Sonoma Chicken Salad

ceoofmyhome's Note:

Whole Foods bugged me when they seriously raised the price of this already pricey chicken salad...so I've been really working on the recipe for awhile...determined to not have to make a special trip for the best chicken salad ever! I think I'm pretty close, sub out pecans for walnuts and you'll nail it right on the head. One tip on making the chicken for chicken salad. I don't like boiled chicken-too blah. I like to cook a whole chicken in the romertoff and slough off the liquid for my chicken stock for the week, then pull off all the meat. I'll use 1/2 the meat for the chicken salad and the other 1/2 for my fabulous tortilla soup.The chicken is much tastier, cheaper, plus you have three meals in one.

• Total Time: 20 mins
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 10 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 6

• 2⁄3; cup mayonnaise
• 1 ½ tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 cups diced chicken
• 1 ½ cups green grapes or 1 ½ cups red grapes
• 2 teaspoons poppy seeds
• 1 ½ cups celery
• 1 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:

1. I put everything in a big bowl and use 2 big spoons to"toss".
2. Cover and Refrigerate.
3. Good for up to a week.
4. Enjoy!

Reviews

[aronsinvest]

Turned out very good. Used left over rotisserie chicken. Used almonds instead of walnuts.

[dmac085]

Have made this several times for the work crowd and it is an enormous hit. There is a grocery store chain here that makes this type of deli salad and everyone says this is dead on just like it.

I roast my chicken breasts, skin on/on the bone seasoned with salt and pepper, then remove the meat when cooled. I save up the roasted bones in a freezer bag for when I want to make stock (also dump all the runoff juices in the bag too.) For deeper flavor I'll thaw and roast the bones on a sheet tray prior to dunking them in the stockpot.

This salad is great because of its simplicity. The lack of onions is great because I think even in small amounts the scent tends to overwhelm everything else when used raw. Great job with the copycat and thank you for posting it!

[nelbel]

I love this salad from Whole Foods. My mom and sister and I always buy it when we need to get a quick-fix dinner but don't want to go to a restaurant (we used to get the latkes, too, but we've recently discovered their fantastic pizza).