10 Mistakes To Avoid Making With Chicken Salad

Chicken salad is one of the simplest dishes you can make. If you already have some cooked chicken on hand, it requires no actual cooking at all. However, the result is a much heartier meal than most salads yield. Whether you eat it straight from the bowl, serve it with crackers, or layer it onto bread for a delightfully refreshing salad, it's a staple recipe that you should absolutely learn how to make well. Since this dish is so simple, you may assume that you pretty much can't make a mistake while you're whipping up a batch of it. In reality, though, there are plenty of mishaps that can happen when you're making your favorite chicken salad recipe. By collecting those mistakes here, we hope to help you prevent them so you can have delicious chicken salad every time.

So, grab that day-old rotisserie chicken or some canned chicken, get out your cutting board, and make sure you have a sharp knife. Once you learn about these mistakes to avoid, you'll be ready to make the chicken salad of your dreams.

One of the reasons we love making chicken salad so much is the fact that it's such a great way to utilize leftover chicken. Whether you have some leftover chicken breast from the night before or you're just trying to find a way to use up that rotisserie chicken you have left in the fridge, chicken salad will do the trick. However, if you're really craving chicken salad specifically, you may choose to cook the chicken just for this dish. In that case, though, you're going to want to wait until the chicken cools before building your salad.

Why? Well, because most chicken salad recipes call for mayonnaise, and since mayonnaise is an emulsion, it can split if it's exposed to high temperatures. In fact, this is one of the mistakes that home cooks often make with mayonnaise. This will leave you with a clumpy, oily mess, not the creamy, rich deliciousness you're probably going for when you want to make this kind of salad. But don't worry — you can still make fresh chicken from scratch if you want to. Just make sure that it cools completely before adding it to the salad, and you won't have to worry about that creamy sauce causing any problems.

Learning how to cook different types of meat takes time and patience, and it's not always easy to master. But if you're going to learn how to cook one type of meat, you may want to make it chicken. Chicken is such an important staple ingredient in so many recipes, including, of course, chicken salad. And the last thing you want to include in said salad is overcooked chicken. Is overcooking your chicken better than undercooking it? Of course! You're not going to be at risk of illness because your chicken is overcooked. That being said, it's going to lead to a less-than-pleasant chicken salad.

Often, when lean chicken is overcooked, it takes on an especially dry, stringy texture, which obviously isn't great for a chicken salad. Similarly, fattier cuts of chicken can have a rubbery texture to them, which also isn't ideal. If you don't yet feel comfortable with your chicken-cooking skills, your best bet is to use a thermometer while you cook your meat. Alternatively, you could simply use pre-cooked chicken to avoid the issue altogether. By guaranteeing that your chicken has a good texture, you can be sure you're making a more delicious bowl of chicken salad.

Salt is an important component in just about any recipe, and chicken salad isn't an exception. In fact, salt is especially important in chicken salad because you're working with so many rather bland ingredients. Think about it: All on its own, chicken isn't very flavorful. With its neutral flavor, it's incredibly versatile, but you have to make sure you season it well if you want it to taste its best, and salt is the foundation for that seasoning. Add all that creamy mayonnaise into the mix, and extra salt becomes even more necessary.

The good thing is that you can check the salt level as you go since you're working with already-cooked chicken. Be sure to taste as you're mixing to ensure that every bite is perfectly seasoned. However, just be sure to add that salt slowly, since you can always add more but can't remove it once it's already in the bowl.

You know when you make a big batch of chicken salad and you're so excited to eat it that you just don't feel like you can wait? We know, we've been there too. But if you want your chicken salad to taste the best it can, then you're going to want to wait for it to chill for a while before finally plating it. This is important, first and foremost, because it brings the salad to the ideal temperature. After all, the best chicken salad is, in fact, chilled.

But putting your chicken salad in the fridge before serving it isn't just about the temperature of the ingredients. That extra bit of time really allows those flavors to mix and meld well. That way, your chicken salad will taste like one coherent dish instead of a bunch of random ingredients mixed together. That's why you should always make your chicken salad before you're actually ready to eat it. The good news is that you don't have to chill it for a super long time before it's ready. Generally, about 30 minutes to an hour will give your salad all the time it needs to reach peak deliciousness.

Most classic chicken salad recipes you'll see call for one very important ingredient for the "sauce:" mayonnaise. In fact, apart from the chicken itself, mayo may just be the most important part of your chicken salad. Not only does it provide creaminess and richness along with a touch of lemony tang, but it also helps all of the other ingredients stick together, creating a salad that doesn't immediately fall apart once you put it in a sandwich.

