The BEST Chicken Salad
Hello friends! I realize that’s a pretty big claim to say that my chicken salad is the BEST chicken salad, but I feel confident enough to make that claim.
This is one of those recipes that came together without much thought or planning. We’ve all been there, right? You’ve got people coming over and it’s a weeknight, so the night before you’re in the kitchen trying to get all of the food prepared along with getting tables and chairs set up and making sure the house is in order. I know I’m not the only one!
Such was the case when this chicken salad recipe came together. I was having a wine party. If you haven’t had a wine party or been to a wine party, you need to rectify that! They are so much fun! A friend held a wine party that I attended and to help her out, I agreed to throw one of my own. The wine “tour guide” gave me a list of food pairings to have ready for my guests. She provided the wine and the glasses and I was in charge of the food. Food is my thing, right? After all, I am a food blogger! I had purchased all of my ingredients the weekend prior to the party, but the night before I had to take care of last minute details, like putting shrimp and cheese cubes and grapes and lemon slices and salami on toothpicks. The living room had to be set up with tables and linens and chairs and TV trays. The paper plates and napkins needed to be set out. Due to a full work day the day of the party, everything needed to be prepped in advance.
[tweetthis]Recipe for the BEST Chicken Salad w/ my secret ingredient. #recipe #foodblog[/tweetthis]
The only real food I had to “make” was the chicken salad. All of the other food was pretty much already prepared. Since it was a weeknight, I wanted to make it really easy on myself. To be honest, I sort of forgot that I needed to make chicken salad. I had no recipe and really had no idea what I was going to use to prepare it other than the chicken, but I knew I needed to get it done, so I opened the fridge and went for it.
To my surprise, the chicken salad was absolutely delicious! My guests all raved about it and asked me for the recipe. Recipe? I threw this together at the last minute! My guests asked me to blog about it and let them know when the recipe was up so that they could download it. I finally got around to re-creating it for the blog and my husband hasn’t stopped raving about it and keeps asking me when I’m going make it again. Chicken salad is nothing spectacular, but I’m pretty sure it’s my secret ingredient that makes this the BEST chicken salad.
First of all, I think one of the keys is to use a roasted chicken. A lot of chicken salad is made with canned chicken. Yuck! I don’t ever use canned chicken for anything. Grilled chicken is so much better and roasted chicken is even a step up from that. I removed the skin from the chicken (as I always do) skin and shredded all of the breast meat. I’m not a fan of dark meat, so I save that for my hubby. He likes the dark meat and I like the white meat, so we can divide up a roasted chicken pretty well! Just one of the many ways we are compatible.
King Soopers, the market that we shop in, always has roasted chickens warm and convenient to grab at the last minute. The meat is very tender and flavorful and fresh. On many occasion I have stopped on the way home and picked up a roasted chicken in a pinch.
I checked my produce drawer and found green onions and celery. Onions and celery would go well in chicken salad, right? Right! Perfect, actually. I grabbed both and washed them, gave them a quick chop and threw them in. Everything is better with fresh produce.
I added some mayo and then decided to toss in some Beau Monde seasoning. Never heard of Beau Monde Seasoning? I hadn’t either, until my step mom shared her Shrimp Macaroni Salad recipe with me. I remembered that I had it in the spice cabinet, gave it a smell and decided to toss it into the chicken salad.
What is Beau Monde Seasoning? Basic versions are composed of salt, onion powder and celery powder. Some versions include additional ingredients such as garlic, clove, bay leaf, nutmeg, allspice, mace and others.
Beau Monde Seasoning is my secret ingredient, and I’m pretty sure that’s what makes this the best chicken salad! This recipe has only five ingredients and comes together in less than 10 minutes, but the flavor combination makes it taste like it took a lot more effort. I like serving my chicken salad on crackers as an appetizer or snack when guests come over.
Seriously, you have got to try this recipe! I promise you won’t be disappointed. Please come back after you’ve made it and leave me a comment and let me know how you liked it. Don’t forget to subscribe to the blog to be notified whenever I post a new recipe! I promise I will never spam you.
