Recipe for the Ultimate Chicken-Salad Sandwich

Colorado chef Caroline Glover has high standards when it comes to this lunchtime classic. Her fresh, unfussy version is the kind you could eat every day

A CHICKEN SALAD must never be gloppy—this is the first of chef Caroline Glover’s stipulations. It should always taste of just-roasted chicken and never be slippery (go easy on the mayo) or cloying (no grapes). And there should be some kick. If served on a sandwich, the bread should have bite and hold the salad, not succumb to it. Beyond a crisp lettuce leaf, nothing else is required.

Ms. Glover came by these principles during college in Fort Worth, Texas, while working at a grocery store. There she ate a game-changing version,...