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.
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.
Make this healthy Costco chicken salad today and be set for the week!
Why You Need This Recipe
- Skip the trip to Costco and make the exact version at home instead.
- This salad is super easy to make in whatever quantity you need.
- Store your Costco chicken salad in individual containers in the fridge for lunch on the go.
Key Ingredients
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.
Mayo and sour cream add creaminess and the perfect amount of tang. Use dairy-free versions for dairy-free diets.
Celery and 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.
Recipe Steps
Step One
Combine the mayo and sour cream with all seasonings.
As always, please do 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.
Step Three
Add crunchy diced celery and onion and combine well.
Step Four
Serve immediately or refrigerate and chill before serving.
Recipe Tips & Substitutions
- 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.
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.
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 Healthy 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)
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 1x
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
Keywords: chicken salad, copycat recipe, costco chicken salad
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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! 🙂
★★★★★