Great Chicken Salad

[Jim Leff]

I am by no means a chicken salad kind of guy. But I just had a phenomenal version (from True Food in Nyack, NY), and I thought I'd offer the ingredients here, in case they're interesting to anyone. Nothing all that remarkable to my eye, but here goes:

chicken
red grapes (halved)
walnuts (chunky, but perhaps some crushed as well)
cilantro
onion
mayo
olive oil
salt and pepper

The texture is more like baba gounoush than regular chicken salad. They really grind up the chicken (almost like the Turks do re: that pudding).

[megjp]

Mayo
Mashed avocado (instead of MORE mayo)
Shredded chicken
Madras curry powder
Chopped Granny Smiths
Toasted walnuts
Flaky salt, and pepper

[magiesmom]

I love avocado as a fat in chicken salad.

[tim irvine]

Found myself out of chicken broth which led to chicken salad today for lunch and I was cruising for a chicken salad recipe. Just thought I'd share mine. I love the grapes/cranberries/nuts type salads, but I am going with chunked up sun dried tomatoes, traditional pesto with pine nuts, and a little tart mayo.

[ellabee]

What kind of onion in the OP ingredients? I'd be most likely to go with red.

[Beach Chick]

Sounds delicious Jim...interesting on the cilantro.

[Bliss149]

Love grapes or grilled pineapple in CS if eating it as a salad...on a sandwich I like it more plain and smooth. It's silly but "grapes + sandwich = does not compute."

Biggest improvement I've made to my CS is:

1. using grilled chicken breast (which I had marinated briefly in italian dressing), not boiled or poached. However, the char on the chicken gives it a darker look that some might not like. It almost looked like dark meat but was breasts only.

2. Using food processor to make it smoother. Chunks or strings of chicken do not get the dressing and frazzling by hand takes forever.

3. Mustard as someone else mentioned. Made the dressing taste like dressing and not just mayo.

Great topic - chicken salad is one of my favorite foods.

[Berheenia]

Agree with 1. I never poach or boil after following Ina Garten method of baking boneless or bone in breasts at 350 for 35 to 40 minutes (chicken is generously brushed with evoo and s&p.)

[ipsedixit]

Gotta have mustard of some sort.

[eclecticsynergy]

Yep, a pinch of dry English mustard adds a lot to chicken salad.
If I were making the OP's chicken salad for myself I'd use sage or thyme instead of the cilantro.

[Berheenia]

I like a pinch of ground ginger and would not use cilantro ever.

[sandylc]

For a switch, try:

Chicken
Mayo
Celery
Raisins
Cashews
Curry Powder
S & P

[Quine]

BTW that combo also works well for canned tuna. lighten the mayo with some yogurt and can add chopped granny smith apples.

[escondido123]

I find packed in olive oil tuna to make a big difference. I add the yogurt and apple as well as a dollop of chutney, mango is particularly good. And lately, I've been using pistachios.

[monavano]

I adore red grapes in chicken salad. Makes such a fantastic sandwich.

[Antilope]

The same can also be said of dried cranberries. I love them in chicken salad and chicken salad sandwiches.