Deluxe Chicken Salad. Quantity Recipe. Serves 25

Deluxe Chicken Salad

Serves 25

The traditional party dish. This chicken salad has more chicken then any other ingredient. We think chicken salad should taste like chicken. This quantity recipe serves 20-25

Helpful Hints
qYou may choose to use whole chickens. Two 4 1/2 pound whole chickens, poached, will yield about 6-7 cups meat, pic of ceramic chicken enough for this recipe. When cooled, remove meat from bones. Discard fat and dice chicken meat into small pieces

qUse half mayo and half fat-free sour cream

qKeep chicken salad refrigerated until served. If served outdoors, be aware of time salad is left out of refrigeration. Generally, foods which or mayonnaise or dairy based should not sit at room temperature for more then 2 hours or outdoors for more then 1 hour

Make Ahead
Cook chicken up to 1 day in advance. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and aluminum foil. Refrigerate

Prepare chicken mixture no more then one day in advance. Tightly cover and keep chilled. Stir well before serving.

Deluxe Chicken Salad for 20-25
Approximately 25 1/2 cup servings

3-4 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast

3-4 pounds of boneless, skinless chicken thighs

3 cups celery, finely diced

3 cups mayonnaise, or your favorite salad dressing

Juice of 1/2 lemon

Salt, paprika and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Poaching Liquid Seasonings - Use some or all of the following seasonings:
1 onion cut into quarters, 1 carrot cut in half, 2 celery stalks plus tops, handful of fresh parsley leaves plus stems, 2-3 thyme sprigs, 1 bay leaf, 1-2 whole cloves, 6-8 black peppercorns.

Place chicken pieces in a large stock pot or Dutch oven. Add water to cover chicken by about one half. Add poaching liquid seasonings. Simmer chicken on low heat, loosely covered, about 30-45 minutes or until breasts are fork tender and no longer pink inside. Be careful not to overcook. Breast meat may finish cooking before thigh meat is completely cooked. Remove chicken from liquid and allow to cool. Reserve some of the broth to moisten chicken mixture as needed.

Dice chicken into fairly small pieces and place in large bowl. Toss in celery. In another bowl, blend the mayonnaise, lemon juice, paprika and salt and pepper to taste. Using your clean hands, mix the dressing and chicken until well blended. Test for salt. Cover and chill at least one hour before serving. Garnish with black and green olives, chopped parsley and lemon wedges.

favorite additions (optional):

2-3 cups halved seedless red grapes

1-2 cups coarsely chopped pecans

1 cup coarsely crumbled blue cheese

Also view these Delicious quantity salad recipes
Chicken Salad

Basic Shrimp Salad

Potato Salad

7 Layer Salad

Summer Tuna Salad

Tossed Salad - Create Your Own Salad Bar

Shrimp Caesar Salad

Taco Salad

Waldorf Salad

footer for chicken salad page