Potato, carrot and peas boiled and dressed with mayonnaise, with fried chicken cut into pieces stirred through at the end. Twenty minutes, four servings.
Let everything cool
The vegetables come out of the water and go into a bowl with a cup of mayonnaise. Between those two moments they have to cool.
Mayonnaise is oil suspended in egg yolk and it holds together only within a narrow range. Warm potato pushes it past that: the oil comes out of suspension, the dressing turns thin and slick, and there is no stirring it back together.
Drain them well for the same reason. Water left on boiled potato thins the mayonnaise just as effectively as heat breaks it.
Five to ten minutes, not more
The potato and carrot are cut small before they go in, which is why the boiling time is so short. They should come out tender but still firm enough to keep their edges.
Test with a knife. Slight resistance is right. If it goes through like butter, the pieces will crumble the moment the mayonnaise is stirred in and you end up with something closer to a purée.
The chicken goes in last
Three hundred grams of chicken, seasoned with salt and pepper, fried on both sides and cut into small squares.
It joins the bowl after the vegetables are already dressed, and it is stirred in carefully rather than beaten through. That keeps the pieces recognisable, which is most of the difference between this and a potato salad with something brown in it.
Two things that were not ingredients
The ingredient list on this page ended with two entries: the word Notes, and the sentence You can add fresh lettuce.
Neither is food. A notes heading and its contents had slipped into the shopping list, and both were being published inside the structured ingredient data search engines read.
The lettuce suggestion is a good one and it has moved to the recipe notes, which is where it started.
More salads
- Russian salad — the version with beetroot.
- Rice salad — with tuna and corn.
- Egg and potato salad — the same potatoes, no chicken.
- Cabbage salad — dressed with lime instead.
Vegetable and Chicken Salad FAQ
Yes. Mayonnaise is an emulsion held together by egg yolk, and warm vegetables break it: the oil separates out and the dressing goes thin and greasy. Let them cool and drain properly first.
So the potato and carrot hold their shape. A knife should meet slight resistance when they come out. Boiled soft, they crumble into the mayonnaise and the salad turns to paste.
Yes, and the recipe suggests it. Add it at the last moment, since dressed lettuce wilts within the hour.
Close. It is the Colombian version of the same idea, with fried chicken instead of ham and no beetroot. The mayonnaise, potato, carrot and peas are the common ground.
Yes, and it saves two steps. The recipe fries 300 grams of chicken and cuts it into squares, but any cooked chicken cut the same way works.
A day in the fridge. Mayonnaise salads do not improve with time and the potato goes grainy once it has been cold for too long.
📖 Recipe
Ingredients
- 300 g chicken
- 1 cup peas
- 2 carrots (chopped small)
- 3 potatoes (chopped small)
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- Oil (for frying the chicken)
- Salt and pepper
Notas
Instructions
- Chop the carrot and the potato into small pieces and set them aside.
- Put the chopped potato, the chopped carrot and the peas in a pot of water and cook for 5 to 10 minutes, until the vegetables are tender. Drain them and set them aside.
- Season the chicken with salt and pepper on both sides.
- Heat a little oil in a skillet and fry the chicken on both sides.
- Take it out of the skillet and cut it into small squares.
- In a bowl, put the cooked carrot, potato and peas and add the mayonnaise. Stir well.
- Add the chicken pieces and stir again, carefully.
- Taste, adjust the salt, and serve.
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