I know, chicken salad isn’t sexy. It doesn’t have grill marks or a crispy coating or chocolate dripping down the sides. But this is everyday cooking, the way we really eat, and not every meal is gourmet. Still, even if it’s just a Wednesday lunch, I want it to be good and when it comes to chicken salad, I just don’t trust the deli to get it right.
If you know me, you know texture is paramount. Chicken salad has got to be creamy, which means the chicken has got to be hand-shredded. None of those square-edged cubes of chicken that stubbornly resist absorbing the dressing – but I don’t want it pulverized, either. No flabby raisins (or worse, Craisins), no walnuts or grapes or apples. Just chicken, poached to the falling-apart stage and so soft it almost dissolves into the dressing. Finely chopped celery adds a subtle crunch, and minced parsley adds a fresh green herby hit. That’s all.
The key to getting chicken salad right is to use warm chicken, freshly poached. Sorry, but you can’t use leftover chicken here, or even a rotisserie chicken – I know how convenient that would be, but it’s not going to get you the creamy texture we’re going for. When the chicken is warm, it’s soft enough that you can easily tear it into shreds that soak up the dressing so everything’s melded and smooth, not separate and chunky.
Another secret to making the best chicken salad is to use a blend of white and dark meat. The dark meat adds moisture and a richer flavor, but because of its moistness and the ligaments that connect it to the bones it’s a little harder to shred than white meat. This is another reason why you want to use your hands here – not two forks or a mixer or any other implements. Your hands are more dexterous than any tool and allow you to pull even the softest, moistest chicken into tiny pieces – and while you’re at it you can feel for any sneaky bits of cartilage, ligaments or small bone, and make sure they don’t end up in your salad.
For the best chicken salad sandwich ever, tuck a generous scoop between thick slices of chewy homemade bread. Sunflower Oat Bread is one of my favorites.
Prep tips, making this ahead, and what to do with leftovers:
- Since you have to assemble this chicken salad while the chicken is warm, there’s really no need to do any of the prep ahead. Use the time while the chicken is poaching to chop the add-ins and make the dressing.
- Chicken salad keeps for 5 days, so make it ahead or keep leftovers within that timeframe.
- If you don’t use all of the dressing for the chicken salad, keep the leftovers to use as a sandwich spread.
Creamy Chicken Salad
Ingredients
- One 4- to 5-pound chicken
- 1½ teaspoons Diamond Crystal kosher salt (or ¾ teaspoon Morton's), divided
- 1 cup mayonnaise, plus additional if needed
- 2 tablespoons sour cream
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- ¾ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
- ½ cup finely chopped celery (2 stalks)
- 2 tablespoons minced parsley
Directions
- Step 1 Remove the giblet pack from inside the chicken. Choose a deep saucepan that’s just big enough to hold the chicken lying flat on its back, without any extra room around it. (I use a 4-quart All-Clad saucepan.) Put the chicken in the pan with the breast side up. Add 1 inch of water to the pan. Sprinkle the chicken with ½ teaspoon of kosher salt if using Diamond Crystal (or ¼ teaspoon of Morton’s). Heat the pan over high heat until the water comes to a boil, then turn the heat to low/medium-low and cover the pot. Cook the chicken at a low simmer for 45 minutes, checking periodically to make sure the water is simmering gently, not boiling vigorously and not still. After 45 minutes, carefully turn the chicken over using tongs, and simmer it breast side down for an additional 15 minutes. Carefully remove the chicken to a cutting board and let it sit for 15 minutes, or until it’s just cool enough to handle. (The chicken will be juicy, so use a cutting board with a gutter to trap the juice, or place your cutting board on a kitchen towel to absorb any juice that runs off.)
- Step 2 While the chicken cools, make the dressing by mixing together 1 cup of mayonnaise, the sour cream, Dijon mustard, pepper, and 1 teaspoon of kosher salt if using Diamond Crystal brand, or ½ teaspoon of Morton’s.
- Step 3 When the chicken is just cool enough to handle, use your hands to shred it. Pull off and discard the skin. Pull all the meat off the bones, making sure to separate and discard any cartilage and small bones. Pull the dark meat apart into shreds and transfer them to a large bowl. Cut the breast sections in half crosswise before shredding so you get shorter shreds, and transfer them to the bowl with the dark meat.
- Step 4 Add about 2/3 of the dressing and stir to coat the chicken. Add the celery and parsley and stir to combine. Add more dressing if needed to coat and moisten the chicken without drowning it. Chill the chicken salad for at least one hour, then taste and adjust the seasonings, adding a little bit more of the reserved dressing if needed, or additional mayonnaise if you like your chicken salad extra creamy and you’ve used all the dressing. Serve on a bed of lettuce as a salad, or use as a sandwich filling.
