Easy Old Fashioned Chicken Egg Salad Recipe for a Creamy Chicken Salad or Sandwich Filling

This easy chicken egg salad recipe makes an old-fashioned creamy chicken and egg salad dressed with mayonnaise. Tuck into bowls of the salad with sides of gherkins for a satisfying meal or use as a sandwich filling. Lay lettuce leaves on thick slices of sourdough, pile on the chicken egg salad, and garnish with fresh herbs for tasty open sandwiches.

If you’re a lover of egg salads and chicken salads and, frankly, a lover of any old-fashioned salads, such as the kind of traditional potato salad with boiled eggs and mayonnaise that your grandma used to make, then you’re going to adore this easy chicken egg salad recipe made with creamy mayo, crunchy gherkins, fresh celery leaves, and fragrant dill.

One of the reasons I’m so fond of this chicken egg salad recipe is that it makes a light yet filling salad – because it’s missing the potato that makes potato salads so heavy-ish (as much as we love them). You’d probably never eat a bowl of potato salad on its own (or maybe you would… I would…), but you’re more likely to serve it as a side to fried chicken or barbecued meats, whereas you can tuck into a bowl of chicken egg salad without feeling bloated.

Unlike a potato salad, which you’re probably not going to spread between a couple of slices of bread (or are you?), this chicken and egg salad is made for piling onto a few lettuces leaves on a thick piece of sourdough, and sprinkling on a few sprigs of fresh aromatic herbs. Yum. Thick slices of toast also work and in the American South they squeeze it into croissants. I’m definitely trying that.

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Chicken Egg Salad Recipe for an Old Fashioned Creamy Chicken Salad or Sandwich Filling

I’ve always thought of this chicken egg salad recipe as a distinctly Eastern European salad recipe. Aside from stumbling across chicken and egg salad recipes in Soviet cookbooks, there are ingredients in the salad that are so quintessentially Russian, Ukrainian, Polish, Slavic, and generally Eastern European.

You’ll know what I mean if you’ve travelled through that part of the world. I’m talking about boiled eggs, gherkins or pickled cucumbers, creamy mayonnaise (none of that diet stuff), and fresh fragrant dill.

Some of the Soviet egg chicken salad recipes also include another quintessential ingredient of the region and that’s mustard, and specifically wholegrain mustard, although modern recipes call for Dijon mustard or mustard powder.

So being Australian-born with Ukrainian-Russian heritage, I was surprised when researching the origin and history of this chicken egg salad recipe to find that there’s also a very similar salad recipe for a traditional North American dish, albeit a North American dish from the Southern USA states, that’s best known as Southern Food or Soul Food.

Key differences between the more Eastern European style of chicken and egg salad we have here and the Southern American salad are ingredients such as apples and grapes, as well as the texture, which is chunkier, and sometimes mayonnaise isn’t even used.

I will definitely be researching the food of the American South more, as I find these connections so intriguing and I find comfort in the fact that there are so many more similarities than differences between culinary cultures. We are all more alike than different and that’s a wonderful thing. Just a few tips to making this chicken and egg salad recipe.

Tips to Making this Easy Old Fashioned Chicken Egg Salad Recipe

I only have a few tips for you for making this old-fashioned chicken egg salad recipe as it really is very easy and comes together quickly – in a matter of 15 minutes in fact, if you already have cooked chicken.

This recipe is perfect for using up leftover poached chicken or roast chicken leftovers. You could also buy a rotisserie chicken.

If you’re going to poach your own chicken breasts, then add ten minutes to the total time and see this post for our guide to poaching chicken breasts, which will give you some wonderful stock to use in other recipes.

We love jammy soft-boiled eggs in this salad, but feel free to use medium or hard boiled eggs if you prefer. See our guide to boiling perfectly boiled eggs every time.

Chicken Egg Salad Recipe for a Creamy Salad or Sandwich Filling

Easy Old Fashioned Chicken Egg Salad Recipe for a Creamy Chicken Salad or Sandwich Filling

AuthorLara Dunston

This easy chicken egg salad recipe makes an old-fashioned creamy chicken and egg salad generously dressed with mayonnaise. You can tuck into bowls of the salad with sides of gherkins or pickled cucumbers for a light yet satisfying meal. Or use the salad as a sandwich filling. Lay lettuce leaves on thick slices of sourdough bread, pile the chicken egg salad on top, garnish with fresh herbs, and you have tasty open sandwiches.

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Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 15 minutes mins

Total Time 30 minutes mins

Course Snack/Lunch

Cuisine American, Southern American

Servings made with recipeServings 2

Calories 517 kcal

Equipment

Salad Bowls

Ingredients

 

MetricUS Customary

 

1x2x3x

• 350 g chicken breast - poached and diced into 2cm pieces
• 1 tsp salt
• ½ tsp white pepper
• ½ tsp garlic powder
• 1 purple shallot - finely diced
• 1 gherkin / pickled cucumber - finely diced
• 1 tbsp celery leaves - finely chopped
• 1 tbsp fresh dill sprigs - finely chopped
• 4 eggs - boiled and diced into 2cm pieces
• 3 tbsp creamy mayonnaise
• 12 lettuce leaves

Instructions

 

• To a large bowl, add the chopped chicken pieces, sprinkle with salt, white pepper and garlic powder and combine well.
• Add the finely diced purple shallot, diced gherkin or pickled cucumber, and chopped fresh celery leaves and fresh dill, and creamy mayonnaise and stir to combine well.
• Lastly, add the diced boiled eggs and gently fold in so that the yolks don’t break apart too much. Taste and season with additional salt and pepper if needed, then cover and chill in the fridge until you’re ready to eat.
• Line a salad bowl with lettuce leaves, top with the chicken egg salad, and garnish with fresh celery leaves or dill sprigs, and serve with a side of whole gherkins and pickled cucumbers, or lay the lettuce leaves onto sliced sourdough bread, pile the chicken egg salad on top, and garnish with fresh herbs.

Nutrition

Calories: 517kcalCarbohydrates: 11gProtein: 51gFat: 29gSaturated Fat: 6gPolyunsaturated Fat: 12gMonounsaturated Fat: 8gTrans Fat: 0.1gCholesterol: 448mgSodium: 1748mgPotassium: 1137mgFiber: 2gSugar: 5gVitamin A: 11349IUVitamin C: 30mgCalcium: 130mgIron: 4mg

Please do let us know in the Comments below if you make this old-fashioned chicken egg salad recipe. as we’d love to know how it turns out for you. We’d also appreciate a rating.