Best Chicken Salad
Updated February 12, 2023
David Malosh for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.
- Total Time
- 20 minutes, plus 2 hours' resting and 4 hours' chilling
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
About 4 pounds bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts
2 scallions, cut into thirds
¼ teaspoon black peppercorns
1 lemon, halved
⅔ cup mayonnaise, preferably Hellmann’s, Best Foods or homemade
¼ cup sour cream or crème fraîche, more to taste
½ teaspoon Dijon mustard or 1 teaspoon brine from a jar of pickles, optional
2 or 3 pale green celery ribs, cut into medium (¼-inch) dice
½ cup minced onion or finely sliced scallion, optional
½ cup walnut or pecan halves, broken into bite-size pieces
3 tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon, parsley, or chives, plus extra for garnish
Salt and ground black pepper, to taste
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)
10 grams carbs; 314 milligrams cholesterol; 1204 calories; 27 grams monounsaturated fat; 34 grams polyunsaturated fat; 19 grams saturated fat; 85 grams fat; 1 gram trans fat; 3 grams fiber; 1393 milligrams sodium; 98 grams protein; 3 grams sugar
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
Choose a heavy pot or Dutch oven with a tightfitting lid. It should be large enough to hold the chicken snugly, but not much bigger. Fill pot about ⅔ full with cold water, but don’t put the chicken in yet. Boil some extra water in a teakettle.
- Step 2
Add scallions and peppercorns to water, cover and bring to a rolling boil. Turn off heat and slip chicken pieces into the hot water. If needed, add boiling water from the kettle to cover chicken with water by 2 inches. Replace the lid and let chicken rest in the hot water for about 2 hours. Do not turn the flame back on: The pot will retain enough heat to cook chicken thoroughly and safely. (To test, cut into 1 piece of chicken and check the meat near the bone. If it is still pink, return the pot to low heat, bring the water to a simmer and simmer 10 minutes more.)
- Step 3
Lift chicken out of the pot. Remove and discard bones, skin and fat. Pat the meat dry with paper towels, then cut or shred into small bite-size pieces and transfer to a bowl. (Meanwhile, simmer cooking liquid until tasty, strain and refrigerate or freeze to use as chicken stock.)
- Step 4
In a bowl, whisk together juice of ½ lemon, mayonnaise and sour cream. If using, whisk in mustard or brine. Taste and adjust the seasonings and thickness to your liking. Pour over chicken, scraping the bowl clean with a rubber spatula.
- Step 5
Add celery, onion if using, nuts, herbs and salt and pepper. Toss gently but thoroughly. Refrigerate, covered, at least 4 hours. Taste and add salt and pepper as needed. Sprinkle with herbs before serving.
Private Notes
Comments
There's a much simpler way to cook the chicken and it's foolproof.
Use a whole chicken breast on the bone and add just enough cold water to barely cover. Bring to a boil, immediately reduce heat to a simmer, cook for exactly 20 minutes and immediately remove to a board to cool. Timing is critical. When cool enough to handle, pull the meat from the bones and pull it into large shreds with your hands--never use a knife. Very plush. We call it velvet chicken.
Rather than discarding the chicken skin and bones in step 3 add them back to the cooking liquid while you continue to simmer it. Remove and discard only after you have a rich, flavorful stock.
Yes, there are a number of calories and fat in this dish. Someone asked if there were better choices given the obesity epidemic. No there aren’t. Chicken salad has always been a luxurious dish. If you don’t want the nutritional content of this dish, don’t make it. It’s not meant to be eaten every day. There are plenty of forums online for low-fat/low-cal “sensible” eating. I can’t imagine my bubbe making this any other way and she was 98 when she passed.
This method doesn’t seem safe to me. I used a cast iron Dutch oven and put the chicken in straight from the refrigerator. The temperature of the liquid and the meat after 2 hours was only 123F. The meat was still pinkish. Maybe it would have worked if the chicken was less cold, but leaving the chicken out to take off the chill also doesn’t seem right.
Followed the directions as written. Turned out perfectly. Agree with comments that 4lbs of chicken breasts would feed more than 4 people. Looking forward to leftovers.
I was hesitant to use the cooking method but I’m always open to trying something new. Having said that, too long, too fussy, too unpredictable. Mine ended up undercooked even using the cut into it method to check for doneness. After I pulled off skin and bones, noticed a lot of pink tinged liquid underneath the meat. Tempted to toss as Am ultra careful with getting meat to temp. But i oyt back in poaching liquid after getting wate back to a simmer. Meat ended up overcooked and tough. Leason learned.