Recipe: Chunky Chicken Salad

One of the food things I remember not liking from my childhood were ham salad and chicken salad sandwiches. They were always soggy and pasty affairs seemingly spread with a putty knife in to small rolls. Bland or too salty they were the bane of holiday dinner tables. Even today I can take them or leave them. It is always hit or miss. My parents make good ones, but every time I grab one at a party or from a buffet, I know I am engaging in the equivalent of a gustatory crapshoot. Just like at a real gaming table, the odds are always stacked against me.

It always struck me as odd because seafood salad and ground chourico (which you are going to hear a lot about on this blog) rolls always seem to be good. It's not because I don't like chicken or ham either, I do. So, like all things food, when I hit a road block, I start trying to find a solution around it. The chicken salad recipe below is my latest solution.

Chunky, fresh, crisp, creamy and cool it makes a great sandwich. It also comes with the lofty endorsement of both my wife and my mother-in-law whom I believe are chicken salad experts. It's really easy to make and in no time you can have a great party offering or lunches for a week.

Chunky Chicken Salad

3 to 4 lbs. boneless chicken breasts or tenders
1 quart homemade or prepared chicken broth
1 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup of Miracle Whip Salad Dressing
1/2 cup celery (chopped)
4 TBS onions (chopped)
4 tsp turbinado sugar
2 TBS olive oil
A little less than 1/4 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp sea salt
Salt and pepper to taste

Divide and trim the fat from the chicken breasts. Place the breasts and the chicken broth in a large pan and set over high heat. Bring to a boil and then back down to a simmer and simmer for about 7 to 10 minutes. At the end of that time, remove from heat, cover and allow to sit until cool enough to touch. Reserve 1/4 cup of the chicken broth. (Save and refrigerate the rest of the chicken stock for future use in soup, sauces or maybe even a more chickeny chicken salad.)

Take the chicken and shred it into chunks. Make the chunks as big or small as you like. Just avoid making a chicken paste from them! Place them in a large mixing bowl.

Add all other ingredients including the 1/4 cup of chicken broth and mix through thoroughly.

When you're done mixing, mix some more because you probably weren't thorough enough.

Taste and season to preference, cover and refrigerate for several hours to allow flavors to intensify. Garnish with some fresh minced parsley for that upper-middle-class effect.

Serve to happy guests or enjoy for lunch.
Recipe: Chunky Chicken Salad Krauzyk, from Chop Onions, Boil Water