By: Jill Mills Posted: Apr 12, 2025

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If you love chicken salad, this Million Dollar Chicken Salad with Bacon is a must-try! It’s rich, savory, and creamy with just the right amount of crunch, loaded with crispy bacon, and with balanced flavors that make it taste like a million bucks in every bite.

Million Dollar Chicken and Bacon Salad

This chicken salad with bacon is full of flavor! It is great for a sandwich or salad, or even to eat on its own with a fork. It has plenty of texture from the almonds and crisp bacon. Plus, it’s packed with protein. It makes the perfect quick snack, lunch, or light dinner. I like to keep some in my fridge often because it’s convenient and yummy. Even the kids like to eat it, and we know how picky they can be.

Check out some of our other favorite chicken salad recipes: Chicken Salad with Grapes, Chicken Waldorf Salad and Cranberry Walnut Chicken Salad.

Why You’ll Love This Chicken Salad Recipe

It’s customizable. I love chicken salad because you can add whatever you want to it and make it your own. This one has cheese and bacon with hardboiled eggs, but you can add things like dried cranberries or raisins, too.
It’s great for meal prep. Sometimes, I like to make extra chicken salad and keep it in the refrigerator. It makes the best quick lunch ever!
It’s a family favorite. Everyone loves this recipe, even kids! If you have picky eaters in your house, try serving this million dollar chicken salad with bacon. I bet they will be impressed!

Top-down view of a chicken salad sandwich on a white plate, placed on a wooden table with a red checkered napkin and a glass of iced tea in the background.

What You’ll Need

Even though it seems like a lot of ingredients, I promise that they are all easy to find! Scroll to the recipe card below to find the exact measurements for each one.

Shredded chicken: You can use shredded rotisserie chicken, cook some grilled chicken breasts on demand, or even shred leftover cooked chicken. There are so many possibilities!
Veggies: I went with celery and green onion for this recipe. They add freshness and subtle crunch for texture.
Eggs: Hard-boiled eggs are easy to make and are a great way to add extra protein to your day. If you don’t like them, leave them out!
Cheese: I use sharp cheddar cheese because it’s my favorite variety of cheese to enjoy with bacon. You can use prepackaged here because you aren’t melting it.
Bacon: Real bacon bits or chopped cooked bacon are both great choices. I love the large chunks of bacon, but I have used the bacon bits to save time.
Almonds: I love the addition of almond slivers! They’re healthy and provide a little crunch to break up the softer textures.
Mayonnaise: This is a classic base for chicken salad. It adds richness and a fatty flavor that fills you up! Feel free to use any brand that you want. Miracle Whip makes a good mayo substitute if you prefer, too.
Sour cream: I like the tang you get in a dollop of sour cream. It works perfectly with the other ingredients in this recipe.
Lemon juice: This adds acidity and brightness to the dressing to keep it from feeling too heavy. Fresh lemon juice is better but bottled will work in a pinch.
Salt and pepper: Just a little salt and black pepper are plenty in this dish. I often taste the chicken salad first to ensure that I don’t add too much seasoning.

Flat lay of chicken salad ingredients including chopped chicken, mayonnaise, sour cream, cheddar, bacon, celery, hard-boiled eggs, green onions, sliced almonds, and a lemon.

How to Make Chicken Salad with Bacon

It takes just 3 steps plus some simple prep to put this chicken salad recipe together. You don’t even have to let it chill before serving!

Combine the salad ingredients. Add the chicken, eggs, bacon, cheese, almonds, and scallions to a large bowl.
Make the dressing. Combine all of the dressing ingredients in a separate mixing bowl and whisk it until it’s well incorporated.

Bowl of ingredients for chicken salad including chopped bacon, shredded cheddar, celery, green onions, and chopped hard-boiled eggs, ready to be mixed with dressing.

Glass mixing bowl filled with chicken, cheese, green onions, celery, and bacon, topped with a dollop of creamy dressing ready to be mixed.

Mix it. Pour the dressing over the chicken salad and mix it until all of the ingredients are well coated.
Serve. Enjoy it with some thick bread or whatever you want!

Tips for Success

Don’t freeze it. I don’t recommend freezing any leftover chicken salad. It retains a lot of moisture as it freezes so when it thaws, it takes on a wet and mushy texture. Unfortunately, it’s not something that you can fix!
Substitute your favorite dressing. If you want to save some time, don’t make the dressing! Try this chicken salad recipe with your favorite store-bought dressing instead. Ranch dressing or any creamy variety would taste great.
Try it with tuna. Get creative and make this recipe with canned tuna instead of shredded chicken! Drain it, shred it, and keep all of the other ingredients the same. It works as a great substitute if you don’t have any chicken.

Rustic chicken salad sandwich on oat-topped bread, packed with bacon, green onions, almonds, and lettuce, served on a white plate with farmhouse kitchen decor in the background.

Proper Storage

Store this chicken salad with bacon in the refrigerator for up to 3 days in an airtight container. Since it’s a cold salad, there’s no need to worry about heating it—enjoy it straight from the refrigerator!