Tasty Bites: All-Dressed-Up Chicken Salad

By Beth V

One of my favorite make-ahead lunch meals is chicken salad. Sometimes when we have had lunch company after church, I’ve made this chicken salad the day before so that it can be eaten quickly and easily when the hungry crew arrives. This recipe is delicious- lots of flavors and textures that complement each other very nicely. This is not your average chicken salad, although I enjoy traditional chicken salad as well. This chicken salad feels special enough to serve for a special tea or shower celebration or just to treat your family by keeping it in the refrigerator for lunches during the week.

If you have leftover chicken, feel free to use it, but if you are starting from scratch, here is my favorite way to make chicken for chicken salad. I use 3 pounds of bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place the chicken on a baking sheet coated with foil or cooking spray. Brush the chicken with olive oil or spray the chicken with cooking spray.  Sprinkle the chicken generously with salt, pepper and garlic powder. When the oven is preheated, place in the oven for about 40-45 minutes, or until the internal temperature reaches 160 degrees.  Immediately remove the chicken from the oven and tent with foil for at least 15 minutes.  The chicken will continue cooking during those 15 minutes and the juices will distribute themselves evenly throughout the meat. Allow the chicken to cool until you are able to handle it comfortably with your fingers. Remove the skin and pull the meat off either by shredding it with two forks, or just pulling it apart with your fingers.  I think shredded chicken makes for the best-textured chicken salad. And when you cook it just until done and not a minute more, the chicken is so tender and juicy and easy to shred.

Place your shredded chicken in a bowl and add 1 chopped hard-boiled egg per pound of chicken. In this case, I used three.

Now add to the bowl a heaping 1/4 cup of each of the following (maybe I should just try adding 1/3 cup?):

Finely chopped red onion

Dried cranberries (sliced grapes or finely diced apple are also delicious)

Toasted walnuts or pecans

Stir all of the ingredients together and then add 1 to 1 ½ cups of your favorite good mayonnaise. Sometimes, I go just a little heavier with the cranberries. Taste and feel free to add in more of any of these if you like your chicken salad to have more texture. Stir in the mayonnaise until all of the ingredients are well-blended and evenly coated.

Now, sprinkle the entire mixture with black pepper (1/4 to ½ teaspoon, to taste) and about ½ teaspoon of dried tarragon. I consider the tarragon a key ingredient. I love the flavor the tarragon adds to all of the other flavors in this salad. I also like to add a tiny undertone of heat- about 1/8 teaspoon of cayenne pepper.  It really does add something to the mixture without being overpowering. Not necessary, but it adds to the deliciousness. Try it, you’ll see!  I do not find it necessary to add salt because of the seasonings on the chicken when it was cooked, but feel free to add some salt if you feel like it needs it.

Cover the mixture and refrigerate it for at least an hour, but preferably a few hours so the flavors can really come together. Sometimes I’ll add just a small squeeze of lemon right before serving to brighten the flavors, but that is also completely optional.

I hope you will try this all-dressed-up chicken salad soon. Try it on a fresh-baked roll or on top of your favorite salad greens. Enjoy!

Dressed-Up Chicken Salad

3 lbs bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts cooked, then removed from the bone

3 hard-boiled eggs, chopped

Heaping ¼ cup of each of the following:

Finely diced red onion

Dried cranberries (or fresh diced apples or sliced grapes)

Chopped walnuts or pecans, preferably toasted

1 to 1 ½ cups mayonnaise

¼ to ½ teaspoon black pepper

½ teaspoon dried tarragon

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)

Salt to taste, only if needed

Shred the chicken with two forks or your fingers; add remaining ingredients through the pecans. Add mayonnaise and stir until well-combined and completely coated. Stir in the pepper, tarragon and cayenne pepper. Taste to see if any salt is necessary. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or up to overnight.

Beth is a stay-at-home mom of three wonderfully active children ages seven, four and one. She is married to Jason V (who also writes for us here at MAD21) and spends her days teaching, changing diapers, sweeping up Cheerios, stepping over Legos, keeping peace among the kids, and enjoying the creative outlet of cooking.

Comments

[Deborah Wheeler]

This is a great recipe! Very tasty! Thanks Beth. : )