Soups & Salads · American
Chicken Salad
Cook Now1162kcal83.2g protein88.8g fat5g carbs~$3.52/ serving*Estimates computed from the ingredient list; cost uses average US supermarket prices. Not a substitute for packaging measurements or your receipt.
No porkNo alcohol
Contains: egg · May contain: soy
Ingredients
Servings:
| 2 lb | chicken (breasts, for poaching) |
| 2 tsp | salt (divided: poach and dressing) |
| ⅔ cup | mayonnaise |
| 2 tsp | mustard (Dijon) |
| 1 unit | lemon (juice) |
| 2 unit | celery (fine dice) |
| 1 unit | onion (red, minced) |
| 2 tbsp | dill or parsley (chopped) |
| ½ tsp | black pepper |
| ½ cup | pecans (toasted, chopped — the sweet direction)optional |
| 4 slice | bread or a lettuce cup (the vehicle question)optional |
Method
- poach18 minbreasts in salted water, brought up together, then OFF the heatchicken into cold salted water, brought just to a simmer, then the pot pulled off the burner, lidded, and left 15 minutes — the gentlest cooking a breast can get, and the whole reason poached-fresh beats rotisserie here: chicken salad exposes dry chicken instantly, and this method cannot produce any
- rest10 mincooled enough to handle, then diced — not shreddedinto even half-inch dice — the texture split nobody writes down but everyone tastes: dice holds dressing in discrete, satisfying pieces; shreds mat into paste. Warm-not-hot chicken also drinks the dressing better than cold
- whisk2 mindressing in the serving bowlmayo + Dijon + lemon + remaining salt + pepper — tasted BEFORE the chicken goes in, while adjusting costs nothing; the Dijon is doing the quiet work it does in every mayo dressing in this catalog
- fold3 minchicken + celery + onion + herbs, gentlyeverything through the dressing without mashing — and then the step that separates deli-good from homemade-flat: an hour in the refrigerator, where the flavors marry and the salad firms to scoopable; it keeps three days and improves for one of them