Chicken Salad Recipes | Creating chicken salad recipes your family will love

Creating chicken salad recipes your family will love

Every family has its favorite recipes. Many times it is Mom or Grandma that passes them down, but sometimes Dad has a hand in it, too. Family favorites are determined by the unique tastes of the people in your family.

When I search for recipes online, I rarely follow the recipe exactly. Sometimes it’s because I don’t have the items on hand, but my family’s tastes come into play a lot. Certain vegetables they enjoy, others not so much. Certain spices are always welcomed with requests for second helpings, but others leave food on the plates.

Teaching you to fish

“Give a man a fish, and he’ll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he’ll have food for the rest of his life.” This is the thought behind Mom’s Chicken Salad Recipes. While we may include some complete recipes on our site, above all we want to show you how to make your family’s best chicken salad recipe ever.

We’ll show you a basic recipe you can start with and then outline a variety of options so you can create your chicken salad masterpiece.

Our basic recipe

Ingredients:

  • 3/4 lb. chopped cooked chicken (canned or prepared yourself)
  • 1/2 cup dressing (choose a salad dressing you like or use mayonnaise)
  • spices to taste (salt, pepper, garlic powder)
  • 2 tsp. fresh lemon juice or rice wine vinegar
  • 1-1/2 tsp. jam or fruit preserves
  • your favorite vegetables, fruits and/or nuts (grated or chopped to the desired size and consistency)

Makes about 4 servings.

I always mix the spices, dressing, jam and lemon juice (or vinegar) together in their own bowl before adding it to the chicken and veggies/fruits/nuts mix (we’ll just call it “veggies” from now on). Then mix everything together thoroughly, taste test and adjust spices if needed.

A note about spices: If you are going to let the chicken salad rest for a few hours or overnight (always recommended, if possible), then don’t be too concerned about the taste. The time it spends “marinating” will make a huge difference, so it’s best to do the final taste test and spice adjustment immediately before serving.

The right chicken salad recipe for YOUR family

Here are the factors you should consider as we construct your chicken salad recipe:

  • food likes
  • food dislikes
  • when you usually want to eat it (immediately vs. the next day)
  • how long you typically store food before finishing leftovers
  • number of people in your family (that is, number of servings you want to make)

Use the articles on our site to get ideas for what ingredients you could include. Just delete from the list anything your family doesn’t like. If you have some favorite items not on our lists, let us know!

If you’re going to eat the chicken salad right away, you’ll want to use stronger flavorings (dressings, juices, spices) because they won’t have time to soak into the rest of the ingredients over time. If it has time to sit in the fridge overnight, then go easy on the spices because the flavors get stronger over time. You might also save certain kinds of flavor accents for adding immediately prior to serving (like vinegar or other tart/sour notes that you might not want to soak in for long periods).

If you are likely to have leftovers, and you know they might be in the fridge for a few days, then go easy on veggies or fruits that easily get mushy or change color over time (tomatoes, avocadoes, cucumbers, peaches, etc).

Calculating serving size and ingredients amounts

Figure about 2 cups of chicken salad per adult serving. If the chicken salad is going on sandwiches, closer to 1 cup per serving.

  • about 6 oz. chicken per serving
  • about 1-2 cups veggies per serving
  • about 2 tbs. – 1/4 cup dressing per serving (depending how thick you want it!)

Go forth, and create!

Browse our site for further help with cooking your chicken, different combinations of spices for themed chicken salad (mexican, thai curry, tropical, etc), preparing the ingredients and other details. You are well on your way to having your family’s super chicken salad recipe to pass along to the next generation!

Of course, you don’t have to stop there — you might write a recipe card for your most popular “Potluck Version”, or the “Father’s Day Edition” of your chicken salad, with all the ingredients Dad likes the best. You might design your “Quick and Easy” recipe and your very own “Hot & Spicy Chicken Salad Sandwich” with just the spicy elements you like best.

We’d love to hear how it goes. Post a comment with your chicken salad success story!

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