Nicholas Sparks' Chicken Salad Recipe Includes A Shocking Amount Of 1 Surprising Ingredient

There are plenty of interesting tidbits in The New York Times’ interactive tour of Nicholas Sparks’ New Bern, North Carolina, home, but there’s one that sticks out like, well, a horror story in a romance section. 

Between the history of the property overlooking the Trent River and an exploration of Sparks’ bookshelves, writer Addie Morfoot provides a fascinating aside. According to Morfoot, The Notebook author spent the morning before their interview in his kitchen concocting a chicken salad that seems it may have been better suited for the laboratory of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.

Sparks’ recipe starts off with the normal ingredients: two skinless, boneless rotisserie chickens, a few stalks of celery and a Vidalia onion. It’s the dressing where it goes off the rails. 

“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,” recounts Morfoot. 

Yes, 16 packets of Splenda.

“You can use real sugar, but why throw sugar in if you can use Splenda?” Sparks asked, adding that he tries to avoid carbs “most of the time.”

Let us remind you that we’re not afraid of seemingly off-the-wall recipes here at Southern Living. It’s hard to scare a group that was raised on pineapple and mayonnaise sandwiches, after all. But the mention of Splenda in chicken salad had us simultaneously clutching our pearls and scratching our heads. 

Assistant digital food editor Catherine Jesse, who adds “a little honey” to her own chicken salad, says that 16 packages of Splenda is “at least 15 too many… even for coffee.” 

Meanwhile, Lisa Cericola, deputy editor, can not believe it isn't a typo.  (Ed note: it isn't.)

To be fair, not one of the 23 novels Sparks has published throughout his career has been a cookbook. And all of them, we should note, are New York Times bestsellers. Sparks’ latest heart-wrenching love story, Counting Miracles, was released just this week. 

While we prefer our chicken salad to be savory, it’s hard to fault one of the most prolific romance writers of all time for having a sweet tooth. Or is it?