I’m off to share the recipe with my wine party friends. Thanks for stopping by my kitchen, where everything, without exception, is made from the ♥
The Best Chicken Salad {with a secret ingredient}
Ingredients
- 13 ounces white meat roasted chicken, shredded
- 3 green onions (both the white and green parts), finely chopped
- 2 celery stalks, chopped into small pieces
- 1 tsp Beau Monde Seasoning
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients in a bowl and stir well. Serve chilled over crackers as an appetizer or snack for card night or parties.
Nutrition Facts
The Best Chicken Salad {with a secret ingredient}
Serves: 10 Servings
| Amount Per Serving: | ||
|---|---|---|
| Calories | 162.34 kcal | |
| % Daily Value* | ||
| Total Fat 14.48 g | 21.5% | |
| Saturated Fat 2.93 g | 10% | |
| Trans Fat 0.04 g | ||
| Cholesterol 32.15 mg | 10.7% | |
| Sodium 99.6 mg | 4.1% | |
| Total Carbohydrate 0.67 g | 0% | |
| Dietary Fiber 0.26 g | 0% | |
| Sugars 0.21 g | ||
| Protein 7.01 g | ||
| Vitamin A 19.32 µg | Vitamin C 1.7 mg | |
| Calcium 11.99 mg | Iron 0.47 mg | |
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.
Ketchum Kitchen
Yes! As a guest at that wine party, I can attest to the deliciousness of this chicken salad. Thank you for sharing the recipe!
Yes you were Bridget and I’m so glad you came! Thank you for the compliment. That means a lot coming from you!!!
I am very familiar with Beau Monde! It’s the secret ingredient in my Moms vegetable dip that is always a hit. I will try adding it to my chicken salad for sure!
You won’t regret it!! It’s the perfect addition to chicken salad.
Your chicken salad is classic.
Honestly, it does not need BeauMonde. I have been making the salad for more than 35 years, just as you’ve tossed it together…nice white meat chicken, celery, green onion and quality mayonnaise. (I used Best/Hellman’s for 25 years but now buy Duke’s). I never had Beau Monde in my cupboard, did not know it existed. But, I often used the elements that are in Beau Monde.
The only ingredients in Spice Islands BeauMonde are salt, dextrose (sugar), ground dried onion and ground celery seed. You already have the onion and celery flavors in your salad with the fresh ingredients. If you want to add a pinch of a sweetener to your salad, you can add it without needing the expense of BeauMonde. You can also add some celery seed or just use celery salt to taste along with a teeny pinch of sugar and you’ve got it! Finally, keep in mind that if your mayo is sweet (like Miracle Whip), your result will be delicious, but sweeter…and in that case, you probably do not need the Beau Monde OR the pinch of sugar, but will likely benefit from some celery & onion seasonings to balance the sweetness. Black pepper is a must for many people, but not others.
With tastes having evolved, I now add cayenne pepper and a splash of heavy cream or half and half to make my salad just a bit creamier.
Add-ins like nuts or fruit are absolutely delicious, I especially like salty chopped pecans in it.
Lastly, if you ever have overcooked chicken breast that is nearly too dry to eat, this salad recipe can save it. Chop the chicken breast in to small chunks, add it to a food processor and pulse until it is tiny, fluffy little pieces. Dump that into a bowl, then chop and pulse the celery and green onion to the degree you wish. Add the celery & onion to the chicken and then stir in your mayo and seasonings. If you’ve ever had ground ham salad, you want it to have that consistency…but you can have the celery as small or large as you wish. In this version, I prefer it just a tad bigger than the chicken pieces (which are basically flakes, now.) This salad is absolutely delicious between soft white bread…it’s like a canape from the 1950’s.
Thank you for your comment Mary. I always have BeauMonde in my pantry, so it’s nice and easy to season different salads (it’s also delicious in egg salad and shrimp salad). I don’t like sweet mayo. I’m a huge fan of Hellman’s myself. It’s rich and creamy. Great tip on the chicken breast. I appreciate you stopping by. Have a great day!
Thank you! I see I came off a bit preachy, I’m sorry. Really, I just wanted peeps to know that they could make the recipe successfully if they didn’t have Beau Monde in the cabinet. Apparently, it has become quite hard for a lot of people to find.
I appreciate the tip. I didn’t realize it was hard to come by. I live in a larger city, so maybe that’s why I have had no trouble finding it. It’s always good to have alternatives. This is a community, so we can all help each other out 🙂