Chicken Salad with Capers and Homemade Mayonnaise for Full GAPS

This chicken salad with capers is creamy, crisp and full of savory flavor. Roasted chicken gives it a tender base, finely chopped celery and red onion add crunch, and capers bring little salty, tangy bites. Homemade mayonnaise holds everything together, with one teaspoon of prepared Dijon to sharpen the dressing.

The four-serving batch starts with two bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts, which should give you about four cups of shredded meat. Roast them ahead if you can. Once the chicken is cool and the homemade condiments are ready, the final mixing is short work.

Our weekday meals have to fit around homeschooling and second-shift work. For a cold lunch like this, it helps to separate the oven work from the mixing: roast and refrigerate the chicken ahead, then chop the vegetables and put the salad together when you need it.

What goes into the bowl

Use bone-in, skin-on breasts for the roasting method below. Keep the skin on while they cook, then remove it along with the bones before shredding. Breast sizes vary, so the four-cup yield is approximate. Separate the meat into bite-size shreds that will be easy to scoop with the vegetables.

Finely chop the half red onion and the large celery stalk. Small pieces spread through the chicken more evenly than long celery slices or large chunks of onion. Flat-leaf parsley adds a fresh flavor. Drain the capers before measuring their two tablespoons so extra brine does not thin the dressing. Choose plain capers preserved without added sugar or other non-GAPS ingredients.

Measure ½ cup of finished homemade avocado-oil mayonnaise. Make that condiment separately, using its pure mustard-powder option, and keep it refrigerated. You are measuring the completed mayonnaise into this salad, not adding its separate eggs and oil to the chicken bowl. The selected mayonnaise contains raw egg yolks.

For the salad’s measured teaspoon, use the finished alcohol-free homemade Dijon. It is prepared mustard, not a teaspoon of dry mustard powder. That recipe blends mustard seeds with apple cider vinegar, water, shallot, salt and white pepper. There is also a wine-based Dijon for occasional Full GAPS use. It contains uncooked wine and is not alcohol-free; the wine-free version is the one used here.

Keep the roasting salt and pepper separate from the measured ½ teaspoon sea salt that goes into the finished salad. The capers and condiments bring their own seasoning too, so combine the measured salad ingredients before deciding whether you want any adjustment.

Roast, cool and mix

1. Prepare the chicken. Heat the oven to 400°F (205°C) with a rack in the middle. Put the breasts skin-side up in a baking dish, in a single layer. Season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.
2. Roast until cooked through. Roast for about 35–40 minutes. Check the thickest part of each breast with a food thermometer, keeping the probe away from the bone. Each breast needs to reach 165°F (74°C). Continue cooking if needed; size and oven temperature affect the time.
3. Cool and shred. Let the chicken cool enough to handle, then remove the skin and bones and shred the meat. Move the shreds to a shallow container and refrigerate promptly until cool before mixing with mayonnaise. Do not wait for a large pile of chicken to become completely cold on the counter.
4. Prepare the vegetables and condiments. While the chicken roasts and cools, finely chop the onion and celery, chop the parsley and drain the capers. Measure the finished mayonnaise, prepared alcohol-free Dijon and separate salad salt. Use a clean board and utensils for foods that will not be cooked again.
5. Fold the salad together. Put the cooled chicken in a large bowl with the onion, celery, parsley, capers, mayonnaise, Dijon and measured salad salt. Fold gently until the chicken is lightly coated and the vegetables and capers are spread throughout. Look for a creamy coating without a pool of brine at the bottom.
6. Serve or refrigerate. Serve the salad cool, or cover and refrigerate it promptly until the meal. Keep the remaining mayonnaise and Dijon covered in the refrigerator too.

The planning time is about 1 hour 25 minutes: 15 minutes of preparation, about 40 minutes in the oven and a 30-minute cooling allowance. Cooling can take longer. The clock is a planning guide, not a reason to mix mayonnaise into hot chicken. Roasting the chicken earlier in the day or the day before makes that easier.

Where it fits on Full GAPS

This salad is for Full GAPS after digestive symptoms have cleared and the ingredients, including raw onion and celery, are introduced and tolerated. It is not an Introduction Diet or No-Plant GAPS recipe. Use the linked homemade mayonnaise and prepared Dijon, and check the caper jar’s ingredients rather than assuming every preserved product is the same.

The selected avocado-oil mayonnaise makes the salad dairy-free, with no nuts added. It contains egg and mustard. The wine-free Dijon also contains mustard seeds. Serving the salad with nut-flour bread would add a separate ingredient and allergen choice, so choose accompaniments that fit the people eating it.

Serving and keeping it cold

Spoon the salad into lettuce leaves, serve it beside cucumber slices, or put it in an avocado half. Keep the leaves and vegetables separate until serving so they stay crisp. If you want another savory lunch, try the warm chicken and shiitake lettuce cups; their coconut-aminos filling has its own complete recipe.

Refrigerate the chicken and finished salad at 40°F (4°C) or below. Put cooked chicken into shallow containers promptly and refrigerate perishable food within two hours, or one hour when the temperature is above 90°F (32°C). Use the chicken salad within 3–4 days, allowing for the age of the chicken and condiments already used. Adding mayonnaise today does not restart the clock on chicken you roasted earlier.

For a packed lunch, use an insulated bag with at least two cold sources, such as frozen gel packs, and refrigerate it at your destination when possible. This is a cold lunch, not a salad to leave in a warm car or on a picnic table. Freeze plain cooked chicken separately if you need to plan further ahead; the finished mayonnaise salad does not freeze well.

Questions before you start

Can I roast the chicken ahead?

Yes. Roast, remove the skin and bones, shred and refrigerate the meat promptly. Keep it covered and cold until mixing. Count its storage time from when it was cooked, and use the remaining storage time rather than giving the salad a new full 3–4 days.

Does the whole mayonnaise batch go in?

No. Measure the amount shown in the salad ingredients from a completed batch. Making the separate condiment is not included in the salad’s preparation estimate. Its immersion-blender method has its own equipment instructions; no blender is needed to mix this salad.

Can I leave out the capers?

Yes, if you do not enjoy them. The measured version uses two tablespoons, but omitting them is a simple flavor option. Keep the other ingredients the same and taste after combining; the capers normally contribute salt and tang.

Why is my salad watery?

Drain the capers well, dry the washed vegetables before chopping, and cool the chicken before adding the finished mayonnaise. Warm meat and extra brine can make the dressing look loose. Fold gently so the chicken stays in tender pieces.

Equipment and lunch planning

You need a baking dish large enough to hold the chicken in one layer, an oven, a food thermometer, a clean knife and board, two forks for shredding, measuring cups and spoons, a large mixing bowl and a covered shallow storage container. The mayonnaise and Dijon are separate preparations with their own equipment.

For more lunch-planning support, the planned GAPS Lunchbox course is listed in the WFLI Shop. Check its release status there; it is not an immediate download while it is still being prepared.