Autumn Chicken Salad Sandwich

This chicken salad is bursting with the flavors of autumn—dried cranberries, toasted walnuts, green apples, and fresh herbs.  It’s great for sandwiches, and also on a bed of baby greens. I love it both ways.

I LOVE a good chicken salad sandwich. But a good chicken salad sandwich is nearly impossible to find outside of a good home kitchen. I know, because I’m always looking.

So what constitutes “good” in a chicken sandwich?

It begins and ends with the chicken–roasted or grilled chicken breast–flavorful, tender, and moist.

A hint of wood smoke from the grill is extra appealing. For speed and ease, the tender, roast chicken available at many supermarkets these days is fair game.

Beyond the chicken, a full flavored mayonnaise or aioli binder is essential. But then, the sky is almost the limit.

For me, celery, green onions, toasted walnuts, pecans or almonds, and fresh herbs are a must. And in the fall, I always add green apple and dried cranberries, which deliciously cut the richness of the mayo.

Autumn Chicken Salad Sandwich

This chicken salad is bursting with the flavors of autumn—dried cranberries, toasted walnuts, green apples, and fresh herbs. And if you can add a hint of smoke to the chicken, all the better.

You can certainly build sandwiches with this chicken salad, but it also stands on its own on a bed of baby greens. I love it both ways, depending on the mood and the moment.

Ingredient Note   If you want to use brioche buns from a local bakery, hollow them out somewhat, so you don’t have too much bread in proportion to chicken salad.

Dijon Aioli
1 cup homemade or best quality purchased mayonnaise
2 teaspoons country style Dijon mustard
2 cloves garlic, pressed or minced

Chicken Salad
4 cups cooked (roasted or lightly smoked), coarsely chopped chicken breast (20 ounces) (2 whole chicken breasts typically yield 6 cups chopped chicken)
1 cup toasted chopped walnuts (4 ounces)
1 cup cored, seeded, and diced green apple ( ½ large apple)
½ cup trimmed, and thinly sliced celery (1-2 celery ribs)
½ cup  trimmed and thinly sliced (½ bunch green onions)
½ cup moist, dried cranberries
2 tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon, optional

fine sea salt, to taste
freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Sandwiches
Dijon Aioli (from above)
baby greens
rye bread or soft home-style bun (toasted if desired)

Garnishes
super thin potato chips
baby pickles

1. To prepare the Dijon Aioli, in a medium mixing bowl, whisk the mayonnaise, Dijon, and garlic until smooth. Reserve.
2. To prepare the Chicken Salad, in a large mixing bowl, combine chicken, walnuts, apple, celery, green onions, and tarragon if using.
3. Pour about ¾ of the Dijon Aioli over the chicken mixture and toss gently to combine. Add a little more dressing if needed (reserving at least a few tablespoons for building the sandwiches), and season to taste with salt and pepper.
4. To build each sandwich, spread 2 slices of bread with some of the remaining Dijon Aioli.
5. Arrange baby lettuce on one of the bread slices, top with a generous mound of chicken salad, and top with the remaining slice of bread.
6. Serve with potato chips and pickles.

Makes 6-8 sandwiches.

Cookin’ with Gas (inspiration from around the web)

• Chicken Salad  | Wikipedia
• Chicken Salad | WikiChicken
• Chicken Salad with Grapes & Walnuts | Christen’s Kitchen
• Chicken Salad: Back to the Beginning | Willow Tree
• What’s the Strangest Thing You Put in Your Chicken Salad? | Serious Eat

Copyright 2015 Susan S. Bradley. All rights reserved.