One of my absolute favorite things to eat is a big delicious salad filled with tons of flavors and full of crunch!! Wendy’s has some nice-looking salads out lately, which hands down beats other fast food for a healthy alternative. I have made three copycat recipes, including the dressing for you to try, like this Copycat Wendy’s Apple Chicken Salad.
There is also Wendy’s Copycat Berry Almond Chicken Salad, Wendy’s Copycat BLT Chicken Cobb Salad, and a delicious burger, Wendy’s Copycat Bacon Portabella Mushroom Melt. Or try something completely different with our Brazilian Chicken Salad (Salpicao de Frango), Best Chef Salad, or Summer Spinach Salad.
The salads are full of healthy and wonderful ingredients that the whole family will love. Before you know it we will all be pulling out the crock pots and covering the BBQ and doing one-dish wonders like lasagna, soups, and casseroles.
Don’t forget to add freshness back into your dinner with a lovely meal-sized salad. It can just be the change you need!! ENJOY!!
Helpful Items for This Recipe
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Marzetti Gluten Free Pomegranate Vinaigrette Salad Dressing 1.5 ounce (pack of 60)
What’s In Wendy’s Copycat Apple Pecan Chicken Salad?
Simple to find ingredients all available at your grocery store. I just use roasted pecans but you can try our other recipes if you would like to spice them up. Like Cinnamon Candied Pecans, Spiced Pecans, or Stovetop Spiced Pecans.
Ingredients
Romaine lettuce, torn
Mixed greens
Cooked chicken
Roasted pecans
Dried cranberries
Crumbled blue cheese
Chopped green apple
Chopped gala apple
Dressing
Honey
Pomegranate juice
Dijon mustard
White wine vinegar
Olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Or use Marzetti® Simply Dressed® Pomegranate Vinaigrette
How To Make Wendy’s Apple Pecan Chicken Salad
For the dressing mix all the ingredients together in a jar and shake well, set aside. For the salad, on a large dinner plate, lay out the romaine and top with the mixed greens.
Next place the cooked chicken on top followed by the pecans, cranberries, green and gala apple, and then the blue cheese.
Drizzle with about 1/4 to 1/3 of the dressing. Refrigerate the remaining dressing.
How Many Calories in Wendy’s Apple Pecan Chicken Salad
If you buy a Wendy’s salad, you will probably come in at just over 500 calories. Ours has more of the wonderful toppings you love and I see it as more of a dinner salad than lunch or one that you would share. If the salad was shared, it would come in under the 500 mark.
Our calorie calculations have also included all of the dressing, but we recommend only using a 1/4 to a 1/3 of the dressing and saving the rest for another salad. So that would significantly reduce the calculated calories.
This salad is one of the healthiest choices served at Wendy’s and we love to make it at home where it is even fresher.
Look at that delicious bite; you will be making this very soon, I believe we just had it again last week. Enjoy!!
Want another great copycat chicken salad, try this Chick-Fil-A Chicken Salad Copycat Recipe.
Copycat Wendy’s Apple Pecan Chicken Salad
Ingredients
- 2 cups romaine lettuce torn
- 2 cups mixed greens
- 100 gms. cooked chicken
- 1/4 cup roasted pecans
- 1/4 cup dried cranberries
- 1/8 cup crumbled blue cheese
- 1/2 chopped green apple
- 1/2 chopped gala apple
Dressing
- 2 Tbsp. honey
- 2 Tbsp. pomegranate juice
- 1 tsp. dijon mustard
- 2 Tbsp. white wine vinegar
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Or use Marzetti® Simply Dressed® Pomegranate Vinaigrette
Instructions
- For the dressing mix all the ingredients together in a jar and shake well, set aside. For the salad, on a large dinner plate, layout the romaine and top with the mixed greens.
- Next place the cooked chicken on top followed by the pecans, cranberries, green and gala apple, and then the blue cheese.
- Drizzle with about 1/4 to 1/3 of the dressing. Refrigerate remaining dressing.
