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Close up of a plate filled with crunchy, colorful Waldorf Salad, with apples, grapes, celery, chicken and chestnuts. Off in a corner is an apple and fork, as well as a platter with more salad.

Autumn Waldorf Salad with Chicken and Chestnuts

A classic salad gets a little more oomph with the addition of chicken and chestnuts, to create a wonderful crunchy and vibrant autumn salad. Perfect as a brunch or light lunch meal.
Course Salad
Cuisine North American
Keyword apples, autumn, celery, chicken, grapes, walnuts
Prep Time 30 minutes
Servings 4

Ingredients

Salad

  • 1 cup cubed ripe apples, cut into easy to eat bite-sized pieces, use Honeycrisp, Fuji, Gala or any firm, juicy apple
  • 1/2 cup sliced celery
  • 1/2 cup sliced ripe red grapes
  • 1/2 cup toasted walnuts, toasted in a skillet over medium heat till fragrant.
  • 1 1/2 to 2 cups of roasted poached or rotisserie chicken or turkey, cubed into bite-sized pieces
  • 2 large handfuls of assorted lettuces, spring mix, romaine or red leaf etc
  • 1/4 cup diced roasted chestnuts
  • 2 tbsp pumpkin seeds
  • 2 tbsp sunflower seeds

Dressing

  • 1/3 cup mayonnaise
  • 1/3 cup Greek yogurt
  • 1 tsp dijon mustard, or more if desired
  • 1 tbsp runny honey
  • 1 large lemon, juiced,
  • 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
  • salt and pepper
  • 1 tbsp fresh chopped mint or thyme, garnish, optional

Instructions

Dressing

  1. In a small bowl whisk together the mayonnaise, yogurt, mustard, honey, 2 tbsp lemon juice and apple cider vinegar. Whisk till smooth. If you would like it thinner, just add more lemon juice, 1 tsp at a time. Season well with salt and pepper. This can be made in advance and stored in the fridge till needed.

Salad

  1. In a large bowl combine the apples, celery, grapes and half the walnuts. Add the chicken if you don't want to lay the slices on top decoratively. Add half of the dressing and toss everything till coated well. This can sit together to meld for up to 30 minutes.
  2. Serve

  3. Wash, spin and dry the lettuce leaves. Spread them on a platter. Place the chopped dressed salad evenly over the lettuce leaves. If you didn't add the chicken to the bowl with the salad, arrange decoratively on top of the salad now.

  4. Scatter the remaining walnuts and chestnuts all over the salad. Drizzle more of the dressing over the salad. Finish with the pumpkin and sunflower seeds, and fresh herbs if using. Serve.

  5. Remaining salad can be stored in the fridge overnight. Eat the next day, any longer, and the salad will start to break down.
  6. See blog post for more details and optional ingredients.

Recipe Notes

As with any salad, feel free to play with the amount of ingredients. If you really like grapes add more, want to use less walnuts, go for it! You get it!

For poaching method for chicken, see my Chicken Taquitos for the complete method.