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Olivye (sometimes spelled olivier) is a potato salad that is ridiculously popular among Slavic people. This salad has been and always will be a staple at our church potlucks. If you’re used to traditional American potato salad, you’re definitely in for a treat with this olivye.
I got the idea to use chicken in leu of kielbasa from a birthday party this past weekend. P.S. Don’t miss our quick and easy method of making the carrots and potatoes. With the right tips and shortcuts, you’ll have this salad done in no time!
Ingredients for chicken potato salad:
1 lb or about 2 medium chicken breasts (or use store-bought rotisserie chicken)
3 medium/large russet potatoes, peeled
3 large carrots, peeled.
2 cups of thawed frozen peas
5 large eggs, boiled and diced (click for quick how-to)
12 baby dill pickles (2 cups diced)
1 small yellow onion, finely diced
1/4 cup chopped fresh dill
1 cup mayo, or to taste
1/2 tsp Salt or (to taste)
1/4 tsp Pepper or (to taste)
How to Make Chicken Potato Salad:
1. Place chicken breasts in a medium sauce pan (cut large breasts in half), cover with water, add 1 tsp salt and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer 15-20 min or until cooked through. Drain and let rest until cool enough to handle then dice. If using rotisserie chicken, remove skin and dice the chicken meat. Place in large mixing bowl.
2. Peel and finely dice carrots, then peel and dice potatoes the same size as carrots (we use the “chop wizard” with the smaller blade attachment for the potatoes and dice carrots by hand). Place carrots and potatoes into a medium pot and cover with water. Add 1 tsp salt and bring to boil. Continue cooking uncovered for 10-12 min or until tender then rinse with cold water and drain. Transfer to paper towels to remove any excess water. Transfer to mixing bowl.
3. Add remaining ingredients to the mixing bowl: 2 cups peas, 5 diced eggs, 12 diced baby pickles, finely diced onion, 1/4 cup fresh dill. Stir in mayo, salt and pepper to taste.
Chicken Olivye (Chicken Potato Salad)
Ingredients
- 1 lb or about 2 medium chicken breasts, or store-bought rotisserie chicken
- 3 medium/large russet potatoes, peeled
- 3 large carrots, peeled.
- 2 cups of thawed frozen peas
- 5 large eggs, boiled and diced
- 12 baby dill pickles, 2 cups diced
- 1 small yellow onion, finely diced
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh dill
- 1 cup mayonnaise, or to taste
- 1/2 tsp Salt or, to taste
- 1/4 tsp Pepper or, to taste
Instructions
- Place chicken breasts in a medium sauce pan (cut large breasts in half), cover with water, add 1 tsp salt and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer 15-20 min or until cooked through. Drain and let rest until cool enough to handle then dice. If using rotisserie chicken, remove skin and dice the chicken meat. Place in large mixing bowl.
- Peel and finely dice carrots, then peel and dice potatoes the same size as carrots. Place carrots and potatoes into a medium pot and cover with water. Add 1 tsp salt and bring to boil. Continue cooking uncovered for 10-12 min or until tender then rinse with cold water and drain. Transfer to paper towels to remove any excess water. Transfer to mixing bowl.
- Add remaining ingredients to the mixing bowl: 2 cups peas, 5 diced eggs, 12 diced baby pickles, finely diced onion, 1/4 cup fresh dill. Stir in mayo, salt and pepper to taste.
P.S. Here’s a peek at our classic, original olivye. Is there anything unique that you put into your potato salad?
Awesome recipe… Keep up the good work!!!
Thank you :).
Hi Natasha,
I normally don’t leave comments, but this is overdue! I love your website, and your recipes. At first I thought it was strange to cook potatoes and carrots this way, but it turned out the best oliv’e I’ve made! (I know it is sad lol) I tried a lot of your recipes, and love them all. Please keep them coming! Enjoy the Labor Day weekend!
Thank you for sharing your awesome review! I’m so happy you wrote in. It really is so encouraging for me to read comments like yours! I hope you have a great weekend also.
Hi Natasha,
Love the new website design and everything looks great on my iPhone. It’s great you making our soviet classic😉
Thank you so much Katerina 🙂
Just looking at your photos makes me want to go and make a large bowl of Olivier right now. That’s how ridiculously popular this salad is among our kind! 😉 By the way, my mom only ever made it with chicken and that’s what I do as well. I usually get rotisserie chicken from a grocery store and I am good to go. When my husband and I were visiting Russia years ago a waitress at a restaurant told my non-Russian speaking husband that this is “a salad dla mushin” or salad for men because it’s so hearty but to him it sounded like “salad de machine” and that’s what it’s known as in our house! 🙂
lol that’s pretty funny! Haha. It’s so true though it’s very hearty. 🙂
Hi natasha, so i tried to make this salad and bought frozen peas and the package says that product must be cooked before consumption. Does urs say the same and what shall i do in this case?
You can hear them until steaming then cool them down or just cook them if you feel safer doing so.
