Delicious 30-minute Hawaiian chicken salad with tropical flavors of pineapples, macadamia nuts, and creamy spicy dressing!
Elevate your standard chicken salad recipe with this great recipe – just a perfect balance of sweet, sour, and savory flavors! And as someone who lives in Hawaii, trust me, this delicious salad is an amazing island dish!
Gina’s Recipe Rundown:
Texture: Tender chicken, juicy pineapple chunks, crunchy nuts, and rich, smooth dressing.
Taste: The spice blend and how it pairs with sweet pineapple pieces and savory seasoned chicken is just incredibly delicious!
Ease: No cooking skills are required; you just need 5 minutes of prep time, combine all the salad ingredients, stir, and let it chill!
Why I love it: easy, quick, creative salad for summer! And just so yum!
My best tip for making this salad taste even better is to let the salad sit with the dressing for at least 15 minutes for all the flavors to blend together.
Looking for more healthy salads with protein? Try my avocado chicken salad, Oriental chicken salad, cantaloupe chicken salad, to a quick Caesar salad.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Perfect summer BBQ dish, filling lunch, or light weeknight dinner, adding a taste of the tropics that the whole family will love.
- You can easily make it a complete meal, and bulk up the recipe with rice and corn kernels.
- Versatile – can be sweet or savory, and it is easy to change up things.
- Easy chicken salad that is healthy and offers a great way to use leftover chicken.
- Perfect for meal prep.
Ingredients Notes
See exact quantities in my printable recipe card at the bottom of the page.
- Chicken. You can cook fresh chicken breasts or use any leftover rotisserie chicken or grilled chicken left after a BBQ party.
- Pineapple tidbits. You can use grilled pineapple and fresh or grilled pineapple chunks. You can keep a few pineapple rings for decoration.
- Macadamia nuts are buttery, creamy, and nutty, and are so underrated in salad recipes! I highly recommend adding this Hawaiian nut.
- Green onions
- Celery
- Mayonnaise and sour cream are the salad dressing base, tangy and salty, a perfect balance.
- Garlic, fresh, is better for a more pungent flavor.
- Garlic salt and pepper
- Cayenne pepper to make it spicy. You can totally skip it!
- Lemon juice for dressing
- Poppyseeds for garnish
Kitchen Equipment
How To Make Hawaiian Chicken Salad Recipe
- Combine the shredded chicken, pineapple, macadamia, green onions, and scallions in a large bowl.
- Make the sauce by whisking the mayonnaise, sour cream, garlic, garlic salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, and lemon juice together in a separate bowl.
- Pour the sauce mixture over the chicken mixture and toss to combine.
- Chill for at least 30 minutes before serving.
Serving Suggestions
You can serve this Hawaiian salad as a quick lunch or dinner as a side dish or a light main course.
- In lettuce wraps, like a roll-up, to keep it healthy and easy to digest.
- In tortilla wraps or like a sandwich
- Alongside coconut rice and black beans
- Tortilla chips go well with this salad, too!
Storage
Refrigerate chicken salad leftovers for up to 3 days in an airtight container.
Do not freeze Hawaiian chicken salad as the texture will change too much.
Substitutions & Variations
- Chicken thighs or chicken breast work; the meat doesn’t have to be shredded, you can use sliced chicken, too.Thighs have tender dark meat that is really juicy. Instead of cooked chicken, you can add canned chicken to the salad, to save time.
- No chicken. You can also use diced ham or skip the meat completely.
- Garnish with additional scallions and poppy seeds. You can also use coconut flakes and slivered almonds for topping.
- Change it up with fresh pineapple, adding sliced grapes, or also adding avocado, red onion, red pepper, cherry tomatoes, romaine lettuce, grapes, water chestnuts, kiwi, chopped jalapeno, and any other veggies or juicy fruit you love.
- Salad dressing: To dress the salad, you can swap lime juice for lemon juice or go with a creamy dressing made with plain Greek yogurt or sour cream.
- Seasoning: You can use any seasoning you love, from regular salt and pepper to cumin, onion powder, ginger powder, paprika, curry powder, and, of course, cilantro!
- Boozy salad dressing: You can add tequila to the dressing!
- Add sweetness. To make the salad dressing sweet, you can add a bit of honey or brown sugar. Otherwise, you can also swap mayonnaise with Miracle Whip if you want a sweet version of the salad.
Expert Tips To Make The Best Hawaiian Chicken Salad
- The longer it chills, the better it tastes. For the best flavors, chill in the fridge for at least an hour or let it sit overnight.
- If you don’t have cooked chicken, you can prep some. I recommend marinating it first. To make the marinade, add olive oil, ketchup, vinegar, and soy sauce to a bag. It will add new flavor and tenderize the meat! Then heat the skillet, add chicken, and cook on each side for a few minutes.
- Fancy party? Serve the salad in half of a real pineapple!
- Make sure to drain the pineapple, if it is canned, to make sure the salad isn’t going to become watery.
- No chicken? Add boiled eggs, tuna, or tofu for a vegetarian option.
Popular Questions
What Can I Add To Chicken Salad To Give It More Flavor?
To make your chicken salad more flavorful, you can add jalapeno for a bit of heat or grapes for a juicy surprise. You can also mix in crunchy nuts like almonds or walnuts, or avocado for a creamy texture. Seasonings like garlic, paprika, or lime juice can also enhance the taste.
If you love this easy chicken salad recipe, you’re going to love these other salads too. Please click each link below to find the easy, printable recipe!
More Great Hawaiian-Inspired Dishes
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Hawaiian Chicken Salad
Ingredients
- 3 cups chicken – cooked, shredded
- 1 cup pineapple tidbits drained
- ½ cup macadamia nuts – chopped
- ¼ cup green onions chopped
- ¼ cup celery – thinly sliced
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 1 cup sour cream
- ½ teaspoon garlic salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
Poppyseeds for garnish
Instructions
- Combine the chicken, pineapple, macadamia, green onions, and scallions in a large bowl.
- Make the sauce by whisking the mayonnaise, sour cream, garlic, garlic salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, and lemon juice together in a small bowl.
- Pour the sauce mixture over the chicken mixture and toss to combine.
- Chill for at least 30 minutes before serving.
Notes
- The longer it chills, the better it tastes.
- Garnish with additional scallions and poppyseeds
- Refrigerate leftovers for up to 3 days in an airtight container.
- Change it up with fresh pineapple, skipping the poppy seeds, adding sliced grapes, or substituting with almonds.
Nutrition
Nutritional information for the recipe is provided as a courtesy and is approximate. Please double-check with your own dietary calculator for the best accuracy. We at Yummi Haus cannot guarantee the accuracy of the nutritional information given for any recipe on this site.
Created by Gina Kleinworth
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