Small Batch Chicken Salad

This chicken salad recipe is the perfect one to use if you have leftover chicken from a previous meal. This tasty chicken salad is filled with chopped nuts, grapes, celery, and so much flavor!

I love homemade chicken salad.

However, when I'm eating out at a restaurant, I rarely order it.

So many times, I've found restaurant chicken salad to be way too salty or made with too much mayonnaise. I want to taste the chicken in the salad and enjoy the crunch of the celery and nuts.

This chicken salad recipe is exactly the kind of chicken salad I love and the perfect one to use if you have chicken leftover from a previous meal.

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Ingredients

See recipe box below for ingredient amounts and full recipe instructions.

• Cooked chicken: You might like to use our Poached Chicken recipe.
• Hard boiled eggs
• Celery
• Grapes
• Dill pickles
• Pecans
• Capers
• Mayonnaise
• Stone ground mustard
• Salt
• Black Pepper

How To Make Chicken Salad

• Add all of the ingredients to a medium-sized bowl and stir well.
• Season, to taste with salt and pepper.
• Serve warm, at room temperature or chilled.

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This chicken salad recipe yields about 4 cups.

Although I enjoy the taste of chicken salad the day it's made, leftover chicken salad is spectacular. The flavors have the chance to mingle and develop.

You can serve this salad with crackers, tortilla chips, on bread, over lettuce or enjoy it on it's own.

How To Cook Chicken For Chicken Salad

If you want to cook chicken for chicken salad, poaching chicken is a great method:

1. Place the chicken in a single layer on the bottom of a pot. Sprinkle the salt over the top.
2. Cover the chicken with water. Pour in enough cool water to cover the chicken by an inch or two. Bring the water to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to low and cover.
3. Continue to cook for 8 minutes, until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees F when measured with a meat thermometer. This typically takes about 10 minutes.
4. Remove the chicken from the pot and place it on a cutting board to cool.

Ways To Use Leftover Ingredients

If you have any ingredients left over from this chicken salad recipe, you might like to consider using them in any of these single serving and small batch recipes:

• Cooked chicken: Chicken Pot Pie, Chicken Caprese Salad, Enchiladas Verdes
• Hard boiled eggs: Cobb Salad, Potato Salad, Tuna Salad
• Celery: Baked Stuffed Fish, Tomato Sauce, Shrimp Creole
• Pickles: Juicy Lucy
• Pecans: Butter Pecan Granola, Pecan Pie, DoubleTree Cookies
• Capers: Chicken Piccata
• Stone-ground mustard: Mashed Potatoes, Crawfish Beignets

How To Store Chicken Salad

Chicken salad can be served immediately or stored in the refrigerator, tightly covered, for 2 to 3 days.

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Small Batch Chicken Salad

Print Recipe Rate Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Course: Salad

Cuisine: Salad

Keywords: salad

Servings: 2 servings

Calories: 373kcal

Author: Joanie Zisk

Ingredients

• ▢ 3 cups diced cooked chicken (2-3 chicken thighs or breasts - use leftover chicken or see notes to poach)
• ▢ 3 hard boiled eggs chopped
• ▢ 2 celery stalks chopped
• ▢ 1/2 cup chopped red grapes
• ▢ 1/4 cup chopped dill pickles
• ▢ 1/4 cup chopped pecans
• ▢ 2 tablespoons capers
• ▢ 1/3 cup mayonnaise
• ▢ 1 tablespoon stone ground mustard
• ▢ 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• ▢ 1/4 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

• Add all of the ingredients to a medium-sized bowl and stir well.
• Season, to taste with salt and pepper
• Serve warm, at room temperature or chilled.

Notes

If you are going to poach the chicken, here's what you do...

Place the chicken in a single layer on the bottom of a pot. Sprinkle the 1/4 teaspoon of salt over the top.

Cover the chicken with water. Pour in enough cool water to cover the chicken by an inch or two.

Bring the water to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to low and cover. Continue to cook for 8 minutes, until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees F when measured with a meat thermometer. This typically takes about 10 minutes.

Remove the chicken from the pot and place it on a cutting board to cool.

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 373kcal | Carbohydrates: 10g | Protein: 18g | Fat: 51g | Saturated Fat: 9g | Cholesterol: 82mg | Sodium: 1054mg | Potassium: 282mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 7g | Vitamin A: 147IU | Vitamin C: 3mg | Calcium: 26mg | Iron: 1mg

The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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