Say Goodbye To Gloppy Chicken Salad The Ina Garten Way With One Boozy Ingredient

Ina Garten has a boozy secret ingredient that she adds to her chicken salad: white wine. If you get over the alcohol of it all, adding white wine to chicken salad makes sense. People use all manner of ingredients to boost the flavor of chicken salad; vinegar or pickle juice can add acid, and grapes can add a burst of flavor and sweetness. White wine works similarly, bringing tartness and flavor. In Garten's mustard chicken salad recipe, she uses mayonnaise, whole-grain mustard, Dijon mustard, salt, pepper, and wine to make the dressing.

Of course, since it calls for wine, it's technically an adults-only chicken salad. But don't worry, it won't feel boozy. Garten only calls for two tablespoons of dry white wine in her recipe, just enough to cut through the mayo and give the salad some lift.

In this Barefoot Contessa Food Network video, Garten explains that she dislikes the heavy, "gloppy" texture mayo can bring to a chicken salad, which is why she thins down her mayo-based dressings with a liquid such as chicken stock, vinegar, or like she uses in this recipe, white wine. "For the chicken salad, I thin it a little bit with white wine," she says. "It gives it great flavor and you end up with a sauce that is more like a cream sauce than a mayonnaise sauce."

Garten recommends using a dry white wine for her recipe. Since she only calls for two tablespoons of the stuff, you'll have nearly an entire bottle of wine to contend with once your chicken salad is done, so choose a bottle you'd actually drink. That way you can eat your chicken salad alongside a glass or two. For the best pairing, you'll want a low alcohol, bright white wine with high acidity and notes of lemon. A northern Italian pinot grigio or a Loire Valley sauvignon blanc would work well and wouldn't overwhelm the salad.

To further upgrade your chicken salad, you can take inspiration from the wine and add complementary ingredients. As a nod to the Amalfi coast, you can add some lemon juice or fresh basil. Or chop up some grapes and add them to the mix. They'll bring a burst of sweetness and complement the tart, fruity flavor of the wine. 

There's another secret hiding within Garten's chicken salad recipe: Using two kinds of mustard to capitalize on flavor and texture. She uses both Dijon and whole grain mustards, leaning towards her favorite mustard brands, Grey Poupon and Maille. The Dijon adds a bright bitterness, and the whole grain mustard adds a pop and crunch that makes the chicken salad more texturally interesting. Looking for more Ina-inspired hacks? Check out some more Ina Garten salads we love.