Simple 4 Ingredient Chicken Salad With Ranch

With just a few simple ingredients, one of which may surprise you, this four ingredient chicken salad is packed with flavor and texture! Enjoy it as an easy, high-protein recipe for quick meals all week. Add it to your healthy meal prep rotation, and I promise you won’t regret it!

Chicken salad checks all the boxes. Depending on your dietary needs, it can be low-carb, low-calorie, high in protein and fiber, and even dairy-free. It’s literally a blank canvas begging to be transformed into something amazing. This simple chicken salad recipe with ranch dressing is packed with flavor and texture, thanks to an ingredient that may surprise you!

Like so many others, I came up with this recipe by accident. I was making my simple chicken salad but wanted to change it up by using my homemade ranch dressing. When I went to grab the ranch from the refrigerator, I saw a bag of coleslaw that needed to be used. Since one of my favorite combinations is anything creamy with something crunchy, I knew it couldn’t be bad! It’s now part of our regular rotation, and we love it so much it deserved a permanent place on the blog.

If you’re looking for budget recipes, don’t underestimate the power of cheap ingredients like cabbage to stretch a dish. Chicken is expensive. Cabbage is cheap. This is almost a one-to-one ratio of coleslaw to chicken, but of course you can adjust it to suit your tastes.

4 Ingredient Chicken Salad Recipe

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As the name suggests, you only need four simple ingredients to make this recipe. We’re taking a little help from the store with a bag of coleslaw mix and either homemade or your favorite store-bought ranch dressing. Use your favorite cooked chicken, but I strongly urge you to include some dark meat. That’s where most of the flavor is in a roasted chicken, and it adds the richness and fattiness we need in such a simple dish. A rotisserie chicken works great.

• If making homemade ranch dressing, do that first so the flavors have a few minutes to come together. I use my homemade dry ranch seasoning mix and follow the directions in that post to make a thicker dressing.

• Next, prep the coleslaw and the chicken. I like to chop them both very small and to a similar size, but of course you can prep yours however you like.

• Add half of the ranch dressing and mix well. I suggest starting with half the amount because everyone likes their chicken salad different. If you like yours with more sauce, it’s easy to add more. If you don’t, it’s harder to fix once you’ve added too much. I suggest adding a little at a time, thoroughly mixing, and adding more to taste.

• Optional fourth ingredient, so technically this is a three-ingredient chicken salad. LOL. I highly recommend adding a bit of fresh lemon juice. It brightens up the salad and cuts through the richness of the ranch dressing.

• Salt to taste. I can’t give you an exact amount because you may be using store-bought ranch dressing or making your own with a store-bought dry mix, both of which can be quite salty. I make my own dressing using a homemade dry mix, and it provides enough salt for us in the salad. Salt and pepper are easy to adjust to taste, so use as much as you like after the salad has rested.

• Chicken salad will keep in the fridge for up to four days.

Ways To Serve Chicken Salad

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• You can’t go wrong with a classic chicken sandwich on a soft roll or croissant.
• Serve as a dip with crunchy crackers, chips, or veggies.
• Eat it straight up for a super high-protein meal!
• It’s delicious in lettuce wraps or on cucumber slices for a low-carb meal.
• Scoop it onto crackers, garnish with chives, and serve it as an appetizer.
• You can turn the whole dish into a pasta salad by mixing it with a box of cooked pasta, extra ranch, fresh herbs, and lemon juice!

Extra Add Ins

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• For even more flavor, add more of the dry ranch mix.
• Fresh herbs like parsley and dill brighten it up.
• For a pop-up sweetness, add diced apples, grapes, or raisins.
• Toasted pecans or almonds would add crunch and flavor.
• If you love pickles, add pickles to the salad and a bit of pickle juice to the dressing.
• Add diced jalapeño or a touch of cayenne to the dressing for some heat.
• Extra veggies are never a bad idea for added texture, flavor, and nutrition.
• Add enough salt. If the chicken salad lacks flavor, it probably needs more salt.
• As mentioned above, fresh lemon juice or even a splash of vinegar balances the richness, especially when using chicken thighs.