Sunday, April 10, 2011

Quickest Chicken Salad

What’s the first thing that comes in to your mind when I say “chicken salad”? Is it WEDDING? When I was a little girl I loved to go to weddings and they would always serve a cream puff (I now call them profiteroles) stuffed with chicken salad, some type of slushy punch and a little mint. I loved it so much that it became the menu at my own wedding. Chicken salad has grown up since then and this recipe is a definite upgrade. I love adding sweet mix-ins such as grapes or Craisins. 2 cups breast meat from a rotisserie chicken, chopped*
2 stalks celery, chopped fine
3 green onions, chopped fine
1/2-1 cup mayonnaise
1 tsp. coarse grain mustard (I use Grey Poupon)
½ tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
Mix ins: Dried cranberries (Craisins), Chopped nuts (pecans or walnuts), zest from a lemon, red grapes, halved

Place chopped chicken in a bowl along with celery and green onions. Add the mayo, mustard, salt, and pepper. Stir until well combined – I always start out with ½ cup mayo, then add more if it seems a little dry. Just before serving, stir in any mix-ins that you like. Serve on rolls or croissants with a leaf of fresh green lettuce. Store covered in refrigerator up to 3 days.

*Instead of using rotisserie chicken meat, you could also cook 2-3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts and chop them up. For convenience, I buy the rotisserie chicken, remove and chop the breast meat for this recipe, then remove all of the dark meat from the legs and thighs and use it to make soup later in the week.

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