But that doesn't mean that mayonnaise is all you need to make the best-tasting chicken salad. In fact, with its rather neutral, bland flavor, it doesn't do a lot on the flavor front to make your salad taste more delicious. That's exactly why it's so important to mix it with other, more flavorful "sauce" ingredients. Mustard, of course, is an obvious mayo enhancer in chicken salad (we prefer Dijon), but you don't have to stop there. Drizzling in some hot sauce can give your chicken salad a spicy twist, and if you're feeling really adventurous, you can even add in some horseradish. Some cooks like adding some pickle relish for acidity, and a dash of vinegar can play a similar role. Feel free to experiment with different sauces to see which flavor combos you like best.

Chicken salad is, almost by definition, chunky. When you're working with a mix of different ingredients, that chunkiness happens automatically. However, there's a certain point where chunkiness goes too far, and that's exactly why you'll want to avoid cutting or chopping your chicken chunks unevenly. This can be especially easy to do if you're working with a rotisserie chicken, if you're simply pulling pieces off the carcass. However, it's going to result in a less-than-desirable texture in the finished dish.

Ultimately, you want some uniformity in your chicken salad, which is why you should try to cut your chicken chunks evenly. That way, you're not going to get a huge piece of chicken that's hard to chew in one bite while getting barely any chicken at all in another one. To pull this off, either shred your chicken or chop it into relatively small pieces. Either way, you're guaranteed a good chicken salad texture.

Are you the kind of person who always follows a specific recipe to make chicken salad, or do you just like to work with whatever you have in your fridge, measuring with your eyes and working from there? If you fall into the former camp, then you may be afraid to stray too much from a specific recipe. But we're here to inform you of a mistake that even many chicken salad recipes call for: not including fresh herbs in the mix. Even if the recipe you're working with doesn't specifically call for fresh herbs, it's still a good idea to add them to the dish.

Why do fresh herbs make such a big difference? Well, herbs have a boldness and a brightness to them that can really lift any dish, including chicken salad. And since we've already mentioned how bland chicken salad can be if you don't add the right seasonings, it's clear why such bold ingredients would work so well here. We like using parsley or cilantro, depending on what we already have on hand, but you can use other herbs, like fresh basil or tarragon, as well. Just keep in mind that you're not going to get the same potency or flavor intensity from dried herbs, so fresh really is best if you can get your hands on some.

A lot of people wrinkle their noses at canned chicken, assuming that it's an ingredient that you should only use when you're really, really desperate and sheltering from a natural disaster. But in reality, canned chicken can really come in handy in the kitchen. There are so many different ways to use canned chicken, which is why we always keep some on hand. And perhaps the best use for canned chicken is making a chicken salad.

Canned chicken works well here for a couple of different reasons. First of all, the chicken is already totally cooked, so you can skip that step. All you have to do is open the can, drain your chicken, and incorporate it into the salad. An extra bonus is the fact that it breaks apart quite easily. Smashing some canned chicken with a fork will make it break down into shreds, which allows for easier mingling with the other ingredients in the salad. And, of course, canned chicken is quite cost-effective, which is why it's absolutely the way to go if you're on an especially tight budget. So, the next time you're at the grocery store, don't turn your nose up at the canned chicken section — it might just make the best chicken salad you've had in a long time.

Home cooks make chicken salad in so many different ways, incorporating a wealth of varied ingredients. In fact, it's one of the reasons why we love the dish so much: It's incredibly versatile and makes it super easy to clean out your fridge by using what you already have on hand. And you don't just have to use savory ingredients — some home cooks like using sweet ones as well. Apples, grapes, and dried cranberries can all give your chicken salad a sweet twist and can create a lovely flavor balance between the saltier, more savory ingredients in the mix.

That being said, it's generally not a good idea to overload your chicken salad with a ton of sweet, fruity ingredients. Without enough savory components to form the base of the dish, you'll be left with a dish that basically tastes like a fruit salad with a little bit of chicken added. Combined with mayo, that's not exactly a delicious combo. So, sure, add a bit of sweetness to your chicken salad when you want to make things more interesting, but just don't go overboard with the fruit.

Any good chicken salad is all about a balance of different textures. After all, since you're working with so many different ingredients, you want a nice mixture of heartiness (from the chicken) and creaminess (from the mayonnaise). But there's another element that's extremely important, and it's crunchiness. Crunchiness can absolutely make or break a good chicken salad, since without it, you'll be left with a dish that's sort of bland and flat.

Luckily, there are a lot of different ways to add crunch to your chicken salad. Celery makes for a fresh, classic addition that can bulk up your salad and make it feel a bit healthier. Similarly, onion can also provide that nice, light crunch along with a lovely sharpness that can provide a pop of flavor. If you're looking for something sweeter, diced apples always fit the bill, and nuts like cashews or almonds can also give your salad that crunch you're looking for. Experiment with different crunchy ingredients, but make sure you absolutely don't skip them the next time you make a chicken salad.