This chicken and pomegranate salad with tahini dressing combines fresh shredded chicken, pomegranate seeds and apple with pantry staples. It's so simple to make as a no mayo chicken salad with fruit for a summer lunch, picnic food or as a potluck recipe.
One of my favorite things to add to summer salads is fruit, and pomegranate seeds have a delicious sweet and tart flavor. You'll see I'm quite the pomegranate salad fan with my apple and pomegranate salad and kale pomegranate salad!
Adding them to this chicken pomegranate salad gives a lovely sweetness and balances so well with the creamy dressing. We make this high protein chicken salad in all easy recipe steps for you to enjoy on my chia flax crackers or in lettuce cups.
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⭐ Why This Recipe is So Good
No Mayo. We make this chicken pomegranate salad without mayo so it is egg free, and use creamy tahini instead (see notes on sesame in the recipe card, if low histamine).
Fresh ingredients. I suggest to cook and shred the chicken yourself, so it's super fresh.
Egg free, dairy free and gluten free. Just like my chicken kale salad, we also make this pomegranate chicken salad as a low histamine salad.
🥗 Ingredients
All the ingredients and their quantities are set out in the recipe card below.
Some notes on a few of them:
- Chicken - I suggest to use boneless skinless chicken breasts, that we cook and shred. While rotisserie chicken can be used, it likely isn't suitable for low histamine readers.
- Pomegranate seeds - these give a nice pop of sweetness, as well as a hint of tartness. See this tutorial on how to remove pomegranate seeds, it's quite easy!
- Apple - if you like a sweeter flavor, a red apple such as Pink Lady or Honeycrisp is good, or use a green Granny Smith apple for a more tart taste.
- Pumpkin seeds - also known as pepitas, depending on where you live! These give a good crunch to the salad.
- Lamb's lettuce - this is optional, but can be used as a 'bed of lettuce' if you're serving the salad in a bowl.
🔪 How to Make Pomegranate Chicken Salad
We use easy to find affordable ingredients to make the salad, and there's no need for any fancy kitchen equipment. Just wear an apron when you're de-seeding the pomegranate as it will definitely ruin a white top!
All the instructions are in the recipe card below, but these step by step instructions should help guide you.
Step 1: Cook and shred chicken
Slice your chicken breast into 2-3 pieces for a quicker cook time. Drizzle olive oil in your skillet and cook the chicken pieces until browned, white meat throughout and with an internal temperature of 165F using a meat thermometer. Once cool enough to handle, shred the chicken with two forks or food processor (image 1).
Step 2: Make tahini dressing
Combine tahini, water, apple cider vinegar, salt and (optional) ground black pepper in a bowl. Whisk to combine. It will first look gritty, but keep whisking to get a creamy sauce. Add more water to thin, as required (image 2).
Step 3: Combine salad ingredients
Add the shredded chicken, pomegranate arils, apple, pumpkin seeds, shallot and mint leaves to a large bowl (image 3).
Step 4: Assemble the salad
Pour about two-thirds of the tahini dressing over the salad ingredients and stir through. Add more of the tahini dressing to preference, as we all like a different amount! (image 4). Season with more salt and black pepper to taste.
💭 Recipe Tips and Notes
- For another way of cooking the chicken, check out my air fryer shredded chicken recipe!
- If you like a very fruity salad, you can add more pomegranate seeds and/ or apple to preference.
- To thicken the tahini dressing, add more tahini. To thin, add a little more water and whisk again.
📋 Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, you can easily cook and shred chicken thighs to make the salad.
I don't recommend to freeze the salad.
You can leave out the tahini dressing, and make it with an oil-based dressing, similarly to in my chicken salad without mayo recipe. It won't have a creamy taste or texture, but will still be good!
🥣 More Salads
Find so many tasty salad recipes here, including my chicken pesto pasta salad and carrot and apple salad, as well as these recent recipes:
I'm always in the kitchen, so come join me on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest to be the first to hear of new recipes! And I love to hear from you, so please do leave a star rating ⭐⭐⭐ and comment if you've tried the recipe!
📖 Recipe
Chicken and Pomegranate Salad
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 small boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 3 tablespoon pomegranate seeds
- 1 small red apple de-cored, diced
- 1 tablespoon pumpkin seeds
- 1 tablespoon shallot or red or white onion, finely diced
- 1 tablespoon mint leaves finely diced
For the tahini dressing
- 3 tablespoon tahini
- ½ teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 3 tablespoon warm water more to texture preference
- pinch salt
- pinch ground black pepper
Instructions
- Slice the chicken breasts lengthways into 2-3 pieces (for a quicker cook time). Drizzle olive oil in your skillet and cook the chicken for 5-6 minutes, each side, until cooked through, slightly browned and with a reading of 165F using a meat thermometer at the deepest point of the chicken. Set aside to cool.
- Shred the chicken breast with two forks or with a stand mixer using the appropriate attachment.
- Whisk together tahini, apple cider vinegar, warm water, salt and black pepper (optional) until you have a creamy dressing. Adjust with more water to thin, to preference.
- Add the shredded chicken, pomegranate seeds, diced red apple, pumpkin seeds, diced shallot, mint leaves and tahini dressing to a bowl. Toss to combine so the chicken and fruit is evenly coated in the dressing.
Notes
- Please be mindful that tahini (sesame) scores 1 on the SIGHI list and is a top ten allergen. Only use if you know you tolerate well.
- If you are not on a low histamine diet, plain rotisserie chicken can be used.
- Nutritional information is auto-generated and should be understood to be an estimate.
- tahini (sesame) and apple cider vinegar, which score 1.
- black pepper, which scores 2.
- shallot is not rated. It can be swapped for white onion or left out.
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