• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Barbara Bakes™
  • Home
  • About
  • Info
  • Contact
  • Press
  • Subscribe
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
  • Breads
  • Breakfast
  • Dessert
    • Cakes
    • Cookies
    • Ice Cream
    • Pastry
    • All Desserts »
  • Main Dishes
    • Beef
    • Chicken
    • Pork
    • Pasta
    • Meatless
    • All Main Dishes »
  • Side Dishes
menu icon
go to homepage
  • Home
  • About
  • Recipes
  • Baking Tips
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
  • search icon
    Homepage link
    • Home
    • About
    • Recipes
    • Baking Tips
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
  • ×

    Home » Recipes » Main Dishes » Chicken

    Lightened Up Chicken Salad

    Published by Melissa on November 7, 2014 | Updated June 10, 2022 | 14 Comments

    Pin
    Share
    Tweet
    Jump to Recipe

    Featured Image for post Lightened Up Chicken Salad

    Chicken Salad Gougeres made with a chunky chicken salad with grapes, celery, and pecans in a creamy sauce lightened up by using reduced fat sour cream and mayonnaise. 

    Earlier in the week I posted my Gougere recipe and promised to post the chicken salad filling recipe. I served these chicken salad gougeres at a bridal shower I recently hosted. The recipe makes 24 gougeres. If you’re not serving a crowd, you might want to cut the recipe in half. 

    Collage of making Chicken Salad Gougeres from Barbara Bakes

    To cook the chicken breasts for the chicken salad, I used a dry poaching technique from The Kitchn. Dry poaching gives the chicken a great flavor, while keeping it moist and tender. You could also grill the chicken or poach it in the pressure cooker. You could even buy a roasted chicken and pull the meat off the bones and dice it.

    I don’t make chicken salad very often for my family because some of my kids don’t like mayonnaise. But my mayonnaise hating daughter really enjoyed this lightened up chicken salad and told me it’s the best chicken salad she’s ever had.

    Featured Image for post Lightened Up Chicken Salad
    Print Recipe Pin Recipe Rate this Recipe
    No ratings yet

    Lightened Up Chicken Salad

    Prep Time10 mins
    Additional Time1 hr
    Total Time1 hr 10 mins
    Course: Chicken
    Keyword: Chicken, recipe
    Servings: 24 gougeres
    Author: Barbara Schieving
    Prevent your screen from going to sleep

    Ingredients

    • ½ cup light mayonnaise
    • ½ cup light sour cream
    • 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
    • 1 teaspoon salt
    • ½ teaspoon pepper
    • 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts cooked and diced
    • 1 cup celery diced
    • 1 cup grapes quartered
    • 2 green onions diced
    • ½ cup chopped pecans toasted
    • 24 3- inch gougeres

    Instructions

    • In a large bowl, mix together mayonnaise, sour cream, lemon juice and salt and pepper. Add diced chicken, celery, grapes, and onions and toss gently to combine.
    • Cover and chill at least 1 hour. Stir in pecans just before serving.
    • To serve: cut gougeres in half and fill with a scoop of chicken salad.
    Pin
    Share
    Tweet
    « Dream Puffs Cream Puff and Eclair Cookbook
    Less Butter Chicken »
    about us

    About Melissa & Barbara

    As of June 2022 Melissa Griffiths now is the one adding recipes. So think of it as Barbara Bakes, and Melissa too! Melissa and Barbara have been blogging friends for over 10 years and when Barbara was ready to retire and spend more time with her family, Melissa took over the site. Read more...

      • Facebook
      • Instagram
      • Pinterest
      • Twitter

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

      Leave a Reply Cancel reply

      Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

      Recipe Rating




    1. Andrev

      January 19, 2015 at 11:22 am

      SOO GOOD! I used brown sugar splenda instead of brown sugarand light soy sauce and it was still delicious. I can’t beleive how good this is!

