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Poached bone-in, skin-on chicken breast halves make for tender, juicy chicken salad that has all the right crunchy mix-ins.
Recipe courtesy of Food Network Kitchen
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Level: Easy
Total: 30 min
Active: 30 min
Yield: 4 servings
- Nutritional Analysis
- Per Serving
- Serving Size
- 1 of 4 servings
- Calories
- 1134
- Total Fat
- 80 g
- Saturated Fat
- 17 g
- Carbohydrates
- 19 g
- Dietary Fiber
- 2 g
- Sugar
- 7 g
- Protein
- 80 g
- Cholesterol
- 250 mg
- Sodium
- 1856 mg
Recipe courtesy of Food Network Kitchen
Watch how to make this recipe.
Article by Emily Saladino
When Food Network's test kitchen set out to develop our best chicken salad recipe, we knew we needed to nail the classic flavors. While variations like curried chicken salad or chicken salad with grapes are perennially popular, this recipe gets its perfectly familiar flavor profile from fresh herbs, tangy mayonnaise and tender chicken.
What Makes This Recipe Our Best Chicken Salad?
Our recipe developers start with bone-in, skin-on chicken breast halves, which are easy to handle and super flavorful. We found that poaching is the best way to cook chicken for chicken salad because the process locks in flavor and creates uniformly tender bites. Here’s how to do it:
FNK_HowToMakeTheBestChickenSalad_Shot_1
Food Network Kitchen’s How to Make The Best Chicken Salad, as seen on Food Network.
Photo by: Renee Comet
Renee Comet
Step one: Bring the ingredients to a boil. We start with broth for an instant flavor boost that gets reinforced with aromatic herbs, citrus rinds and peppercorns.
FNK_HowToMakeTheBestChickenSalad_Shot_2
Food Network Kitchen’s How to Make The Best Chicken Salad, as seen on Food Network.
Photo by: Renee Comet
Renee Comet
Step two: Cover and cook for 20 minutes. The fully cooked chicken will be firm and opaque.
FNK_HowToMakeTheBestChickenSalad_Shot_3
Food Network Kitchen’s How to Make The Best Chicken Salad, as seen on Food Network.
Photo by: Renee Comet
Renee Comet
Step three: Cool chicken in the liquid. Remove aromatics and save any extra liquid for your next soup or stew.
Chicken Salad Ingredients and Substitutions
We like the brightness of quality store-bought or homemade mayonnaise here, but you can make chicken salad without mayonnaise by substituting Greek yogurt or even mashed avocado.
While our recipe developers prefer the subtle bite of shallots, you can swap in thinly sliced scallions or red onions depending on what’s in your pantry. You can play with switching up the herbs, too: While dill and parsley are traditional, if you’re partial to chicken salad with tarragon, use that instead of the dill.
How to Make Chicken Salad into a Meal
Serve your homemade chicken salad atop lightly dressed greens or scoop it into lettuce cups or avocado halves. Dollop it onto store-bought or homemade crackers and pair with brothy vegetable soup. Make chicken salad sandwiches on rye bread or make a club with toasted white bread, lettuce and crispy bacon. Or pair with pickles, potato chips or pretzels and crudité.
How to Store Chicken Salad
Homemade chicken salad will keep for 3 to 4 days in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Can you freeze chicken salad? Unfortunately, the answer is no. Due to the high water content of ingredients like raw celery and onions, freezing will degrade the texture and flavors of chicken salad.
Recipe courtesy of Food Network Kitchen
- Level: Easy
- Total: 30 min
- Active: 30 min
- Yield: 4 servings
-
- Nutritional Analysis
- Per Serving
- Serving Size
- 1 of 4 servings
- Calories
- 1134
- Total Fat
- 80 g
- Saturated Fat
- 17 g
- Carbohydrates
- 19 g
- Dietary Fiber
- 2 g
- Sugar
- 7 g
- Protein
- 80 g
- Cholesterol
- 250 mg
- Sodium
- 1856 mg
Gently poaching chicken breasts in an aromatic broth yields tender morsels for folding into a bright and herby homemade dressing. Serve it solo on a bed of lettuce with sliced tomatoes or in half an avocado. It also makes a killer chicken club sandwich topped with crisp bacon and other sandwich fixings.
- Level: Easy
- Total: 30 min
- Active: 30 min
- Yield: 4 servings
-
- Nutritional Analysis
- Per Serving
- Serving Size
- 1 of 4 servings
- Calories
- 1134
- Total Fat
- 80 g
- Saturated Fat
- 17 g
- Carbohydrates
- 19 g
- Dietary Fiber
- 2 g
- Sugar
- 7 g
- Protein
- 80 g
- Cholesterol
- 250 mg
- Sodium
- 1856 mg
Ingredients
Poached Chicken for Salads:
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Directions
- Whisk together the mayonnaise, lemon juice, mustard, 1 tablespoon salt and pepper to taste in a small bowl.
- Toss together the chicken, celery, shallot, dill and parsley in a large bowl.
- Add the dressing to the chicken and mix gently until combined. Refrigerate at least 1 hour and up to overnight to meld flavors. Garnish with chives.
Poached Chicken for Salads:
- Put the parsley, thyme, onion, carrot, celery and chicken breasts in a medium saucepan. Cover with the broth and bring just to a boil. Reduce the heat to very low and cover. Poach the chicken until firm to the touch, about 20 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat, uncover and cool the chicken in the liquid for 30 minutes.
- Transfer the chicken to a cutting board and reserve the liquid. Bone and skin the chicken and roughly chop the meat into about 1/2-inch pieces. Discard the bones and skin.
- Strain the broth and store, covered, in the refrigerator for 3 days or freeze for later use. Remove any fat from the surface of the broth before using.
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Salad Recipes Celery Fruit Lemon Shallot Recipes Chicken Breast Main Dish Gluten Free
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