Healthy Chicken Salad
April 18, 2016
This recipe has a lot of ingredients, but comes together quickly & makes a great summertime meal. This also makes 4 to 5 delicious chicken salad sandwiches on your favorite bread. Whenever possible use organic ingredients.
Serves: 2 to 3
Ingredients
3 Tblsp plain Greek yogurt or sour cream
3 Tblsp Smart Balance light mayonnaise
1 Tblsp Boar's Head horseradish sauce
1 tsp chopped fresh basil (about 2 lg leaves) or 1/4 tsp dried
1 tsp finely chopped fresh rosemary
1 clove garlic, minced (ok to use 1/2 tsp minced garlic in a jar) or 1/4 tsp granulated garlic powder
Fresh ground black pepper to taste
1 cup cooked chicken meat, hand tear off the bone for a nice texture (see Tip# 1)
1/3 cup bok choy (white stem) or celery, sliced thick
1/4 cup scallion sliced 1" thick or red onion chopped medium
8 large pitted black olives, halved
1 sm carrot, deeply cut into short strips using a potato peeler (about 1/3 cup packed)
1 cup broccoli florets, large bite-sized
1/4 cup pecan halves or chopped (substitute another nut of your choice like walnuts or almonds)
For serving: 4 Boston lettuce leaves or handfuls of organic superfood greens (generally baby kale, spinach & chard)
Directions
1 Mix the first 9 ingredients (yogurt through black pepper) in a medium glass bowl till well combined. Cover & refrigerate till you finish prepping the other ingredients.
2 Image: Prepped ingredients.
3 Add remaining ingredients (chicken through chia seeds) to yogurt mixture & toss gently till combined. Cover & refrigerate 4 to 8 hours to allow the ingredients to marry & attain maximum flavor.
4 Stack 2 lettuce leaves on each plate or a hefty handful of super food greens. Add chicken salad atop the lettuce or greens & serve.
Tips & Suggestions
1 For the cooked chicken meat; pull the meat off a 1/4 of a rotisserie cooked grocery store chicken...this will yield the 1 cup needed. You can also use leftover chicken or turkey meat or cook up a boneless, skinless chicken breast.
2 If you have one, use a Foodsaver or other brand of vacuum sealer machine to seal the remaining rotisserie chicken, label, date & freeze.
3 Use the green leafy part of the bok choy as part of the serving greens. Tear it up & add it to the chicken salad or save it to use in a salad, it should last about a week in the frig.
4 Add 1/3 cup of any fresh vegetable you need to use up, such as red bell pepper cut into short strips or raw asparagus spears (cut off woody part of stem) & cut into thirds.
5 Chicken salad will last in frig about 2 days. Do not freeze.
Wow, this looks flavorful and yummy! A combination of flavors I never would have thought to try myself! I am writing it down to try it!
Terrific Heather, hope you enjoy it!
Great recipe, looks yummy!! Thanks for this simple and healthy option for making chicken exciting!
Thanks so much Emily 🙂
I love this recipe! So easy to make, and perfect for summer time. It’s perfect for lunch at work.
I’m so pleased you love this recipe! Thanks for your kind words Cris 🙂
Perfect chicken salad!! Love that you added rosemary:)). Healthy and simple, just perfect
Oh yes, I love rosemary & try to use it in my recipes often!
This looks so refreshing! I love the presentation on the lettuce, giving it a little bit of crunch! Yum!
Thanks for the compliments Elena, much appreciated!
We eat a ton of chicken and are always looking for more great recipes. We’re gonna try this one.
Oh good… I hope you & your family enjoy it!
I didn’t have chicken salad at home. My first experience with it was in the University cafeteria where it was like sandwich paste. Adequate. Not delicious. Your salad is a whole other story. I love all the texture and the horseradish. A terrific way to use those cheap roasted chickens.
That’s so kind of you to say Gillian! I really appreciate your wonderful comments 🙂
Wow what a healthy salad. I love salad and chicken – this would be a full meal for a hot summer meal or even great for guests. Looks so delicious and easy to make. Thanks for sharing this great recipe.
You’re welcome Marla & thanks so much for your compliments!
This looks like the perfect thing to make for lunch today, I can’t wait to try it!
Thanks Nicole & I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!
Amazing recipe! I don’t think I’ve ever had chicken salad with yogurt in it. Can’t wait to try it. Thanks!
Thanks Idalmis… oh yes, using yogurt in place of sour cream in recipes is always a great healthy switch!
Nice looking salad, love the fact that it has chicken and chia seeds inside. Thank for sharing, will definitely make it
I hope you enjoy it when you try it out Juliet!
This looks soooo good!! I’m always looking for tasty but healthy meals for the kids and they’ve been so into salads lately. I can’t wait to try this one with them!
You’re fortunate that your kids love salads! I hope all of you enjoy this recipe 🙂
it does look like a healthly Chicken salad. I am not much of a cook anymore but I would try if someone made for me.
Well if you lived nearby Janice I’d invite you over for dinner!
Yogurt/mayo/horseradish sounds like a winning combo for a healthy chicken salad with a lot of flavor! I’ll definitely need to give this a try. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks so much Akiko, I truly hope you try this out & love it as much as we do at my house 🙂
Mmmmmm…Looks absolutely delicious!! Thanks for the great recipe.
You’re welcome Sven & I’m so glad you think so!
I always learn something new when I read your recipes, this one is unique to me, and I need to try it out. Thanks for sharing with us!
You’re welcome John & I’m so pleased that you enjoy my recipes!
I confess to putting Chia seeds in almost everything so pleased to see someone else who is making good use of them too. A great source of protein and I find they add to the texture as well.
Glad to meet another Chia seed lover Angela!
This looks so delicious, But it won’t change my perception to be non-vegetarian.
You could always make this a Vegetarian meal… just leave off the chicken & increase the amount of broccoli (or another vegetable of your choice) by 1 cup.
This is so simple to make and yet looks delicious! Definitely adding that to my list of recipes to make when recovered!
Thanks Nyxie… from your comments it sounds like you’re ill. I sure hope you recover & are 100% well really soon!
Great salad recipe! I love the idea of stacking the salad on top a bed of lettuces! Will definitely prepare this! Thanks for sharing!
I’m so glad you think so Jennifer, I hope you enjoy it when you decide to try it!
This looks so delicious!!! I will make it tomorrow..can’t wait! Will let you know how it goes…yay!
Great! Let me know how you like it Chad!