How much chicken do you buy to make chicken salad for 100 people?

Answer 1

Simple rule of thumb: take any recipe, look at the servings, and divide the number of guests by that number. Alternatively, you can look at how much the recipe makes and estimate how much each guest would eat (3/4 cup?). Then, multiply all of the ingredients of your recipe by the quotient of your math problem.

For instance, a common chicken salad recipe:

• 4 cups diced poached chicken
• 1 stalk celery, cut into 1/4-inch dice
• 1/4 cup sweet onion cut into 1/4-inch dice
• 1 1/2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh tarragon or fresh dill
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley
• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 2 teaspoons strained freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• Fresh ground black pepper

This recipe makes four Sandwiches. One hundred divided by four is twenty-five.

So:

• 100 cups diced poached chicken
• 100 stalks celery, cut into 1/4-inch dice
• 25 cups sweet onion cut into 1/4-inch dice
• 37 1/2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh tarragon or fresh dill
• 50 tablespoons finely chopped parsley
• 100 cups mayonnaise
• 200 teaspoons strained freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 100 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 200 teaspoons kosher salt
• Fresh ground black pepper

Now, you can take all day to measure those out, or you can convert them.

• 6 gallons and 1 quart diced poached chicken
• 100 stalks celery, cut into 1/4-inch dice
• 8 1/4 quarts 33 cups) sweet onion cut into 1/4-inch dice
• 3/4 cup + 2/3 tablespoon finely chopped fresh tarragon or fresh dill
• 3 1/8 cups finely chopped parsley
• 6 gallons and 1 quart mayonnaise
• 1 quart strained freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 pint + 2 2/3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 1 cup kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper

Incidentally, it takes about 3 pounds of bone in chicken breast to yield 4 cups of cubed cooked chicken. (3 x 25 = 75) So, you'll need about 75 pounds of raw, bone in chicken.

Answer 2

It depends on what else will be served at the meal. Normally it takes 25 pounds of chicken to serve 100 people.