ForeverMama's Fabulous Chicken Salad

Submitted by ForeverMama

"This recipe has been developed from experimenting and tweaking until a great chicken salad was achieved. This chicken salad is OUR FAVORITE! It is good enough to serve for a special occasion/holiday. I hope it becomes your favorite too."

 

• Ready In: 35mins
• Ingredients: 14
• Serves: 12

ingredients

• 1 small rotisserie chicken
• 1 1⁄4 cups mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoons prepared Italian salad dressing (Ken's brand preferred)
• 2 teaspoons paprika
• 1⁄2 teaspoon ginger
• 1 - 1 1⁄2 cup dried cranberries
• 2 cups chopped celery
• 2 -4 scallions, stalks finely chopped (amount is depending on your taste)
• 1⁄2 red onion, diced
• 1 cup chopped walnuts, toasted
• 1⁄2 - 1 small lime juice, freshly squeezed
• 1 lime peel, grated (optional)
• 3⁄4 teaspoon all purpose seasoning (or to taste, Adobo seasoning, Goya brand)
• fresh ground black pepper, to taste

directions

1. Remove meat from rotisserie chicken. Chop into bite size pieces. Add to large bowl; set aside.
2. In a medium size bowl, add the next 9 ingredients; mix to blend. Add lime juice, adobo seasoning and black pepper to taste. Add to chicken and combine to distribute all ingredients evenly. Taste for seasoning and correct, if necessary. Chill for 1 hour before serving.
3. NOTE: Concerning the seasonings, I don't always add exactly the amounts given, it's all a matter of taste.
4. Tip: I sometimes add a bit of sugar, if I went over too much on the lime juice or if I want a hint of sweetness. I add about 1/2 - 1 tsp sugar.
5. Another Tip: If you go over too much on the salt, add a few more drops of lime juice. Both lime and lemon juice, make the saltiness disapear. Of course test it bit by bit when adding lemon or lime juice, because you don't want to over power with the juice flavor. This tip is one of the secrets of the restaurant trade.

Reviews

[AZPARZYCH]

Great flavor! I made a few changes based on the ingredients I had...I used 4 large baked chicken thighs from recipe#489169 489169, a sweet onion rather than red and toasted pecans rather than walnuts. I don't think the changes made that much of a difference.. I love chicken salad with 'stuff' in it and this one did not disappoint. Served on toasted wheat as well as on a bed of romaine with some shredded parmesan cheese. Made and reviewed for Photo Tag.

 

[I'mPat]

Loved the flavours and textures with the crunch and sweet and spicy all worked well together for a lovely lunch. I scaled back for 1 serve and used 1/2 a b-b-q'd chicken breast and mixed that with the nuts (I used pecans), the fruit and the vegetables and then mixed the mayo, spices, seasonings and lime juice together and folded through the rest and served in a lettuce cup for a low carb lunch, thank you ForeverMama, made for Please Review My Recipe tag game.

 

[breezermom]

This chicken salad is not smothered in mayo like some....plus it has a lot of crunch from the nuts and celery. I used the adobo seasoning, and was very happy with how this turned out. Believe it or not, there were no rotisserie chickens to be found when I wanted to make this, so I roasted chicken breasts and used those. Served it on whole wheat pita bread. Great salad! Made for Photo Tag.....thanks for sharing!