This high-protein chicken salad is a low-calorie, low-carb, flavor-packed delight made with creamy cottage cheese, tangy banana peppers, and rotisserie chicken—perfect for a quick, satisfying meal.
This tasty high-protein chicken salad, made with cottage cheese and banana peppers, ticks all the boxes! It's high in protein, low in calories and carbs, full of flavor and texture and so easy to make since it's made with leftover rotisserie chicken. It's a healthy twist on chicken salad that's a new favorite in our house.
The blended cottage cheese base helps create a high-protein chicken salad that's much healthier and lower in calories than traditional chicken salads made with mayonnaise. And due to the flavorful seasonings, tangy banana peppers, crunchy celery and onions, you may not even guess it's made with cottage cheese.
Since it can be made in 10 minutes, it's ideal for busy days when you need something nutritious and filling fast. Whether you enjoy it on a bed of greens, in a low-carb wrap or pita, or by itself, it’s a great lunch or dinner option that's satisfying and delicious.
Ingredients
Store-bought rotisserie chicken: To keep the salad easy, we simply use store-bought rotisserie chicken, which we cut into small chunks. We recommend buying a rotisserie chicken that is organic, free-range, and free of hormone.
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Low-fat cottage cheese: We use a low-fat cottage cheese (2% milkfat) in this salad since we found little difference in taste between the low- and high-fat cottage cheese when done. However, you can use a higher-in-fat cottage cheese if you like as it only slightly reduces the level of protein.
Banana peppers (mild or spicy): Banana peppers offer a tangy, mild or slightly spicy kick, but you can adjust the heat level by choosing either mild or spicy peppers to suit your taste.
Celery, red onion and green onion: Celery and red onion bring a refreshing crunch, while green onions add a touch of mild, aromatic flavor. While we enjoy the green onions, you can skip if you like.
Seasonings: Garlic powder, spicy or Dijon mustard and salt and pepper add depth of flavor and a bit of tang. We recommend tasting and adjusting the seasoning as you like (such as salt, pepper, etc.).
How to Make
STEP 1: In a food processor, pulse cottage cheese, mustard, garlic powder, salt and pepper until smooth in consistency.
STEP 2: In a large mixing bowl, combine blended cottage cheese mixture, chopped chicken, banana peppers, red onion, celery and green onion. Stir until well combined. Taste salad and adjust seasonings if needed. Serve immediately or store in fridge until ready to serve.
How to Store
This chicken salad is best enjoyed fresh, but it can also be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to three days. Before serving leftovers, give it a good stir to redistribute any separated liquids.
More High Protein Salads
If you try this recipe, we would love to hear your feedback! Leave a comment, rate it, and tag @lowcarbsimplified on your photo of this recipe on Instagram or Facebook. We hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do!
Recipe
Cottage Cheese Chicken Salad with Banana Peppers
Ingredients
- 1 cup rotisserie chicken, chopped into small chunks
- ½ cup low-fat (2% milkfat) cottage cheese, blended smooth
- ¼ cup jarred banana peppers (mild or spicy), diced
- ¼ cup red onion, diced
- ¼ cup celery, diced
- 2 tablespoon green onion, thinly sliced
- ½ teaspoon Dijon or spicy mustard
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt and pepper
Instructions
- Blend cottage cheese: In a food processor, pulse cottage cheese, mustard, garlic powder, salt and pepper until smooth.
- Combine and serve: In a large mixing bowl, combine blended cottage cheese mixture, chopped chicken, banana peppers, red onion, celery and green onion. Stir until well combined. Taste salad and adjust seasonings (such as salt and pepper) if needed. Serve immediately or store in fridge until ready to serve.
Is the nutritional information given per serving? Thank you!
Hi there! It's per serving. Thanks for checking in.
What’s the portion size?
Hi! Each serving makes just a little over 1 cup.
Yumm!! Just made this for lunch and it was delicious! So easy and quick. I only used pepper, garlic salt and everything bagel seasoning to season it, and it was perfect. I chopped up the banana peppers after I blended everything and ate immediately. Will definitely be making again!
Good to know that it still worked with just those seasonings. Can never go wrong with everything bagel seasoning!
Recipe was great! Just curious how you figured the nutrition facts. I calculated everything on LoseIt App and it comes out to 429 calories per serving! So not sure how yours is so much lower. I used low fat cottage cheese 2%.
We double checked our numbers and believe they are correct. Are you sure you are dividing by 2 since the recipe is for 2 servings?
To be specific, most of the calories in the recipe are from the chicken (about 230-260 depending on how much chicken in your cup per https://www.snapcalorie.com/nutrition/shredded_rotisserie_chicken_nutrition.html#:~:text=One%20cup%20of%20Shredded%20rotisserie,and%20oh%2Dso%2Ddelicious!) and the cottage cheese (80 calories per half cup for Good Culture Low Fat). Together that is 285 calories, or 143 calories per serving for the chicken and cottage cheese. Happy to give you the complete run down by ingredient if you want.
We also checked LoseIt and for the cottage cheese and chicken they give 163 per serving for those two ingredients. I suspect their calorie values may be slight off (but still close to our estimate) but you might not be dividing by 2 would give a very big difference.
This is absolutely DELICIOUS!! Made it exactly as instructed. Will definitely make it again!
Oh good! So glad you like and thanks for letting me know!