Tag Archives: chicken salad

Hawaiian Chicken Salad

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Let me start by saying, don’t let this unattractive photo fool you, this dish is delicious. I’d have a better photo if I wasn’t allergic to cashews and getting just this close on my iPhone triggered a big reaction!

I’ve been playing around with this concept of a Hawaiian chicken salad for quite some time and I have not been happy with the results … until now.

I initially made this with macadamia nuts, but they didn’t offer enough crunch. So I decided on cashews, the one problem is I am allergic to cashews. It’s the only food I am allergic to.

No worries, I thought, I will be sure not to touch the nut and I’ll be fine. Wrong. As I stirred this salad (I was taking it to a ladies gathering that night), I started to run bright red! I got hives down my neck and throat and started to consider a trip to urgent care. Luckily, it only last about 30 minutes.

But now I know not only am I allergic to cashews, I am highly allergic, so this will be the last recipe I likely post with the nut. And that is why these pictures are so pitiful. I shot it quickly on my iPhone instead of taking time with my big camera.

I just needed to get away from this nut.

So, try it out. The ladies loved it! I tasted it before I added the nut and liked it, but I knew the cashew would add a lot of depth to this dish.

The combination of basil, pineapple, chicken and cashews explodes with flavor. It’s fantastic! I really wish I could have done some food styling.

I hope you like it.

Hawaiian Chicken Salad

1 rotisserie chicken

½ cup chopped red onion

1 cup minced fresh pineapple

1/3 cup chopped celery

12-15 basil leaves

¾ cup cashews

2/3 cup mayonnaise

1 teaspoon red wine vinegar

Salt and pepper to taste

Remove all the skin from the rotisserie chicken and  discard. Then pull the meat off the bones and chop the entire chicken into pieces. Place it in a large container with a lid.

Chop onion, pineapple, celery and thinly slice basil leaves. Add to the bowl. Top with cashews.

Stir together mayonnaise and red wine vinegar. Add to the dish and stir to coat. Add salt and pepper to taste. For best results, cover and refrigerate 2 hours before serving.

You can eat this salad as a sandwich or wrap, with cracker or tortilla chips (I served tortilla chips and it was popular) or on a bed of lettuce as a real salad.

Light Greek Chicken Salad

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If you love chicken salad, but are watching your fat intake, then try my Greek version. It has less calories, less than half the fat of traditional chicken salad, and calcium and probiotics. You can shave more calories by using low fat yogurt and it still tastes good.

It’s a light and healthy version.

Dill and Kalamata olives really pump up the flavor in this dish. I use garlic salt to flavor it, too. I enjoy this salad in a wrap, but you can also serve it as a salad or with pita chips as a dip.

The key is to refrigerate it at least 2 hours before serving (more is always better).

Light Greek Chicken Salad

1 rotisserie chicken

4 green onions

1 stalk celery

1 cup chopped cucumber

1/3 cup chopped Kalamata olives

1 cup plain Greek yogurt (whole or low fat)

1 teaspoon dried dill weed

1 teaspoon lemon juice

Garlic salt to taste

Pepper to taste

Remove all the skin from the rotisserie chicken and discard. Then pull the meat off the bones and chop the entire chicken into pieces. Place it in a large container with a lid.

Chop onions, celery, cucumber and Kalamata olives and add to chicken.

In another bowl, stir together Greek yogurt, dill week, lemon juice and a dose of garlic salt. Pour over chicken and stir to combine all ingredients.

Cover and refrigerate at least two hours before serving. Add garlic salt and pepper to taste before serving.

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Mediterranean Chicken Salad Sliders

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This is one of those recipes that you wish would photograph better. I don’t know why, but I had a dickens of a time trying to make this look good.

Which is crazy because this is delicious! I love chicken salad and am constantly creating different versions. My niece says this is her favorite one.

My Mediterranean Chicken Salad is perfect for anyone who grows fresh herbs because the recipe calls for basil, parsley and fresh basil.

This salad is great on focaccia, on mini buns to make sliders, on a bed of lettuce, or with tortilla chips as an appetizer. I enjoy it on toasted bread, too. My favorite way to eat this is with tortilla chips.

Mediterranean Chicken Salad

1 lemon pepper rotisserie chicken

12 basil leaves

3 tablespoons chopped parsley

2 teaspoons chopped fresh dill

2/3 cup artichoke hearts in oil

2 tablespoons chopped sundried tomatoes

½ cup chopped celery

1/3 cup chopped red onion

1/3 cup finely chopped green Spanish olives

¾ cup mayonnaise

1 teaspoon red wine vinegar

½ teaspoon sugar

Salt and pepper to taste

*¼ cup toasted pine nuts (optional)

Pine nuts add a beautiful crunch to this salad, but are very pricey so their use is optional. It’s a great salad with or without pine nuts.

