For years and years chicken salad has been a go-to meal for family parties. I remember learning that you could make your own dressing for chicken salad from my mother-in-law Patsy, and it kinda blew my mind! Well why not…I guess it was then that I started to realize that part of the fun about being in the kitchen is thinking outside of the box and being creative with different flavors that make your mouth smile! Now, she still used bottled concoctions from the store (which at the time was what we all did about 20 years ago) but to watch her mix and match till the flavors were what she wanted it to be and not what the folks that made the bottled stuff decided…magic! She was such an inspiration to me for this as well as many other kitchen wonders. (see my post about muffins here for that past story)
Fast forward a few years and making my own dressing for chicken salad was a must and always a crowd pleaser at family parties and celebrations. Folks always loved it and raved about it. Now, fast forward a few more years and now that we want to always use the “real-ist” (☜ not sure that’s a real word) ingredients & food, our chicken salad has taken on a whole new flavor level! We start with uisng homemade mayo using Chosen Foods Avocado oil it is an absolute must, the flavor will not be anywhere as luxurious if you use store bought mayo! We no longer serve it on croissants (although, I aim to figure out how to make one using some of Otto’s cassava flour…so stay tuned for that) but eating it right outta the bowl, using raw veggie chips to scoop it or even served up on some butter lettuce…seriously, fantastic and it continues to be a family favorite to the nth degree!
Our recipe does use 1 cup Basmati rice, our tummies jive with that little bit & we are totally on the ol’ #teamwhiterice bandwagon. But if you don’t tolerate it…leave it out! Add more chicken or some other filler that you might enjoy in it ~ for us that would NEVER be celery! But if you like it, toss it in!!
chicken salad
A refreshing and bright chicken salad.
Credit: backporchpaleo
Ingredients
- 4 c cooked, diced chicken (in a pinch we use the rotisserie chicken from Costco)
- 2 c grapes (we like red) – washed and halved
- ¼-½ c green onions, washed and sliced
- 1 c basmati rice, cooked and cooled*
- ¼ c chopped nuts, we like pistachio, but use your favorite (optional)
- 1 recipe of our chicken salad dressing
Directions
- In a large bowl, toss together first four ingredients – and carefully mix. We use a silicon spatula instead of a metal spoon so we don’t bruise the grapes or break apart the chicken too much.
- Pour about one cup of the dressing over mixture and gently mix in…if you like your chicken salad not overly moist, you could be all done. If you like it a bit “wetter” continue to add more dressing about a tablespoon at a time until you get the desired consistency. We typically have about 3 tablespoons leftover…give or take a few drops. Use at as a dollop on top or it’s also great as a sandwich spread!
- Serve in lettuce cups and top with chopped nuts if using. We like to add the nuts on top after so they don’t get soggy. You can also seriously just eat this right out of a bowl by the forkfuls, it’s pretty delicious!
