Starting with shredded rotisserie chicken makes this copycat Wendy's apple pecan salad super simple to make at home! And the pomegranate vinaigrette is a dead ringer for their salad dressing.
This post brought to you by Marzetti Simply Dressed. All opinions are 100% mine.
Wendy's Pecan Apple Salad At Home
I love Wendy's apple pecan salad, but our closest store has a less than stellar track record of making them properly. I can't even count the times we've brought lunch home only to discover that they left a key ingredient out of my salad.
Uh, where's my blue cheese?!? Or the packet of pecans were left out of the bag. Or even worse, the pomegranate vinaigrette salad dressing... I mean just how hard is it to get a simple salad right? Very disappointing!!
So I've started making my own apple pecan chicken salads at home where I can control the amounts and quality of the ingredients. Plus I have a couple of simple shortcuts to share that make prepping this salad faster than a trip though the drive-thru!
Salad With Rotisserie Chicken
Shortcut #1: I replaced the grilled chicken with shredded rotisserie chicken.
I'm sure you've heard it before, but rotisserie chickens really are a fantastic meal shortcut. And talk about budget friendly... I mean a Costco rotisserie chicken is priced at just $4.99, and most grocery stores are only slightly higher. That's less than a whole fresh chicken!
While you can buy pre-shredded rotisserie chicken these days, it's far more economical to buy a whole cooked chicken and shred it yourself. I promise you that it's actually very easy to do and way less messy than you might think.
Method: How To Cut A Rotisserie Chicken (along with the easiest way to shred it!)
For reference, a 3-pound rotisserie chicken yields about 3 cups of shredded chicken. AND you can also make a quart of homemade chicken stock with the carcass, some aromatics, and water!
Quick Microwave Toasted Pecans
Shortcut #2: Swap chopped roasted pecans for Wendy's sweet and spicy pecans.
For small batches of toasted nuts such as this, I recommend toasting them in the microwave! It's a huge timesaver over waiting for your oven to heat up.
Method: How To Toast Pecans In Microwave
Assembling The Salad
While the nuts are toasting, place a few handfuls of mixed greens on a plate. Top with the shredded chicken, sliced apples (red or green or both), blue cheese, and dried cranberries. Drizzle with Marzetti Simply Dressed Pomegranate salad dressing, which is a dead ringer for the pomegranate vinaigrette Wendy's offers.
Finally, sprinkle the roasted pecans over the top, and you've got a delicious chicken pecan apple salad for a fraction of the fast food price!
Printable Recipe ↓
Copycat Wendy's Apple Pecan Chicken Salad
Ingredients
- 2 cup mixed greens
- ½ cup shredded rotisserie chicken
- ½ small apple - sliced
- dried cranberries - to taste
- crumbled blue cheese - to taste
- roasted pecans
- Marzetti Simply Dressed pomegranate salad dressing
Instructions
- Spread mixed greens out on a plate.
- Arrange shredded chicken, dried cranberries, crumbled blue cheese, sliced apples, and toasted pecans on top.
- Drizzle on Marzetti Simply Dressed Pomegranate Salad Dressing to taste.
More Copycat Recipes
If you like this Wendy's pecan apple salad recipe, you might also enjoy these other delicious copycat recipes:
- First Watch Tomato Basil Soup
- Chipotle Slow Cooker Mexican Beef Barbacoa
- Cracker Barrel Rotisserie Chicken And Dumplings
- Chi-Chi's Mexican Corn Cake
- Olive Garden Cappellini Al Pomodoro
Did you make this recipe?
I'd love to see how your apple pecan salad turns out... Tag me @Unsophisticook on Instagram or use the hashtag #Unsophisticook so I can check it out. Enjoy!
Martha Black says
The Chic-fila Garden Salad is very good & I get the A0ple Cider Salad dressing. The inly thing us I hate Blue Cheese sipo I have to wait for fresh one ro be made wuthout it. It doesnt take long. I could eat it every day.......
Don says
My wife and I love the Apple pecan chicken salad from Wendy’s. Of all of the fast food restaurants in this area, Wendy's is the best in every department. Jamie is right. You can't lump all fast-food restaurants together. Not even within the same company. We never go to Sonic here in town. But always go to Sonic when in the neighboring town.
Tara @ Unsophisticook says
I totally agree with you, Don! I'm not bashing Wendy's as a whole, but the store that's closest to us definitely has a thing or two to learn.
Kat says
I just purchased the Apple pecan chicken salad from Wendy's. It is not good.
The apples had bad spots and the dressing has been changed. This time I was given Marzettis simply dressed vinaigrette. It does not taste the same. It has a Sour aftertaste.
I'm about 99% positive the dressing used to be Newman's Own.
Very disappointed to pay $6 for a salad oh to toss it out.
Wendy's Apple Pecan chicken salad used to be my favorite. No more!
Donna says
I too love this salad from Wendys, and have had many times after ordering this salad, where I have not received my dressing or pecans. It's frustrating. So I am thrilled to see this recipe posted!! I look forward to making it soon!! Thanks!!
Laura says
I love this particular salad made by Wendy's. Thank you for posting it. I can't wait to try it. I have know idea why your comments caused so much offense. I found your statement to be clear and concise regarding your experience at your local store. Why that would prevent others from reposting a delicious recipe is beyond me. I have no such reserrvations.
