Perfect Chicken Salad
my go to lunch meal prep when I'm short on time and the kitchen is too hot
Chicken salad is so incredibly personal. I grew up in the South and have been served more kinds of chicken salad than I would have liked to eat. Please get away from me if you are throwing in chunks of celery, red onion or grapes my way. I will not eat it.
I am more of a Chicken Salad Chick fan BUT after I learned I cannot eat corn, I have been on the hunt for a recipe I like. (Most store bought mayo has corn syrup in it! You should definitely make your own. It takes 30 seconds.) The reason I love CSC so much is the texture and the intense seasoning. I prefer their almost canned tuna texture with how fine it is. I also don’t enjoy dry chicken salad, so I like to go heavy on the mayo. The great part about cooking is you can adjust any recipe to your liking. Use this recipe as a base, and add as much mayo as you want.
Some notes on this recipe:
I originally made this recipe with finely processed celery in it, and I enjoyed it. When I made it a second time, I had forgotten I had frozen all my celery so I made it without it and added more fresh time. I enjoyed it so much more without the celery.
I use my Instant Pot chicken method for the chicken and then run it through a food processor. You could use rotisserie chicken if you’re in a pinch. I have adjusted my cook time on the IP and like it better. Put the trivet in the bottom of the IP, add about 1.5 cups of chicken broth, place your 2 lbs of chicken breasts on the trivet, season it and cook on high for 7 minutes. I think 9 minutes is better for frozen chicken.
I make homemade mayo for this. My general ratio is 1/4 cup avocado oil + 1 egg in a wide mouth jar and blend with an immersion blender. I doubled it for this recipe on accident and it turned out perfect. (A note for homemade mayo: yes I season it based on how I’m going to use it. I’m not an unseasoned home chef ha!)
2 lbs chicken breast
1 cup homemade mayo (2 eggs + 1/2 cup of oil)
2 tbl dijion mustard
2 tsp garlic paste
1 tsp salt
3 tbl fresh thyme
I love serving this recipe with my patriotic summer salad. It makes a really lovely meal. Both are very easy to meal prep for the week!
