Easy Chicken Salad Recipe

Hey, I'm John Kanell. Today on Preppy Kitchen, we're making a flavor-packed, delicious chicken salad. So let's get started. This recipe is all chopping and mixing. It's perfect for a warm day, no oven involved. Starting off with four cups or 420 grams of chopped chicken. I have three cooked chicken breasts here, but you could go ahead and grab a rotisserie chicken from the supermarket and just break it down and chop it up. Equally easy and tons of flavor. Gonna cut these into bite-sized pieces. Today I'm cubing my chicken, but you have another option in the form of shredding. Cubing chicken gives you like little bite-sized pieces that fit nicely onto your spoon or fork. Shredded chicken will have smaller pieces that will probably grab more of your dressing. So up to you. By the way, if you like my videos, go ahead and hit that subscribe button. There's two new recipes every single week. My chicken's all chopped up. I'm gonna set that aside. Two green onions. Cut the tips off and give them a nice thin slice. Three celery stalks. I love this recipe because that is a lovely balance of different mouthfeels. You have creamy from the dressing, kind of the pop of the grapes, the crunchy celery, and that nice tender chicken. Chop your celery up. Set that aside. Sweet red grapes are gonna add such a nice balance to this. So grab one cup or about 200 grams of washed red grapes and halve them. So the chicken salad that we know and love today that has the herbs and the mayonnaise comes from the 1860s in Rhode Island. Liam Gray invented this for his meat market. And there were other versions of chicken salad throughout the centuries, of course, but this mayo-based version is 19th century America. All right, my prep work is all done. So we're gonna transfer everything into a large bowl. This is basically a take on the chicken salad I grew up with as a kid. If you have a version that you wanna share, please let me know in the comments. I love trying out different things. The extra crunch and texture is gonna come from a third of a cup or 40 grams of sliced almonds. It's time for the mayonnaise, a very important ingredient here, and mayo does not have to taste gross. If you don't like mayonnaise, you could make your mayo at home. It's super easy, or just buy a brand that is nice and enjoyable. A lot of my friends in the South would say it's Duke's. For the mayo, you want about half a cup or 120 grams. Excellent. For a little pecan to balance, two tablespoons of Dijon mustard. One and two. I also want half a teaspoon of salt and half a teaspoon of black pepper. All right, my scale is clearly done. We're gonna mix this up nice and gentle and get everything coated properly. This chicken salad is perfect for a hot summer day, but it also makes great, delicious sandwiches. This, some lettuce, a nice crunchy baguette, or some ciabatta, perfection. You could also enjoy this by the spoonful in a bowl or have it along with some vegetable sides. My chicken salad is all mixed up, except this is a lovely moment for an optional finishing flourish in the form of some fresh herbs. You could add a couple tablespoons of chopped tarragon, of parsley or dill, something nice and vegetal and soft. I'm gonna add some parsley today, but I'm partial to tarragon. Sprinkle that in, give it a mix. Your chicken salad will be best if it can chill in the fridge for 20 to 30 minutes just so the flavors can come together, but it also lasts for up to a week in the fridge. Just have it in a nice airtight container. Perfect for meal prep. And just like that, it's ready to enjoy. It's delicious, and I love the combination of the flavors and textures. Perfect for a warm day. I hope you get a chance to make this delicious and easy recipe, and if you like my videos, hit that subscribe button and check out my summer playlist.