The Dressing For Chicken Salad Chick's Fan-Favorite Grape Salad Is So Easy To Recreate (And Tasty On All Types Of Fruit)

Catering to the casual lunch with your mom (or grandma) crowd across most of the southeastern United States, Chicken Salad Chick specializes in, you guessed it, all things chicken salad. From the restaurant's crowd-pleasing "Fancy Nancy" variety with grapes, apples, and pecans to its spicy "Kickin' Kay Lynne" with Buffalo sauce, ranch, shredded cheddar, and jalapeño, every bite at Chicken Salad Chick is about nostalgia and comfort. Nothing adds to the chain's allure more than its signature grape salad side dish — although the broccoli salad has its devotees as well.

Almost like a modern-day ambrosia salad, Chicken Salad Chick's oddly addictive halved red-and-white grape concoction relies on a ridiculously creamy dressing that is anchored by none other than cream cheese, vanilla, and sour cream. The restaurant also adds a healthy dose of sugar to the dressing recipe and tops the finished dish with a generous sprinkle of brown sugar and crushed pecans. Many don't consider a chicken salad sandwich and a side of grape salad to be a truly complete meal without the final flourish of one of Chicken Salad Chick's signature round mini one-bite buttercream frosted cookies, and of course, an obligatory sweet tea.

Sweet and yet somehow virtuous thanks to the grape element, this salad comes together super quickly and with little fuss. Start with freshly washed grapes and make sure to pat them dry so that the dressing coats them nicely. From there, cube up room temperature cream cheese and give that a whirl in the mixer. Then, it is on to the addition of sour cream and some granulated sugar. Give them a further blitz until the mixture is light and airy. A bit of vanilla folded in at the end is the last element before coating the grapes with this decadent dressing.

If you'd like to go full Chicken Salad Chick, consider zhuzzing up your own everyday chicken salad with a riff on its fruit-forward iterations, by adding canned fruit such as fruit cocktail, pineapple, or even mandarin oranges. If you aren't in a chicken salad mood, you could also stay true to Chicken Salad Chick's Southern roots with an ode to pimento cheese — you can either making your own or grab a tried-and-true store-bought favorite like Palmetto Cheese to enjoy with your rich and fruity grape salad. Craveable Southern "ladies lunch" complete.