Southern Style Chicken Salad

Southern style chicken salad made with hard boiled eggs, pickles, red onion and celery.

Course Lunch/Dinner

Cuisine American

Keyword chicken salad recipe with eggs, southern chicken salad, southern style chicken salad

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 20

Servings servings

Calories 507kcal

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.

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.