Remove skin from the rotisserie chicken and pull the meat off the bones. Chop chicken and add to a large bowl.

Thinly slices basil leaves and add to chicken. Then chop parsley, fresh dill, artichoke hearts, sundried tomatoes, celery, onion and Spanish olives and add to the bowl. You can use a food processor, but I would chop the celery and olives by hand to keep them large enough to give the salad a little crunch. If those two items are too finely minced, they won’t add the crunch you need.

In a small bowl, combine mayonnaise, vinegar and sugar. Then add it to the chicken and toss to coat the salad.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

Cover and refrigerate for 2-3 hours before serving.

Note: If you plan to add pine nuts, do not add them until you are about to serve the salad because those nuts will lose their crunch. So after you refrigerate the chicken salad, toss in pine nuts and serve.

Ultimate, Classic Chicken Salad

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I can’t believe it’s been two weeks since I’ve posted on here. It’s been a crazy two weeks. I’ve been dealing with shingles, which if you’ve ever been unfortunate enough to have it you know it’s so painful. Miserable!

Then, I headed to Chicago for the weekend to meet one of my longest and best friends. We’ve been best mates for 23 years and counting. She lives in Switzerland now and we continue to meet every year in some city. We’ve never missed a year

Then, my sister from California was visiting and we went to Branson and just hung out. So it’s been hectic.

But now, I am back in the kitchen cooking up a bunch of rotisserie chicken recipes. Here’s my classic chicken salad, which is always popular. Everyone loves chicken salad.

You can serve this as a sandwich or appetizer with Ritz crackers. I love it either way

Ultimate Classic Chicken Salad

3 ½ cups chopped rotisserie chicken

½ cup coarsely chopped pecans

2 tablespoons dried cranberries

½ cup chopped celery

½ cup halved white grapes

1/3 cup chopped red onion

¾ cup mayonnaise

2 teaspoons white wine vinegar (can substitute apple cider vinegar)

1 teaspoon sugar

Salt and pepper to taste

Remove skin from the rotisserie chicken and pull the meat off the bones. You will use most of the chicken for this recipe, but not all. Chop chicken into chunks.

In a large bowl, add first six ingredients (through the red onion) and toss gently.

In another bowl, whisk together mayonnaise, vinegar and sugar. Stir together until chicken salad is well coated. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve or cover and refrigerate until it’s time to serve.

Celery Leaves have many uses. And what do you do when you over salt soup? Hump Day Hacks and Tips

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It’s Wednesday, which I am calling  “Hump Day Hacks and Tips!” I am excited about this new feature on my blog that will appear every Wednesday.

Sometimes I share content I find, sometimes I share my own. Today, I share my own and I have two tips for you.

My parents used to live in the Dominican Republic and when I visited them (back in college), I discovered the beauty of celery leaves.

Most American cooks cut the leaves off and toss them– I used to do that–  but it’s a mistake. First, I am advocate of using as much of every food as possible. And second, the leaves are intensely flavorful and nutritious.

Celery leaves are high in iron, magnesium, and vitamins A and C.

In the Dominican, they used the leaves in marinades and that is a wonderful use, especially with chicken.

But I have lots of other ideas, too.

Celery leaves are great in stocks and broth. Because I have a ton of rotisserie chicken carcasses each week, I make my own stock. But on that rare occasion that I don’t, I still drop celery leaves, onions and bay leaves in commercial stock and boil for 10 minutes before I use the stock. I adds a lot of flavor. The more celery leaves, the better.

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Slice the leaves and use as substitute for parsley.

Toss chopped leaves into a salad to impart a celery flavor. It’s excellent. You can also add some to tuna salad or chicken salad. It adds extra flavor and nutrition. Mayo helps mellow out the celery leaf flavor.

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The leaves are excellent in homemade beans, both in the cooking process and sliced on top as a garnish.

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You can use them to garnish risotto or in rice pilaf or quinoa salad.

Use the leaves and a few stalks to infuse vodka for a fantastic Bloody Mary. Let’s see, it’s Wednesday, so go home tonight and add the leaves and stalks to vodka and Sunday morning, strain the vodka and enjoy a flavorful Bloody Mary. You can also add jalapenos if you like it hot.

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And save back a stem with some leaves on the top to garnish that Bloody Mary with olives. A thincelery stalk with leaves on top makes a great olive skewer.

Ok, I hope you never throw away celery leaves. There are too many reasons not to.

My second tip is a lot quicker.

I was at a friend’s house about a month ago and she over-salted her soup. I told her next time she does that, to place a few small potatoes or slice up a large potato, and put it in the broth as it cooks and the potato will extract some of the salt. You should peel the potato before you add them.

