Healthy Chicken Salad
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 dried parsley
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
1/2 tsp kosher salt
Fresh ground black pepper to taste
1 cup cooked chicken meat, hand tear off the bone for a nice texture
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
1/8 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup pecan halves or chopped (substitute another nut of your choice like walnuts or almonds)
2 tsp chia seeds
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. 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.
3. 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.
