This easy potato and chicken salad is colorful, filling, easy to make, and doesn't make you hot. What else can you ask from a summer dish? But my favorite thing about it is that it can be served as a great salad for cookouts or as a light summer meal to reuse chicken leftovers.
Why we ❤️ it
Cooking in the summer is relegated to the cooler hours of the day in our home. I dislike cooking and eating heavy meals when I am hot. I have mastered the technique of cooking with a minimum of effort. I am the ninja of the one-dish meal, just like this one.
This filling summer salad is perfect for these dog days (is it technically a salad if several ingredients are cooked? I am full of questions). My favorite thing is that it can be served with other dishes (perfect for BBQs and cookouts), or as a light summer meal.
Variations
This is a very flexible recipe. You can add more veggies, like boiled and diced carrots, blanched peas or green beans (frozen or from a can), and sweet corn (frozen or from a can). You can also leave out ingredients you don't like.
And if you have a few boiled potatoes left over from another dinner, you're set. No cooking is necessary whatsoever.
You can use purple potatoes if you find them for an extra fancy touch. I used Yukon gold because I like its bright yellow color and that they stay firmer, which is my preference, but choose a floury potato if you prefer a creamier consistency.
The recipe calls for supermarket rotisserie chicken, which means you can serve the rest of the chicken for lunch and this salad for dinner.
Chicken salad.
Serving suggestions
You can serve this salad with your Dominican cookout recipes. It's fantastic for potlucks, and on any occasion you'd typically serve our ensalada rusa salad.
Leave out the potatoes and you can also serve it with tostones or saltine crackers as an appetizer, or as rich creamy filling in a sandwich.
Top tips
- The potatoes should be boiled beforehand with a teaspoon of salt added to the water, or you can use leftover boiled potatoes from another meal.
- Both mayo and rotisserie chicken already has salt, so I did not need salt in the salad. Taste and salt to taste if you find it necessary.
- You can add a tablespoon of dijon mustard to the dressing if you have any at home
- For a lighter salad, you may substitute half of the mayo for an equal amount of sour cream.
- If you have leftover homemade grilled chicken at home, you can use it for this salad. You can also use a can of chicken in brine, drained. You can also boil a chicken breast with a couple of garlic cloves, black pepper in salted water, then drain and shred it.
- Served as a light meal, this serves 4; as a salad, serves 6.
About this recipe
There isn't just one recipe for ensalada de pollo y papas in the Dominican Republic. Leafing through my collection of antique Dominican cookbooks some salads are similar to this, and some are very different.
This salad is inspired by some of the "plato del día" meals I've had throughout my life, where similar potato and chicken salads are sometimes available.
Get creative; you can hardly go wrong here, and add or change any vegetables or flavors you wish (I have even seen it served over whole lettuce leaves and even with cubed pineapple in them!). And let me know in the comments what your favorite ensalada de pollo contains.
Video
Recipe
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Ensalada de Pollo [Recipe + Video] Easy Potato and Chicken Salad
Ingredients
- 1 medium red onion
- ¼ cup apple vinegar, or lime juice from a lime
- 1½ pound potatoes, [0.68 kg], boiled, peeled, and diced (see notes)
- ¾ cup diced bell peppers
- 3 cup supermarket rotisserie chicken, shredded finely
- ¾ cup thinly-sliced celery stalk
- 1 cup mayonnaise, (or more, to taste)
Instructions
1. Steep onion
Add vinegar to the bowl with the onion and let it rest for 10 minutes.Discard the vinegar.
2. Mixing salad
- Combine the onion and the remaining ingredients in a large bowl. If you won't serve right away, cover and keep chilled for later.
3. Serving
- This salad keeps refrigerated for about a day. Once chilled, serve right out of the fridge so the mayonnaise doesn't spoil.
Tips and Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is calculated automatically based on ingredients listed. Please consult your doctor if you need precise nutrition information.
More chicken recipes
We love our chicken recipes, and you can find many ways to prepare our favorite meat here: Don't miss our pollo guisado braised chicken, or pica pollo, the Dominican fried chicken, and our popular chicharrón de pollo crispy chicken bites.
For summer, pollo con salsa wasakaka, pollo a la plancha and pincho de pollos are just a few more of our favorite.