Comments & Reviews
Tara Pittman says
This salad sounds perfect for summer. I love eating salads in the summer
Kathy says
I haven’t tried this yet, but I’ve been wanting to. It looks so good. I love that you made it yourself. I definitely need to make it now too. I love having a good salad.
Heather says
OOhh.. it’s been so long since I’ve had Wendy’s. I would love to make this at home!
Scarlet says
What a great summer salad recipe! I love apple and pecans on salads.
Janet says
True but hard to find!
Cate says
I don’t understand how people can post “copycat” recipes when they don’t even have the same ingredients. The pecans are not just roasted, they are spiced…which is one of the reasons I even buy the salad. The chicken, which is brined, is not even mentioned. The Marzetti salad dressing, which I used to be able to buy at my supermarket, has orange juice, zest and orange oil…THAT’s what really makes the taste…not even mentioned here. This is a nice salad, but unfair to call it a copy of Wendy’s.
Tara Noland says
Well it was the closest I could get without going crazy with ingredients and then so many people would not want to make it. If it takes you two days to make a salad not many people are going to do it.
Wedding DJ Frisco Dallas Wedding DJ says
I love all the fall goodies you added to this chicken salad! It’s the perfect lunch!
Raquel says
How many people does this recipe feed?
Tara Noland says
Says in the recipe it serves 1, that will be a nice hearty salad.
Robin says
So excited to try your recipe, this is actually one of my favorite salads from fast food! Not sure what brining is so Im going to google it!! Thank you for sharing glad I found it!!!
Tara Noland says
Awesome Robin, enjoy!!
Lori C. says
Thank you so much for sharing this! My husband and I have been eating healthier for a while now – we have always had a fairly healthy diet; but have been eating more greens, colorful, and less processed foods for about a year – and have both lost a significant amount of weight (me, over 50 lbs since Oct 2016). He views food as merely fuel for the body and so he just eats whatever; I, however, get bored eating the same salads or meals every day; which led me to Google and then to you – yours was actually the very first result.
We always brine our chicken (discovered a long time ago that it “cleans” the gamey / “dirty” flavor out that chicken can sometimes have. Plus, makes it super tender and juicy); and I have some great breasts that have been brining for 24 hours to grill tonight. They are DEFINITELY getting grilled and thrown into this salad tonight!!
As an aside, a lot of candied nut recipes do have a dash of cayenne in them.
If you haven’t tried a warm bacon vinegrette, it’s also super yummy!
Tara Noland says
I have tried a warm bacon vinegrette before and it is yummy. Brining chicken or any poultry does add so much to them. When we smoke our birds we always brine them. Enjoy this salad and congrats on the weight loss!!
NIsha says
Thanks for Sharing the Salad receipe. I love the idea of doing it myself. Shall try it and update.
Joanie O. Eby says
I was raised on a chicken ranch and my Mother brined all chicken before being cooked. So much tastier then. No one can cook chicken like my Mother could. Miss you Mom.
Clea says
😢
Mary Lee says
I really like the taste of Wendy’s cooked chicken. Can you possibly tell me how to cook the chicken to get that taste. I appreciate the homemade salad idea and want to try it. Thank you for sharing.
Tara Noland says
I am not exactly sure the method they use to cook their chicken. One trick though is to brine before hand, you may find that a result you enjoy if you haven’t tried it yet.
alice wutzke says
The roasted pecans at wendy’s are coated with something sweet. How do I make them?
Tara Noland says
You can make a candied nut, I just googled and came up with a few. https://www.google.ca/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=candied%20pecans
Melissa says
The Wendy’s pecans also have a touch of cayenne pepper.
