Won’t You Try Nicholas Sparks’ 16-Splenda-Packet Chicken Salad?
The best-selling of author of The Notebook broke the internet with his one-of-a-kind dish. Then shared the recipe for those daring enough to try it.
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With the abundance of food and drink content that spreads like wildfire on the internet each day, it’s hard to believe that a recipe for chicken salad would manage to make headlines. But, when it is the recipe of one Nicholas Sparks, the best-selling author of iconic novels like The Notebook and A Walk to Remember, and it includes an exorbitant amount of Splenda, it stands to raise a few eyebrows.
Sparks’ unusual approach to preparing chicken salad was mentioned ever so briefly in the real estate section of The New York Times last month in a beautifully-illustrated feature on his North Carolina riverfront home. Among the bounty of architectural and decor details was a curious passage that read:
“Earlier in the day, before a photographer and reporter arrived at his home, Mr. Sparks spent the morning at his kitchen’s granite countertop chopping two skinless, boneless rotisserie chickens, a few stalks of celery and a Vidalia onion. He then whipped together a dressing consisting of mayonnaise, dill pickle relish, jalapeño relish, apple cider vinegar, salt, pepper, cayenne pepper and 16 packets of Splenda.”
Yes, 16 packets of Splenda.
Sparks defended his choice of sweetener by adding: “You can use real sugar, but why throw sugar in if you can use Splenda?”
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The question might rather be, whether it be real sugar or packets of Splenda, why throw in so much? After all, it is not uncommon to incorporate sweet ingredients like cranberries or raisins into chicken salad, but even a tremendous amount, like two pounds of fruit or 16 handfuls of raisins, would likely overpower the dish. With the article staunchly focused on Sparks’ family home, the trivial mention left many unanswered questions.
In the wake of the article’s release, it did not take long for the small mention to become big food news. After all, the thought of a lauded romance novelist enjoying a helping of sweet and savory chicken salad in his Low Country-style home, with the serene murmur of the Trent River in the background was a dreamy moment to imagine. So much so that it almost makes one wonder, were 16 packets of Splenda the missing ingredient in my own chicken salad recipe?
As home cooks and food journalists tried their hand at Sparks’ recipe — as it was described in the New York Times article, sans exact measurements — the general consensus was that the Splenda added far too much sweetness.
All of the hoopla following the story led Sparks to post a video response on Instagram in which he doubled down on his recipe. In the reel, Sparks is shown enjoying a small serving of his Splenda-sweetened chicken salad at a desk, as he says coyly, “I hear there is a little hubbub about my chicken salad recipe that ended up referenced in the New York Times…”
Sparks clarifies that his recipe calls for Duke’s mayonnaise, which contains no sugar, so he likes to add “a little sweetness.” He goes on to say he could have added a quarter cup of sugar, but he doesn’t like it. “Why put sugar in stuff if you don't need it?”
He joyfully indulges in spoonful after spoonful of chicken salad throughout the video, even offering samplings to his peers, and describes its depth of flavor as being “truly out of this world.” While the video does little to clear up why so much Splenda is needed, it does include a proper recipe so interested parties can prepare it at home, just as he does. Along with the recipe, Sparks adds the hashtag, #SparksSplendaSalad, and invites his followers to tag him if they do in fact make it.
Sparks’ new book Counting Miracles is out now, which will naturally inspire some constructive criticism from the public for the author to consider. But, for those who continue to pick on him for his chicken salad recipe, he has a simple message, “You’re missing out.”
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