Costco Chicken Salad (Copycat Recipe)
Make a homemade version of the famous Costco Chicken Salad, but without any of the preservatives or questionable ingredients. This easy shredded chicken salad is great served on top of lettuce or toast and tastes just like the store version.
Chicken salad is a great go-to lunch to have on hand. The flavors and crunch are delicious and easy to please most people. It’s very easy to fit into many different diets with quick substitutions.
You may have had the Costco version and enjoyed its combination of textures and flavors. It’s really delicious!
In this copycat version, I’ll show you how to make it at home using simple ingredients. Save money and enjoy it even if you don’t have time to make a trip to Costco.
Costco Chicken Salad Recipe Benefits
- Skip the trip to Costco and make the exact version at home instead. You’ll also have control over the quality of ingredients when you make your own homemade version (I also made a copycat Costco Potato Salad).
- This salad is super easy to make in whatever quantity you need. It’s perfect for a potluck or if you want to meal prep lunch for the week.
- Store your Costco chicken salad in individual containers in the fridge for lunch on the go. Or, put it on bread for an amazing chicken salad sandwich.
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Rotisserie chicken is a perfect source of protein that’s also very affordable. Try to find an organic chicken at the store or roast your own at home. You can also make it using a cooked Costco rotisserie chicken, cooked chicken breasts, or even canned chicken.
- Mayo and sour cream add creaminess and the perfect amount of tang. Use dairy-free versions for dairy-free diets.
- Celery and sweet onion offer the crunch that’s a great contrast to the other ingredients.
- Sugar helps balance the vinegar in the dressing, but can easily be left out if you are on a sugar-free diet.
Please see the recipe card at the end of this post for the exact ingredients and measurements.
Recipe Steps
Let me show you how to make this copycat famous chicken salad!
Step One
Combine the mayo and sour cream with all seasonings.
Please see the recipe card at the end of this post for the exact ingredients and measurements.
Step Two
Stir the mayo mixture into the shredded or chopped chicken.
The Costco version uses finely shredded seasoned chicken, but does not specify if it is white meat chicken breast or shredded rotisserie chicken. You can use a hand mixer to re-create the finely shredded cooked chicken if you like.
Otherwise, just use two forks to shred it as finely as you can.
Step Three
Add crunchy diced celery and onion and combine well.
Step Four
Serve immediately or refrigerate and chill before serving.
This is a great option the next time you want one of those easy recipes that tastes great even after a few days in the refrigerator. Leftover chicken salad almost tastes better the next day after you make it!
Recipe Tips
- Most cooked rotisserie chickens you find in grocery stores weigh about 2 pounds. The Costco rotisserie chickens weigh about 3 pounds.
- To reduce the amount of fat in this recipe, you can replace the sour cream with unsweetened Greek-style yogurt, if you prefer.
- This recipe can easily be doubled or even tripled if you need more servings. You can also halve it if you have less chicken.
- Store any leftovers in a tightly covered container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
- Want a fun variation of this salad? Try my Southwest Chicken Salad! You can also add other optional ingredients including poppy seeds, green onions, black pepper, garlic powder, or whatever flavors you like. Chopped green grapes would also be great!
Recipe FAQs
You can use any cooked chicken you have on hand. A 3 pound bird will give you approximately 3 cups of shredded meat. The authentic Costco chicken salad uses seasoned cooked chicken.
There are a lot of vegan options for both mayo and sour cream and even yogurt. Just make sure you are using products that are unsweetened and unflavored.
I love eating this over salad greens or toast. You can also dip crackers into the salad.
More Nutritious Lunch Recipes You Might Like
- Healthy Tuna Pasta Salad
- Healthy Egg Salad Without Mayo
- Cranberry Walnut Chicken Salad
- Copycat Costco Quinoa Salad
- Salmon Salad with Mayo
- Whole Foods Curry Chicken Salad (Copycat)
- Whole Foods Broccoli Crunch Salad
Or, check out my entire index of clean eating lunch recipes.
I hope you make this recipe! If you do, please leave a comment and a starred review below.
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Costco Chicken Salad (Copycat Recipe)
Make a homemade version of the famous Costco Chicken Salad, but without any of the preservatives or questionable ingredients. This easy shredded chicken salad is great served on top of lettuce or toast. This recipe is gluten-free with dairy-free options.
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 8 servings
Ingredients
- 1 3–pound cooked rotisserie-style chicken, cooled and pulled apart into medium-sized pieces, bones and skin removed
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 1/2 cup sour cream (for dairy-free diets, use a dairy-free version)
- 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
- 1/2 lemon, juiced (about 1 tablespoon)
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 2 teaspoons sugar (leave out for sugar-free diets)
- 6 celery ribs, finely diced
- 1/2 white onion, finely diced
Instructions
- Place the cooked and cooled chicken in a food processor fitted with the “S” blade. Turn it on for about 15-20 seconds to shred the chicken. Or, you can also just use a sharp knife to finely chop the chicken for the salad. The Costco version is finely shredded.
