The Most Delicious Chicken Salad Has A Fried Upgrade

If you're looking for a way to make your food taste more delicious, frying it is practically guaranteed to do the trick. This goes for chicken on its own, but also any recipes that include poultry. While there are many different ways to upgrade your chicken salad (like adding dried cherries for sweetness or curry powder for a little heat), frying your main ingredient is sure to be a hit.

We know that giving poultry this treatment induces the Maillard reaction, which brings a deep, savory, and delicious flavor. But you'll also get a nice, crispy, golden brown crust on your protein. Chicken salad is typically full of creamy ingredients (like mayo or sour cream), so frying the primary component is the perfect way to bring textural balance. You can also contrast all that richness with other quintessential components to this dish like onion, lemon juice, and chopped pickles. And perhaps the best part? Because you need cold cooked chicken for this, you can fry it up a day ahead of time if you want.

Use panko breadcrumbs when frying your chicken for the crispiest coating possible, and dice the meat when it's ready to go. If you make it the same day you're using it in your salad, avoid chilling your fried chicken for more than two hours, as its crunchy outer coating will begin to soften after that. If you cook your poultry ahead of time, you'll want to give it a refresh in your air fryer to make sure the skin is in tip-top crispy condition.

Since you're going the extra mile to use fried chicken, why not incorporate some extra-tasty flavor combinations into your dish as well? Create a Nashville hot chicken-inspired recipe by including hot sauce, cayenne, brown sugar, and buttermilk in your batter, and chopping up dill pickles to throw in your bowl. Or, stir some pickle juice and hot sauce right into your mayo (or other creamy component). For a Korean fried chicken salad, mix gochujang into your creamy ingredient, and include chopped kimchi and scallions in your salad. And if you want to whip up a Buffalo chicken salad recipe, toss in blue cheese crumbles, diced carrots and celery, and a good dose of Frank's RedHot. Overall, you can easily add to the crunchiness of your fried chicken with ingredients like nuts, lettuce, and cucumber, or balance out the richness with acidic elements like red wine vinegar and lime juice.