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You don’t want to cook the potato through and you may have to repeat the process, but it will help reduce the salt. Just think about how much salt potatoes need. It’s a great solution for over-salted stock.

That’s it for today. Join me all week for rotisserie chicken recipes and Hump Day Hacks and Tips on Wednesday.

I will start adding a weekly travel feature, too. I am thinking about Travel Tuesday or Travel Thursday. I have visited 57 countries, every continent and 45 states, so I have LOTS of travel tips and advice.

Thank you for reading today.

Asian Chicken Salad (three ways)

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I love, love, love chicken salad and am constantly creating different versions.

My top three recipes are this one, my rosemary chicken salad and my curried chicken salad.

My Asian version always wows people and I think it’s because it’s so unique. I love it because it’s easy, delicious and I can serve it three ways.

. I have served this on Ritz crackers at parties and it’s a huge hit;

I have piled it in the middle of a salad and devoured it for lunch (pictured here).\;

And I have served it on French bread as a sandwich and that’s pretty fantastic, too. I recommend topping the sandwich with thinly sliced cucumbers.

Every version is fantastic. In my recipe, I recommend using celery OR water chestnuts. I prefer celery but have made it both ways.

They key to this salad is you must have Soy Vay Veri Veri Teriyaki sauce. If you’ve never used that sauce, you should. It’s one of my favorite kitchen condiments.

It’s AMAZING on stir fried vegetables, soba noodles, on chicken. The great thing is, it’s a complete sauce so you don’t need to add other sauces.  I have used it for dipping sauce, as a marinade, etc, etc. It’s so versatile. Once you try it, you will ask that bottle: “Where have you been all my life?”

If you can’t find it on your local store, you can order it online: https://www.soyvay.com

You can search stores in your area on the website to see if they carry it.

This salad is perfect for entertaining or enjoying at home. Take it on a picnic or out on the boat. It’s lovely. Enjoy.

Asian Chicken Salad

3 1/2 cups chopped rotisserie chicken, skin removed

3/4 cup mayonnaise

1/3 cup Soy Vay Veri Veri Teriyaki

2 stalks of celery OR 5 ounces water chestnuts, minced

3 green onions, sliced

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

Pepper to taste (you don’t need salt)

2 tablespoons shredded carrot (optional) I add carrots when serving as a salad

Ritz crackers to serve, or bread, or a bed of lettuce

Dark meat is great in this dish, so if you’re not crazy about legs and thighs, try adding the meat to this. It makes a wonderful appetizer. A buttery Ritz is a wonderful complement, or serve it on a slice of cucumber when it’s hot outside for a refreshing appetizer.

While I am not an iceberg lettuce fan, if you are serving this on lettuce, iceberg is the way to go. It’s so crisp and light and is a beautiful compliment to the salad.

Directions:

In a large bow, mix mayonnaise and Soy Vay sauce together. Then add chicken, celery or water chestnuts, onion and cilantro. Stir until thoroughly combined. Add pepper to taste.

If serving as a salad, serve it over lettuce with cucumbers and topped with carrots.

In serving for a party, you an sit it out surrounded by crackers or plate each individual cracker. Cucumber slices are a nice addition if it’s self serve. You an also use cucumber slices to serve the salad if you are avoiding extra carbs. You can garnish with extra cilantro, if desired. I did it more for aesthetics for the photo.

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Or serve on bread.

Rosemary Chicken Salad

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This recipe is so easy and fantastic. I love rosemary, which was the inspiration for this recipe. We grew loads of it last summer and I dried it and am using up the last bits. It’s so easy to dry. I gave several bottles away for Christmas.

Anyway, when I told my husband about my rosemary salad, you didn’t think it sounded good, but when he tasted it, he was won over. I’d serve it on ciabatta or grilled Italian or French bread. If you are a low carb person, serve it in butter lettuce.

I am in love with it. It’s my few favorite chicken salad. It’s unbelievably easy to make. I experiment with a lot of chicken salad ideas because the dish is so simple, versatile, portable, and delicious.

It’s also excellent as an appetizer on Ritz crackers!!! I tried it in phyllo bites, too, but the Ritz were better.

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Rosemary Chicken Salad

3 cups chopped rotisserie chicken

1/3 cup chopped red onion

2/3 cups chopped celery (about 3 stalks)

¾ cup mayonnaise

1 teaspoon white wine vinegar (could substitute red if you need)

1 heaping tablespoon chopped, dried rosemary

Garlic salt to taste

Combine chicken, onion and celery and set aside.

In another bowl, mix mayonnaise, vinegar, rosemary and garlic salt. I added ¼ teaspoon of garlic salt but I like it salty, so I would salt to taste.

Stir together both mixes and enjoy. This is better the next day so I suggest making it in advance.