Mike Marmer says
I made the salad again, with CBC radio 2 on, but I reduced the roasting of the pecans to 10 minutes. I am glad you like Blue Rodeo. Mike
Mike Marmer says
Hi, I made this salad tonight with no problems. 100 grams in the US is 3.5 oz. as I used 4 oz. of Chicken, cooked, left over from a roasted fennel and garlic chicken. I used all the Ingrediants with no issues, in finding or using. I used for the green base, a mixture of spring mix and spinach. toasted the pecans, 15 minutes at 350, the dressing was perfect my pictures of the salad looks very much like Ms. Noland’s. by the way, Ms. Noland, we live in MD by Washington DC, we listen to CBC radio 2 a lot we are into the Canadian groups they play, like Great Big Sea, Blue Rodeo and so on.
Tara Noland says
Hi Mike, thanks for the great comment, so glad you liked the salad and that you listen to Canadian bands, I love Blue Rodeo.
Mike Marmer says
I made the salad again, with CBC radio 2 on, but I reduced the roasting of the pecans to 10 minutes. I am glad you like Blue Rodeo. Mike
Tara Noland says
So glad you are enjoying it!! Thank you!!
Mike Marmer says
Hi, I made this salad tonight with no problems. 100 grams in the US is 3.5 oz. as I used 4 oz. of Chicken, cooked, left over from a roasted fennel and garlic chicken. I used all the Ingrediants with no issues, in finding or using. I used for the green base, a mixture of spring mix and spinach. toasted the pecans, 15 minutes at 350, the dressing was perfect my pictures of the salad looks very much like Ms. Noland’s. by the way, Ms. Noland, we live in MD by Washington DC, we listen to CBC radio 2 a lot we are into the Canadian groups they play, like Great Big Sea, Blue Rodeo and so on.
Buki says
Thanks for the recipe. Can you specify the mixed greens? Can I get the prepared dressing to buy in a store?
Tara Noland says
Mixed greens is something that you buy in the grocery store all ready washed and ready to go. It is usually baby leaves of lettuce, spinach etc. The prepared dressing is not available in the store, it is my homemade recipe.
Elizabeth Martinez says
Prepared dressing is marzetti pomegranate dressing.
Tara Noland says
Thank you for that Elizabeth!!
Mary Mance says
how to roast pecans
Noshing with the Nolands says
Just put them on a baking sheet and roast in a 350F until fragrant and lightly browned being careful not to burn. I do them in my toaster oven too.
Anne says
Actually, the “mixed greens” are a bag of spring mix. The rest of the lettuce is chopped romaibe and chiopped iceberg lettuce. I know this for a fact.
Tara Noland says
I guess it also depends on the grocery store you purchase it at, it really can vary. At least, that is what I experience here in Canada.
Gloria says
I go for the bagged spinach – more nutritious!
Gloria says
I go for the bagged spinach – more nutritious than lettuce!
Tara Noland says
That is a great idea, we love spinach too!
Joseph says
Hey,
In the US, the pecans are sugar coated and roasted. Just FYI
Tara Noland says
You definitely can do that too!!
Vi says
The pecans have flavor; they taste candied. They’re so good! Same with Panera. What do they do to them? Please do not attack me, I’m new to cooking.
Tara Noland says
Never attack you Vi, I am here to help. Yes, they are candied but I left that out as it is extra work for the salad. Here is a recipe, if you don’t want them to take like cinnamon just omit that. https://noshingwiththenolands.com/cinnamon-candied-pecans-sundaysupper/
Liz says
I’ve never had the Wendy’s version, but I wouldn’t hesitate to try yours!
Noshing with the Nolands says
Thanks Liz!!
Diana says
U did not tell the seasoning on the baked chicken.
Tara Noland says
You can just buy pre-cooked chicken for this recipe. Otherwise I would just do salt and pepper.
Marlene Lawson says
That’s what I was looking for! It’s delicious!
Amy Deatherage says
The dressing was very disappointing. Way too oily, and didn’t taste at all like the Wendy’s version.
Tara Noland says
I am sorry you didn’t like it.
Lori says
When I purchased the salad at Wendy’s it was a pomegranate vinegrette
Tara Noland says
Yes, you can purchase the Marzetti® Simply Dressed® Pomegranate Vinaigrette.