Ree Drummond's Secret To Balanced Chicken Salad Is A Dash Of Brown Sugar

Culinary personality Ree Drummond is the star of Food Network's "The Pioneer Woman," and she has spent decades perfecting her recipes. She is the queen of easy, hearty meals, so it's no surprise that she has a trick to achieve a perfectly balanced chicken salad recipe. The celebrity chef's secret? A hint of brown sugar. It's meant to work against the lemon juice, which is another important ingredient in her version of the dish, and also offer a harmony of flavors blending acidicity and sweetness.

Chicken salad can be as simple as throwing together some chopped chicken with mayonnaise and a few seasonings — that's all it takes for a basic recipe. However, you don't have to stop there — you can add plenty of other ingredients to diversify its flavor even more. In Drummond's case, brown sugar is just one of several elements she uses to set her version of this classic deli salad apart from the rest.

Though chicken salad in its most basic form doesn't need to include an acid, it should. Mayonnaise (or a substitute like avocado or Greek yogurt) needs something to counteract its richness, and lemon juice or some type of vinegar is often just the trick. In Ree Drummond's case, she uses lemon juice but takes things one step further by balancing that acid with a sweetener in addition to the fatty element of mayonnaise. She juices one lemon, which, depending on the fruit's size, yields about 2 or 3 tablespoons. Then she uses a tablespoon of brown sugar, plus a blend of mayonnaise, sour cream, and Greek yogurt, to create a combination of fat, acid, and sugar, ensuring the chicken salad is in equilibrium.

Working from that balanced base, Drummond gets creative with the addition of other ingredients to help the whole salad come together. Celery and green onions add a hint of crunch, while fresh dill gives the dish a subtly herby taste and halved grapes add some sweetness and texture.

For Ree Drummond, brown sugar is the secret to striking a balance, but if you don't have any on hand, you can swap it for other sweet ingredients, too. White sugar, which is commonly used in cole slaw dressing, is a great substitute, as is honey. And while grapes and celery are great for varying texture and crunch, you can also add other crunchy elements, such as walnuts, apples, or red onion, to pair well with the softness of the chicken.

Herbs and spices bring chicken salad together nicely, and if you like a kick, try adding some paprika into the mix. It's subtle with just a hint of spice, so it won't overwhelm guests if you're serving it to a crowd. For something even hotter, you can either add a spice like cayenne or chop up some jalapeños, which will not only add spice but also a nice crunch. For a different type of heat, add a pinch of horseradish to the mayonnaise mixture or blend in a tablespoon or two of spicy mustard.