Low Calorie Chicken Salad – the perfect HIGH protein meal prep idea! Lightened up with celery and pickled onions instead of relish. It also has greek yogurt and mayonnaise.
This is my favorite HIGH protein meal prep idea. There are 133 calories and 18 grams of protein per serving.
I love to make this on Sunday and eat it for lunch or snack on it over the next few days. It makes for the easiest work from home lunch. And the best part is it actually keeps you full until dinner.
I use very finely diced celery and pickled onions instead of relish. This cuts the calories by alot. And you get the same flavor profile and crunchy texture.
I also use non-fat greek yogurt and little light mayo. I learn this hack a while back. Mayo’s flavor is very strong so you can really only taste the mayo even when you only have a little mayo.
It would be even less calories if you subbed out the grapes. But grapes are a non-negotiable for Griffin.
You can use any kind of chicken you have.
My favorite is rotisserie chicken for sure. I’ve started buying a rotisserie chicken from Costco whenever I go. Then I shred and freeze the chicken in a tupperware.. That way all I have to do is defrost it on a moments notice. It’s ~almost~ as easy as using canned chicken!
I use canned chicken when I need connivence.
But if you don’t have either of those, a baked/seared chicken breast works great. I like it really finely diced/chopped up rather than shredded.
You can leave out the grapes!
Or add nuts if you like that. The bakery I used to work at always used sweet and spicy nuts in their chicken salad.
You can also use all mayo.
Of course it’s great on an open faced sandwich. Sometimes I add a piece of ham. A bakery near my house serves their chicken salad sandwiches this way. The salty ham pairs great with chicken salad.
I’ve also been very into tortilla scoops with chicken salad lately.
It would also be great with sweet potato fries. Or over a kale salad. Or with a fruit salad.