Chicken Salad With Skordalia

By Mark Bittman

Updated Oct. 17, 2023

Chicken Salad With Skordalia
Total Time
30 minutes
Rating
4(33)
Notes
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My approach to chicken salad was changed when I traveled to the Middle East and had a chicken salad bound with a distinctive "mayonnaise" that turned out to be a version of skordalia, the Greek dip. Like mayonnaise, skordalia will bind any cold minced meat or fish (and make a good sauce served with hot ones), but, unlike mayonnaise, it contains no egg. The binding "glue" is bread soaked in milk.

There are other differences between common mayonnaise and skordalia. The Greek dip is more intensely flavorful -- atop the garlic I like it with a sound dose of strong paprika or mild chili powder and a handful of cilantro leaves -- and it cannot be bought in a jar. Fortunately, assembling a batch takes about five minutes in a food processor. With it, leftover chicken is almost essential, though of course you can cook some especially for the salad.

Featured in: THE MINIMALIST ENTERTAINS; Cool, When It Sizzles, And a Breeze to Make

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Ingredients

Yield:4 servings
  • 2ounces French or Italian bread
  • 1cup milk or stock
  • 4ounces peeled walnuts, about 1 cup
  • 1small clove garlic, peeled
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • ¼cup extra virgin olive oil
  • Chili powder or paprika to taste
  • 2 to 3cups shredded cooked chicken
  • 1cup chopped cilantro leaves
Ingredient Substitution Guide

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Soak bread in milk or stock. Put walnuts, garlic and salt in processor. Pulse to grind coarsely. Squeeze most of the liquid from bread; reserve liquid. Add bread to container, along with oil. Process until combined. Add reserved milk or stock until mixture has the consistency of mayonnaise. Add pepper, along with chili powder or paprika. Bind chicken with sauce. Stir in ⅔ cup cilantro. Garnish with rest.

Ratings

4 out of 5
33 user ratings
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Drew

At others' recommendation, I quadrupled the garlic and added some seasoning salt (Momofuku savory brand; I bet a dash of Lawry's would pep this up as well). Yummy! Very easy to make, and the bread technique creates a surprisingly smooth texture for the sauce. The finished product needs a dash of acid. Lemon juice or a handful of capers would be delicious.

Meg

Doubled the garlic on this, which helped a lot.

Hannah

Agree, bland, need to give the dressing a boost which I did with a bit of heat and cumin. Loved the end product, will def make again. As someone who has an aversion to Mayo, lovely alternative.

Jennie

Super substantial with the walnuts, a very hearty version of a chicken salad. It has a very particular flavor, a little bitter from the walnuts, and took a bit of getting used to, but was ultimately enjoyable--however, it won't replace mayonnaise-based chicken salad for me. It is a very quick recipe, and high in protein. I ended up doctoring the skordalia quite a bit: hot and smoked paprika, Tajín, sumac, lots of salt; otherwise it was bland.

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