Gordon Ramsay’s chicken salad recipe is tender poached chicken with crisp celery, spring onions, tarragon and a Dijon mustard and lemon dressing, ready in about 25 minutes for around £1.80 per serving.
Ramsay does not publish this exact recipe in any of his cookbooks, but every element comes from his techniques. His Leftover Roast Chicken Salad in Fast Food uses the same principle of turning cold chicken into a light meal with a sharp dressing. His homemade mayonnaise recipe in the same book is the base. And his advice from Ultimate Cookery Course on building dressings applies here: balance fat with acid, season at every stage, and taste before you serve.
The technique that separates a great chicken salad from a bland one is how you handle the chicken. Poach it gently in seasoned stock rather than boiling it, then let it cool completely in the liquid. This keeps the meat moist and seasons it all the way through. If you shred warm chicken into cold mayo, you get a watery mess because the heat breaks the emulsion.
Gordon Ramsay Chicken Salad Recipe
Course: Salads, Lunch6
servings15
minutes20
minutes35
minutesBuilt from Gordon Ramsay’s poaching and dressing techniques across Fast Food and Ultimate Cookery Course. A tangy, balanced chicken salad with Dijon mustard and fresh herbs that works on bread, in wraps or over leaves.
Ingredients
For the chicken:
3 skinless boneless chicken breasts
1 litre (1¾ pints) chicken stock
1 bay leaf
A few black peppercorns
For the dressing:
4 tbsp good-quality mayonnaise
2 tbsp Greek yoghurt
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
Juice of ½ lemon
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the salad:
2 celery sticks, finely diced
3 spring onions, trimmed and finely sliced
1 tbsp fresh tarragon, finely chopped
1 tbsp flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
30g (1 oz) toasted pecans or walnuts, roughly chopped
Directions
- Poach the chicken: Place the chicken breasts in a saucepan and cover with the stock. Add the bay leaf and peppercorns. Bring to a gentle simmer over a medium heat and cook for 15 to 20 minutes until the internal temperature reaches 74C (165F). Do not let it boil. Remove the pan from the heat and leave the chicken to cool completely in the liquid.
- Make the dressing: Whisk together the mayonnaise, Greek yoghurt, Dijon mustard and lemon juice in a large bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Taste and adjust the lemon or mustard to your liking.
- Shred and mix: Remove the cooled chicken from the stock and shred or dice it into bite-sized pieces. Pat dry with kitchen paper. Add the chicken, celery, spring onions, tarragon, parsley and nuts to the dressing. Fold gently until everything is evenly coated.
- Chill and serve: Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to let the flavours come together. Serve on toasted sourdough, in a wrap, or spooned into little gem lettuce cups.
FAQs
Why poach the chicken instead of grilling or roasting it?
Poaching in stock at a gentle simmer keeps the meat moist from edge to centre. Grilled or roasted chicken develops a dry outer layer that turns chalky once cold. Ramsay uses poaching across his cookbooks whenever the chicken needs to be tender and shreddable. The stock also seasons the meat through to the middle, so the salad has flavour before the dressing even touches it. If you already have leftover roast chicken, that works too. Just add an extra squeeze of lemon to brighten it up.
Can you make this into a chicken salad sandwich?
This is one of the best uses for it. Toast thick slices of sourdough or brioche, pile the chicken salad on generously, and add a handful of watercress or rocket on top. The peppery leaves cut through the richness of the mayo. Ramsay pairs cold chicken with watercress in his Leftover Roast Chicken Salad from Fast Food, and the combination works here too. For a lighter option, wrap it in a large cos lettuce leaf instead of bread.
Can you use crispy chicken instead?
Ramsay makes a Hoisin Glazed Crispy Shredded Chicken Salad in Teaches Cooking II where he shallow-fries shredded chicken coated in cornstarch and rice flour until golden, then tosses it in hoisin and rice wine vinegar. You could use that crispy chicken on top of dressed leaves with this dressing on the side. Keep the crispy chicken separate until serving or it goes soggy. If you enjoy that crunch, his caesar salad with Parmesan croutons uses the same idea of adding texture on top.
What is the best way to store chicken salad?
Sealed in a container in the fridge for up to two days. After that the celery softens and the dressing thins out. Do not freeze it. The mayonnaise will split when it thaws and the texture goes grainy. If you are making it ahead for a lunch the next day, hold the nuts back and add them fresh before serving so they stay crunchy.
How does this compare to a shop-bought chicken salad?
A Tesco chicken and bacon mayo sandwich costs around £3.50 for a single portion. This recipe makes six generous servings for about £12 total, which is roughly £2 per serving. The homemade version also skips the stabilisers, thickeners and preservatives listed on the back of a supermarket sandwich. The difference you notice first is texture: real diced celery and fresh herbs versus the uniform paste of a pre-made filling.
What else can you add to this chicken salad?
Halved grapes add a burst of sweetness that works surprisingly well against the Dijon. Diced apple gives crunch without changing the flavour much. Capers or cornichons bring the same sharp, briny kick that Ramsay uses in his tuna niçoise dressing. Avoid anything too wet like cucumber or tomato unless you seed them first, or the dressing will thin out within an hour. Browse every Gordon Ramsay salad for more variations.
