This Mexican Chicken Salad (Ensalada De Pollo) is a light and fresh comfort food classic. Made with a few simple ingredients such as cubed chicken, mayonnaise, potatoes and celery, and a creamy dressing with just the right kick. It’s the perfect combination of creamy and crispy.
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Mexican Chicken Salad
It’s the perfect salad when you are asked to bring a dish to a party or just want a quick and easy meal. It goes great with Agua De Piña or Cucumber Agua Fresca.
Recipes like this are perfect for spring and summer when you don’t want to spend much time in the kitchen. You can make it for a picnic, a potluck, or for lunch at home when you feel like eating something fresh & easy.
The difference between the American Chicken Salad vs. this one is that in Mexico we add a few more veggies and how the dressing is made. It’s similar to Ensalada De Atun and equally delicious!
Let me show you how to make it. Everything comes together in less than 25 minutes!
🩷 xoxo, Ana
**This post was originally published on April 2021. It has been updated to be more helpful.
Ingredients & Substitutes
Making this Ensalada is fast and easy-peasy! Using rotisserie chicken helps speed up the process since there’s no cooking time involved.
- Cubed chicken breast: Cook your own chicken breast or for a quick salad just buy a rotisserie chicken to save time!
- Potatoes: they can be russet potatoes or your preferred kind.
- Celery
- Frozen peas & carrots or mixed vegetables
- Pickled jalapeños
- Shredded lettuce (optional)
For the dressing
- Light mayonnaise
- Mexican crema, non-fat plain Greek yogurt or sour cream
- Mustard
- Pickled jalapeño juice
- Lime juice (optional)
- Salt & Pepper
How to make Ensalada De Pollo
This is a visual overview of the steps to make this recipe. See the detailed list of ingredients & instructions in the recipe card below.
- Start by cooking the cubed potatoes in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and cook for about 8 to 10 minutes or until soft. Be careful not to overcook them.
- Drain and set aside to cool.
In a large bowl add the mayo, Mexican crema (or Greek yogurt), mustard, pickled jalapeño juice, and salt & pepper.
Mix all ingredients until combined well.
Add the chicken, celery, peas & carrots plus the chopped jalapeños. Mix to incorporate all ingredients with the Mayo dressing.
Add the potatoes and mix gently until well combined.
Taste for salt & pepper and add more if needed.
Serving Suggestions
There are so many different ways to serve chicken salad, and they all happen to be super delicious!
- With Saltines. Scoop up the salad with saltines or crackers. By the way, this is the preferred way in Mexico.
- Make a sandwich or use a pita bread. Make a sandwich or stuff your salad into half of a pita bread. Add lettuce and tomato, if you’d like.
- Lettuce cups. Spoon the salad into romaine or butter lettuce leaves.
- Wrap. Spread a tortilla with chicken salad and any other add-ins you like and roll up tightly. Cut in half and serve.
- Avocado. Stuff it into avocado halves for a low-carb option.
- Tostadas. Top a tostada with the salad and avocado for extra creaminess.
How to Store
Fridge: Chicken salad tastes the best when it’s eaten fresh, but it can be stored in an airtight container for 3-4 days. Because this has chicken and mayonnaise in it, don’t leave it sitting on the countertop for too long in room temperature.
More Easy Mexican Recipes
I hope you like this recipe! Share it, or leave a rating and comment below. For questions that need an answer right away, please contact me and I’ll get back to you asap. Gracias!!!! xx, Ana
Print Recipe:
Mexican Chicken Salad (Ensalada De Pollo)
Ingredients
- 2 medium potatoes or 4 small ones - peeled and chopped
- 4 cups cubed chicken breast from a rotisserie chicken (2 breast from a large chicken - (530 grams)
- 2 celery sticks - finely chopped
- 12 oz bag of frozen peas & carrots - defrosted
- 4 Tbsp pickled jalapeños - or more to taste
For the dressing
- ¾ cup light mayonnaise
- ¾ cup Mexican crema or non-fat plain Greek yogurt
- 2 Tbsp mustard
- 2 Tbsp pickled jalapeño juice or more to taste
- 1 tsp Kosher salt
- 1 tsp black ground pepper
Instructions
- In a small saucepan, add the cubed potatoes and cover with water. Bring to a boil and cook for about 8 to 10 minutes or until soft. Be careful not to overcook them.
- Drain and set aside to cool.
Make the dressing
- In a large bowl, combine the ¾ cup mayonnaise, ¾ cup Mexican crema (or Greek yogurt), 2 Tbsp mustard, 2 Tbsp pickled jalapeño juice, 1 tsp salt & 1 tsp pepper
Assemble the Ensalada
- Add the chicken, celery, peas & carrots plus the chopped jalapeños. Mix to incorporate all ingredients with the Mayo dressing.
- Add the potatoes and mix gently until well combined.
- Taste for salt & pepper and add more if needed.
- Serve at room temperature or cold. Store in refrigerator, covered for up to 3 days.
Your Private Notes
Nutrition
Hello! I recently tried Ensalada De Pollo at a friend’s family party and absolutely loved it so my Google search brought me to your page. I’m excited to try your recipe, especially because of the potatoes included! I’m curious if you prefer a certain kind of potato for this recipe? Can’t wait to try this! Thank you. 🙂
Hi Natalie! I’m happy to hear you’ll give this chicken salad a try! I don’t have a preference on potatoes. Red, white, small ones, etc. Anything goes 🙂
Let me know how you like it! xx, Ana
Hi Natalie! Sorry about the late reply! You can use any potatoes you like or have at home; red, white, russet, etc. Enjoy! xx Ana
So I’m used to the traditional “American” chicken salad so wasn’t sure about this. Very, very good. Nice change but being a traditionalist, I had it on a a nice roll with a little mayo. Perfect!
Yummm! So much flavor and SO easy to make! Thanks for sharing this winner … it’s gonna be hard to not eat it right out of the serving bowl with fork LOL
What an amazing salad it is! I made t for our lunch today, and it was yummy and delicious! I will be making it again.
This chicken salad is so perfect for lunch or dinner! I added mine to a sandwich and it was delicious! Thank you for this recipe!
This salad has the perfect kick. It’s a meal in a bowl. Thanks for sharing this delicious recipe.
Thanks for a perfect summer salad. This looks delicious.
So delicious! Love the slight sweet flavor.
Thank you so much Monica! I’m so happy you enjoyed this Ensalada De Pollo!