Hot Chicken Salad with Potato Chips
This is not your average chicken salad! Hot Chicken Salad with Potato Chips is served warm and bubbly from the oven, with crackers and veggies for scooping it up.
Chicken salad is a party favorite. Chicken Salad with Grapes is one of my go-tos for a spring or summer lunch.
But this old fashioned Hot Chicken Salad with Potato Chips takes it up another level! First of all, it’s fully loaded with lots of diced chicken, celery, hard boiled eggs, and pecans. Those get mixed with a smooth mayo dressing, then baked until bubbly with plenty of shredded cheese and potato chips on top.
Adding chips to a casserole is a familiar technique for jazzing up classic casseroles, like in this Taco Casserole with Fritos or my grandma’s Old Fashioned Tuna Noodle Casserole. The contrast between the smooth and creamy salad and the crunch from the potato chips is divine!
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Ingredients
- Chopped cooked chicken is the base of this dish. Rotisserie chicken works great. Any leftover chicken is delightful in Nixon Chicken.
- Celery and pecans add lots of crunch.
- Hard boiled eggs are a fun surprise ingredient. Everyone loves when these are included!
- Mayonnaise holds it all together. You can use regular or light.
- Shredded cheddar melts and gets gooey on top—yum! Use your favorite cheese here.
- Crushed potato chips are an unexpected addition to the top. They add the perfect amount of crunch!
How to make hot chicken salad with Potato Chip Topping
Start by hard boiling the eggs. I like this tutorial on how to steam eggs—they are seriously so much easier to peel than boiling them!
Then, chop the cooked chicken into half inch pieces and crush the potato chips.
For the salad, combine the chicken, celery, onion, hard boiled eggs, lemon juice, salt, and pecans in a large bowl. Stir gently to combine.
Add the mayonnaise, and stir to combine.
Pour the mixture into a greased 13×9 inch dish. Spread it evenly so it covers the bottom. You could even use a slightly smaller, decorative casserole dish for this—mine is 11.5×9 inches.
Sprinkle the shredded cheddar on top, followed by the crushed potato chips.
Bake for 25–30 minutes, or until the filling is bubbly and warm. Serve the Hot Chicken Salad with Potato Chips while it’s still warm, with crackers for scooping.
Hot Chicken Salad: Frequently Asked Questions
Use potato chips that you like! I used kettle cooked potato chips, just a regular variety. I think jalapeño chips or cheese flavored chips would be good, too! Or how about dill pickle flavored chips?!
Cut a croissant in half and spoon the hot chicken salad in the middle. Top with lettuce and tomato, and serve. It would also be good on baguette or thick slices of toast. If you like potato chips in your sandwiches, this is a must-try!
This recipe doesn’t have any gluten-containing ingredients (but check the labels of any packaged items just to be sure!). Serve it with gluten-free crackers or veggies to enjoy it without any gluten.
To make it dairy-free, use a dairy-free cheese for the top. The rest of the ingredients don’t contain dairy, but check the label of anything packaged just in case.
Add spice by stirring one-quarter teaspoon of cayenne pepper before baking. It’ll give it a nice spicy kick!
How to customize this recipe
As with many savory recipes, this one is easy to customize and/or tweak for your preferences and what you have on hand. Here are a few ideas to get started:
- Use leftover cooked chicken, a rotisserie chicken, or pre-grilled chicken strips for the chicken. Really any chicken with a simple seasoning or no seasoning works well.
- Use light mayonnaise instead of regular mayonnaise.
- Try 3 sliced green onions in place of the yellow onion.
- Sprinkle shredded monterey jack, or your favorite type of shredded cheese, on the top.
- Substitute flavored potato chips in place of regular potato chips. If you like spice, try jalapeño flavored chips on top!
- Don’t like pecans? Leave them out, or substitute walnuts or slivered almonds instead (almonds are more traditional in chicken salad).
- In a rush? Skip the hard boiled eggs. That’s the step that takes the most time, aside from the 25–30 minutes of baking time. Or you can use store-bought hard boiled eggs that are already peeled.
📖 Recipe
Hot Chicken Salad with Potato Chips
Ingredients
- 3 cups cooked chicken, chopped
- ½ cup chopped pecans
- 2 cups diced celery (about 6–7 stalks)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 hard boiled eggs, chopped
- ½ small yellow onion, finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1⅓ cups mayonnaise
- 1 cup crushed potato chips
- 1 cup grated cheddar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°.
- In a large bowl, combine the chicken, pecans, celery, salt, hard boiled eggs, onion, and lemon juice. Stir to combine. Gently mix in the mayonnaise.
- Grease a 13×9 inch pan with cooking spray. Pour the chicken mixture into the pan and spread it out evenly. Top evenly with the cheddar, then with the crushed potato chips.
- Bake for 25–30 minutes, or until the filling is bubbling. Serve immediately on its own, or with crackers and veggies for dipping.
Sounds really good I will be making this
Thanks, Amy! Hope you enjoy it!