how do i make a simple chicken salad?

Question

i'd also like to make an egg/potato salad. how?

Answer 1

If you want simple, take a little mayo and mustard and mix with chopped chicken.

If you want to get fancy add some

grapes (cut in 1/2), celery & pecans

or

dryed cranberries, walnuts a little blue cheese

or
dryed blueberries and some type of nut

Or apple (cut up) and walnuts


or see the links below

Answer 2

The easiest way to make a quick chicken salad is to first decide what taste/flavor you want to go with. Regular old chicken salad, curried chicken salad, chinese chicken salad, etc.

I'm guessing you want regular. Boil some water in a medium saucepan with salt and pepper. Add some roughly chopped celery or celery salt for flavor. When water boils, add a couple of chicken breasts and let the water come back up to a boil. Turn heat down to a simmer, cook the chicken thoroughly but don't overcook it- approximately 8 minutes. (If you're not sure if it's done, remove a breast, slice piece from the middle to check.)

When cooked, remove pan from heat and let cool down enough to put the pan in the fridge. Cool in fridge completely and save the broth for soup after you strain it. I always save broth- you never know when you might need it.

Chop the cooled chicken into bite-sized pieces and put in a medium bowl. Chop some celery and red or white onion- just a small amount of onion and add to chicken. Make a quick dressing with mayo, a few sprinkles of lemon juice, salt, pepper and mix thoroughly with chicken, THEN add salt and pepper to taste.

If you're feeling adventurous, add some toasted chopped pecans, chopped green apple, currants- there are endless possibilities.

A very easy curried chicken salad is made by changing the dressing to mayo, curry powder, a few spoonfuls of chutney, some fresh oj or orange zest, and throw in some currants.

Answer 3

Here's some recipes I love:

1 Rotissere Chicken, skin and meat removed. Cut into pieces
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup mayonaise
1 tsp curry powder
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup green seedless grapes cut in half, or pineapple chunks
Fresh ground pepper.

Mix and chill so that flavors will meld.

Potato Salad

6 russet potatoes, skinned and cut into equal pieces
4 hard cooked eggs, chopped
1 cup mayonaise
1/2 cup sour cream
1 clove of garlic, minced
3 T ketchup
1 T yellow mustard
2 T Worcestershire
1 T kosher salt (give or take a little according to your taste)
1/2 yellow onion, diced
Chopped dill
Chopped sweet pickle
5 slices cooked bacon, cut into pieces

Boil potatoes and set aside to cool after draining. Blend next 5 ingrediants. Mixture should be pale pinkish brown in color. If not, add more mayo or ketchup etc. Add eggs and onion to potatoes. Add last three ingrediants. Mix sauce in with potatoes and chill for several hours.

Answer 4

Chop up roasted chicken from the deli, zest of 1 lemon, sliced green onion (you can cheat and get the pre-cut from the salad bar if your store has one), chopped flat leaf parsley, mayo, salt & pepper. If you want some crunch add almonds, celery, or chopped up waterchestnuts.

Egg salad - chopped boiled eggs, mayo/miraclewhip, salt and pepper, small squirt mustard.

Potato - boil whole potatoes with the skin on till fork tender. Chop and add onion, crumbled bacon, good olive oil, salt and pepper - this is one potato sald that won't go bad for a picnic

Answer 5

Simple Chicken Salad:

Dice up cooked chicken, add chopped sweet pickle, onion (optional), boiled egg (optional), enough Miracle Whip to make right consistency, and a little salt (test taste) and you're ready.

The reason I specified Miracle Whip instead of Mayo is because Miracle Whip has a better flavor for making chicken salad or egg/potato salad.


Egg Salad:

Use as many boiled eggs as needed for the amount of egg salad you are wanting - depending on number of people.

Peel eggs, mash in bowl, add chopped onion (optional), chopped sweet pickle (optional) and Miracle Whip to blend to right consistency and salt to taste.
(You can use this same recipe for deviled eggs BUT cut the boiled egg in half (length-wise) scoop out the cooked egg yoke, mash then use the recommended ingredients used in "Egg Salad". Then use ingredients to fill the halved eggs. You will have more than enough - then to add color, which is also optional, sprinkle with paparika.)

Potato Salad:

(I prefer my potato salad made out of REAL mashed potatoes - no lumps but if you want the chunky potato salad do the following:

Peel potatoes, cook over medium heat until done (check regularly - do not overcook), drain water, mash a little with potato masher.
Add chopped onion, chopped sweet pickle, diced boiled egg, Miracle Whip, mix and salt to taste.

The reason I state using sweet pickles and chopping them is because they have a much better flavor than going the short route and using sweet pickle relish.

I'm sorry I am not giving the amounts to use but these recipes have been in my family for three generations and it's just natural for us country people, who make each of these on a fairly regular basis to use our common sense and adjust the recipe to consistency and taste. Just experiment. Really, you can't go wrong on any one of these.

Good luck ...... everybody will be banging on your door to eat.

Answer 6

all of these salads first of all, have the same fundamentals: 1 consistent bite size pieces cut or chopped. 2 mayonnaise as a binder. 3 chopped onions or celery or both . 4 salt and pepper. these are the basics to making any of these salads. this goes for tuna salad as well. once you understand their guidelines then you can expand from there, such as adding toasted pecans, chopped basil and arugula to the standard chicken salad mix that i referred to earlier gives you a rustic pecan and arugula chicken salad. OK hope i was a help and did not ramble too much.

Answer 7

Try romaine lettuce, sliced carrots, garbanzo beans, spinach, purple cabbage, diced Roma tomatoes, Italian parsley. Grill a boneless chicken breast in olive oil and seasoning of your choice to both sides, when it's done slice the chicken into about five pieces and place it on the top of your salad. Enjoy with your favorite dressing.

Boil a few eggs and potatoes (separate pans of course), dice potatoes and eggs into a bowl add few tablespoon fulls of either mustard, mayo, or miracle whip to the desired amount. You can also add black olives, and diced celery and onions for more flavor. It wont hurt to try.

Answer 8

When you mean simple do you mean inexpensive? If yes use chix breast and either bake for 30 min and cut up into pieces( cubed, strips) or grill. Then top with whatever greens you would like and make your own salad dressing (ex oil vinegar, oil lemon juice, oil/ garlic/herbs, or just vinegars) or you store bought. Top off with any colorful vegies you may have in the kitchen. Imagine you salad like a piece of art add contrast and hues to make your dish more appealing. Think of *** meats such as bacon or sausage. .... If you don't have any green don't worry, Greens are not necessarily essential to you salad....I hope this helps....

Answer 9

Our family's favorite is to buy a rotisserie chicken (the best we've tried is the "Mojo" flavor from Publix - any smoked chicken is good, too), tear the chicken off the bones in small pieces with your hands. Add about 1/2 - 3/4 cup mayonnaise, about 1/2 cup of chopped celery, and about 1/4 cup of sweet pickle relish. You may add a teaspoon of deli mustard to the mayo before mixing it in or handfull of pecan pieces if you like. Mix and serve.

Answer 10

1 lb. boneless chicken breast
1 12 oz. can of crushed pineapple in heavy syrup, (drain well but keep the juice)
2-3 heaping Tbsp Mayo
1 Tbsp Lemon Juice

Boil the chicken with the lemon juice, (the lemon juice makes it tender and juicy). When the chicken cools, chop by hand or put in food processor, add the crushed pineapple and mayo, stir, if it looks too dry add a little of the pineapple juice or more mayo. Add a dash of salt and you're done. Talk about SIMPLE!!