It uses a tool I already have in my kitchen.
When I was a senior in college, I tried being vegetarian. That experiment lasted for a full seven years. When I decided to welcome meat back into my life, I made it special, and broke my vegetarian streak with a cheeseburger at a little cafe nestled on the grounds of the Palace of Versailles in France. I told you—I made it special.
All of this is to say that I entered young adulthood without really knowing how to cook and prepare meat-based dishes. For a long time, I just completely avoided doing so, ordering meat when I went out to eat and continuing to cook vegetarian meals at home. But I’ve been trying to push myself to make my favorite copycat takeout meals, meat included.
And if there’s one thing I am always in the mood for, it’s a nice chicken salad sandwich. I love the versatility of chicken salad; it means I always get to be creative with what I have in the fridge. But my homemade chicken salads always felt a little uninspired—like they lacked that je ne sais quoi of a deli chicken salad. That is, until I discovered this very handy trick. Now, I won’t make chicken salad any other way.
How to Make Deli-Quality Chicken Salad at Home
The secret to deli-style chicken salad is very simple, but very effective. Instead of chopping or cubing chicken, throw the meat into your stand mixer and use the paddle attachment to shred it. It might seem a little silly at first, but in about 30 seconds you’ll have perfectly shredded chicken that’s ready to be mixed with all your favorite toppings.
I’ve done this with full chicken breasts as well as meat from chicken thighs, and it works well regardless of the kind of meat you use. If you like using a rotisserie chicken for your salads, you can also just peel all the meat off the bone and chuck it in the stand mixer bowl.
Why I Love This Trick
Doing this saves me from using forks to shred my chicken. Plus, it gives the chicken a uniform consistency that is reminiscent of something made in a professional kitchen. Once the chicken is shredded, I add homemade bacon bits, celery, red onion, dried cranberries, walnuts, Dijon mustard, honey and fresh parsley. My favorite way to serve it is with sliced avocado and chopped arugula on the crustiest bread I can find.
Breaking out the stand mixer used to feel like a big event—something I would only do if I was making cookies or a cake from scratch. But incorporating it into my cooking for savory dishes like this has been a huge win. And cleanup is so simple, since I just pop the bowl into the dishwasher.
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