Chicken Salad With Avocado, Corn, and Miso Dressing

Mix up your classic chicken salad with this summery variation.

By
J. Kenji López-Alt
Kenji Lopez Alt
J. Kenji López-Alt
Culinary Consultant
Kenji is the former culinary director for Serious Eats and a current culinary consultant for the site. He is also a New York Times food columnist and the author of The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science.
Learn about Serious Eats' Editorial Process
Updated May 01, 2023
Overhead view of avocado and chicken salad on a green triangle patterned backdrop

Serious Eats / Victor Protasio

Why It Works

  • Cooking the chicken sous-vide allows you to cook it to a lower temperature than traditional methods, guaranteeing moister meat while maintaining food safety standards.
  • Adding aromatics to the sous-vide bags packs the chicken with flavor before you even begin to dress it.

The other day I discovered that the secret to making the best chicken salad is to cook that chicken in a sealed bag, packing the bag with aromatics that will give the chicken flavor before it even gets dressed. The method works great in a classic mayo-based chicken salad, but I hate to see a good technique relegated to one single use, so I decided to adapt it a bit.

Sous-vide chicken comes out so tender and juicy that it almost reminds me of fatty sashimi-grade tuna on your tongue. With that as inspiration, I started with the flavors of a Japanese nuta, a simple dish of tuna with a creamy dressing made with miso and mirin. I tried messing around with yuzu juice and Japanese-style Kewpie mayo but found both flavors to be a little overwhelming. Instead I opted for a pinch of hot Japanese mustard and shichimi togarashi (a Japanese seven spice blend made primarily with chili, black sesame seeds, nori, and dried orange peel) along with plain old lemon juice.

For the actual chicken, I stuck with the method I'd developed for my classic chicken salad, bagging bone-in skin-on chicken breasts with some aromatics (in this case scallions and ginger) and cooking it at 150°F for one hour to yield meat that is firm yet incredibly tender and juicy.

I often fold in a bit of avocado with my tuna nuta and that worked just as well in this chicken version. I also liked it with some sweet corn folded in. I tried cooking the corn two ways: boiled plain in salted water vs. sautéing until lightly browned. The latter won out in the end, adding a sweet nuttiness to the mix. For kicks I also tried microwaving the corn in a small bowl and accidentally discovered that if you microwave corn for long enough, it browns and sweetens very much as if you'd sautéed it! This is a trick that definitely merits some more thorough testing. I'll report back later in the summer.

In the meantime, this salad will do well to tide you over.

June 2015

This recipe was cross-tested in 2022 and lightly updated to guarantee best results. For slightly firmer chicken that's still juicy and tender, we increased the sous-vide temperature from 150º to 155ºF.

Recipe Details

Chicken Salad With Avocado, Corn, & Miso Dressing Recipe

Prep 15 mins
Cook 60 mins
Active 20 mins
Resting Time 15 mins
Total 90 mins
Serves 4 servings
Cook Mode (Keep screen awake)

Ingredients

  • 1 3/4 pounds whole bone-in, skin-on split chicken breast halves (2 to 3 breast halves)

  • 1 1/2 teaspoon (4.5g) kosher salt, plus more as needed; for table salt, use half as much by volume

  • Freshly ground black pepper

  • 1 medium (3 ounces; 80g) lemon

  • 4 whole scallions (3 ounces; 80g), 2 roughly chopped (1/3 cup), 2 thinly sliced (1/3 cup), plus more for garnish

  • One 1-inch knob ginger (1/2 ounce; 15 g), thinly sliced

  • 1 tablespoon white or 2 teaspoons yellow miso paste

  • 1 tablespoon juice from one lemon

  • 2 teaspoons mirin

  • 1/2 teaspoon dried mustard, preferably Japanese

  • 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

  • 1 small clove garlic, minced (about 1/2 teaspoon)

  • 1/2 teaspoon shichimi togarashi, plus more for garnish

  • 3/4 cup fresh corn kernels cut from 2 ears sweet corn

  • 1 (6 ounces; 170g) whole avocado cut into 1/2-inch dice (about 3/4 cup)

Directions

  1. Season chicken generously with salt and pepper. Slice 1 lemon into 1/8- to 1/4-inch slices. Place chicken in zipper-lock bags or vacuum bags and add whole roughly chopped scallions and ginger. Remove air from zipper-lock bags by closing the bags, leaving the last inch of the top unsealed. Slowly lower into a pot of water, sealing the bag completely just before it fully submerges. If using a vacuum bag, seal according to manufacturer instructions.

    Overhead view of chicken in a vacuum sealed bag

    Serious Eats / Victor Protasio

  2. If Cooking in a Sous-Vide Precision Cooker: Preheat a sous-vide cooker to 155°F. Add chicken and cook for at least 1 hour and up to 4. Transfer to an ice bath and let chill for 15 minutes.

    Overhead view of chicken cooked in sous vide cooker

    Serious Eats / Victor Protasio

  3. If Cooking in a Cooler: Heat 2 quarts of water in a large, heavy-bottomed saucepot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat until it registers 160°F on an instant-read thermometer. Transfer to a small cooler, add chicken, and seal cooler. Cook for at least 1 hour and up to 4, topping up with boiling water as necessary to maintain temperature of 155°F. Transfer to an ice bath and let chill for 15 minutes.

  4. Combine miso, lemon juice, mirin, mustard, olive oil, garlic, and togarashi in a large bowl and whisk until homogenous.

    Overhead view of whisking together wet ingredients for dressing

    Serious Eats / Victor Protasio

  5. Place corn in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave on high power until cooked through and just starting to brown, about 1 minute. Alternatively, cook in a non-stick skillet with 1 teaspoon vegetable oil over medium-high heat until just starting to brown, about 4 minutes. Add to bowl with dressing.

    Overhead view of corn being adding to dressing

    Serious Eats / Victor Protasio

  6. When chicken is cooked, remove from bags and discard scallions and ginger. Remove skin and bones from chicken and discard. Cut meat into 1/2-inch cubes and add to bowl with dressing. Add avocado. Add sliced scallions. Toss chicken to coat in dressing and season with additional salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately, garnish with scallions and togarashi.

    Overhead view of adding avocado to the salad

    Serious Eats / Victor Protasio

Special Equipment

Sous vide precision cooker or a small beer cooler

Notes

Shichimi togarashi is a Japanese seven spice blend that can be found in any Japanese supermarket. If unavailable, replace with a small pinch of cayenne pepper and a 1/4 teaspoon lemon zest.

Read More

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
565Calories
17gFat
42gCarbs
67gProtein
×
Nutrition Facts
Servings: 4
Amount per serving
Calories565
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 17g22%
Saturated Fat 3g17%
Cholesterol 169mg56%
Sodium 791mg34%
Total Carbohydrate 42g15%
Dietary Fiber 10g37%
Total Sugars 16g
Protein 67g
Vitamin C 135mg674%
Calcium 115mg9%
Iron 4mg24%
Potassium 1255mg27%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)

More Serious Eats Recipes