This smoked chicken salad recipe is a great way to use leftover smoked chicken. A smoked whole chicken is perfect for chicken salad. A deep smokey flavor changes plain chicken salad into something spectacular! As with our Savory Chicken Salad Quick and Easy we don’t add nuts or fruit, making this recipe keto or low carb! Win, win! Instead of making a standard bread sandwich, use your favorite lettuce for a wrap.
Why This Recipe Works
As mentioned, we don’t go in for all that fresh fruit and nuts in our salad. As such, outside of the crunch of the celery, you get a wonderfully delicious bite of smoked chicken salad. No weird blast of fruit or chunks of green bell pepper, just clean smoky flavor. The smoked chicken with the spices we use brings all those amazing flavors together to form a perfect whole. This is what I call a classic chicken salad. Pure, with no detractors.
Tips And Variations
There isn’t much I would change to this recipe. But depending on what kind of chicken you’re preparing, consider your dry rub. If the barbecue rub you use on your chicken doesn’t marry well with the other ingredients, you may want to use something else. Honestly, I can’t see that being a problem, but we want a nice, smoky chicken without it being overpowered with a crazy rub. You could toss in some green onion, perhaps hit it with some lemon juice. Other than that, I wouldn’t mess with this recipe. It’ll have great flavor, I promise.
Ingredients Needed
Smoked Chicken – We smoke whole chickens, but if you want just to smoke chicken breasts or chicken thighs (or both), that will also work. You could even pull this off with a rotisserie chicken (which we have also done). The rest of the ingredients are pretty standard: some mayonnaise, celery, and spices.
How to Make Smoked Chicken Salad
If you are going to start up the smoker, you might as well smoke two chickens, right? After the chicken cools, pull the meat from the bones of the chicken. In the bowl of a food processor, add a mix of breast and thigh meat, and pulse a few times until the meat is chopped fine. We don’t like just using chicken breast meat only. A mixture of both dark and light meats yields much better flavor and moisture. Measure 3 cups of chopped chicken into a large bowl. Add the 3/4 cup of finely chopped celery. If desired, add 2 or 3 diced green onions or about 1/2 cup diced red onion. My husband is not a fan, so we omit onions. Mix the mayonnaise, celery salt, dried dill, parsley, smoked paprika, and black pepper in a mixing bowl. Pour the dressing over the chicken and celery and stir to combine thoroughly. Season with kosher salt and pepper to taste, but we find it perfect without additional seasoning. Cover and refrigerate for at least one hour before serving. We usually like to let it refrigerate overnight for the best flavor. Serve on a nice fluffy, slightly sweet brioche bread or a flaky, buttery croissant! Toss a bed of lettuce down, perhaps a slice of tomato. Smoked chicken salad sandwiches for the win! Want it as a dip, serve it up with your favorite crackers. Or, if you’re all about that Keto life, serve it up in some fresh lettuce wraps. Perfect! This easy smoked chicken salad recipe may become one of your favorite chicken recipes. It’s one of ours!
Other Smoked Recipes
How To Smoke A Whole ChickenCajun Smoked Wings That Will Blow You AwayThe Secrets To Amazing Smoked Chicken Wings Every TimeSmoked Turkey Breast Easy And PerfectSmoked Keto Armadillo Eggs Recipe
