Classic Dill Chicken Salad

School starts next week and the back-to-school chaos has begun. Noah needs new shoes because he grew two inches over the summer and his feet are apparently in a race with the rest of his body. Emma needs a specific brand of backpack that all her friends have, which costs more than my first month of groceries in college. Jack needs everything because he's starting kindergarten and kindergarten requires an astonishing amount of supplies for someone who is five.

I spent Monday evening labeling supplies with a Sharpie while Kevin assembled a new lunchbox. Twenty-four crayons, twelve colored pencils, four glue sticks, two boxes of tissues, a package of baby wipes, and a change of clothes in a gallon Ziploc bag. For kindergarten. When I was five, I showed up with a pencil and my lunch and nobody asked for a gallon Ziploc bag because gallon Ziploc bags hadn't been invented yet and also it was rural Iowa and we had different standards.

I made a big batch of chicken salad this week — poached chicken breasts, shredded, mixed with mayo, celery, a squeeze of lemon, salt, pepper, a pinch of dried dill. It keeps in the fridge for five days and goes on bread, on crackers, in lettuce wraps, or straight out of the container with a fork when you're standing at the counter at ten PM because you forgot to eat dinner. Working mothers eat standing up. It's a documented phenomenon.

Jack is nervous about kindergarten. He hasn't said so — Jack doesn't verbalize emotions, he enacts them, and the way he's enacted nervousness this week is by watering his sunflowers three times a day and checking the marigolds every hour and asking me what kind of soil the school playground has. I told him I didn't know. He said he'd check. He is five and he intends to assess the soil quality of his new school. I love this kid so much it feels dangerous.

I called Mom to tell her about school starting. She told me to pack extra snacks in Jack's lunchbox because "that boy eats like a field hand." He weighs forty pounds. He eats like a bird. But Marlene Weber believes in feeding children the way she believes in gravity — it's a fundamental force that requires no justification — and if she says pack extra snacks, I will pack extra snacks. You don't argue with the woman who canned forty quarts in August.

With kindergarten looming and Jack quietly stress-tending his garden and Mom issuing snack mandates from four states away, I needed something I could make without thinking too hard — something cool and easy that would keep in the fridge and slide into a lunchbox without drama. Chicken salad has always been my low-stakes answer to high-stakes weeks. Here’s the version I keep coming back to.

Prep Time: 10 min | Cook Time: 20 min | Total Time: 30 min (plus cooling) | Servings: 6

Ingredients

2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 3 medium)
1/2 cup mayonnaise
3 stalks celery, finely diced
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon dried dill
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
4 cups cold water (for poaching)
1/2 teaspoon whole peppercorns (for poaching)
1 bay leaf (for poaching)

Instructions

Poach the chicken. Place chicken breasts in a medium saucepan with the cold water, peppercorns, and bay leaf. Bring to a gentle boil over medium-high heat, then reduce to a low simmer. Cook 15–18 minutes until the thickest part registers 165°F. Remove chicken and set aside on a cutting board to cool for 15 minutes. Discard the poaching liquid or save as light broth.
Shred the chicken. Using two forks or your hands, shred the cooled chicken into bite-sized pieces. You want some variation in texture — not too fine, not too chunky.
Mix the salad. In a large bowl, combine the shredded chicken, mayonnaise, celery, lemon juice, dried dill, salt, and pepper. Stir until everything is evenly coated. Taste and adjust salt and lemon as needed.
Chill and store. Transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before serving to let the flavors come together. Keeps in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Serve. Spoon onto sandwich bread, pile onto crackers, wrap in butter lettuce leaves, or eat directly from the container with a fork. All methods are valid.

Nutrition (per serving)

Classic Dill Chicken Salad — The Fridge Staple That Feeds Everyone From the Kindergartner to the Mom Eating Standing Up at Ten PM