Hot Chicken Salad

Hot Chicken Salad is the old-fashioned Southern casserole that turns everything you love about chicken salad into a warm, bubbly dinner. Creamy chicken, celery, and toasted almonds bake under melty cheddar and a layer of crushed potato chips for salty crunch on top. It is a church-supper classic that works just as well on a Tuesday night!

Before You Get Started

The dish comes together easily, but a few small things separate a casserole that tastes rich and bright from one that tastes heavy and flat. Keep these in mind:

• Taste it before it goes in the oven. It’s much easier to season the filling while it’s cold instead of waiting until it’s finished.
• Do not skip the lemon juice. A tablespoon of acid is what keeps a creamy casserole from tasting dull and one-note.
• Watch the almonds closely. They go from golden to burnt in well under a minute, so pull them as soon as they smell nutty.

Start with Cooked Chicken

This casserole bakes just long enough to melt the cheese and heat the filling through, so the chicken needs to be cooked before it goes in. Pick whichever option is easiest for you:

• Rotisserie chicken: The shortcut I reach for most. Pull the meat off a store-bought bird and your supper is halfway done!
• Boiled chicken: Simmer boneless, skinless breasts or thighs until cooked through, about 15 minutes, then chop or pull the meat once it is cool enough to handle.
• Leftover or canned chicken: Leftover grilled or roasted chicken works great here, and canned chicken from the pantry will do in a pinch.

You will need about 3 cups of cooked chicken, and you have flexibility there. A little over or under will not hurt anything.

How to Make Hot Chicken Salad

If you have made my Southern Chicken Salad, this ingredient list will look familiar. The difference is that everything gets stirred into a creamy sauce, topped with cheese and chips, and baked until hot and bubbly. There is no canned soup anywhere in it!

Step 1: Toast the Almonds

Toast the slivered almonds in a dry skillet over low heat, stirring often, until they turn golden and smell nutty. Transfer them to a plate right away, because they will keep cooking in a hot pan. 

Untoasted almonds go soft in the casserole and add almost nothing, so this minute of work matters more than it looks like it should.

Step 2: Sauté the Celery and Onion

In the same skillet, warm the olive oil over medium heat and cook the celery and onion until the onion turns translucent, about 5 to 7 minutes. Add the garlic at the end and cook just until fragrant. 

Softening the vegetables first keeps them from staying raw and crunchy in the finished dish, and it pulls sweetness out of the onion.

Step 3: Mix the Chicken Base

In a large bowl, stir together the toasted almonds, the sautéed vegetables, the chicken, salt, and pepper. 

Getting the seasoning onto the chicken now, before the creamy sauce goes in, gives you a much better starting point than trying to correct it later.

Step 4: Stir Together the Creamy Sauce

In a smaller bowl, combine half the cheddar with the mayonnaise, sour cream, lemon juice, and chives. Mixing the sauce separately means the mayonnaise coats everything evenly instead of leaving thick pockets in one corner of the dish.

⇢ Any good melting cheese works here: Monterey Jack, Colby, Pepper Jack, and Swiss all do the job. A sharp cheddar gives you the most flavor.

Step 5: Combine and Taste

Add the sauce to the chicken mixture and stir until everything is coated. Now stop and taste it. This is the most important moment in the recipe, because the filling will not get more flavorful in the oven. 

If it tastes flat, it needs salt. If it tastes heavy, it needs another squeeze of lemon.

⇢ Easy add-ins: Diced pimentos, water chestnuts, or a handful of frozen peas all stir in nicely and add color.

⇢ Stretching the dish: Swap about a cup of the chicken for frozen mixed vegetables or parboiled broccoli or green beans to make it go further.

Step 6: Top and Bake

Transfer the filling to a greased 2-quart baking dish, then scatter the remaining cheddar over the top and finish with the crushed potato chips.

Bake uncovered until the cheese melts and the filling is hot and bubbly at the edges, about 20 to 25 minutes. Leaving it uncovered is what keeps the chips crisp.

⇢ Chips or French fried onions? Potato chips are the classic and my pick for the salty crunch. French fried onions, buttered Ritz crumbs, or panko all work, but add French fried onions in the last few minutes so they don’t burn.

What to Serve Alongside

Hot chicken salad is rich, so it wants something bright or crisp next to it rather than another creamy dish. For a family dinner, a warm bread and a simple green vegetable are all it really needs. If you are serving it the traditional way, at a shower or a covered-dish lunch, a salad and something sweet round out the plate the way it has always been done.

• 3-Ingredient Biscuits
• Honey Cornbread
• House Salad with Candied Pecans
• Southern Style Green Beans
• Garlic Roasted Broccoli
• Ambrosia Salad Recipe

Leftovers also make a very good sandwich. Warm the filling and pile it onto a soft roll or a split biscuit while the cheese is still melty.

Make Ahead and Storage

To make ahead: Assemble the casserole up to 24 hours in advance, cover, and refrigerate. Let it sit on the counter for 30 to 60 minutes before baking so it comes closer to room temperature, and hold the potato chips until just before it goes in the oven so they stay crisp.

To store: Leftovers keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days. The chips will soften overnight, which is unavoidable and perfectly fine.

To freeze: I do not recommend it. Creamy mayonnaise and sour cream sauces tend to break and separate when thawed, and the texture never fully recovers.

To reheat: Cover a full casserole loosely with foil and warm it in a 350°F oven for 15 to 20 minutes. Individual portions reheat in the microwave in 1 to 2 minutes. For a fresh crunch, add a small handful of chips over the top for the last few minutes in the oven.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does my hot chicken salad taste bland?

Almost always underseasoning. Mayonnaise and sour cream dull salt, so a filling that tastes properly seasoned in a plain bowl of chicken will taste flat once the creamy sauce goes in. Taste and adjust after you combine everything, not before. 

The other two fixes are acid and cheese: make sure the lemon juice actually went in, and use a sharp cheddar rather than a mild one. A pinch of celery salt or a few dashes of hot sauce stirred into the sauce also wake it up.

Should the chicken be diced or shredded?

Shredded is my preference, because the ragged edges hold onto the creamy sauce and give the casserole a softer, more cohesive texture. Diced chicken stays more distinct and gives you defined bites of meat, which some people prefer. 

Either works. What matters more is that the pieces are roughly bite-sized, since large chunks make the casserole awkward to serve.

Can I use cream of chicken soup instead?

You can, but you do not need to, and I would encourage you to try it this way first. A lot of hot chicken salad recipes lean on a can of condensed soup as the binder. This version uses mayonnaise, sour cream, and lemon juice instead, which gives you a fresher, tangier filling rather than the muted flavor canned soup tends to bring. 

If you want to use it, substitute about a cup of condensed soup for the mayonnaise and sour cream, and cut back on the added salt.

Why did my casserole turn out oily?

Two usual culprits. Reduced-fat or light mayonnaise contains stabilizers and extra water that separate under heat, so full-fat mayonnaise holds together much better in a baked dish. The second is overbaking. This casserole only needs to be heated through, so once the filling is bubbling at the edges, pull it. Extra time in the oven pushes the fat out of the cheese and the sauce.

More Old-Fashioned Chicken Casseroles

• King Ranch Chicken
• Old Fashioned Chicken and Rice Casserole
• Chicken Noodle Casserole from Scratch (No Soup!)
• Chicken Spaghetti Casserole
• Chicken and Biscuits