We did try to make with chicken before too. It is good. Only thing, we always use the green onions or chives (esp now convenient that it’s growing in our garden). Never tried with frozen peas before, it looks so much more “fresh”. Also, my mom (and I do it now too sometimes)when she would run out of mayo, will add part sour cream. Only problem is, if you add too much sour cream the salad doesn’t taste right, kind of bland? Mayo is definitely the way to go.
You should definitely try using the thawed frozen peas. They add great flavor and color to the salad.
Looks delicious! Love that it has a chicken in it, full of protein. Love you pictures.
Thank you Marina :).
I love this salad. I always make it for parties, and thanks for that boiling method. Yeah we call it سالاد الويه 🙂
You’re very welcome! I think it’s awesome that this salad is made so many different ways and is popular in so many different areas of the world!
Natasha, I make this salad with chicken often as quality deli meats from the European markets are hard to find, but boiling potatoes and carrots diced? My life will never be the same! Genius!
I know, right?! This is the only way we do it now. We never get parts of the potato that are undercooked and it’s so much cleaner and easier.
Love this salad from my childhood. I also make it with chicken for years. And frozen peas are so much better than canned. I put less carrots, don’t like it too sweet.Some tips: if you don’t like the bold onions taste, then chop the onion, put in the colander and pour some boiling water on it. The taste will be mild. Add a teaspoon of mustard, it gives an interesting twist. Add some sour cream to mayo to make the taste mild, if you don’t like bold mayo taste. I have this in my fridge just now :-).
Thank you so much for sharing your tips! I’ll have to try your suggestions. I bet the mustard makes it really really yummy!
Wow, great. We have our version of this dish in Iran which we call it “salad Olivye”. It’s a popular dish here in Iran with the same recipe except that we don’t add onions and dill.
I definitely try your recipe.
Thanks for stopping by Mehrshin, is there anything else you add that’s different in to the salad?
Oh Natasha! I LOVE this salad!! We lived in Kyiv for four years and this is my favorite salad!! I can’t wait to make it 🙂
Heather
Welcome to the site Heather, I hope you’ll love it just as much you had in Kiev :).
This is my favorite salad from childhood. It yummy and tastes so good!
I agree. Did your family make it with chicken also?
Yes. Its better in taste and yummy, but sometimes when I am out of chicken I use Russian doktorska( Russian boiled sausage).
Hello Natasha,
Are there any mayo substitutes that you would recommend using instead of the original mayo called for in the recipe? I would really like to make this salad slightly healthier if possible. 🙂
Thank you,
Ella
To be honest, I think mayo really makes this salad. You might try a “healthier” mayo or just add a little less but I don’t think anything else would be quite right.
Natasha, I think making this salad with olive oil and a splash of white vinegar might not be too bad, not the same, but still good 🙂
And maybe a little bit of mustard for extra flavor 😉
Hi Ella,
If you’re looking to decrease the calories only, try blending a little bit of mayo with sour cream, however the sat. fat content will be slightly higher while calories will be lower. I never tried it, but maybe you could dress this salad with plain olive oil perhaps?
Looks great! Will make for a perfect summer potluck dish.
Just curious – why would you boil all the veggies diced?
Thank you Iryna :). Vegetables are easier to chop when raw, also they cook more evenly and you don’t have to wait for them to cool down. Hope this helps.
it ‘s great Natasha ,for your information this salad is so popular in my country with a little different cooking style.we puree the potatoes . I want to send you some picture of olivye with beautiful design but it isn’t possible . if you like to watch google this Persian word and look in picture parts “سالاد الویه”
I did the google search and I did find some stunning salad pictures! Wow!! Is there anything else you do differently? If you wish, you can post a picture of it on my Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/natashaskitchenpage) or email it to me directly: natashaskitchen@ yahoo. I’d love to see your version.
this looks amazing!
🙂 Thanks Trisha!
Yes, I started making mine months ago and never went back 😉
That’s awesome! I do think we’re onto something here 😉
I love the twist with chicken, a much healthier option. I will try this next time I make this salad. Have you tried making your own mayo?
I haven’t :-O. Have you? I’m sure once I do, life will never be the same 😉
Hi Natasha, I’d love to make this and can buy dairy free mayonnaise, but I cannot eat eggs at all.Will the Chicken Potato Salad taste as good without the eggs? Thank you, Heather
It will still work fine without the eggs. I hope you love it! 🙂
Tofu makes a great substitute for eggs! That’s what I recently did (didn’t have eggs on hand) and my kiddo thought it was the best salad ever! LOL
Thank you for the tip Iryna :).
Hey!! Nice job… that boiling secret for the potatoes and carrots was always our familys secret. And i love this salad, and okroshka, much better with chicken than russian baloney!!!
One of my readers shared that tip with me and it makes the salad so much easier and you don’t have the risk of having an uncooked potato 🙂
And what is the secret? I do not understand
This recipe is usually made by first boiling whole potatoes and carrots than peeling them then dies in them. The process that I shared in the recipe above is much faster and easier.