Your Chicken Salad Could Really Use A Feta Upgrade

The taste of chicken salad is familiar to many: chunks of chicken, creamy mayo dressing, and the crunch and tang of various other additions such as nuts, citrus, or veggies. Traditional chicken salad is delicious, especially when slathered between two slices of hearty bread — but building upon those flavors opens a gateway to much more complex flavor. There are many ways to improve a classic chicken salad recipe, and one of those ways is to toss in a little cheese: feta, to be exact.

This crumbly, tangy Greek cheese melds seamlessly into the texture and taste of a chicken salad, adding a briny bite to the mix and making everything all the more creamy and delicious. Feta is a great pairing for chicken, and the crumbliness of the cheese allows it to mix into the dressing easily without completely dissolving, leaving little pockets of tangy taste here and there as you eat.

Adding feta to your chicken salad can be as simple as tossing a handful into your usual recipe and calling it a day. But there are a few tips for ensuring that the feta gets incorporated properly and that you end up with a salad that's as smooth and delicious as possible. For example, rather than using straight mayo in your dressing along with the feta, use half mayo and half sour cream. Combining a touch of sour cream with the cheese leans into the acidity of both ingredients, imparting the salad with a bright tang. You can also use Greek yogurt instead of sour cream for a similar sour flavor.

Adding in some herbs also helps bring the salad together and offsets the pucker of the more sour, salty ingredients. Feta goes excellently with dill, especially. Fresh or dried works well, but fresh herbs impart an extra herbiness that rounds out the other flavors in the mix.

Every chicken salad loves a little crunch and feta chicken salad is no different. Extras like chopped veggies help make a chicken salad sing with flavor and breaks up the smooth texture, though the classic picks like walnuts and grapes don't mesh quite as well when it comes to a feta-forward salad. Instead, opt for veggies that pair well with feta's flavor profile: bell pepper, sliced red onion, and even olives or cucumber.

Another way to enhance the flavor in a feta chicken salad? Grill your chicken before chopping it up and incorporating it. The slight charred flavor of grilled chicken tastes fantastic with the acidity of the feta, and the extra depth of flavor makes a better chicken salad overall. Whether you're eating it on bread, in a pita, as a wrap, or simply nestled atop some greens, if you're a feta-lover this next-level chicken salad will become your new favorite.