The Best Chicken Salad I've ever eaten | Family recipe with Mom B (Kelly Bates)

Come join me in the kitchen for my first ever Bates Kitchen guest: my mom, Kelly Bates! She brings a passed down family recipe chicken salad that has gotten compliments every time its been served! I also learned that my great-grandmother owned a restaurant and that this was her recipe passed down. My mom does not measure, so I have been doing some testing and will try to get some definitive measurements together and edit to add to caption and to my website later this week!

Ingredients:
Chicken
Mayo
Celery
Relish
Mustard
Salt
Pepper

Optional:
(pick one or 2 not all at once now lol)
Pecans, cranberries, raisins, grapes, or drained mandarin oranges.

approximations to start with:
2 chicken breasts (or 1/2 rotisserie chicken)
2 stalk celery diced
3/4 cup mayo
1/2 cup sweet relish
1 tsp salt (to taste)
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp mustard (any type)


1/8 to 1/4 cup of optional additions you choose (I liked with pecans and cranberries particularly)

*THESE ARE APPROXIMATIONS! I AM WORKING ON A MORE SPECIFIC RECIPE. START SMALL, TASTE TEST, AND ADD MORE IF NEEDED! I have purposely made all the ingredients less than what you will need so that you can add as needed because taking ingredients out is impossible! be careful not to over salt.

Shred chicken of choice,
add mayo, celery, relish, salt, pepper and any optional ingredients and mix well. (you may want to start with 1 tsp and add if needed.)

To make in a ball for dipping with crackers, mold into a rough circle by hand. Crush approximately 1/4 cup pecans and roll until covered.

If you have other additions let me know!