Skip to main content
Main

Chicken Salad Without Oil

A chicken salad made without oil, using boiled chicken, celery, eggs, butter, milk, mustard, vinegar, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Celery and mustard are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,169 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Chicken Salad Without Oil

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the chicken

  1. Boil the chicken for 2 hours.

  2. Remove all skin and fat, then chop finely.

  3. Add the chopped celery to the chicken.

Make the dressing

  1. Mash the yolks of the hard-boiled eggs until smooth.

  2. Mix the mashed yolks with the butter to form a paste.

  3. Stir in the beaten eggs until light and fluffy.

  4. Heat the milk or cream to boiling in a saucepan, then remove from heat immediately.

  5. Stir in the beaten eggs.

  6. Once cooled, mix in the mustard, vinegar, and additional salt and pepper as needed.

Combine and serve

  1. Combine the mixture with the chicken and celery.

  2. Season with salt and pepper.

  3. Combine the dressing with the chicken and celery mixture.

  4. Serve in a salad bowl garnished with lettuce or celery leaves.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

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 + mustardtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,169 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

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

  3. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Pepper + mustardtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Chicken + mustardtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,192 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).

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

What each ingredient does

Chicken
Provides the bulk and main body of the salad.
Hard-boiled egg yolks
Mash into a smooth, rich paste that thickens and enriches the salad.
Eggs
Beaten eggs set when gently heated, giving the dressing body and a creamy structure.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, helping the yolks form a smooth, spreadable paste.
Milk or cream
Adds moisture and creaminess to the dressing, loosening the egg mixture.
Cider vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the dressing and balances its richness.

The step that matters

Removing the egg and milk mixture from heat immediately. Egg proteins set and curdle when overheated, so the beaten eggs can turn grainy or scrambled. Pulling the pan off the heat as soon as the milk boils keeps the dressing smooth and creamy.

Swap the celery

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, egg, butter, pepper, milk, mustard, cider):

  1. Thymefits about as well
  2. Tarragonfits about as well
  3. Cinnamonfits about as well
  4. Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, egg, butter, pepper, milk, mustard, cider. 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.

You might also like

Chicken BrothChicken Broth257 recipesChicken SoupChicken Soup156 recipesCream of Celery SoupCream of Celery Soup113 recipesCreamed ChickenCreamed Chicken89 recipes