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Chicken Salad

Tracy Scheckel
Apr 26
3 min read

For years, I only made chicken salad when there was leftover chicken that I didn't know what else to do with. When you do that, you only get as much salad as there is chicken and it never seems to be enough -- if you're a chicken salad fan. Then, one day I had this epiphany.... Why not cook chicken for the sole purpose of making chicken salad? I know, mind bending, right!?!

The first time I did this it was summertime (we get that for a week or two in Maine), so I seasoned and marinated boneless chicken thighs and grilled them. Once the thighs were cool enough to handle I trimmed any skin, fat, or cartilage from them, and then cut them up for salad. I've also baked the seasoned thighs in a rimmed cookie sheet lined with a silicon mat or parchment.

Chunky or Chopped Chicken Salad?

That is the question.....

One would think that chicken salad is chicken salad, but I think it depends on how you plan to use or eat it. If you're slathering it between slices of bread or suing it to stuff something like a beefsteak tomato you'll want the chicken finely chopped, if you like to avoid the bread, you might want 1/4" bite sized chunks. My preference is a chunkier salad because I add all sorts of extras (mainly to help me forget about the bread I''m avoiding).

The dressing for chicken salad can vary too: sometimes when you may not be in the mood for the richness of a mayo based dressing, a vinaigrette is nice option. I've also used a Mexican inspired dressing with lime, cilantro, a dollop of salsa, and just a touch of mayo (or my secret weapon fat and calorie saver).

The secret weapon you ask? 10% milkfat plain Greek yogurt. I have replaced sour cream, mayonnaise, and even cream cheese with it. If you've tried to substitute either low fat or even 5% milkfat yogurt into a recipe, you've probably been disappointed in the richness and texture: I strongly recommend against using the lesser fat varieties. Although 10% yogurt is almost too thick to eat by itself, it's a perfect substitute to insure that flavor and texture are uncompromised in any recipe -- which is hard to believe given the nutritional differences which usually equate to flavor differences.

Thanks to my friend ChatGPT, here's a breakdown of the basic nutritional differences between a tablespoon of mayo and yogurt:

For creamy chicken salad, yogurt trumps mayo!

For this post, I made a more traditional chicken salad, but I did add some cucumber. Don't hesitate to play around with seasonings or even the vinegar. I like either white or regular balsamic because I like a little sweet in my dressings. I have also been known to change up the spices depending on how I'm serving the salad. You can skip the cukes if you want to. When I am having the chicken salad for my lunch, I cut up some grape tomatoes and finely chop some microgreens and stir them in before I munch. I wouldn't recommend adding them when you initially make the salad as they don't hold up very well over time. With just the cucumber and onions, the salad keeps in the fridge for a week or even a bit longer; add tomato and greens and you get about 2 days,

THE RECIPE:

cooked chicken thighs cut into small bites
diced sweet onion (1/4 cup for each cup of chopped chicken)
large dice English cucumber (1/2 cup for each cup of chicken)
white balsamic vinegar (about 1t for each cup of chicken)
10% milkfat Greek yogurt (about 1T per cup of chicken)
Seasonings: the amount of seasonings you use will depend on how the chicken was seasoned for baking.