In episode 57 we’re going over how to make some cranberry pecan chicken salad. This is the last in a series about smoking a whole chicken and this recipe is perfect for any leftovers you may have! Eat it on its own or serve it up with a green salad for a complete meal.
Listen on iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn, or your favorite podcast player. Or scroll down to read a full transcript.
RECIPES MENTIONED
These are some of the recipes mentioned in the episode, all of which are on Hot Pan Kitchen.
- Cranberry Pecan Chicken Salad
- Spring Green Salad
- Pumpkin Sweet Potato Soup
- Roasted Kabocha Squash Soup
- Creamy Potato Soup
RESOURCES MENTIONED
Some of the following are affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
- Episode 56: Making Black Bean Chicken Chili
- Episode 55: Making Chicken Stock
- Episode 54: Smoking a Whole Chicken
- Episode 53: Spatchcocking a Chicken
Transcript
Taryn Solie: Hello grillers, and thank you for tuning in today! I am your host, Taryn Solie, and I am here to give you some grilling inspiration. In this episode I will be going over one recipe in detail from my recipe website, Hot Pan Kitchen, including the full ingredient list and instructions as well as some tips and tricks to help you along the way.
Today’s episode is the last in a series all about smoking a whole chicken. We’ve covered spatchcocking a chicken in episode 53, smoking the chicken in episode 54, making a stock from the chicken carcass in episode 55, and using some of that smoked chicken to make a black bean chicken chili in episode 56.
This last episode is going to give you one more idea to use up any last leftover chicken you may have when you smoke a whole bird – we’re going to make a chicken salad. Particularly a cranberry pecan chicken salad.
What’s great about this recipe is it’s very very easy to scale, meaning if you only have a little bit of chicken left you can reduce the ingredients you need and just make a small chicken salad for one. Or if you have a ton of chicken you can scale it up to make a huge amount of chicken salad.
The flavors of this pair really well together too – you’ve got some sweetness from the dried cranberries, a warm crunch from the pecans, a cool crunch from the celery, and a very slight bite from the green onion. Add in the creaminess of the mayo and tanginess of the dijon mustard and you’ve got lots of great flavor going on. But they don’t compete with each other – instead they all work together to make the salad super tasty.
So let’s get started with the ingredients! You’ll need.
- 4 cups of chicken breast that’s seasoned, cooked, and shredded, about 1-1.25 pounds;
- half a cup of dried cranberries;
- half a cup of chopped pecans;
- half a cup of diced celery;
- half a cup of mayonnaise;
- 1 tablespoon of Dijon mustard;
- 2 to 3 green onions that have been rinsed and dried off – you’ll want the dark green part only; and
- salt and ground black pepper to taste.
A couple of things to think about when making this recipe:
- I specifically state that you want to start with chicken breast that’s been seasoned and cooked. I know sometimes people will make chicken salad from boiled plain chicken breast, which results in such bland chicken, even if you put it in a salad with other flavorful foods. Your chicken salad will taste so much better if your chicken has been seasoned before being cooked, which is part of what makes this a great recipe for leftovers.
- Second, you can absolutely use dark meat chicken in this recipe instead of chicken breast. So think legs, thighs, that sort of meat. As dark meat chicken has a natural higher fat content than white meat chicken, you may want to lessen the amount of mayo you use to start, say ⅓ of a cup instead of ½ a cup, then add in more if needed.
- And lastly, make sure you clean your celery before chopping it up. Celery tends to have dirt and grit on it, especially near the bottom of the stalks, which you don’t want to get into your chicken salad. So give it a good rinse and wipe it dry before dicing.
Okay, let’s get into the directions. This recipe comes together really easily, which is part of what makes it so great.
First you’ll want to get a large bowl out and place the shredded cooked chicken breast into it. Next, measure out the chopped pecans, dried cranberries, and chopped celery and place all three in the bowl with the chicken.
Use a cutting board and sharp knife to cut the dark green portions of the green onion into small pieces, then add them in to the large bowl with the chicken too.
Measure out both the mayo and the dijon mustard into a small bowl. Use a whisk or a spoon to stir the ingredients together until they’re thoroughly mixed. Add this mixture into the large bowl with the other ingredients.
Gently stir everything together with a spoon until the ingredients are well dispersed and the mayo mixture has coated everything evenly. Give it a taste and add in some ground black pepper – between ¼ and ½ teaspoon, and a dash or two of salt if needed. Stir it up again, then it’s ready to serve!
There are a couple of different ways you can serve this chicken salad – you can eat it on its own, either as a main dish in a larger bowl or as a side in a small bowl or cup; You can put it on top of a big pile of greens and eat it as it’s own meal that way; or you can put it in on some bread and have a chicken salad sandwich. I would need to use gluten free bread as I am gluten free, but if you’re able to eat gluten you could do some toasted sourdough or a ciabatta roll – both would be good.
As for what to eat with it, I tend to fall back on the old soup-salad-sandwich combo. You could do a green salad, which I have a spring green salad that would go really well with it. You could also do a warm soup – I would recommend sticking with a veggie-based soup to keep it lighter since the chicken salad is a more filling dish. I have a couple blended vegetable soups that would be good, like a sweet potato & pumpkin soup and a kabocha squash soup, or even a potato soup would work really well.
If you have any chicken salad left over, you’re going to want to store it in an airtight container in the fridge. If your chicken is freshly cooked it will keep for 3 to 4 days that way. If your chicken is already a day or two old then you’ll want to eat the chicken salad in one to two days. I would not recommend freezing it as mayo tends to separate when it’s reheated from frozen, which ruins the dish.
I’ll include a link to the full printable recipe for this cranberry pecan chicken salad, as well as the other recipes I’ve mentioned, on the show notes page. To get to it you can either go to my main website at Hot Pan Kitchen dot com and click on podcast in the main menu, or you can click on the link provided in whatever podcast app you’re listening on.
If you enjoyed this episode, I would love it if you would subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast platform. And don’t miss out on upcoming episodes where I’ve got some great grilling and smoking recipes you’re going to love!
That’s it for today, thank you so much for listening, and until next time, keep grilling like a mother.
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