Brazilian Salpicão de Frango, Holiday Chicken Salad

📍 Where this dish comes from: Maranhão · Lençóis Maranhenses National Park
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Salpicão is the creamy chicken salad that appears on Brazilian tables at Christmas and New Year's Eve, studded with carrot, celery, ham and olives and crowned with a crunchy topping. It is cool, rich and perfect for warm summer holidays. This keto version keeps all the creaminess and swaps the potato sticks on top for crispy pork rinds.

Per serving: 410 calories · 2.3 g net carbs · 33 g protein · 29 g fat (calculated from the ingredients)

What You’ll Need

Brazilian Salpicão de Frango, Holiday Chicken Salad

Salpicão is the creamy chicken salad that appears on Brazilian tables at Christmas and New Year's Eve, studded with carrot, celery, ham and olives and crowned with a crunchy topping. It is cool, rich and perfect for warm summer holidays. This keto version keeps all the creaminess and swaps the potato sticks on top for crispy pork rinds.

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Prep Time: 25 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes minutes

Course: Salad

Cuisine: Brazilian

Servings: 6 servings

Calories: 410kcal

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breast
• 1 small carrot finely grated
• 2 celery stalks finely diced
• 3 1/2 ounces deli ham diced
• 1/3 cup sliced green olives
• 2/3 cup mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 2 teaspoons yellow mustard
• 1 tablespoon lime juice
• 3 scallions sliced
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup crushed pork rinds for topping

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Instructions

• Put the chicken in a saucepan, cover with water, add half of the salt, and bring to a simmer. Cook gently for 15 to 18 minutes, until cooked through. Let cool in the broth, then shred finely.
• In a large bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, cream, mustard, lime juice and remaining salt.
• Add the shredded chicken, carrot, celery, ham, olives, scallions and parsley. Fold everything together until evenly coated.
• Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour so the flavors blend.
• Just before serving, mound the salpicão on a platter and cover the top with the crushed pork rinds.

Notes

Letting the chicken cool in its cooking liquid keeps it moist. Add the crunchy topping at the very last minute, or it will soften. The salad keeps for 3 days in the refrigerator without the topping.

Chef's Tip: Shred the chicken by hand into thin threads rather than cubing it. The fine texture is what makes salpicão different from an ordinary chicken salad.

Keto Swap: Traditional salpicão is topped with batata palha, very thin fried potato sticks, and often includes raisins, apple and corn. Crushed pork rinds give the same salty crunch, and the sweet add-ins are left out.

Success Tip: Serve it in lettuce cups for a light lunch, or pack it in jars for a family picnic.

Nutrition is calculated from the ingredients and is an estimate per serving. Net carbs exclude fiber and allulose.

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 410kcal | Protein: 33g | Fat: 29g | Fiber: 1.1g

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About This Dish

Salpicão is a fixture of the Brazilian Christmas and New Year's Eve table, served alongside roast turkey, pernil and farofa. Whether it should contain raisins is a famous argument in Brazilian families every December. The word salpicão also names a smoked sausage in Portugal, but in Brazil it means this creamy salad. The golden batata palha topping is what most Brazilians picture when they think of the dish. Because Christmas falls in summer in Brazil, cold dishes like salpicão are especially welcome.

This recipe is from The Ultimate Brazilian Keto Cookbook by Gisele Costello, Chapter 9: Salads (Lençóis Maranhenses National Park). See all Brazilian recipes