What’s the secret ingredients in Mom’s Ranch Chicken Salad Sandwich Recipe; Ranch Dressing. You may be a little skeptical on this secret ingredient, but we can promise that you’ll love it. Who doesn’t love ranch dressing?!
The ranch dressing in this chicken salad sandwich recipe gives it a creamy texture while the dry dressing mix packs it with extra ranch flavor. It may sound like a lot, but you will need both of these ingredients to give this chicken salad the very best flavor.
Ranch dressing and ranch dressing mix can be found on the same aisle in your grocery store. The ranch dressing packets are usually found above or below the ranch salad dressing in 1-ounce packets. This recipe calls for 1/2 cup prepared ranch dressing and 1/2 packet of the dry ranch dressing mix. We usually use the Hidden Valley dry ranch mix, but store brand works just as great.
A lot of chicken salad sandwiches have vinegar in them that can make them taste pretty acidic. I love how creamy this Chicken Salad recipe is and my picky eaters agree!
Related Recipe: Try our Pesto Chicken Sandwich!
Want even more recipe ideas that use already made chicken ?! Try these 45 Cold Chicken Recipes (Best Leftover Chicken Ideas)!
How to Make this Ranch Chicken Salad your way:
We love chicken salad with grapes, but some don’t. That’s ok! We’ve had a lot of readers send us in their own versions of this recipe. Here are a few ideas to switch up your chicken salad and make it your own!
- Lemon juice/zest
- Peppered mayonnaise
- Turkey, ham, or tuna instead of chicken
- Chopped hard boiled eggs
- Jalapeños in place of celery for an extra kick
- Sliced olives
- Mandarin oranges
- Crumbled bacon
- Sprouts
We’ve even had a few readers tell us they prefer to place their chicken and vegetables in the food processor before mixing with their liquid ingredients, to get that restaurant style Chicken Salad Sandwich texture.
Make chicken salad with Boiled Chicken:
This recipe calls for 3 1/2 cups diced, cooked chicken. We’ve found it easiest to boil our chicken for this chicken salad recipe, but any cooking method will work.
Here’s how we boil our chicken for chicken salad:
- Allow chicken breasts to fully thaw and rinse in cold water.
- Fill a pot with water and place chicken in pot. Make sure your chicken is fully submerged in the water.
- Place pot on the stove and bring to a boil over high heat.
- Once boiling, reduce heat to low and allow the chicken to simmer for 20-25 minutes or until the internal temperature of the chicken reaches 165 degrees.
- Remove pot from heat and drain liquid. To assure your chicken is cooked, cut through chicken and make sure the middle is white and the juices run clear.
Another shortcut we love in this recipe is using rotisserie chicken. Most grocery stores sell already pulled and packaged rotisserie chicken in their deli, making this chicken salad even easier to throw together.
Related Recipe: Love Chicken Salad?! Then you won’t want to miss this BBQ Chicken Salad Sandwich Recipe!
We love to serve our chicken salad with these sides:
Mom’s Ranch Chicken Salad Sandwiches Recipe
Ingredients
- ¾ cup mayonnaise
- ¼ cup buttermilk
- ½ cup prepared ranch dressing
- ½ (1 ounce) packet dry Hidden Valley Ranch dressing
- 1½ Tablespoon dry dill weed
- 5 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, (cooked and shredded)
- 1 cup slivered almonds
- 1½ cups red grapes, halved
- 3 ribs celery ribs, diced
- 8 croissants, rolls, or buns
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, combine mayonnaise, buttermilk, prepared ranch dressing, dry ranch mix and dill weed.
- Gently mix in cooked chicken, almonds, grapes and celery.
- Refrigerate for at least 1 hour and serve on croissants.
Notes
- Lemon juice/zest
- Peppered mayonnaise
- Turkey, ham, or tuna instead of chicken
- Chopped hard boiled eggs
- Jalapeños in place of celery for an extra kick
- Sliced olives
- Mandarin oranges
- Crumbled bacon
- Sprouts
- Craisins
Nutrition
Video
Did You Make This Recipe?We’d love to hear your thoughts! Leave a review or a question in the comment section below the post.Be sure to not miss another recipe!
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“. . . mix the dry Hidden Valley ranch dressing with the liquid ranch dressing”? I don’t see liquid ranch dressing listed in the ingredients. Am I missing something?
I have same question as Patricia – I do not see anything in recipe regarding liquid ranch dressing??? Help please!
First thing I noticed… liquid ranch dressing?!
I think this recipe has an error????? Doesn’t make sense….. please explain..tks!
Haha! I pretty much made the same recipe last night, except it doesn’t have ranch dressing in it–but lemon juice and zest, and I used peppered mayo. YUMMY! No dill on hand though, so I used thyme.
The liquid ranch dressing is above the dry hidden ranch.
I love chicken salad and am always looking for a different recipe. I think this may be the recipe I am looking for! I will be trying this very soon! (:
Is liquid ranch dressing just any regular ranch dressing? Does the powdered just make it more intense?
Liquid ranch is just your regular ranch dressing. The powdered just gives it a more ranchy taste!
Delish!! The dry ranch really makes this come alive.
What if I don’t have buttermilk?
You can easily make your own. Here is the link – https://tastesbetterfromscratch.com/how-to-make-buttermilk/
Can you freeze this recipe for later?
The chicken filling will freeze well in an airtight freezer container.
How much Chicken is called for? What would 5 Boneless Chicken Breasts be equal to in Ounces and Pounds???
5 Boneless Chicken Breasts??? 3 Breasts? I want to buy my chicken by the pound or use Canned Chicken~so much easier than Shredding 5 Breasts. No judgement please 🙂
MY Whole Family Loved the Recipe. I made it with some flavorful grapes.
3 Boneless Breasts?
It equals approximately 7 -8 cups of chicken