How Long Chicken Salad Needs To Rest In The Fridge Before Eating, According To Ree Drummond

As simple as the dish can be, there are quite a few ways to amp up the flavor of chicken salad with various ingredients and techniques. Whatever goes into the bowl with the shredded chicken and dollops of mayonnaise, Ree Drummond, who you might know as the Pioneer Woman, has a tip on how long the finished chicken salad should sit in the fridge before you take a bite — if you can manage to wait.

In Drummond's chicken salad recipe, the television personality and cookbook author says the dish should sit in the fridge for two hours at minimum. And if you're really patient, the chicken salad will taste even better if it sits in the refrigerator overnight. The reason behind this is that it will allow for all of the flavors from the various ingredients to meld. The dressing ingredients like mayonnaise and Dijon mustard will come together and enhance the flavor of the chicken, onion, celery, and whatever else goes into the batch. So in a couple of hours, or tomorrow, every bite should taste like flavorful, well-seasoned chicken salad instead of individual ingredients in a bowl.

There's another case to let the chicken salad sit in the fridge, and it's all about the temperature. In our opinion, chicken salad just tastes better when it's cold compared to room temperature. And if you put it on toast to make a sandwich, the contrast in temperatures will make for an even better snack or meal. Crunch from ingredients like celery and walnuts is an important factor of homemade chicken salad, but time in the fridge will soften the ingredients a bit for a more mellow bite. And if the chicken salad needs a little more spice or salt, it will be quite easy to tell after the chicken salad has had that time to meld.

Are you craving chicken salad now? Our crispy and creamy chicken salad is best eaten cold if you can plan ahead and make it at least two hours before lunch, like Ree Drummond suggests. Another option is our apple pecan chicken salad recipe, which also contains red onion and chives that will meld with the fruit and poultry. Or to really switch it up, try this creamy curried chicken salad, which has a flavorful kick. No matter what recipe you follow, be sure to eat it within three to five days, which is how long it will safely last in the fridge after you make it.