Recently, I’ve been reaching out to others for inspiration. Whenever I talk to someone for a food article, at the end of our conversation I’ve been asking some version of the following: What’s something that you’ve made for yourself recently that you’ve loved? What’s your go-to quick weeknight dinner?
A couple of months ago, when I was chatting with Nini Nguyen about the essential knives that every cook should own, her answer to my go-to dinner question was chicken salad on croissants.
For Nguyen, a chef, cooking instructor and author of the upcoming cookbook “Dac Biet,” the recipe starts with a store-bought rotisserie chicken, which means there’s no cooking involved. (Chefs are just like us and use shortcuts, too!) Nguyen eats the dark meat as is but will reserve the breasts to make chicken salad. Instead of tearing or food processing the meat, “I dice my chicken like a human being,” she said.
Like all great chicken salads, Nguyen’s uses mayonnaise as one of the key ingredients. Her mayo of choice is Kewpie, which uses egg yolks instead of whole eggs and is thus richer. It also includes MSG, which gives it a more savory flavor. If she doesn’t have Kewpie on hand, Duke’s is her second choice. Regardless, sometimes she’ll add a pinch of MSG “if I’m feeling like it” for even more umami.
The other ingredients include onions, celery, lemon, parsley and mustard. “The key is lemon: lemon zest and lemon juice,” Nguyen said, which bring a lovely brightness to the chicken salad. And while tarragon might be a more classic herb pairing, as Nguyen said, “People like tarragon, but nobody buys tarragon.” So she opts for more readily available parsley to add fresh, grassy flavor. And for those who like a little sweetness, Nguyen said she’ll sometimes throw in a few grapes.
What I love about chicken salad is that it’s extremely customizable. Besides the chicken and something creamy to bind it together — such as mayonnaise, yogurt or sour cream — the rest is up to you.
For my version, I also went with already cooked chicken, but if you prefer to cook your own, I love poaching chicken breasts for salads. I didn’t see Kewpie at my go-to grocery store, so I went with the jar of Duke’s sitting in my fridge instead. I also opted for green onions to use up some that I had left from another recipe, and decided to leave the grapes out of the picture.
To make it a sandwich, Nguyen recommends a croissant, with green leaf or romaine lettuce and slices of tomato. (“Make sure you season them [with] salt [and] pepper. Don’t give me a bland tomato.”) The pastry adds buttery, flaky luxury to each bite. “Rich on rich, but I don’t care,” Nguyen said. Regular sandwich bread, a roll or a tortilla would make a suitable alternative.
I can’t remember the last time I made chicken salad, but I have to say the addition of the lemon was a revelation. (One lemon was enough for me, but if you have a small or not very flavorful piece of citrus, you may want more.) My colleagues agreed. “Your recipe is reminding me how underrated chicken salad is and how I need to make it more,” recipes editor Becky Krystal messaged me. “So tasty.”
This chicken salad is creamy, crunchy, herby and bright — and it’s a recipe that I plan to make anytime I want a quick, easy dinner.
Which brings me back to the beginning of this column, so let me pose those same questions to you:
- What’s something that you’ve made for yourself recently that you’ve loved?
- What’s your go-to quick weeknight dinner?
Share your answer in the comments or send me an email (aaron.hutcherson@washpost.com) and you might inspire a future Dinner in Minutes recipe.
