Best Chicken Salad Recipe
A homemade chicken salad recipe is a must-have for most Southern cooks. Its very first appearance was in the Carolina Housewife cookbook in the 1800s! Often times, a chicken salad recipe gets passed down through the generations. It might get written down on a recipe card or just demonstrated in your mom’s or granny’s kitchen. That’s what happened with this recipe, which is hands-down my favorite version of a classic chicken salad. You can watch me make it in the video under How-Tos below.
This recipe is in my book Love Language of the South with all the recipes you’ll ever need!
This chicken salad is one of the tried-and-true recipes that my granny taught me to make. It tastes perfect to me just as it is. I’ve discovered that it cannot be improved upon. I’ve tried other chicken salad recipes over the years and even experimented with changes to this one, but I always come back to my Granny Gray’s recipe.
I keep this chicken salad on hand pretty much all the time. I find if I snack on it, I don’t go for the potato chips calling my name. It’s also perfect for quick sandwiches for the kids. Or for a low-carb option, you can serve this salad in lettuce wraps.
Granny Gray’s Classic Chicken Salad Recipe
This is a truly homemade chicken salad recipe, starting with bone-in chicken breasts cooked in a stockpot. You could start with a rotisserie chicken or leftover cooked chicken if you’re in a hurry, but honestly, it won’t be the same.
These two steps are imperative for my Granny Gray’s classic chicken salad:
- Simmer the chicken breasts on low heat. This way, you will get truly tender chicken. Total cooking time is about 45 minutes.
- What you simmer the chicken with makes a huge difference, too. My granny added carrots, celery, onions, garlic, fresh herbs, and lemon juice. The addition of the aromatics gives the chicken extra flavor. I harvest them fresh from my garden whenever possible.
People often put grapes and pecans in chicken salad these days — and that kind is tasty, too — but this recipe is the old-fashioned kind. The chicken gets such incredible flavor from the aromatics, it doesn’t need anything else.
Ingredients to Cook with the Chicken
Here are the aromatics and seasonings that go into the stock pot with the chicken:
- chopped carrots, celery, and onions (yellow or red onion)
- smashed fresh garlic cloves
- a halved lemon
- fresh parsley and thyme
- bay leaves
- coarsely ground kosher salt
- freshly ground black pepper
Ingredients to Mix with the Cooked Chicken
Now here are the simple ingredients that you mix with the cooked chicken, along with a few notes. My Refrigerator Dill Pickles are a key ingredient when I make this chicken salad, but your favorite store brand of dill pickles will be just fine!
- Good-quality mayonnaise: I use Dukes, but Hellman’s is also a good choice.
- Dill pickles as opposed to sweet pickles makes this a traditional and classic chicken salad recipe. The pickles add just enough sour notes to bring out the flavor of the chicken perfectly.
- Freshly chopped celery gives extra crunch to the chicken salad as well as the perfect flavor to round out the dish.
- Then add salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.
Homemade Chicken Salad How-tos
In the video below, I make this chicken salad recipe just like my Granny Gray and explain why each ingredient works. I hope you’ll watch.
- The simmering is the most important part of this recipe. You can just roughly chop your aromatics, throw them all into your stock pot, and bring them to a boil. Then turn the heat down low and simmer the vegetables until tender. After about 20 minutes, add the six chicken breast halves and simmer everything for 25 minutes.
- Take the pot off the heat and allow the chicken to cool a bit in the broth. Then remove the chicken to a cutting board or large bowl. My granny used her hands to shred the chicken into small pieces, and I do, too. It really does make it better.
- The chicken gets so much flavor from the simmering that you won’t need to put much else into the salad. With the chicken in the bowl, take your celery stalks and cut them into long, thin strips with a large chopping knife. Then finely dice the strips into small pieces. You should end up with about 1 1/2 cups of chopped celery.
- At this point, taste the chicken to see if you think it has enough salt and pepper. If not, you can add some at the very end. Add the celery to the bowl with the chicken, and then add your two cups of good mayo.
- Add 3/4 cup of finely chopped dill pickles. Don’t worry if a little of the pickle juice gets into the salad; it will add moisture and flavor.
- Enjoy! The chicken salad will keep for up to four days in the refrigerator in an air-tight container.
Homemade Chicken Salad
Ingredients
For the Chicken
- 2 carrots roughly chopped
- 1 root end of a bunch of celery
- 1 yellow onion roughly chopped
- 4 garlic cloves smashed
- 1 lemon halved
- 10 sprigs fresh thyme
- Bunch of parsley stems
- 3 bay leaves
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 6 chicken breast halves with skin and bones
For the Chicken Salad
- 2 cups mayonnaise
- 1 ½ cup celery finely chopped
- ¾ cup dill pickle finely chopped
- Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Instructions
- In a large stockpot over medium-high heat, bring 5 cups of water to a boil. Meanwhile, chop the carrots and onion and smash the garlic. Add carrots, celery root, onion, garlic cloves, lemon halves, thyme, parsley stems, bay leaves, salt, and pepper to a boil. Stir. Turn the heat down to medium-heat and allow to cook for about 20 minutes, or until vegetables are tender.
- Add the chicken to the pot and reduce the heat to low. Allow to simmer for 25 minutes, or until the chicken registers 160°F. Remove the pot from the heat and allow the chicken to cool in the broth. Once cooled, remove the chicken to a cutting board and shred using two forks or by breaking the chicken apart with your fingers.
- In a large bowl, mix mayonnaise, celery, and chopped dill pickles. Add the chicken and fully combine. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve with crackers, on toasted bread or a croissant, on a bed of lettuce, or just plain!
More Recipes from My Granny
Here are more recipes that I learned by watching my Granny Gray make them.
