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Ensalada de Pollo is a Mexican recipe that’s a party favorite – a fiesta for your mouth and your guests as well. It consists of chicken and vegetables dressed in a creamy mayonnaise dressing. It’s easy, delicious, and perfect for any gathering.
Every birthday party. Every quinceañera. Every gathering that involves half a dozen Mexicans and a good mariachi, you will find Ensalada de Pollo.
It is guaranteed to be a crowd pleaser and comes together in a snap.
A little kitchen magic at your fingertips. What is not to love about that!
This salad is a great way to use up what you already have in the fridge.
You will need leftover chicken. You can also use a rotisserie chicken but remove the skin.
Then chop it up into tiny pieces or shred it. Whatever method you prefer.
Seriously, I can’t tell you how much I love this recipe. It is the BEST dish to take to potlucks.
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.
From here, the Ensalada de Pollo varies.
You can add peas, carrots, green beans, potato, or corn. You can add a few of these ingredients or all of them, then combine.
You can use canned corn, canned peas and carrots, canned green beans, canned diced potatoes. Or, you can use the fresh kind.
Again, it depends on you, your imagination and what you have hanging out in your kitchen.
I have even seen people add pickled cauliflower and pickled carrots in the Ensalada de Pollo. It was very tasty!
This recipe is very forgiving and very adaptable.
The dressing is very simple: sour cream, mayonnaise, lemon, and yellow mustard.
You can add as much sour cream or mayo as you like.
I personally like to do equal parts sour cream and mayo, but if you are not a mayo fan, you can also use more sour cream, or swap it out for crema mexicana or plain yogurt.
A mixture or use just one. It really depends on you, your taste, and what you have in the fridge. Speaking of fridge…
How Long Can Ensalada de Pollo Last without Refrigeration?
I’ve been to parties in Mexico where things were left out for hours… Please don’t do that.
If it has been out at room temperature for more than two hours, don’t eat it. You can get sick.
If it has been a hot day (we’re talking 90 degrees F and up), you should only let it out for 1 hour.
You really want to dress the chicken (not for a red carpet appearance). 🙂 So, start by mixing the chicken and the dressing first.
I like the chicken to be fully coated with the dressing. That is why I do this first.
You can use chicken breast, chicken legs, chicken thighs. Whatever part of the chicken you have is good to use.
The other thing: please notice the container. I am not transferring to a fancy container for serving.
This is literally the bowl that I took to my potluck party.
Then add your veggies and mix well.
Origins of Ensalada de Pollo:
My gringo husband said Ensalada de Pollo reminded him of his grandmother’s cooking, and potlucks where little old ladies meet to play bridge, gossip and drink urns full of coffee.
His comment made me look up the history of this “traditional” Mexican recipe.
It turns out to be American! Say what?!! Yup! We adopted it from our amigos in the north.
The chicken salad using homemade mayonnaise was published in 1847. It can be found in the 19th-century Southern cookbooks, The Carolina Housewife: Or, House and Home. First noted author was someone named Sarah Rutledge.
Well, every culture takes a dish or two from other cultures and make them their own.
That’s the same situation here. Somehow, we heard about it in Mexico and have been making it ever since.
Serve your Ensalada de Pollo along with plenty of saltine crackers, on top of a crunchy tostada, or a leaf of lettuce.
You also can’t forget a few pickled jalapeño slices. Something about that brine and spice that is sooooo yummy. It’s a perfect topping for the Ensalada de Pollo.
Some people will even put them or the jalapeño juice from the container into the dressing itself.
If you are serving this dish to a large crowd, you do NOT know who doesn’t like spicy food… best to leave it as a topping for people to add on their own as I have here with this recipe.
Hope you enjoy!
Watch Video How To Make Ensalada de Pollo
Ensalada de Pollo
Ingredients
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1 tablespoon yellow mustard
- Juice of ½ lemon or 1 lime
- Salt
- 4 cups cooked chicken
- 1 cup cooked potato diced
- 1 cup cooked carrots diced
- 1 cup cooked peas
- ½ cup cooked corn
Instructions
- In a container, add the mayonnaise, sour cream, mustard, lemon, salt.
- Mix until combined.
- Add the chicken and mix well.
- Then add the remaining ingredients and mix until well combined.
- Taste for salt.
- Refrigerate until ready to use.
- Serve along with saltine cracker, tostada, or lettuce and top with jalapeños.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.
More Mexican Chicken Recipes:
Entomatadas de Pollo (Chicken Entomatadas)
Enmoladas de Pollo (Chicken Mole Enchiladas)
Chicken in Creamy Poblano Sauce (or Pollo en Crema de Chile Poblano)
Chicken Tinga Tostadas
Mexican Deviled Chicken, or Pollo a la Diabla
Chicken Drumsticks in Tamarind Chile Sauce
Mexican Chicken Torta
Chicken in Creamy Chipotle Sauce, or Pollo al Chipotle
Caldo de Pollo, or Mexican Chicken Soup
Milanesa de Pollo (Chicken Milanese)
Pollo Adobado (Chicken in Adobo Sauce)
Pozole Blanco, or White Chicken Pozole
Pollo en Crema
This mexican chicken salad was amazing! I had the most delicious sandwich with the leftovers, thanks for sharing!
So glad you enjoyed this!
I usually eat a variation of this. Always so yummy. Thanks for sharing this recipe.
So glad you enjoyed this!
What an interesting salad. Looks so good the way you have it on crackers! I’ll have to try making this.
Interesting and delicious! Hope you try it
I love Mexican food and I also love creamy salad like this! It looks so delicious. It would be perfect for lunch.
Hope you try this recipe. It’s delicious
I love how creamy this salad is! I’ve never tried this and would love to add this to lettuce wraps!
lettuce wraps! what a great idea. Hope you try this recipe
Looks so tasty. I can see how this would be a real crowd pleaser at family gatherings and picnics. Another great use of leftovers!
This chicken salad is the best! Hope you try it
There is something about creamy salads that makes them so irresistible. What I love the most is that they can be used as a side dish, or in a sandwich! All the flavour, and such a practical texture! Great tips all along, also!
So glad you enjoyed this!
This Mexican chicken salad was so yummy! I think it’s the best chicken salad I’ve ever had! Thanks so much for the recipe!
So glad you liked it! It’s delicious
Question for you … the recipe calls for yellow mustard but in the video it looks like you used a grainy mustard. Can you please confirm if you use grainy mustard, Dijon mustard or regular plain yellow mustard? Thanks in advance!!
Either is fine. My hubby is German. He likes his mustard. lol! And that’s what I used in the video. Traditionally, though, it’s yellow mustard.
OH MY WORD does this look tasty!!! This is exactly what I need tonight for movie snacks! It looks perfectly creamy and filling! Thank you so much for sharing!
It’s delicious. Glad you enjoyed it!
Mmm a delicious dip or spread for wraps and sandwiches…this sounds delicious and a great idea for leftover chicken!!
Glad you liked it. Hope you try it!
This recipe looks so perfect for parties or as an appetizer also. Seems yummy and definitely like something I’d want to try!
Perfect for parties indeed. Hope you try it!
This recipe was fantastic. The entire family enjoyed it, and I will be making this again soon!! I love your blog and recipes!!! They are fantastic!!!
Looking forward to your following recipe
Heidy
Thank you very much! So glad you enjoyed the recipe
This is a perfect recipe to use leftovers! It’s delicious and I love it for picnics. Thanks for sharing!
So glad you enjoyed this