salt, and pepper.
- To build the salad, start with a base of kale, top with the chopped chicken and celery, almonds, and raisins. Drizzle the dressing over top, toss until everything is coated, then enjoy.
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Equipment
Nutrition
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How to Make Crunchy Kale and Chicken Salad – Step by Step Photos
You can us any pre-cooked chicken for this recipe and you’ll need about 1.5 cups once chopped. I used one chicken breast (⅔ lb. total) that I filleted into two thinner pieces so that it would cook quickly in a skillet. Once browned on the outside and cooked through, I simply let it cool for 5-10 minutes and then chopped it into small pieces.
While my chicken was cooling, I made the dressing. This dressing is very similar to a dressing you’d use for chicken salad, but it’s a little bit thinner so it’s pourable and will easily coat all of the kale. In a bowl, whisk together ½ cup mayonnaise, 3 Tbsp apple cider vinegar, 1.5 Tbsp honey, ½ Tbsp Dijon mustard, ¼ tsp salt, and ¼ tsp freshly cracked pepper. Set the dressing aside.
Next, prep the kale. I used bagged kale that comes pre-chopped because it’s super convenient and just about the same price as bunched kale. If your kale is still on the stem, simply pull it off the stem and tear it into 1-2 inch pieces. Rinse it in a colander and then let it drain well. Watery salad is never good. I used ½ of a one-pound bag, or about 6 cups of chopped leaves.
Next, dice two ribs of celery, or about 1 cup once chopped.
Chop the cooked chicken to similar sized pieces (about 1.5 cups chopped).
Then just build your salad(s)! You can either build one large salad or build it as four smaller single-serving portions. Start with your bed of chopped kale, then add the chopped chicken and celery…
Then add ⅓ cup almonds (sliced or slivered) and ⅓ cup golden raisins.
Pour your dressing over top just before serving.
Toss to coat everything in dressing and enjoy! (I added a little extra cracked black pepper on top because I love pepper!)
We come back to this salad every fall. We swap the kale for romaine lettuce, the raisins for diced Fuji apple, and add fresh green onions. It is flavorful and filling and always delicious.
This salad is so tasty and healthy. I brined two chicken breasts in 4 cups water with 1/4 cup salt for 30 min, then marinated the chicken in Dijon mustard, honey, garlic, and olive oil and roasted it in the oven. I also added fresh grapes to the salad in addition to the raisins. The grapes add a freshness that is super delicious. The dressing was a tiny bit too tangy for my taste the first time I made it, so the second time I added more oil and mayo.
As usual, flavorful and versatile! I love the dressing. Just perfect! Thank you!
Very delicious recipe! I used romaine lettuce instead of kale because it was what I had on hand. It turned out great. I will definitely be making this recipe again!
This recipe is crowd pleaser
This is one of my favorites! I’ve made it three or four times now. With this recipe, I’m actually *excited* to eat a big bowl of kale. Perfect mix of tangy and sweet flavors, with some satisfying crunch.
I made this salad yesterday and loved it! I don’t usually eat kale much but I realized I needed to branch out (heh) with more leafy greens, so I took a chance and BudgetBytes came through. I made both salad & dressing according to the recipe and felt it was delicious as is, though today I added some leftover shredded Parmesan that I think rounded it out with some salty/savory flavor. I’m definitely adding this one to the meal prep rotation.
Really tasty salad and very easy to make! The dressing oddly kind of reminded me of a deviled egg, and that’s not a bad thing haha.
I made this exactly as outlined for my family and it was so good that I scrapped my plans for a dinner party the next night and made it again. Everyone loved it! The dressing is unlike others I have had. The second night I just dressed the greens, apples, and raisins and then added the chicken and almonds on top which I think made their flavors stand out a bit more. I will definitely keep this one in the summer salad rotation!
Of course! I was trying to think of a substitute for celery — and apples fits the bill! Thank you! We’ve been working more kale into our diets and I love the versatility of this recipe. Perfect!
I’ve made this several times and it is always a big hit. This is a remarkably satisfying salad; I’m commenting again because I added a can of drained cannellini beans and it was a very nice addition.
This was great! I followed the recipe exactly and didn’t change a thing. For the protein I used leftover chicken from the roasted chicken recipe also on the site. While I had some critiques about the roasted chicken being a slightly bland for my taste, it ended up working out perfectly when incorporated into this dish because it didn’t overpower the salad so everything came together nicely.
I have to admit that I usually never make a meal without at least a small amount of carbs so that it fills me up, but you were totally right about this salad not needing that at all. It was completely satisfying just as it was, and I will definitely be making it again. Especially since the only bag of kale I could find was the biggest ever known to humanity… LoL
We absolutely love this salad! The dressing is fantastic. I often make it without chicken and it’s still very filling! Are all of your recipes not on the app? I can’t find this on there.
This was delicious. I gave the kale a good massage whilst rinsing it to make sure it was as tender as it could be, towel-dried it and then left it dressed whilst I chopped and measured everything else out. No leftovers, and lots of happy tastebuds!
Are the nutrition facts listed for the full salad or for 1/4 of the salad?
Sorry for the confusion, one serving (¼ of the total recipe).
Very tasty and easily customizable! Made this for dinner tonight and found it fun, satisfying, and filling.
Dressing is awesome. Loved the combo of ingredients. I wasn’t a fan of the raw kale. Will probably use fresh spinach or romaine next time.
For salads that use kale I think it should be mandatory to massage the dressing into the kale before adding the other ingredients – super easy, just dump the kale into your serving bowl, pour the dressing on top, and squeeze/mix with your hands for 15ish seconds. The texture is better and it works as a sturdy pack-ahead option compared to using a tender lettuce.
