Alan Jackson’s Favorite Chicken Salad
Can the country star also cook?
you're making mealtime meaningful.
To be totally honest, I don’t know a ton about Alan Jackson except that he is a country singer and has been for a long time. I have heard nothing of his cooking prowess but when we came across his recipe for his favorite chicken salad, it was unique enough that I knew we had to try it. Pineapple juice and dried cranberries? We couldn’t wait to see what kind of chicken salad we were in for.
We made this as a part of our Celebrity Recipe Showdown. Watch below!
What Ingredients Are in Alan Jackson’s Favorite Chicken Salad?
For being so unique, it’s actually a very simple ingredients list. He calls for:
- Four boneless skinless chicken breasts. (That’s about two pounds.)
- A large can of pineapple juice.
- Honey.
- Apple cider vinegar.
- Toasted slivered almonds.
- Mayonnaise.
- Sweetened dried cranberries.
See? Simple. But definitely not ordinary.
How Do You Make Alan Jackson’s Favorite Chicken Salad?
Well, this is where things get (even more) interesting. First, Mr. Jackson asks you to put the chicken, pineapple juice, honey, and apple cider vinegar in a pot and bring it to a boil. Then, he wants you to simmer it for forty-five minutes. Yes, forty-five. It seems like a very long time to poach chicken to me!
Then you simply shred that chicken up and mix it with the mayo, almonds, and dried cranberries. All that’s left to do is dig in.
And how’d it turn out?
The results were kind of mixed. The pineapple juice did bring some nice flavor to the chicken, but that long poaching time made the chicken very dry and the 3/4 cup of mayonnaise wasn’t quite enough to counteract that. We liked the simplicity of the salad, with just the cranberries and almonds in the mix. That was a nice combination of crunch and tartness. You could definitely take these ideas and make a great chicken salad out of it by cutting down on the poaching time and upping the amount of mayo a bit. Then you’d easily have a winner.
We made this as part of our Celebrity Recipe Showdown.
To see how it stacked up, read on here:
Celebrity Chicken Salad Recipe Showdown
You can see the other celebrity Chili recipes here:
Martha Stewart’s Classic Chicken Salad
Nicholas Sparks’ Chicken Salad.
Ina Garten’s Chicken Salad Contessa
Alan Jackson's Favorite Chicken Salad
Yield(s): Serves 6
10m prep time
45m cook time
you're making mealtime meaningful.
Ingredients
- 4 (6 oz each) boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 1 (46 oz) can pineapple juice
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 cup toasted slivered almonds
- 3/4 cup mayonnaise
- 1 cup sweetened dried cranberries
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Preparation
- Bring chicken, pineapple juice, honey, and apple cider vinegar to a boil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and let simmer until chicken is tender, about 45 minutes.
- Remove from heat and drain. Let chicken cool for 10 minutes, then shred with two forks.
- In a large bowl, combine chicken, almonds, mayonnaise, cranberries, and salt and pepper.
- Chill until ready to serve and enjoy!
Recipe from Parade Magazine.