Name: Southern Chicken Salad
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 28 min
Ingredients: 3 large chicken breasts; 2 tablespoons olive oil; 1 teaspoon salt; 1/2 teaspoon pepper; 5 large eggs; 2 teaspoons vinegar; 2 ribs celery (diced); 6 green onions (chopped); 1/2 cup mayonnaise; 1/3 cup sour cream; 3 tablespoons sweet pickle relish; 2 teaspoons salt; 1/2 teaspoon pepper; 2 teaspoons garlic powder; 2 teaspoons onion powder; 1/2 lemon (juiced); 1 tablespoon dill (minced)

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Southern Chicken Salad takes your favorite classic chicken salad recipe and kicks it up a notch with hard boiled eggs, shredded chicken, sour cream and sweet pickle relish. A round the year must have, this Southern Chicken Salad recipe is creamy, crunchy, packed with flavor and will soon be your go-to favorite chicken salad.

Nothing will ruin a marriage faster than the on-going arguement of what needs to go into the perfect chicken salad. Honestly, why are we not told this is a topic that needs to be discussed prior to taking those forever and a day wedding vows? Fidelity? Committment? .. yes, yes .. that’s lovely but you want chicken salad with grapes??? NEXT!!! You laugh but wait until it’s time to have that serious conversation because most of us really like a good chicken salad recipe but just wait until you are craving that creamy, savory bite of chicken salad happiness and instead there is too much mayo or maybe there’s a grape or that person uses tarragon. It’s all fun and games until your chicken salad tastes like like licorice.

Now wait.. don’t get me wrong when I say that those options are not my jam. They simply aren’t my favorite way to eat chicken salad. That’s not to say they are ‘wrong’ or not good, they just aren’t what I personally am looking for in my go-to chicken salad recipe. I am a classic sometimes boring person when it comes to certain foods. I like classic recipes, simple flavors when it comes to certain dishes. Step out of the box and make Pumpkin ravioli? Heck yes!! Do I order anthing but ketchup and mustard on my cheeseburger? Hell no!! See? I am a myriade of complexity and simplicity 🙂

Back to my chicken salad recipe drama .. my hubby likes lots of mayo, 7000 pounds of big huge chunks of celery and big chunks of hard boiled eggs. These are all details that needed to be discussed prior to saying ‘I Do’. I do not especially like mayonnaise, I do not like huge bites of celery and (you guessed it!) I don’t eat bit pieces of hard boiled eggs. But I do make a heck of a mean bowl of Southern Chicken Salad so we have both learned to compromise and peace runs rampant in our house. Seriously though, … have the ‘hard talk’ before you walk down that aisle folks. You’re compromising may not be as easy as ours was. Haha!

WHAT IS SOUTHERN CHICKEN SALAD?

Southern Chicken Salad is known for being made with mayonnaise, hard boiled eggs and sweet pickles or sweet pickle relish. The secret to this favorite homemade chicken salad is the sweet pickle relish, if you ask me. It adds such a nice contrast against the heavy creaminess of mayo and sour cream in this dish.

HARD BOILED EGGS IN CHICKEN SALAD

A must have staple in Southern Chicken Salad is hard boiled eggs. Unfortunently, big huge chunks of egg is just a turn off for me when it comes to my favorite homemade chicken salad recipe. To bypass the big bites of hard boiled eggs, I prefer to mash them with a fork. By running my hard boiled eggs through the fork tines, I am still adding the subtle flavor and the body that the eggs bring to the chicken salad but I am not having to chomp down on big bites of egg. If you are a lover of hard boiled eggs, feel free to simply chop them up and add them to your chicken salad.

SHREDDED CHICKEN SALAD

Traditional chicken salad recipes will tell you that adding chunks of chicken to your homemade chicken salad is the way to go but to be honest, shredded it my preferred way to do chicken for my salad. Roasted chicken, boiled chicken or even rotisserie chicken all work perfectly fine in this chicken salad recipe just be sure to shred your chicken while it is still warm. Shredding cold chicken is more work than you would think.

HOW DO YOU MAKE SOUTHERN CHICKEN SALAD?

Easy! To make Southern Chicken Salad, get your eggs and chicken cooking at the same time. Start by adding your eggs to cold water in a large saucepan along with a splash of vinegar. Heat your saucepan on High until your water boils, then cover your pan and turn your burner off. Do not remove your saucepan but let it continue to stay on the now turned off stove burner. Let sit for 12 minutes and then move your eggs to either a bowl filled with ice and water or run them under cold water for a few minutes until they cool down are able to be handled. Lightly crack your egg, peel off the shell and set aside. While your eggs are cooking, preheat your oven to 350 degrees, spray a baking sheet with non-stick spray and then lightly coat your chicken breasts with olive oil, salt and pepper. Transfer your chicken to the baking pan and bake for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool for 5-10 minutes. Using a fork, gently pull apart and shred your chicken, moving the shredded chicken to a large mixing bowl as you go. Once all of your chicken has been shredded, move your eggs to a cutting board and either chop or mash your hard boiled eggs before adding them to the mixing bowl. Add the remaining ingredients and stir well to combine. Cover the bowl with plastice wrap and move to the refrigerator. Let chill for at least 2 hours but overnight is better. Serve your Southern Chicken Salad with crackers, veggies or piled high as Chicken Sandwiches.

This Southern Chicken Salad is the chicken salad recipe I have been making for years. It’s my take on classic chicken salad but of course, make this easy chicken salad recipe your own. You like big chunks of celery? Chunk it up, my friend! Not a fan of dill? Leave the dill out and your Southern Chicken Salad is still on point .. trust me, if I forget to pick up dill it at the grocery store I am not making a special trip for it. If you are not a fan of shredded chicken salad, no worries… add in your big chunks of chicken and be happy. This is just chicken salad.

Enjoy!