Say Goodbye To Bland Chicken Salad — It's 10X More Flavorful When You Add This Zesty Seasoning

Ever make chicken salad and wish it were more flavorful rather than bland? Blandness is one of the 10 mistakes you want to avoid when making chicken salad at home. To avoid this mistake, the next time you make this dish, be sure to sprinkle in one zesty seasoning to make it 10 times more flavorful: lemon pepper. Versatile and bright, it's a great seasoning to stock in your pantry.

Typically made with dried lemon zest, ground peppercorns, and other seasonings like salt and garlic powder, lemon pepper seasoning packs a lot of flavor. Since chicken salad is put together with mayonnaise and little seasoning, it can easily taste flatter than you'd like. Just ¼ teaspoon of this three-ingredient kitchen staple immediately punches up the flavors in the dish.

First, you get citrusy brightness from the dried lemon zest. This helps cut through rich and creamy mayo. You're also not adding extra moisture to the chicken salad like you would if you were adding freshly squeezed lemon juice instead. Then, the salt and garlic powder in the seasoning add umami. Finally, you have the peppercorns, which bring a bit of heat to the overall dish.

Transforming a dish with lemon pepper seasoning is easy. Start with your favorite recipe, like our crisp and creamy chicken salad. Once the mayonnaise is mixed in and all the chicken is evenly coated, sprinkle in about ¼ teaspoon of lemon pepper seasoning. Stir, taste, and add more as needed until it's as bright, flavorful, and zesty as you like.

After you've added seasoning, there are many more ways to boost the flavor of your chicken salad and enhance it. First, you can add crunchy elements, like diced celery, onion, or even apples. Nuts like walnuts, sliced almonds, or toasted pecans add flavor and texture that contrast beautifully with the softness of chicken salad. Sesame seeds are also a nice crunchy addition. 

Fruits like dried raisins or cranberries and chopped pears add a pop of sweetness to chicken salad, which balances the dish. It can also be nice to add a bit of green to the dish by chopping scallions, chives, or parsley and sprinkling them over the chicken salad.