Olivier Salad
A generous chilled salad of neat vegetable dice, chicken, pickles and eggs, held together with just enough mayonnaise.
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- Prep
- 35 minutes
- Total
- 2 hr 5 min
- Serves
- 6
- Role
- Side
Why this recipe works
Chicken defines the version. This is one coherent modern home-style Olivier, not an attempt to combine every household variation.
Whole vegetables cook more evenly. Potatoes and carrots keep their shape better when simmered before peeling and dicing.
Mayonnaise binds rather than buries. Pickle, mustard, dill and black pepper keep the creamy dressing lively.
Make the salad
Cook the potatoes and carrots
Put the whole potatoes and carrots in a large pot, cover with cold water by 3 cm, and add 1 teaspoon of the sea salt. Bring to a gentle simmer. Remove the carrots when a thin knife enters with slight resistance, after 12 to 18 minutes. Continue cooking the potatoes until just tender, 20 to 30 minutes total. Drain both well.
Cook the eggs and peas
Meanwhile, lower the eggs into a saucepan of simmering water and cook for 10 minutes. Transfer them to ice water. Put the peas in a heatproof bowl, cover with boiling water for 2 minutes, then drain, rinse cold, and spread on a towel to dry.
Cool completely
Let the potatoes and carrots cool until no warmth remains, about 30 minutes. Peel the potatoes and carrots; peel the eggs. Warm vegetables absorb mayonnaise and break apart, so do not rush this stage.
Cut an even dice
Cut the potatoes, carrots, chicken, pickles, and eggs into roughly 8 mm dice. Keep the potato pieces separate until the final fold.
Make the dressing
In a large mixing bowl, stir together the mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, black pepper, and remaining 1/2 teaspoon sea salt. Fold in the scallions, dill, pickles, peas, carrots, chicken, and eggs.
Fold in the potatoes
Add the diced potatoes last. Use a broad flexible spatula to lift from the bottom and turn the mixture only until every piece is lightly coated; do not stir in circles or press against the bowl.
Chill and serve
Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Taste cold and adjust with a small pinch of salt or pepper if needed. Serve chilled but not icy, using a wide spoon that preserves the dice.
Keep every spoonful distinct
Simmer
A hard boil cracks potatoes and knocks their surfaces starchy. Keep the water at a gentle, steady simmer.
Test
Remove carrots and potatoes separately as each becomes just tender; their cooking times will rarely match exactly.
Cool
Spread cooked components out rather than trapping steam in a bowl. They should feel cool through the center.
Dice
Aim for 8 mm pieces—small enough to share a spoonful, large enough to remain recognizable.
Drain
Dry peas and pickles carefully. Their surface water loosens mayonnaise and blurs the seasoning.
Fold
Add potatoes last and turn with a broad spatula. Stop once coated, before their corners begin to disappear.
What this recipe represents
This is a modern chicken version with a clean, restrained dressing. It is not presented as Lucien Olivier’s restaurant formula. The goal is a dependable contemporary bowl in which potatoes stay intact, pickles remain bright and every ingredient can still be identified.
Household variations
Cooked bologna or a mild sausage commonly replaces chicken; some versions use beef, ham or no meat. Apple brings sweetness, raw onion adds bite, and dill may be omitted. Make one substitution at a time and keep it separate from the primary recipe above rather than treating every possibility as mandatory.
Make ahead and storage
Cook and cool the potatoes, carrots and eggs up to 1 day ahead, then refrigerate them separately. Once assembled, cover promptly and keep at 4°C / 40°F or below. Use within 3 days and return the bowl to the refrigerator within 2 hours of serving. Freezing damages the vegetables and mayonnaise.
Food-safety context: USDA leftovers guidance.
From restaurant name to household dish
The salad is associated with Lucien Olivier and Moscow’s Hermitage restaurant in the nineteenth century, but surviving descriptions and later reconstructions do not amount to a single verified secret recipe. The modest potato-and-mayonnaise salads now called Olivier developed later and vary widely across Russian and post-Soviet households, especially around festive tables. Explore that living range through World Salads, then compare the sharply different composition of Classic Caesar Salad.
Historical context: The Moscow Times, drawing on food historians Pavel and Olga Syutkin.