Nicholas Sparks’ Chicken Salad Is Breaking the Internet

Meet Nicholas Sparks, the man behind many of your tears. That doesn’t sound nice, so let’s take a step back. Sparks is probably best known for being a prolific writer of best-selling novels, many of which have been adapted into equally-if-not-more successful films. And many, many of them are tearjerkers. From “The Notebook” and “A Walk to Remember” to “Dear John” and “The Longest Ride”, Sparks’ movies have probably elicited more collective tears than onions ever did.

Well, this week, it’s not his films or books that have people talking. It’s a recipe of his that’s gone viral—and not for the right reasons.

Nicholas Sparks’ Divisive Chicken Salad Recipe

In a recent profile in the New York Times, Sparks divulged the secret behind the chicken salad he likes to prepare. It started off pretty normal:

“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.”

And then took a turn for the worse:

“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.”

Here’s the thing—there are some fun elements at play. I love the idea of adding jalapeño relish or pickled jalapeños to chicken salad for acid and spice, and I’m a huge fan of adding pickle relish to just about any sandwich. For a mayo-hater like myself, the more distractions in a chicken salad, the better. However, Splenda is one glaring distraction.

What’s more, 16 packets of Splenda is 2/3 cup of Splenda. It’s not uncommon to add a pinch or two of sugar to chicken salad, or a sweet ingredient like grapes, sweet relish, or even Miracle Whip. Heck, adding a little sugar to salad is even Dolly Parton-approved, but 2/3 cup of Splenda? That’s practically unheard of.

In the interview, Sparks clarified that he uses Splenda instead of sugar because he prefers to eat low-carb, adding, “You can use real sugar, but why throw sugar in if you can use Splenda?”

I first heard about this cursed addition on my favorite pop culture podcast, “Who? Weekly.” The podcast hosts even went so far as to share a taste test of the chicken salad on Instagram, sharing it was “pretty good” and that the Splenda taste wasn’t overwhelming, though they still preferred the salad pre-Splenda addition.

I’m no stranger to trying literary icons’ recipes, but I will be skipping this one. I prefer to pair Sparks’ work with some popcorn, a pint of Ben & Jerry’s, and a box of tissues.