- Chicken salad originated as a practical way to repurpose leftover meat, dating all the way back to ancient China.
- The recipe is highly versatile, allowing for countless variations with ingredients like nuts, fruits, herbs, spices, or healthier substitutions such as Greek yogurt, making it adaptable to different tastes and dietary preferences.
- Preparing meals with children, such as chicken salad, offers valuable life skills, encourages healthy eating habits, and creates meaningful family memories and traditions.
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The Importance of Including Children in Cooking
Cooking with children offers a wide range of benefits that go beyond simply preparing meals. It provides a fun, hands-on way to teach valuable life skills such as measuring, following instructions, and kitchen safety. Children are also more likely to try new foods if they are involved in the process cooking them. This invites new experiences and encourages healthy habits. Being able to prepare a meal, whether solely for themselves or for their family, gives them both confidence and a sense of independence. Overall, it’s a rewarding activity that nurtures creativity, patience, and responsibility.
On top of lessons learned, cooking together with your family will create wonderful memories for all involved. Working together as a team in the kitchen will help reinforce bonds (or help create them). Not to mention the fabulous recipes that will be passed down. This can also start traditions that will continue through your children’s childhood and into their adult lives
Chicken Salad
We have all experienced the same struggle: what to do with leftovers. This is especially true after a large meal such as a roast chicken or turkey. Having an excess of extra meat left over without side dishes proves a dilemma. Even worse, eating the same meat and sides for days on end can become monotonous and downright sickening. And hence, the chicken salad was born.
Originating in ancient China, the dish now known as chicken salad was originally used as a way to repurpose leftover meat. It generally contained a mix of spices and oils. In its evolution, chicken salad became a popular vinaigrette-based cold-meat spread mixed with celery in 19th century Europe. Today in the United States, chicken salad is a creamy, mayonnaise-based popular luncheon item. This staple of convenience is full of nutrition and has become a comfort food for many. While most people use the salad as a sandwich filler, it is also wonderful in a lettuce wrap or on its own with crackers.
Many variations of chicken salad recipes have been passed down through generations. Some recipes call for only meat, a fat such as mayonnaise or oil, and diced vegetables; while others include nuts, fruits like grapes, and herbs. One of the best things about chicken salad is that it can be adjusted to any taste. You want it spicy, add jalapeños or curry powder; if you want a more sweet-savory version, add in cranberries or grapes; feeling a little fancy, then add in some toasted almond slivers and tarragon. You can even make it healthier by switching out the mayo for Greek yogurt or extra virgin olive oil.
Being served cold makes this dish perfect for picnics, social gatherings, and an easy dish to bring to parties. It requires no heating and can be served in a variety of ways such as sandwiches or on its own with crackers. It makes for a quick lunch, a great finger food at parties, and a wonderful introduction to cooking for young children (as it requires no actual “cooking”).
This chicken salad recipe is quick and easy, and great for use with leftover chicken or turkey. My family particularly likes to use it as a way to use leftover turkey after Thanksgiving.
Ingredients
1 lb shredded cooked chicken or turkey
6 Tbsp Mayonnaise
2 Tbsp Dijon mustard
1 Tbsp white vinegar
1 1/2 Tbsp fresh dill
1/2 cup finely diced red onion
pepper to taste
Steps – and How to Include the Children
Step 1: Shred the meat. There are a couple of ways of shredding the meat, both of which are kid friendly. The first way (and my preferred way) is with a fork. This method can be a little time-consuming and can become physically straining for a small child, so keep this in mind if you are in a hurry. If shredding this way, I recommend heating up the chicken slightly; warm chicken is easier to shred, however, if you heat the chicken up too much it will be too hot to handle. The other option is to cut the meat into small pieces and let a food processor do the work for you. This will create a finer texture to the chicken and make the entire dish ‘creamier’.
Step 2: Gather the rest of the ingredients and utensils. This is an easy step to include children of all ages. Young children tend to love helping to gather ingredients, and older children will know exactly where everything is. Not to mention that this recipe calls for very few ingredients and only really requires a bowl to mix in and a mixing spoon or fork. I have learned that for a smooth experience, especially with younger kids, make sure that you give specific instructions such as “can you get an onion out for me?” and “can you grab the mixing bowl?”.
Step 3: Chop the onion. You can have older children complete this step, or if you do not want your children to use a knife, you can do this step yourself. I prefer finely chopped onion but feel free to dice the onion to your family’s taste.
Step 4: Mix the ingredients. This is another simple step that any child (or multiple children taking turns) can do. Just add the mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, vinegar, dill, onion, and pepper to the shredded chicken and mix.
Step 5: Enjoy! This is an easy step that the entire family will appreciate.
If you are interested in recipe cards to use with your children, I have made a set of 54 3×5 inch cards. These are available on my TPT store. The set is split into 6 different categories: Baked Goods, Appetizers, Soups, Main Dishes, Side Dishes, and an empty customizable category. Each category has 3 different design options and includes an optional back side with additional lines to write on to be printed on each.
<– Here is a link to my Recipe Cards page on my TPT store.
I hope this cooking with kids recipe helps to repurpose leftover chicken or turkey, make a delicious dish, and create happy memories for all involved. If you found this blog helpful please consider subscribing to and liking this post as it will help to grow the community as well as let me know which type of posts are more beneficial for you. For delicious holiday side dish, try my Cooking with Kids: Traditional Deviled Eggs blog.
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If you and your kids try this recipe, please let us know if you enjoyed it in the comments below.
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