Chicken Salad
1162kcal83.2g 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.
Contains egg · sometimes contains soy — check the label · only in an optional ingredient: gluten, tree nut
Restrictions
ContainseggIt is in an ingredient you cannot leave out.
Sometimes contains — check the labelsoy (Mayonnaise)Some brands have it, some do not. The recipe cannot tell, so this is the one you check yourself.
Only if you add itgluten (bread) · tree nut (pecans)Leave that ingredient out and the dish does not have it.
Diets
No porkNo alcohol
Worked out from the ingredient list. It knows nothing about brands, shared equipment or cross contamination, and it is not a certification — if you have an allergy, you still have to read the label.
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 |
Optional
Not counted above. The dish works without them.
| ½ cup |  pecans (toasted, chopped — the sweet direction) |
| 4 slice |  bread or a lettuce cup (the vehicle question) |
Steps
- 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