15 Leftover Chicken Recipes

If you’ve got leftover chicken from another meal (or half a rotisserie you keep side-eyeing every time you open the fridge door), this post is for you. Below are 15 practical recipes that make leftover chicken feel like a brand new meal. I grouped them by style, so you can jump straight to what you’re craving: soup, salad, skillet dinner, casserole comfort, or something cheesy and snacky!

Cozy Soups Using Leftover Chicken

Soup is one of my favorite ways to make leftovers feel brand new. These cozy soups each work great with leftover cooked chicken and will also help reduce food waste in your kitchen!

1. Chicken Noodle Soup

The Best Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

This is the BEST easy Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup recipe. It's delicious and made from scratch, just like Grandma used to make!

Step-by-step photos can be seen below the recipe card.

4.80 from 299 votes

$11.11 recipe / $1.39 serving Get the Recipe

This chicken noodle soup is a classic for a reason! It’s made with wholesome ingredients on the stovetop, and it’s freezer-friendly, too. It starts with a basic onion-carrot-celery base and builds into a brothy, herby soup that tastes like you actually tried (even if your “secret ingredient” is leftover chicken). Pro tip: I recommend freezing it without the noodles if you’re picky about texture later.

2. Chicken Pot Pie Soup

Chicken Pot Pie Soup

This Chicken Pot Pie Soup is hearty, comforting and perfect for a busy weeknight meal. It’s simply cozy comfort food in a bowl!

Step-by-step photos can be seen below the recipe card.

5 from 37 votes

$10.92 recipe / $1.82 serving Get the Recipe

This chicken pot pie soup has all the cozy, creamy chicken pot pie vibes, but without dealing with a crust. The potatoes make it hearty, the frozen mixed veg keeps it easy, and the splash of cream at the end adds richness.

Chicken Salads

Leftover chicken makes salads instantly filling, and the best part is they each hold up well in the fridge for meal prep!

3. Classic Chicken Salad

Chicken Salad (Traditional)

This Traditional Chicken Salad is creamy, tangy, and full of tender shredded chicken. It's like having a taste of the deli counter at home!

5 from 2 votes

$11.12 recipe / $1.39 serving Get the Recipe

This one gives you those deli-style flavors at home—creamy, crunchy, a little sweet from the grapes, plus walnuts for extra bite. I always make this chicken salad for my dad when he comes to visit because it’s one thing I know he will actually eat. Pile it into a sandwich, scoop it with crackers, or just eat it straight from the bowl!

4. Ramen Noodle Salad

Ramen Noodle Salad

This light and fresh ramen noodle salad recipe features crisp cabbage, shredded chicken, crunchy ramen noodles, and an easy vinaigrette. 

Step-by-step photos can be seen below the recipe card.

5 from 9 votes

$4.51 recipe / $0.75 serving Get the Recipe

Light, fresh, and deliciously crunchy, this ramen noodle salad is surprisingly filling for how simple it is. The crushed ramen noodles, cabbage, and almonds combo keeps it snappy, and the dressing is sweet, salty, and sesame-packed. It also holds up really well in the fridge, so you can eat leftovers for days (less cooking, more eating).

5. Chicken Salad With Broccoli and Cheddar

Broccoli Cheddar Chicken Salad

This chunky chopped Broccoli Cheddar Chicken Salad is a great fresh salad that can be eaten on its own or turned into several different easy lunch ideas!

4.92 from 37 votes

$4.84 recipe / $1.61 serving Get the Recipe

This broccoli cheddar chicken salad is ready in about 15 minutes and super flexible; rotisserie chicken, grilled chicken, even canned chicken works. I also love that it’s a salad you can serve in a bunch of ways! Wrap it up, stuff it in a pita, or turn it into a melty quesadilla-style dish in a skillet.

Quick & Easy Skillets

These are the “I need dinner, and I need it to happen ASAP” recipes. Especially good when you’ve got leftover cooked chicken and not a lot of patience!

6. Southwest Chicken Skillet

Southwest Chicken Skillet

If you’re looking for a quick and easy dinner, this Southwest Chicken Skillet is it! Precooked chicken makes this dinner possible in about 30 minutes.

4.73 from 213 votes

$6.76 recipe / $1.69 serving Get the Recipe

As long as you’ve got precooked chicken, this Southwest chicken skillet is about 30 minutes away from being done. Rice cooks right in the skillet with salsa, broth, beans, and spices, then you melt cheese on top! So simple and easy.

7. Monterey Chicken Skillet

Monterey Chicken Skillet

Smoky BBQ sauce, salty bacon, and creamy Monterey Jack cheese come together in this quick, one-dish Monterey Chicken Skillet. 

4.47 from 86 votes

$8.11 recipe / $2.03 serving Get the Recipe

Our Monterey chicken skillet is brimming with tomatoes and green chiles, BBQ sauce, cheese, and bacon. There’s so much going on that you never get a dull bite! Just big flavor the whole way through. We turned this one into a pasta dish because chicken, bacon, and cheese aren’t exactly cheap, so stretching it with pasta just makes sense.

Cozy Casseroles

Casseroles are THE ultimate midweek dinner option. They feed a bunch of people, warm everyone up, and pack my fridge with leftovers I already know my family will eat. These are the ones that feel especially comforting and use up leftover chicken. See our other casserole recipes for those days you don’t feel like chicken!

8. White Chicken Lasagna

White Chicken Lasagna Recipe

This White Chicken Lasagna blows traditional lasagna out of the water! With a creamy white sauce, shredded chicken, and spinach, it's too good to resist.

4.80 from 5 votes

$17.34 recipe / $1.93 serving Get the Recipe

White chicken lasagna swaps classic tomato sauce for an easy white sauce made with heavy cream, mozzarella, Parmesan, and baby spinach. And let me tell you, it doesn’t disappoint. It’s creamy, cozy, and the spinach makes it feel (slightly) virtuous.