Go Back
one soft potato-roll chicken salad sandwich cut into two halves on an ordinary plate, showing short shredded chicken in pale creamy dressing with tiny grated egg, celery and pickle pieces above a dry green lettuce leaf, with no bacon, tomato slices, grapes, chips or garnish
Andre Lewis

Classic Chicken Salad Sandwich

Steam the chicken, pull it into short shreds and fold in grated hard-cooked egg for a chicken salad with a soft, cohesive center. Sweet pickle relish and celery give it the familiar lunch-counter flavor, while a little yellow mustard sharpens the mayonnaise. Chill the filling before it goes into the rolls. Warm chicken salad will soften the bread and wilt the lettuce even when the sandwich looks neatly packed at first. The potato rolls should be soft enough to bite through without squeezing out the filling, with a dry lettuce leaf underneath to keep the salad from sitting directly against the bottom crumb.
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 1 hour 25 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 55 minutes
Servings: 4
Ingredients Method

Ingredients
  

  • 1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts no more than 1 1/2 inches thick
  • 2 cups water for steaming chicken
  • 2 large eggs
  • 3 cups water for cooking eggs
  • 2 cups ice cubes for egg cooling bath
  • 1 cup cold water for egg cooling bath
  • 1/3 cup mayonnaise
  • 2 tbsp sweet pickle relish drained of excess liquid
  • 1 tsp yellow mustard
  • 1 celery stalk finely diced
  • 1/2 tsp fine salt
  • 1/4 tsp black pepper
  • 4 soft potato sandwich rolls about 3 oz each, split
  • 4 butter lettuce leaves washed and thoroughly dried

Method
 

  1. Bring steaming water to a simmer under a steamer basket in a covered saucepan. Add chicken to the basket, cover and steam for 20 to 25 minutes until the thickest center reaches 165°F.
  2. Meanwhile, place eggs in a second saucepan with egg-cooking water and bring to a boil. Cover, remove from the heat and let stand for 12 minutes, then transfer eggs to a bowl with the ice and cold egg-bath water for 5 minutes.
  3. Shred cooked chicken into short pieces with clean forks and spread in a shallow container. Refrigerate promptly for about 60 minutes until 40°F or colder; the prep time includes this chilling period.
  4. Peel cooled eggs and grate them on the coarse holes of a box grater. Mix mayonnaise, relish, mustard, celery, salt and pepper in a bowl, then fold in cold chicken and grated eggs.
  5. Lay one dry lettuce leaf in each roll and divide chicken salad evenly among the 4 bottoms. Close gently and cut each sandwich across the middle.
  6. Serve cold or refrigerate promptly at 40°F or below, packing with ice packs for transport.