With the tang of lemon, sweetness of honey, crunch of celery, and the creaminess of mayo, this chicken salad is tasty and nutritious. It has only six ingredients plus salt and pepper, so you can easily whip it up in minutes!
I love this dish because it contains clean, wholesome ingredients. If you start with naturally-raised chicken and make your own mayonnaise, you'll have a simply awesome salad!
What You'll Need
Quality ingredients make the difference between a mediocre salad and an excellent, delicious one.
- Chicken - A farm-fresh chicken or turkey will always be best. You might use leftovers from a roast chicken or Thanksgiving turkey, rotisserie chicken from the grocery store, or boneless, skinless breasts or thighs cooked especially for this purpose.
- Mayonnaise - The salad is best made with my quick homemade mayonnaise, but you may wish to use store-bought, processed mayonnaise if you already have some on hand.
- Lemon juice - Use freshly-squeezed lemon juice. It's much better than the stuff in the bottle.
- Honey - I like to use local, raw honey. Source some local honey where you live. Raw honey has some great health benefits.
- Celery - Of course, you'll want your celery to be fresh and crisp rather than old and limp. Organic is best, if it's available to you.
- Sweet Onion - The same goes for the onion. Fresh and organic is always better. Be sure to choose a sweet onion. Anything hotter will really throw the flavour off.
- Salt - There are health benefits to natural sea salt. It is important to taste the salad, add a little salt and taste again. With practice, you'll learn to recognize when there's enough.
- Pepper - Freshly ground pepper has the best flavour. Again, use taste as your guide to the amount of pepper your salad needs.
How do you make chicken salad from scratch?
First, whisk the dressing ingredients together in the bottom of a mixing bowl.
Add everything else.
Stir it all together. Taste it and add more salt or pepper, if it needs it.
Recipe FAQ's
Your chicken salad will keep nicely in the refrigerator for a day or two, assuming your mayonnaise is fresh.
I would not recommend freezing chicken salad. You can freeze chopped, leftover chicken or turkey on its own. Then thaw it when you're ready for chicken salad. It's so easy to combine the ingredients for the salad that there's really no need to make it much ahead of serving.
Eating chicken salad cold is actually preferred. It's great on sandwiches or as part of another salad.
How to Serve Chicken Salad
This chicken salad is delightful on its own, spread between slices of gluten free bread for a great sandwich, or served up in a Chicken Waldorf Salad. Enjoy it on a gluten free pita, wrap it up in a tortilla or a couple of nice, big leaves of bibb or butter lettuce. Use your imagination. The sky is the limit!
Loving Chicken Salad? Here are more!
Chicken Salad
Ingredients
- ½ cup (125 ml) mayonnaise
- 2 teaspoons (10 ml) lemon juice
- 2 teaspoons (10 ml) honey
- 1 stalk celery chopped
- 2 tablespoons (6.5 g) sweet onion finely chopped
- 2 cups (280 g) cooked chicken or turkey
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Combine mayonnaise, lemon juice, and honey in the bottom of a bowl.
- Stir in the remaining ingredients.
- Add salt and pepper to taste.
Notes
- Quality ingredients are key to a fabulous salad.
- To save time, mix the whole salad together in one bowl!
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