Nicole's Tailgate Party Chicken Salad

The addition of hard boiled eggs makes this an interesting chicken salad. This chicken salad works well as an appetizer dip/spread with sturdy crackers or as an entre because it is a great sandwich filling. I am a fan of seasoned mayo as my 'adhesive' of choice instead of Miracle Whip Pesto,dill, or roasted red pepper add a nice flavor to mayonaisse and both work well in this salad. I skipped the croutons and didn't miss them.

I needed a great "stretchable" recipe for lunches this week as we're quite broke for a while. I had some shredded chicken I found in my deep freeze and this fit the bill using the little bits of what I had on hand. I did not have a full two cups of almonds, I actually had just under a cup of slivered almonds that I found in the back of my pantry. I used caesar seasoned croutons (a bargain find for cheap at my Grocery Outlet for almost nothing) and I ran them through my blender a cup at a time to break down the croutons just a bit. I used 2% shredded sharp cheddar and because we are absolutely not Miracle Whip eaters, I used Best Foods mayonnaise. I have to say that with a little personalization with a bit of pepper/chopped green onion/garlic powder/onion powder/dill weed/few shakes Frank's Hot Sauce, this is THE BEST chicken salad I've ever had. EVER. My husband wasn't sure about it in the beginning but he loved it as much as I did. Even the littlest, who is picky about everything, inhaled a sandwich and a half of this. Thank you so much, Nicole, for a new family favorite. I bet this would be just as good with leftover Thanksgiving turkey and I'll tell you, it cost next to nothing for me to make. Yum yum! So happy with this recipe.

I tweaked it a little to use what I had on hand... I shredded up one of those roasted chickens at the grocery store, used 1/2 mayo and 1/2 miracle whip. I crushed up the croutons, and used almonds, cheese, and little champagne grapes in it ( I needed to use them!) My boyfriend and I ate it as a spread on sliced rosemary potato bread from albertsons as a picnic with a bottle of wine and it was PERFECT. Thank you for a perfect picnic dinner!

This was a huge glob when I got done adding all the ingredients. I don't think the egg goes well. It tastes more like an egg salad. I don't think I will make again. Thanks anyway.

This salad has an identity crisis - it's as much a bread salad or egg salad as it is chicken salad. I prefer a true chicken salad without all the bread and eggs as fillers. The croutons made the salad salty and very dry. (The salad wasn't better the next day, it was just dryer). Hubby asked me never to make this again! A true chicken salad, with the addition of seedless grape halves and almonds, is so much better.

My son thinks that I make the best chicken salad around (he's biased) and I use mayo instead of miracle whip, NO CELERY and have never thought about the cheese or croutons. But I might very well try this. The almonds really do make chicken salad VERY SPECIAL.

Great recipe! I used shredded fryed chicken. Next time I am going to try cashews instead.

IMPORTANT: Be sure to use SMALL croûtons - if you use big ones, the croûtons will overtake the chicken in the salad.

I had everything in the house but the almonds so substituted walnuts. The recipe was great and next time I'll use the almonds. My husband loved it and said to use this recipe all the time.

This is really a great summer salad for dinner. I add a clove of garlic to everything for flavor. Add some sliced french bread and you have a great salad. It also makes great sandwiches with a bowl of soup.

I missed the flavor of onion, but for kids or onion hating folks it was nice. The egg made for a different texture. I thought 2 cups of dressing would be too much so I reduced it to 1.5 plus a few spoonfuls and it was perfect for us. Croutons was again, a different touch...not great or awful, just different. Thanks!