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Sweet Southern Chicken Salad

A chicken salad made with boiled chicken, celery, mango chutney, mayonnaise, and seasonings.

From the Wikibooks Cookbook · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Celery and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 16,012 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Sweet Southern Chicken Salad

Serves 4
Total1 hr

Ingredients

Directions

Poach the chicken

  1. Add the chicken breasts to a small pot and cover with water.

  2. Slice the celery stalks into large sticks.

  3. Add the celery, bay leaves, teaspoon of salt, and peppercorns to the pot.

  4. Bring the mixture to a boil.

  5. Once boiling, lower the temperature and simmer for at least one hour until the chicken is tender and pulls apart easily.

  6. Remove the chicken from the water; reserve the water if desired for stock or soup.

Make the salad

  1. Slice the chicken into small bite‑size cubes, avoiding shredding to keep the salad chunky.

  2. Place the cubed chicken in a medium bowl and add mayonnaise and mango chutney, one spoonful at a time, until the desired consistency is reached.

  3. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

  4. Serve alone in a bowl or on bread, biscuits, or croissants.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

356Calories
39 gProtein
10 gFat
29 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 7 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Chicken100g cooked165
Mango1 cup diced (165g)99
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Celery1 stalk (40g)6
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Bay Leaf1 leaf (0.6g)2
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Wikibooks Cookbook.

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Mango + peppertop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together471 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  3. Celery + mangotop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together54 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Chicken + celerytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,375 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  5. Chicken + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,958 recipes

    Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Chicken breasts
Provide the main protein, which becomes tender during slow simmering in water.
Mayonnaise
Adds fat and creaminess, binding the chicken into a moist, rich salad.
Mango chutney
Adds sweetness and acidity that balance the rich mayonnaise and savoury chicken.

The step that matters

Simmer gently after boiling. A hard boil toughens chicken proteins and dries the meat, so a gentle simmer keeps it tender and juicy for the salad.

Swap the mango

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, celery, pepper):

  1. Lemonfits better
  2. Limefits better
  3. Avocadofits about as well
  4. Mangothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, celery, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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