Best-Ever Chicken Salad Croissant Sandwiches

We all reach that stage of life when fruit and nuts in chicken salad sounds delicious. This is how you know you are an adult. But to be honest, most picky kids won’t love this recipe. So if I’m serving this for a party, I always pair it with another, more simple sandwich, like a turkey and ham party sub.

Ingredients and Tools You’ll Need

I know that meat thermometer recommendations all the time are annoying, but it’s truly the best way to make sure your chicken is done but not overcooked. Overcooked chicken is dry and that will ruin everything. Just get one and use it!

Prepping the chicken

• 3 chicken breasts split, bone-in, skin-on (about 2 ½ pounds or 5 cups chopped or shredded cooked chicken)
• Olive oil
• Salt
• Coarsely-ground black pepper

Making the dressing

• 1 ¼ cups mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 2 tablespoons white vinegar or red wine vinegar
• 2 ½ tablespoons sugar

Assembling the salad + sandwiches

• 1 ½ cups red seedless grapes, sliced in half
• 1 cup chopped celery
• ⅝ cup sliced scallions (reserve 2 tablespoons for garnish)
• ½ cup sliced almonds
• ⅓ cup dried cranberries
• 4-6 croissants sliced in half
• Optional: green leaf lettuce and tomato slices for serving

How to Make Chicken Salad Croissant Sandwiches

We cook the chicken, we make a dressing, we mix it all together with yummy additions. Simple! You can do most of this ahead of time, all at once or in parts.

Step One: Preheat The Oven

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Step Two: Cook Chicken

Rub olive oil on the chicken breasts and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place chicken on a sheet pan and roast for 45-55 minutes (depending on the size of the chicken breasts) until the chicken reaches 165 degrees Fahrenheit when checked with a meat thermometer. Remove from oven and let cool.

Step Three: Make The Dressing

While the chicken cools, whisk together mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, vinegar, 1 tablespoon olive oil, sugar, ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper in a small bowl. Taste for seasoning, adding more salt or sugar if desired. Cover with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator.

Step Four: Chop Chicken

Remove the skin and bones from the chicken and shred or chop the chicken into bite-size pieces.

Step Five: Combine

In a large bowl, combine chicken, grapes, celery, ½ cups scallions, almonds, and cranberries. Fold in the refrigerated dressing and garnish with additional scallions. Isn’t that pretty?

Step Six: Serve

Serve chicken salad immediately in croissants with lettuce or lettuce and tomato if desired. If you’re serving them fully assembled I highly recommend layering a piece of leaf lettuce on the top and bottom to keep the croissant from getting soggy.

Storage Instructions

This is best served right away, but you can definitely store it in the fridge for later! Just pop it in an airtight container; it should stay fine there for 3 days.

I wouldn’t recommend freezing this chicken salad. The mayonnaise in the dressing tends to separate when frozen and thawed, which can make the texture a little weird.

What to Serve on the side

This is a classic recipe for a brunch or baby shower, so anything pretty and girly and fresh will be perfect.

• This potato salad is perfect if you need a side last minute.
• Make this pasta salad with your summer veggies.
• There’s nothing prettier than Prosecco sangria with berries.
• And everyone will love having chocolate chip cookies for dessert.

Printable Recipe