Hot Chicken Salad Recipe (2024)

My mom made this for years. She was a terrible cook.

Excellent recipe that we’ve been baking for years! We use individual ramekins which makes this dish really fun for casual Saturday night dinner parties.

I wonder how this recipe would taste with French's® French Fried Onions instead of potato chips?

Instead of poaching the chicken, I smothered it in shallots and a bit of butter in a covered sauté pan, then included the pan drippings in the dish. That way you get a lovely onion flavor and can omit the teaspoon of onion salt (way too much sodium!). I also recommend adding 2 or 3 chopped hard-boiled eggs for even more richness.

We call this “Mary’s Wedding Dish” because my mother served it at home after my sister’s wedding 52 years ago. It’s still in the rotation, served hot or cold.

Great Aunt Leda added poultry seasoning and pimentos but omitted cheese.

There's comfort food and then there is gloppy food. This recipe belongs in the latter category. Made it on bitterly cold night when I was looking for comfort food. Cannot recommend. Very little taste. Mushy. Although potato chips stayed crisp. Overly salty. I made it as written. My guess is that the positive comments are because the readers/writers/commentators are fondly recalling a happy occasion from their past where this dish figured prominently.

I've been making a version of this for ages - I thought my grandfather invented it to be honest. His version uses leftover Thanksgiving turkey and also has onion in it. The potato chips are a must. It is my favorite part of Thanksgiving. Can't wait to try it with chicken.

Not sure if I’ll make this, but some of the comments are hilarious. Glad I read them.

This...is weird. Last recipe I ever expected to see on NYT Cooking, so I tried it out of curiousity. First, this is perhaps the least appetizing recipe name I have ever run across. Second...it's weird. Not bad, exactly, but not especially interesting and I don't think I'd make it again.

I gave this recipe a thumbs down review a few days ago as well. Only 3 or 4 of the commenters actually made this. Two of us didn’t like it and the other 2 made revisions. Saying it “sounds great” or “reminds me of Grandpa” is not the same as actually making this version of Hot Chicken Salad! There is nothing good about this recipe, much better ones can be found for a fun retro supper.

I lol when I saw this dish on the NYTIMES cooking app! Where I’ve lived in the upper Midwest this is a classic funeral dish: comforting, and kid-friendly. And yes, often bland. I suggest toasting the almonds, Add half a cup diced shallot, along with a cup of sour cream with the mayo. Taste as you mix this with the chicken and other ingredients (lemon juice, sharp Cheddar, etc) and add salt and pepper to taste. Part of the point of this is no surprises! But have fun with spices if you want to.

A buddy of mine added water chestnuts for additional crunch. Good old classic.

I grew up in the Carolinas and my mother used to make this almost exactly as written here. She added sweet pickle relish to hers though, just a Tbsp or 2. I haven’t made it in years. Thanks so much for the reminder. I’m going to make it tomorrow!

A classic that appeared in my college's cookbook, and that still comforts today. No cheddar. Hard-boiled eggs and ruffled potato chips are both musts. Regular chips just won't do!

Need need need to add sour cream, spicy mustard, or cream of chicken to get the right consistency and additional flavor. Was a fun change to the weekly rotation but not dying to do again.

Toast nuts. Add hard boiled eggs sautéed shallot and garlic. Top w durkees maybe?

I used tortilla chips and it was sooo good. It's also excellent cold.

The main reason this was a failure was that it there was not nearly enough mayo called for. Nothing to bind it together— maybe a Campbell cream of something soup? Or more sour cream (I only added 1/2 cup to mayo). Flavor was ok but “salad” it wasn’t.

I use a rotisserie chicken and it makes for a delicious, quick dinner. I sometimes add fresh cranberry sauce to step it up a bit.

I don’t understand the raves this recipe gets. I tried it and thought it was terrible. Dry, boring. Nothing like chicken salad — which I happen to love! Maybe it would be salvageable with some changes or substitutions, but why bother?

This is was STAPLE in my house growing up and is still in our rotation. No almonds but add hard boiled eggs and water chestnuts for more richness and crunch. Also we use fried onions most of the time as a topper.

This didn't uplift and bring joy to me... It felt way too glutinous and heavy... like I was eating a heart attack. Not all casseroles from the 50/60/70s should be brought back to life.. we know better now. Maybe if you drop the chips for some panko breadcrumbs might make it a little more relevant.

This was a fun & easy to throw together weeknight meal. Kids & husband loved the idea of chips on the top. Subbed onion powder for the onion salt because that's what I had and it was plenty flavorful. Used a rotisserie chicken to "cheat" even more and left out the celery because no one will eat it in my house. I caught my husband eating it later straight from the fridge :-)

That morning I woke up thinking about a tuna casserole. Then I read the paper and saw this recipe, and I knew it was a winner. I used some poultry seasoning, red pepper flakes, but skimped on the chips as I didn't have enough on hand. It was delicious! I can't wait to make again with the correct amount of potato chips.

Just made this. We used the costo rotisserie chicken (the kind you buy pre chopped) which cut prep time to nothing. I loved the reference to a funeral casserole, which was spot on. The cheese just disappeared. I’d want to add a bunch of spice to this and it would be much better. It will go in my recipe box with notes to “spice it up a bunch”. I’d want to experiment with this one.

My mother made it for a church group bibke studyin the 1970's. They liked it so much she made it for the family. We gently asked her to never make it again. It tastes about as you would imagine: a horrendously greasy glop with oily chips adding crunch. A hard pass.

Made this for a pot luck and it was well received. Great way to recycle leftover buttermilk roast chicken from night before. Then the leftover casserole became pot pie he next day! Circle of life. Next time I’d tweak this a bit with cream cheese or a “cream of” soup to really dial in the casserole aesthetic.

I took the advice of another reviewer and sautéed the chicken with shallots and garlic powder. Skipped all the salt. Used extra nuts. Came out great! The whole family approved.

Thought this would be a stroll down memory lane......but really it just reminded us but how bland our mother's cooking could be.....there's too many recipes out there now with flavor!