Blackened Chicken Salad (Easy + Low-Carb / Keto)

This Keto Blackened Chicken Salad makes great low-carb lettuce cups, sandwiches using your favorite keto-friendly bread, or a topper to a big green salad!

Are you a chicken salad fan? We think it's an awesome thing to have on hand for easy meals and snacks! This blackened version packs a ton of flavor from cajun spices and a bit of char from the cast iron skillet!

Let's get to the in's and out's of making this recipe!

How do you make blackened chicken breasts?

To make blackened chicken breasts you'll start by seasoning the chicken with blackening seasoning or a cajun seasoning spice mix. Then you'll heat a pan over medium heat and add the chicken to the pan. Cook the chicken for about 5 minutes on each side until cooked through.

Let the chicken rest so that the juices don't run then slice chicken into cubes. If you're not making chicken salad you can use the chicken breasts for any other use you'd like. They're delicious on salads, or with a low-carb side dish such as this keto creamed spinach.

Is chicken salad healthy?

If you grew up with everyone around you fearing fat then you're likely to look at a mayonnaise laden chicken salad and cringe. However, this is not the case. Healthy fats have been shown to reduce cholesterol levels, improve satiety, reduce weight, and improve brain health among many other benefits.

As long as you opt for a healthy mayonnaise, like this avocado oil one from Primal Kitchen, then your chicken salad will be super healthy.

Where does chicken salad come from?

Ok, while not related to how to make chicken salad we always think it's fun to explore the history of certain recipes. There's some debate on how chicken salad came to be. Some folks say it was invented in 1863 when a restaurant owner in Wakefield, Rhode Island mixed leftover chicken with mayonnaise, grapes, and tarragon to create the now-famous salad.

There are also recipes in Southern cookbooks as early as 1847 like in Sarah Rutledge's The Carolina Housewife: Or, House and Home. In this cookbook, there's a recipe for "A Salad To Be Eaten With Cold Meat Or Fowl" that describes how to make mayonnaise from scratch to be mixed with either chicken or seafood...lobster salad anyone?

How long does chicken salad keep?

Chicken salad will keep in a lidded container in the refrigerator for about 3-4 days. We think that the flavors get better after a few days!

What is the nutritional information for this recipe?

As always, you can find the full nutritional breakdown including total carbs and net carbs for keto at the bottom of the recipe card as well as the servings at the top of the recipe card. You should always double-check your specific ingredients as different brand's ingredients may have different values.

Ways to use this Keto Blackened Chicken Salad:

• stuff it into lettuce cups - butter lettuce is our favorite
• tuck it into a low-carb bun with tomato and lettuce for one great keto sandwich
• add a scoop to a green salad
• scoop it with low-carb crackers (yum!)
• try it with celery sticks
• eat it by the forkful (nojudgmentt!)

Low-carb bread options:

We love this recipe for low-carb buns and pictured is this packaged bun mix that we really enjoy! A quick tip for egg whites, buy Organic Valley's cartoned egg whites to save time in the kitchen and save wasting those precious yolks. The only ingredients in Organic Valley's cartoned egg whites are you guessed it, egg whites. No weird stuff here!

That's it! This is probably way more info than you need to know about chicken salad but we're all about giving you guys as much info as possible about our recipes!