This Southern Style Chicken Salad with Eggs is the most classic and satisfying chicken salad you will ever make. Tender poached chicken is mixed with chopped hard boiled eggs, crunchy celery, red onion, and sweet bread and butter pickles in a creamy mustard and mayo dressing.
It comes together in under 30 minutes and gets even better after a few hours in the fridge. It is a perfect meal prep lunch, party dish, or quick weeknight dinner served on bread, crackers, or lettuce! Make a loaf of this super soft sandwich bread to enjoy with this chicken salad.
Why You’ll Love this Recipe
- Meal prep favorite – I love making this chicken salad recipe for meal prep! I throw together the simple ingredients in a large bowl on a Sunday and then enjoy it in my lunches or snacks all week long.
- Customizable – You can mix up your toppings to keep the flavor fresh and new. This chicken salad is a great recipe with crackers, in a wrap, on a bed of greens, on an English muffin, there’s no end to the options!
- High protein snack – This is a great way to have an easy high protein snack option with some crackers, tortilla chips or raw veggies.
What is southern chicken salad?
The classic ingredients for southern style chicken salad are hard-boiled eggs, relish, red onion, celery, mustard, mayo and spices. However, there isn’t an official traditional chicken salad recipe – different people use slightly different ingredients in their southern chicken salad.
Do you put eggs in chicken salad?
If you’re making a Waldorf chicken salad or some other classic chicken salad recipe, you may not want to put eggs in it. For this homestyle southern chicken salad, chopped hard boiled eggs are an essential ingredient.
The creamy yolks add extra creamy texture to this keto chicken salad. If you are curious about how long to boil your eggs, check out this post on how to make boiled eggs.
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Boneless skinless chicken breast: The chicken is gently poached until tender and then cubed or shredded. Poaching keeps the chicken moist and juicy without drying it out. You can also use rotisserie chicken for a quick shortcut.
- Eggs: Hard boiled eggs are an essential ingredient in Southern chicken salad. The creamy yolks add richness and a satisfying texture to every bite. Make sure your eggs are fully chilled before chopping so they hold their shape when mixed.
- Celery: Roughly chopped celery adds a fresh, satisfying crunch that keeps the salad from feeling too heavy or rich.
- Mayonnaise: Mayo is the creamy base of the dressing. Use a good quality mayo for the best flavor. Duke’s mayo is the Southern gold standard if you can find it.
- Bread and butter pickles: This is the ingredient that gives this chicken salad its classic Southern sweetness. Bread and butter pickles are slightly sweet and tangy and are the traditional choice in old-fashioned Southern chicken salad recipes. Chop them into small pieces so you get a little in every bite.
- Red onion: Roughly chopped red onion adds a sharp, punchy flavor and a little crunch. If you want a milder onion flavor, you can soak the chopped onion in cold water for 10 minutes before adding it to the salad.
- Yellow mustard: Yellow mustard adds a tangy kick that balances out the sweetness of the bread and butter pickles and the creaminess of the mayo. You can also use Dijon mustard for a slightly more sophisticated flavor.
How to Make Creamy Southern Style Chicken Salad
Step 1: Place chicken breasts in a sauce pan with chicken broth or water mixed with bullion. The liquid should cover the chicken completely. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and simmer 16-18 minutes.
Step 2: While the chicken cooks, boil the eggs. Boil for 10 minutes and transfer to an ice bath.
Step 3: Place the cooked chicken breasts in a food processor – its okay if they are still a little warm. Press the pulse button a few times until the breasts are just shredded
Step 4: Add eggs, celery, mayonnaise, pickles, red onion, yellow mustard, garlic powder and black pepper to the food processor and pulse again until evenly combined.
Mad’s Expert Tips for the Best Southern Style Chicken Salad🍗
- Use bread and butter pickles, not dill. The sweet and tangy flavor of bread and butter pickles is what makes this recipe taste authentically Southern. Dill pickles will give you a more briny, sour flavor which changes the whole character of the salad.
- Chill before serving. This salad is good right away but gets even better after 30-60 minutes in the fridge. The chicken absorbs the dressing and all the flavors meld together.
- Do not overmix. Stir everything together gently just until combined. Overmixing breaks down the chicken and eggs and makes the salad mushy instead of chunky and satisfying.
- Use rotisserie chicken for a shortcut. If you want to skip the poaching step, a store-bought rotisserie chicken works great. Just shred or cube the breast meat and use it in place of the poached chicken.
I also use hard boiled eggs to make this tuna and egg salad recipe.
Storage
Once prepared, store extra chicken salad in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. Leftover chicken salad makes the best lunch all week long.
Check out these other healthy recipes for chicken salad!
You can find the full recipe below. If you make this recipe, please rate and review it in the comments, or share it with me on Instagram!
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Recipe
Southern Style Chicken Salad
Ingredients
- 1 ½ lbs boneless skinless chicken breast
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup celery roughly chopped
- ⅔ cup mayonnaise
- ½ cup bread and butter pickles
- ¼ cup red onion roughly chopped
- 2 tsp yellow mustard
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- ¼ tsp black pepper
Instructions
- Place chicken breasts in a sauce pan with chicken broth or water mixed with bullion. The liquid should cover the chicken completely. if you don’t have broth, salted water will also work. Bring the liquid to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cover the pot and simmer for 16-18 minutes.
- While the chicken cooks, boil the eggs. Bring a small pot of water to a boil, add the eggs,boil 10 minutes and then immediately transfer the eggs to an ice bath.
- Remove chicken from the pot and allow to cool slightly while you peel the hard boiled eggs and cut into quarters.
- Place the chicken breasts in a food processor – its okay if they are still a little warm. Press the pulse button a few times until the breasts are just shredded, not too much because we want some texture. Add the eggs, celery, mayonnaise, pickles, red onion, yellow mustard, garlic powder and black pepper to the food processor.
- Pulse again just until everything is evenly combined. At this point I like to transfer to the fridge so all of the flavors can come together and I serve chilled. You can also serve immediately at room temperature.
Recipe Notes
- Use bread and butter pickles, not dill. The sweet and tangy flavor of bread and butter pickles is what makes this recipe taste authentically Southern. Dill pickles will give you a more briny, sour flavor which changes the whole character of the salad.
- Chill before serving. This salad is good right away but gets even better after 30-60 minutes in the fridge. The chicken absorbs the dressing and all the flavors meld together.
- Do not overmix. Stir everything together gently just until combined. Overmixing breaks down the chicken and eggs and makes the salad mushy instead of chunky and satisfying.
- Use rotisserie chicken for a shortcut. If you want to skip the poaching step, a store-bought rotisserie chicken works great. Just shred or cube the breast meat and use it in place of the poached chicken.
Nutrition Information
This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.
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