This was soooo good! I subbed Greek yogurt for Mayo and added a Granny Smith apple. I have left over kale and celery to use up. Do you think I could sub canned tuna for the chicken? I have that on hand and won’t have time to go to the store until Sunday.
Hmm, I’m having a hard time imagining tuna with the raisins, but maybe if you left those out so everything was a little more savory? I’d probably end up tweaking the dressing to be less sweet, too. Maybe add some dill?
Here’s another positive review! I only used a tablespoon of honey because I don’t like things overly sweet, and dried cranberries instead of the raisins because the store didn’t have any. Would definitely make it again. I love a good meal prep salad that stays sturdy in the fridge. I packed these for lunch in five containers with a mandarin orange and hard boiled egg on the side.
This was so delicious! I made a few modifications to what I had in the house (subbed apples for celery, subbed green onions for raisins, and pine nuts for almonds). And also did half kale and half butter lettuce. Oh and added an avacado. Dressing was perfect! Yum!
What can I use As a substitute for mayonnaise? Mayonnaise and sour cream are like kryptonite to me
Unfortunately, I don’t have a sub for that ingredient at the moment. There are some other dressing suggestions in the text above the recipe and you might be able to find a mayo-free version of those.
I made this tonight and it was a hit for both me and my boyfriend. We had some green apple that we needed to use so added that as well. Delicious!
Another great recipe, Beth–thank you! My husband wanted the kale to be more tender, but I think I can achieve that by dressing the kale earlier and letting it sit for a bit. I was skeptical of the chemistry between the celery, raisins and almonds, but you were right, as always. The dressing is a keeper, too.
You can also massage the kale to make it more tender. I do it as I also prefer a more tender kale.
Just made this today, very tasty! I swapped mayo for fat-free plain yogurt and left out the dijon due to personal preferences. I mostly grabbed this as a way to use some extra celery that I had and using the celery gave this a very nice flavour! Will definitely make again sometime.
This is probably going to sound incredibly lame… but
I used to pre-make myself snacks the night before and kept them in the fridge for the next day – one of those snacks being ‘ants on a log’ (celery stick, with peanut butter & raisins) as well as the heat & eat oatmeal recipe you posted a while back. Anyway, I eventually noticed my raisins actually grew mold! I was wondering if you have ever ran into something like that??
No, I haven’t, but it makes sense. Dried fruit has a lot of mold spores on them, so once it gets near moisture (the humidity in the fridge or from the celery is probably enough) they spring to life. :) You can always store the raisins separately and then sprinkle them on just before eating.
I love the suggestion above of adding apple — I added that when I made it the other night, and also threw in some sunflower seeds I had leftover from another recipe. This salad is delicious! And it needs so little dressing to give it a good flavor. The only thing I regret is that I didn’t take the time to chop the kale up more — would have made it easier to eat. Maybe next time I won’t be quite so lazy…
Oh my gosh I could eat this salad everyday for the rest of my life! I made a few substitutions- I used a rotisserie chicken and used regular raisins rather than golden. I also subbed half of the mayo with greek yogurt. The creaminess of the dressing works perfectly with the crunchy toppings. Now it’s going to be really tough to decide between all of your amazing kale salads!
I love pretty much all of your recipes but this one is especially delicious!! I’ve made it a few times already- last time I forgot to get celery so I diced up an apple instead and it was just awesome.
I made this yesterday and am eating leftovers for lunch at work now, and want to say that this is the first time I’ve ever actually enjoyed eating kale. Thank you!
This was delicious! It even kept well the next day with the dressing on it :)
I tried it today and it was also the first time in my life I tried kale (the kale craze has not quite hit my country yet and it’s quite difficult to buy it here). I liked it but I found kale a bit stringy, more difficult to chew than other kinds of lettuce. Is it how it is supposed to be? It was a newly opened bag, four days before its “sell-by” date, so freshness should not be an issue.
Yep, that’s just how kale is. :) You might learn to enjoy the texture, you might not. It’s not for everyone. :)
Yet another hit at my house toonight! thanks Beth!
So good! My husband, who tolerates kale when I add it to recipes, actually liked this recipe! First time he’s eaten kale and LIKED it. He took the left-overs for lunch today. My sons also agreed this is the best kale recipe I’ve made. I followed the recipe exactly, so the credit goes to you!
Just made this for dinner. Omg. So good! My favourite recipe of yours so far. I substituted the kale with green leaf lettuce since its what I had on hand. Served on a kaiser. I’m ready for seconds!
This was excellent and I already had all the ingredients in the house. I used leftover baked chicken thighs and subbed green pepper for the celery. I also used half greek yogurt and half mayo to make the dressing a little healthier. We enjoyed it for dinner last night with onion rolls and a glass of white wine.
Sounds like it would go really well with a glass of wine! ;) Can’t wait to try this one, perfect way to eat more kale.
Thanks so much for this recipe. It looks and sounds just wonderful. Kale is growing pretty well in my garden this year. I don’t have golden raisins so I’m going to try it with Craisins. Thanks, again. Pinning it now.
Yum!! Made this tonight but added a second chicken breast to the mix! It was so yummy!! Thank you!
I am 100% on Team Kale, but my mom refuses to touch the stuff. She adores spinach but I know it wouldn’t give the same body or crunch…any ideas for green substitution? Romaine maybe?
Yes, I think romaine would be my next choice, although it’s no kale. ;) Maybe even shredded cabbage? Ooh, yes, that would be good because the dressing is very similar to a cole slaw dressing.
Do you think white beans would work well for a vegetarian version of this?
Hmmm, I’m really not sure if the beans would go well with the honey-Dijon type dressing. Maybe an egg if you’re not vegan?
Egg will work, thanks!
I’m going to try this with Beyond Meat “chicken” strips. They’re really good when part of a recipe.
Oh god that looks amazing. I have to make this soon.