- Place the finely shredded or chopped chicken in a large mixing bowl. Set aside.
- Then, in a medium bowl, combine the mayonnaise, sour cream, vinegar, lemon juice, onion, salt, and sugar. Stir to combine until smooth.
- Pour the mayonnaise mixture over the chicken. Add the celery and onion and stir to combine.
- Serve immediately, or cover and chill until you’re ready to serve.
Notes
- Most cooked rotisserie chickens you find in grocery stores weigh about 2 pounds. The Costco rotisserie chickens weigh about 3 pounds.
- To reduce the amount of fat in this recipe, you can replace the sour cream with unsweetened Greek style yogurt, if you prefer.
- This recipe can easily be doubled or even tripled if you need more servings.
- Store any leftovers in a tightly covered container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Category: Salad
- Method: No Cook
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Gluten Free
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/8 of recipe
- Calories: 241
- Sugar: 2.1 g
- Sodium: 315.5 mg
- Fat: 16.6 g
- Saturated Fat: 4 g
- Carbohydrates: 4.2 g
- Fiber: 0.7 g
- Protein: 17.5 g
- Cholesterol: 58.9 mg
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About the Author: Carrie Forrest has a master’s degree in public health with a specialty in nutrition and is a certified holistic nutritionist. She is a top wellness and food blogger with over 5 million annual visitors to her site. Carrie has an incredible story of recovery from chronic illness and is passionate about helping other women transform their health. Send her a message through her contact form.
Brined a chicken in salt/sugar/onion powder and cooked on a rotisserie. Used your recipe with the minor changes suggested by Darren. I did not have white wine vinegar, but used the slightly reduced measurement with apple cider vinegar. Let the flavors marry in the fridge for a day and the result was amazing. Many thanks.
Thank you for this recipe. I only changed a little bit of it. I used only one tablespoon of white vinegar not white wine vinegar because that was all I had. Then I used a red/purple onion because I find the taste to be milder then the white onion when eaten uncooked. As for the celery I used about 4 short stalks instead of the 6 you had in the recipe because I thought 6 was too much and instead of 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt I used 2/2 teaspoon of pink Himalayan salt. This is a great yummy recipe. I was craving Costco chicken salad but was told at my Costco they don’t have it because it’s seasonal…. Well I’m glad they didn’t have it and I found this recipe and made my own. I can use organic ingredients and tweak it myself here and there. Next time I may add some red seedless grapes and walnuts or pecans. Thank you again for this fabulous recipe!
Super easy thank you!
My adds were using green onions instead of white
Chopped cashews
Frying then dicing the skin into “chicken bacon”
Hooray Costco
I left out the sugar & used a little more vinegar also a rotisserie chicken turned out fantastic, was all gone ina flash
I used 3 large cans kirkland canned chicken drained. Same other ingredients. Excellent!!!!!
Great idea, thanks!
It’s a great start. First, I truly appreciate that someone took the time to try to figure this out, so, thank you, Carrie for doing this. Here’s what I found.
Consuming this before the flavors meld would be a mistake if the expectation is to come as close to Costco’s salad as possible. Once mixed and ready, the immediate flavor is vinegar. The next morning, however, that calmed down measurably and came as close as possible.
The chicken used for his must be brined, IMHO. Costco sells a cryovaced brick of the very chicken their commissary kitchen uses for their famous chicken salad. It is all white meat and is by no means bland. I didn’t use that, but tried it with a non-brined (mistake) rotisserie chicken as the recipe specifies.
6 celery ribs isn’t a good measurement IMHO because not all celery stalks are the same size. I had a healthy head and the stalks were a good size. This produced about 3+ cups–way too much. I will decrease it to a cup measurement of no more than 2 – 2 1/2 cups finely diced.
To me, when I open a container of Costco’s chicken salad, the top note of the aroma is onion. Sorry, but 1/2 cup won’t do it because it disappears by the next day. Next time I will use 1 – 1 1/4 cups of finely diced white onion.
The dressing is tasty, but as-mixed, it is redolent of vinegar. I will decrease that next time by a teaspoon.
My changes aren’t of personal taste as much as they are of trying to track to the original. I can make chicken salad in my sleep of course, but replicating the Costco product as closely as possible is now a quest.
The reason I looked for a copy-cat is because the Costco product feeds multitudes. Going forward I will cut this recipe in half to keep no more than 4 days so there’s no waste. Many thanks, Carrie, for putting me on the right track.
Thanks for your note, Darren!
I’ve reviewed my review and I thank you for your patience and kind indulgence. I misread the onion quantity, so 1/2 of a white onion is about 1 1/2 cups or so of finely diced. I did decreased the celery to 4 average-sized celery stalks, which, finely diced, amounts to about 1 1/2 cups. The only other changes I made were to decrease the vinegar to 1 T, and I used about 20 oz of Costco white meat “rotisserie” pre-cooked chicken. The result, the next day, is exactly what I taste from the original. Many, many thanks, Carrie, for this recipe.
This tastes even better than the original Costco version! 🙂