What to Serve with Chicken Salad

With the weather warming up, it’s a great time to start hosting gatherings. Getting a group together for a picnic or planning a home cookout allows you and your guests to share both delicious food and memorable moments. If you’re going to serve a crisp and creamy chicken salad at your next event, there are a number of dishes that you can coordinate around this central entree. Bake your favorite homemade bread recipe to serve with your chicken salad as well as wholesome vegetable soups for more nutritious goodness, refreshing cocktails to beat the heat, savory sides, and decadent desserts to round out a thoughtful and cohesive menu.

Because chicken salad is so versatile and no two recipes are alike, it’s worth noting the overall flavor profile you want to achieve and how best to choose complementary dishes. There are so many different bread recipes to create the perfect housing for your salad. The vibrant colors and bold flavors of vegetable soups are a delight anytime of year, with special attention paid to gazpacho for a cool contrast in the warmer months. Whipping up a batch of refreshments is also a great way to play with seasonal flavors and colors while leaving room for your favorite side dishes and indulgent desserts. Some of these recipes can build off of one another if your chicken salad ingredients happen to overlap, meaning a condensed shopping list and plates full of amazing food.

While having a solid chicken salad recipe is a great start, the cornerstone of any chicken salad sandwich is the bread on which you place it. For picnics especially, baking your own homemade bread brings the meal a step above and infuses the flavors and satisfaction of biting into a freshly baked good. The flavors found in your chicken salad recipe can inform what kind of scratch-made bread you pair in a sandwich or slider format.

For example, an herb-rich chicken salad would go particularly well between two slices of a kale pesto-swirled sourdough for plenty of earthy green flavor. If you prefer to let the bold tastes of your chicken salad shine through, a light homemade sandwich bread recipe will do wonders to take your picnic offering to the next level. For a hearty bread that can withstand a heavier style of chicken salad, try an easy pumpernickel bread recipe. The only limit to the possibilities here is your imagination.

In either a picnic or a party setting, making soup is an excellent go-with to complement your favorite chicken salad recipe. Particularly in the warmer months, cold or chilled soups like gazpacho are ideal; however, there’s always room for a small slurp of warmth and comfort no matter the season. Adding a helping of wholesome vegetables adds significant nutritional value and brightens up your menu with a bit of lush color too.

On the cooler side, start with a green gazpacho recipe that boasts a refreshing combination of cucumbers and avocado, heat from Thai chiles, and savory notes of garlic and onion, all finished off with fresh dill, mint, and parsley. For a warmer option, you can also try a super springy vegetable soup recipe that’s as colorful as it is tasty, providing the ideal complement to your chicken salad with a mixture of asparagus, kale, celery, leeks, peas, white beans, and plenty of garlic. Or you can infuse a bit of richness and earthy green flavor with an easy cream of asparagus soup recipe, which would be excellent when served out of miniature tureens at your next gathering.

When planning an event during warmer weather, it’s imperative you include a cooling beverage on your menu. Whether cocktails or mocktails, serving refreshing drinks is a great way to keep your guests comfortable while also complementing the flavors of your chicken salad. Going for fruity and fun is always acceptable, particularly if your chicken salad includes fruits such as green apples, grapes, or dried cranberries.

For a crave-worthy batched cocktail, try a grown-up jungle juice recipe you can serve out of a punch bowl or even a hollowed-out watermelon as a party centerpiece. Speaking of watermelon, creamy frozen watermelon cocktails are ideal to pack up and bring to a picnic. On the zero-proof side, you can also whip up a wonderful watermelon mint margarita mocktail recipe that everyone will enjoy. Think about all the flavors at play in your chicken salad to inform what drinks you dream up.

Getting into more hearty territory, try pairing a few savory sides to your chicken salad for a balanced meal that gives everyone something to sample. Either matching the savory notes in your favorite chicken salad recipe or providing a clever counter to some of the sweetness therein, having variance in the taste of your mains and side dishes will help to create a fully-realized party menu. This is also ideal for serving food buffet-style to let your guests choose how much or how little they want.

No matter the occasion, an ultimate twice-baked potatoes recipe will surely be a showstopper. The creamy, cheesy, and savory mixture will make a thoughtful complement to chicken salad, especially if your recipe includes bacon for which you can double up on your grocery list to include in both dishes. Similarly bacon-rich but erring on the lighter side are bacon-wrapped green beans, which make a thoughtful pairing for a sit-down meal. When serving family-style, a baked mac and cheese casserole recipe is rich in creamy flavor and satisfying texture while providing a carb-loaded complement to any chicken salad.

There’s nothing quite as fun as planning a signature dessert to tie a party menu together. Handhelds or any dessert that can be prepared in an individual serving is preferable for either a party or picnic setting, but you can take some creative liberties with your favorite recipes. If your chicken salad has a higher ratio of fruits, you might want to consider a complementary dessert featuring those same fruits. Similarly, themed desserts and seasonal favorites are a wonderful way to bring cohesion to your meal.

If you use dried cranberries in your chicken salad, grab an extra package and use it to make simple cranberry pistachio cookies as a light and satisfying complement to your main course. Similarly, you can double up on raisins and create a rich bread pudding that can be cut into individual portions. Playing off the flavors of the warmer seasons, strawberry lemon cupcakes are an easy handheld to prepare and pack, adding a zesty tartness to finish off your meal. Finally, if you love a good theme, make a picture perfect Princess Diaries-inspired sorbet of pear and mint to complete your meal with a spoonful of refreshing nostalgia.