      Reply
    2. 2 Sisters Recipes

      November 10, 2014 at 9:00 pm

      These look amazing! Love the simple and delicious ingredients in your chicken salad, especially the grapes and pecans- can’t wait to try your recipe.

      Reply
    3. Adri

      November 10, 2014 at 9:21 am

      Beautiful, and absolutely perfect for a buffet. I bet these were a hit at teh bridal shower. Yum!

      Reply
    4. Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella

      November 10, 2014 at 3:27 am

      Hehe well your adopted daughter loves mayonnaise but she would also love this! 😀 The dry poaching sounds interesting-I had to look it up as it just sounded so odd just from the name but it sounds worth giving a go! 😀 xxx

      Reply
    5. Foodiewife

      November 08, 2014 at 12:41 pm

      I’m so glad to know that I’m not the only one who thinks grapes are perfect in a chicken salad! Gosh these look fabulous!

      Reply
    6. Emily

      November 07, 2014 at 9:55 pm

      This looks like the perfect holiday dish–love finger foods during the holidays. 🙂

      Reply
    7. Kristen

      November 07, 2014 at 7:38 pm

      These are such tasty little creations! Love that they are lightened up!

      Reply
    8. Maureen | Orgasmic Chef

      November 07, 2014 at 4:14 pm

      Those gougeres filled with chicken salad just yell, “Party!” to me. Just enough but not overdone and the chicken salad filling looks really good. I’m off to find out more about dry poaching chicken.

      Reply
    9. Joanna @ Everyday Made Fresh

      November 07, 2014 at 2:46 pm

      My grandmother used to make this when I was growing up and would serve it on crescent rolls for her lunch with the ladies from her Sunday school class. Of course it was not the lightened up version. This looks just as tasty without all the calories!

      Reply
    10. Carol

      November 07, 2014 at 1:49 pm

      Mmmmmm…….I love that this doesn’t contain a lot of mayonnaise. I’ve been using at least half plain Greek yogurt in dressings for salads like these and we actually like them better-gives us the best of both worlds. I’, looking forward to trying the dry poaching to cook the chicken too.

      I bet there were some very happy people enjoying these goodies at the shower-I sure would have been!

      Reply
    11. Lori

      November 07, 2014 at 11:30 am

      We make a version of chicken salad very similar to this, and it is the best salad I have eaten!

      Reply
    12. Mary

      November 07, 2014 at 11:11 am

      you are sn amazing cook. So love seeing all your ideas

      Reply
    13. Rosa

      November 07, 2014 at 7:20 am

      A tasty salad and great combination of ingredients.

      Cheers,

      Rosa

      Reply

    Primary Sidebar

    Welcome!

    Melissa and Barbara smiling

    Baking made easy! Sharing fabulous recipes for cookies, cakes, pies, breads and more. Barbara Bakes (and Melissa too!) Recipes from both of our kitchens to yours.

    Learn More »

    Popular Posts

    Triple Berry Compote with Fresh Berries in a wooden bowl with a spoon in it

    Quick Triple Berry Compote

    Three small loaves of French bread in a basket with a blue and white napkin

    Julia Child’s French Bread

    6 easy cake pops on a plate made with a brownie mix, covered in chocolate and sprinkles

    Easy Brownie Cake Pops

    German-Chocolate-Cake-Barbara-Bakes

    Easy 5-Ingredient German Chocolate Cake

    Footer

    ↑ back to top

    SEEN ON

    as seen on promo graphic

    SEEN ON

    as seen on promo graphic

    About

    • Home
    • About
    • Contact
    • Press

    Browse

    • Recipe Index
    • Popular
    • Baking Tips
    • Travel

    Subscribe

    • Newsletter
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest

    As an Amazon affiliate, and affiliate with other businesses, I earn from qualifying purchases.

    Copyright © 2022 barbarabakes.com. All rights reserved. DISCLOSURE - PRIVACY POLICY.