Chicken Salad with Cucumber and Olives
Tender chunks of chicken blended with the freshness of crisp cucumbers and the slightly salty, savory note of olives all wrapped in creamy mayonnaise. It’s an unusual blend that strikes all the right flavors.
Equipment
- Medium stockpot
Ingredients
- For the poached chicken:
- 1 pound boneless chicken breasts
- 4 to 6 cups cups of water
- 1 tablespoon rice or white wine vinegar
- ½ teaspoon sugar
- ½ teaspoon whole black peppercorns
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 teaspoon salt
- For the chicken salad:
- 2 cups shredded cooked chicken
- ½ cup peeled, chopped cucumber
- ½ cup chopped green olives with pimentos
- ½ cup real mayonnaise
- 4 teaspoons juice from the jarred olives
- ½ to 1 teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
Instructions
- For the poached chicken:
- Place the chicken in a medium stockpot, adding enough water to just cover the chicken. Stir in the vinegar, sugar, peppercorns, bay leaves, and kosher salt.
- Gently simmer over medium heat until the chicken is cooked through, about 45 minutes. Cooking time will vary depending on the thickness of the chicken breasts. Turn off heat and leave the chicken in the cooking liquid for an additional 10 minutes.
- Transfer the chicken to a bowl and allow it to cool enough to handle.
- For the chicken salad:
- In a large bowl combine the shredded chicken, cucumbers, olives and mayonnaise along with the olive juice. Add ½ teaspoon of the kosher salt, and pepper, stirring to mix well. Add the remaining kosher salt if needed.
- Cover and refrigerate overnight before serving.
Notes
I typically cook twice the chicken needed for this recipe, freezing the extra for later.