This Is The Most Searched For Mother's Day Recipe In The South

Although we are grateful year-round for our moms, Mother’s Day is a good reminder to do something special for her. Often that involves food, whether that’s breakfast in bed or a brunch with the whole family. Based on our research, it seems that a lot of us out there are planning a brunch for mom this year, with one recipe in particular standing out more than most.

No, it’s not an elaborate cake, or breakfast classics like pancakes. The most searched for Mother’s Day recipe in the South is Homemade Chicken Salad. It might be simple, but done right, we think Mom will be very impressed. 

Our Classic Recipe

Southern Living’s chicken salad is pretty much as classic as it gets. It starts with cooking the chicken from scratch. Yes, you can use rotisserie chicken, but trust us, it’s worth cooking the chicken yourself. We poach our chicken in a thyme-infused broth for extra flavor, and the super savory cooking liquid can be saved and used for future soups and stews. 

After shredding the cooked chicken, we dress it up with just a few simple ingredients. There’s celery for crunch, lemon juice for brightness, and of course there’s mayonnaise to bind it all together. If you ask us, this is a job for Duke’s, but your favorite brand will work just as well. 

While our list of ingredients ends here, there’s no reason you can’t fold in additional ingredients you love in your chicken salad. Add chopped pecans, grapes, apples, scallions, fresh herbs like dill or chives, or a dash of hot sauce. The list could go on forever, but you get the picture. Use our recipe as a solid foundation and then customize the salad to your tastes (or really your mother’s tastes, because you’re making this for her, right?).

What Readers Love About Our Chicken Salad

We aren’t the only ones who love this recipe, and to prove it, we thought we’d share a few of the 5-star reviews it has received. 

“This is my go-to recipe for chicken salad. It is worth the effort and carries a wonderful flavor that isn't matched by other shortcut methods. Best ever leftover tip: leftovers of this recipe make a fabulous chicken and dressing casserole base,” writes one Southern Living reader. 

Another excellent review seconds our belief in cooking the chicken from scratch and how much flavor it adds. “Outstanding. Worth the time of cooking fresh breasts in chicken broth instead of using leftover chicken!”

But our favorite part of this recipe might just be that with only 8 ingredients (including salt and pepper), 15 minutes of hands-on cooking time, and no fancy equipment required, anyone can pull off this recipe. Even those of us who never learned how to cook in the kitchen like mom.