Celestial Chicken Salad
That name! Don't you love it? My roomate from many moons ago gave me the recipe for this delicious salad and I have tweaked a little over the years.
It is one of those salads that I have served at home, to friends, at showers for the main dish, taken to a new mom and made just for me with a little left-over chicken. In fact just last week I made it for a friend coming over and she commented, oh I wondered if we would have your chicken salad- boom there it is!
The reason I have never written this recipe down and posted is I make it in so many different serving sizes. For one or for 30!
The ingredients are super simple. Interchangeable. And what you normally keep in the pantry or frig.
So on to the recipe.
Ingredients:
4 cups cooked chicken breast, diced
1 cup grapes sliced in half
1 cup Celery diced in small pieces
3/4 cup Pecans, chopped
Dressing for the salad:
3/4 cup Sour Cream
3/4 cup Mayonnaise
1 1/2 tablespoons Lemon juice, fresh or from the bottle
1 teaspoon Dill- fresh or dried
1 tablespoon Dill pickle relish
First, I cook my chicken. You can poach or roast your chicken breasts. Often I am using chicken from another meal prep that I grilled or baked. Dice the chicken into bite size pieces
Add the grapes and celery and pecans. You can add more or less according to your taste.
Next I mix the dressing right in the bowl. I like my chicken salad a little wet, you might like yours a little dryer, so you can add less sour cream or mayonnaise. Fresh lemon juice is delish, but you can also use the lemon juice in the bottle. I like the addition of the dill. Fresh or dried, your choice. (Fresh dill is very easy to grow in a pot if you want to try that!) And I love the addition of the Dill pickle relish into this. It is kind of a magical ingredient that adds a little ZIP! You can add more or less.
Serving Idea-
Serve the salad on a bed of Arugula or leaf lettuce. I like the peppery arugula!
Chicken Salad served at a Bridal Shower