Hot Chicken Salad
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This creamy Southern chicken casserole (a.k.a a hot chicken salad) includes tender chicken, celery, and boiled eggs baked with a crunchy potato chip topping.
I’m bringing you a little treasure today in the form of my Granny Jordan’s old-fashioned Southern chicken casserole recipe. Back in the day, this baked chicken salad was regularly seen at lunch, brunch, dinner, potlucks, church picnics, and tailgating parties. It’s typically served as a savory dip-style casserole with bread or Ritz crackers for dipping, but more on that below.
This is such a quick and easy hot chicken salad recipe. All we need to do is mix our ingredients together, which are mayo, cream of chicken soup, shredded chicken, celery, onion, and boiled eggs. We add this to a casserole dish, top it with lots of crunchy and salty potato chips, and bake! That’s it! It will be ready in just 20 minutes.
This chicken casserole is so creamy, thanks to the mayo and cream of chicken soup. But it’s also super flavorful and texturized, as you have the crunch of the celery and potato chips combined with the tender chicken and eggs. Basically, it’s a taste sensation and you need to bake it immediately. Yes, really!
Recipe Ingredients
- Ritz crackers and lettuce (for serving)
- Mayo
- Onion
- Boiled eggs
- Celery
- Chicken
- Cream of chicken soup
- Potato chips
How to Make Hot Chicken Salad
Chop up your boiled eggs…
As well as your celery and onion.
Chuck all of those ingredients into a large bowl.
Then add the cream of chicken soup, cooked chicken, and mayonnaise.
Give it a good stir and it’ll look a little bit like this.
Spread the chicken mixture into an 8×8 casserole dish.
Top with crushed potato chips.
Bake at 350 for 20 minutes and your hot chicken salad is ready to serve. How easy was that?
Serve hot on a bed of lettuce with Ritz crackers.
I also have to admit I love to serve this baked chicken salad cold like this Southern chicken salad for sandwiches.
It’s delicious either way. Enjoy!
Storage
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. Reheat them in the microwave, oven, or air fryer. I don’t recommend freezing the casserole as creamy sauces don’t thaw well.
Recipe Notes
Here are some variations to make this hot chicken salad recipe work for you:
- Add 1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese. You can mix this into the chicken casserole or add it on top along with the potato chips. Alternatively, add cheddar cheese to the casserole and sprinkle parmesan cheese on top.
- For extra flavor, add 1 jar of diced pimientos (drained).
- For extra crunch, add 1 cup of sliced/slivered almonds.
- Use any kind of cooked chicken, like rotisserie chicken, canned chicken, or shredded boneless skinless chicken breast.
- Add more veggies, like 1 can of water chestnuts, 1 cup of chopped red bell pepper, or 1 cup of sliced mushrooms.
- Garnish with chopped fresh parsley or green onion.
- Add diced cooked bacon for added flavor.
- Substitute the potato chips for toasted breadcrumbs, french fried onions, or crushed cornflakes.
- Add a tablespoon of bottled or fresh lemon juice for a pleasant tang.
Recipe FAQs
How do you serve a hot chicken salad?
I like to serve my hot chicken salad casserole on a bed of lettuce with Ritz crackers, cornbread, homemade buttermilk biscuits, or bread. But it also tastes delicious as a main dish with cooked rice and a side of fresh green beans.
Check out these other chicken casserole recipes:
Chicken Tortilla Casserole (Cooked in the Microwave)
Cheesy Chicken and Corn Casserole
Cheesy Chicken Broccoli Casserole With Rice
Ingredients
- 1 cooked chicken
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 1 can cream of chicken soup
- 2 chopped boiled eggs
- 3/4 cup diced celery
- 1/2 onion, diced
- 1/3 cup cracker crumbs (optional)
- 1 cup potato chips
- Ritz crackers and lettuce for serving (optional)
Instructions
- Mix chicken, mayo, soup, eggs, celery, onion, and cracker crumbs in a medium bowl.1 cooked chicken, 1/2 cup mayonnaise, 1 can cream of chicken soup, 2 chopped boiled eggs, 3/4 cup diced celery, 1/2 onion, diced, 1/3 cup cracker crumbs (optional)
- Spread into an 8x8 baking dish and top with crushed potato chips.1 cup potato chips
- Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.
- Serve hot or cold over a bed of lettuce with Ritz crackers.Ritz crackers and lettuce for serving (optional)
I’m quoting myself today!
Each day when you wake up you have a choice. You can have a good day or you can have a bad day. So you might as well have a good one.
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Christy, I have been enjoying your site for 3-4 years now, not only the recipes, but your collection of pyrex. I love your SP cookbook, and just looked at it to make sure this particular recipe was included and it is, goody:) However, what I want to tell you today is what a blessing your comments about your grandparents are. My sisters and I grew up without grandparents, so until we started our families we had NO IDEA how special grandparents must be! I find myself writing things in the back of my bible, or writing on something else and sticking it in the back of my bible, hoping they will make my daughter and grandson smile when they find them….God bless you for all the work you do and for your faith and optimism!
I also had a Granny Jordan. She lived all her life in southside Virginia and she was a great cook. She used to let me experiment in her kitchen. I learned all she could teach (except how to scald a chicken to remove the feathers!). I miss her terribly.
Having plucked chickens for my sil to can I can tell you that it’s really simple but totally disgusting, tne worst is singing the plucked chickens to get the pin feathers, stink doesn’t cover it, I did that when I was 19 am now 66 and that smell is still there.
Oh my goodness, that must be a horrid smell!!
Some of my most treasured recipes are the hand written ones that I received from my grandmother. She also was a Southern lady, but from South Carolina. Looking at the one your grandmother wrote, I was amazed that their handwriting looks exactly the same. I honestly can’t tell a difference between the two.
That is too funny Sharon. But I can remember my grandmother talking about her penmanship course…perhaps that is where they learned to write the same 🙂
I’m thinking the same thing, Pam. I’m going to get the celery tomorrow. BTW, this is your HUSBAND’S grandmother, right? Granny Jordan? Not that married folks can’t claim their in-laws as their own. She was absolutely beautiful, like your little daughter. =^..^=
Why Have I not tried this one before!! Sounds so good!
it would be easy to upload it all to an e-book. They have free templates. I am using one to copy our family history to make an ebook for the family. (p.s. I would love to have a copy if you did!)
@ Janet Creswell, I would use tuna instead of the chicken and use cream if celery instead of cream of chicken soup. 🙂