Kelly says
I, too, was going to pin this recipe and follow the blog until I, too, got offended by the postings about Wendy's. I have worked at Wendy's for 21 years now (and was in operations for 10 of them). I'm glad you stated your "local" Wendy's because it is not the same at all Wendy's. I work for one of the best franchises in the business and am very proud of the fact that we check the orders twice before handing them out through our drive thrus. BUT, did it ever occur to you to LOOK in the bag before pulling out and leaving???? Doesn't hurt to check!!!
Tara @ Unsophisticook says
As I mentioned before, I worked in a fast food drive-thru for many years. I know that mistakes are bound to happen — occasionally. But this was a repeated occurrence every. single. time. we frequented this establishment. I know that not all locations are like this, and I did state that this is an issue with my local store.
I always glance in the bag when we go through a drive-thru, but taking the time to pull every item out and ensure that we have dressings, pecans, nugget sauces, etc. would hold up the entire line behind us, and that still wouldn't address the issue of missing ingredients on a sandwich or salad itself. We just simply won't eat there any more because of their lack of attention to detail.
Jamie says
I love how folks can take a comment and apply it to everything and instantly get offended at the author. I used to work at Sonic, and we had a Manager, Cook, and Order/Drink Person as well as a carhop(we did not have a drive thru). We actually cared about getting it right and we did with limited resources.
I find it funny that we can even defend bad service at a fast food restaurant. I see at min 6(most times upwards of 14) people when I go into any fast food Restaurant, and more often than not the employees are careless and forget items and that, according to the comments, is perfectly acceptable and we shouldn't complain vocally about it.
Come on, lazy people/underpaid employees/Immature Teenagers all result in a potential for bad service and it is not a target to a particular brand and more a result from the culture of the industry itself. Those are not all that work at these jobs, just the examples of the ones that show up to ruin the bunch. I paid my dues in retail and food service, and moved on to other career choices, but I respect the jobs and the difficulty in them. I do not, however, make a generalization and get offended by the authors comments. Potential for bad service is going to show up quicker and more often in fast food than say a upscale (waiter/waitress) restaurant because of training/employee empathy and respect for the job/age/skill level and other factors.
Oh Noes, I am offended by rational thought processes.
My Wendy's is awesome, I ask for an extra dressing, and occasionally when they forget to give me the proper amount I have spares in the fridge.
Athena says
While I DID like the Wendy's Apple Pecan Chicken Salad, I found that the store bought dressing is NOT the same, there are some differences (look closely at the ingredients). I no longer get the salads, I find that there have been changes made to the dressing, it is a darker red color and the taste leaves a definite "feeling" of something missing. I know I'm not wrong on this as I found a Wendy's that had the older dressing which tasted great, but then the next day went to a different Wendy's with the new dressing - there is a difference.
Also, I agree that fast food workers are not able to create a simple salad, or ensure that the order they give you is the correct order. The people at Wendy's are the worse.
wendys worker says
I was excited to find the recipe until I read your intro and to be honest, I'm offended. When working in fast food, one must work fast. With orders coming in quicker than one can make them, sometimes we forget. So when being timed, one might forget a piece of your "simple salad".
Tara @ Unsophisticook says
I certainly wasn't trying to offend anyone. Believe me — I understand how stressful it can be. I worked the drive-thru at McDonald's all through high school and some college.
Working fast is no excuse for sloppy work though, and when my order is wrong more often than it's right, the store manager needs to revisit the basic training procedures in his or her store. I wasn't exaggerating when I said I couldn't count the number of times my order was incorrect, and it's why we no longer frequent our local store.
Jen says
I believe that many workers *want* to do their best, but unfortunately, I've worked in the fast food industry before, and I was literally thrown in and told to start. They started me in their various ice cream desserts, so I'd have to ask how to make what. Further, we didn't have the automatic tickets, so I'd have three people telling me to make a shake, for instance, only to find out they were referring to the same patron!
It's important that managers do not get lazy. They need to refresh basics monthly, and encourage their employees.
Ginny says
Dear Wendys Worker,
I realize the employees have to work fast, but the last three times I've been through the drive-thru, they've forgotten something. I feel cheated when I get home without the pecans for my salad or the large chili my husband was planning to have for lunch, etc etc etc. In addition to the speed factor, the whole setup at the window seems disorganized. An industrious employee should mention the need for an orderly process for preparing food at the window. Maybe management will even listen to you.
Cookin' Cowgirl (wanna'be) says
Oh my gosh! - I just ADORE this salad from Wendy's! - It's my new "favorite thing".
BTW -I love your idea of using a rotisserie chicken instead of the grilled stuff. Just realized that it will be so much more cost effective for me to use that instead! :)
Luv your blog!
Tara @ Unsophisticook says
Thanks — glad you stopped by!
Jen says
I agree. Love that idea. I always have leftover rotisserie chicken. Now i have something delicious to do with it!
(Recently, between deals and coupons, I bought Marzetti for 50 cents!)
Lila says
Marzetti's IS the dressing they use on Wendy's Apple Chicken Pecan Salad. My friend happened on it at our local grocery store. LUV that salad and have made it at home as well. Thanks for the tip on using rotisserie instead of grilled chicken!
Jennifer Young says
I saw this recipe featured on For the Mommas--looks delicious. Thanks!
Sarah Beals says
LOVE these salads! Thanks for the recipe!!
Tara @ Unsophisticook says
You're welcome, Sarah — thanks for stopping by!