Chicken salad—chopped chicken mixed with vegetables and mayonnaise—is a staple of American delis, served as a side or in sandwiches. Like other mayonnaise-based salads such as tuna salad and egg salad, chicken salad can trace its evolutionary lineage to the German potato salad. This style of salad was brought across the Atlantic to America by German colonists, who settled predominantly in the Mid-Atlantic colonies [1]. The mayonnaise salad spread widely, and is today most commonly associated with the cuisine of the American South. The first recipes for chicken salad appear in cookbooks in the mid-1800’s, including those of Sarah Rutledge and Abby Fisher [2]. Chicken salad now exists in many variations, but one of my favorite pairs the chicken with fruit. Adding apples and cranberries turns a dense salad into a light and refreshing one, both savory and sweet.

Ingredients

1 lb chicken, cooked and diced
1 apple, diced
1 cup dried cranberries
1 celery stalk, chopped
½ cup almonds, slivered
3 scallions, chopped
¼ cup mayonnaise
1 tbsp lemon juice
Salt to taste
Black pepper to taste

Begin by dicing the cooked and chilled chicken meat into ½ inch cubes. Store-bought chicken salad is often finely shredded, and you can do this if you prefer, but when making this salad at home, I prefer to have chunks of chicken. You can use pretty much any leftover cooked chicken, such as grilled, roasted, or rotisserie. If you are cooking chicken bespoke for this dish, it is easiest to poach the chicken! Chop the celery and scallions into ¼ inch pieces, and set aside. Then peel and chop the apple into ½ inch cubes. To prevent oxidation and browning, toss the apple pieces with some of the lemon juice [3].

Place the chicken, apple, celery, and scallion pieces into a large mixing bowl, and add to them the dried cranberries and slivered almonds. The cranberries add some tartness and sweetness, and the nuts will add a crunchy texture. If you are planning on holding the salad before service, store the almonds separately, as the moisture will cause them to soften. Mix the rest of the salad, and add the almonds just prior to service.

Now it’s time for the mayonnaise. The death of any of mayo-based salad, ironically, is too much mayo. Mayonnaise is rich in fat and flavor, and in moderation it lends creaminess and helps tie the disparate ingredients together. However, too much mayonnaise will overwhelm the delicate balance of flavor between the other ingredients, coating the tongue of the diner and covering up all the other flavors. We want to use just enough mayonnaise to barely coat all the ingredients, and no more. Add about ¼ cup of mayonnaise to the mixing bowl, together with the remaining lemon juice. This might not look like enough at first, but it will be, if we mix thoroughly!

Mix until the ingredients are well combined, and season with salt and black pepper to taste. You can store the chicken salad for up to 5 days in the refrigerator. Top the salad with some fresh chives, and serve with some crisp lettuce, in a sandwich, or on a toasted croissant.

Substitutions

You can substitute or supplement the scallions with chives. Dill is another herb that works very well with chicken and apples. Golden raisins can be substituted for the cranberries in this dish. However, regular raisins have too strong of a flavor for this salad, and will tend to overpower the apples. Pine nuts or chopped pecans can be used in place of almonds in the salad.

[1] The first wave of German settlers were referred to as “Dutch” in America, a misnomer derived from “Deutsch,” which is German for…well…“German.” Today, German Americans are the largest non-native ethnic group in the United States, forming 17% of the overall population, and 26% of the non-Hispanic white population.

[2] These 19th century recipes often call for the addition of cooked oysters to the salad. At the time, oysters were considered a food for the poor, and could be obtained cheaply in coastal American cities. The oysters would be used as filler to make a limited amount of chicken go farther.

[3] Apples turn brown when cut because of the action of the enzyme polyphenol oxidase, which accelerates the reaction of the phenols in the fruit with oxygen in the atmosphere. For a detailed discussion of this phenomenon, refer to our guacamole post. Avocados contain the same enzymes as apples, and turn brown for the same reason.

Recipe

Prep Time: 10 min Cook Time: 0 min Total Time: 10 min

Difficulty: 1/5

Heat Sources: None

Servings: 4

Ingredients

1 lb chicken, cooked and diced
1 apple, diced
1 cup dried cranberries
1 celery stalk, chopped
½ cup almonds, slivered
3 scallions, chopped
¼ cup mayonnaise
1 tbsp lemon juice
Salt to taste
Black pepper to taste