Preparing a truly healthy and delicious chicken salad takes more than adding tons of mayo to achieve the creamiest white mush you’ve had. Flavor and crunch are essential elements of a chicken salad that will be remembered for the right reasons, and achieving great results isn’t as hard as one may think. This is why we wanted to share with you some important steps for making a healthy and truly delicious chicken salad.
Poaching and shredding the chicken should be the first step to take, as we want to make sure the chicken breasts are properly prepared before anything else. We recommend choosing boneless and skinless chicken breasts and consider one breast for every two people in order to have the right amount. Once you have cooked the chicken breasts, shred them and keep in a nice big bowl.
Adding a crunchy veggie to our salad is essential, and celery is a classic choice for chicken salads. However, you can choose any other greens you want, like fennel or cucumber or anything else you feel like having. Just remember that this will give the salad that crunch that goes so well with chicken, so make your choice with that in mind. Once you decide for a veggie, chop it and add it to your bowl.
Another important ingredient we need to add to our salad is onion in order to get the allium that ever chicken salad needs. You can choose scallions, chives, or shallots, chopping them and adding them to the mix. You can always soak them in water or vinegar before mixing them if you want to get a little less pungency from the onion.
In order to achieve a truly exceptional chicken salad, we need to add something sweet into the mix, and grapes tend to be a classic and the favorite of most people. However, you can get as creative as you want, choosing between raisins, cranberries, apple, and cherries. Just try not to add too much sweet, since we are looking to find the right balance of flavors and tastes.
Last but not least, no chicken salad can be complete without some fresh herbs. Whether you want to decide for only using one herb or a mix of herbs, one thing you need to keep in mind is that intense herbs like rosemary, thyme, or sage are not recommended. Instead, we recommend using thin slices of lacinato kale in order to have a healthier and more refreshing salad.