Nik’s Berry Chicken Salad

Forgive me, Foodies! Both for the less than ideal pic AND for totally missing the potential Independence Day connection. 🙂

Chicken is a staple in my household. And for my family – me, the two divas, dog and cat – it is most economical to buy a whole chicken rather than buying packs of chicken pieces.

The elder diva loves all things chicken, while the younger HATES any meat with bones (she’s about a hiccup from being vegetarian). The dog just likes meat. The cat is indifferent to everything except tuna.

So that is to say that there are a lot of needs to fill and whole chickens usually do the job. And chickens have a definite life-cycle in my household. Usually I either roast it whole or cut it into parts (contrary to public opinion, butchering a chicken is neither hard nor particularly time-consuming). Either way we have our first initial meal from it then I leave it for leftovers for a few days.

After that, the meat is up for grabs and I make things with it like my curried chicken or chicken-bacon ranch salad. With whole chickens, once I’ve picked the carcass I usually use it to both make broth/stock and to make a simple gravy my dog seems to love mixed in with his food.

So yesterday was “chicken pickin'” day. And I knew I wanted to make chicken salad for lunch but I wanted something different. Here’s what I came up with!

Nik’s Berry Chicken Salad
(Makes about 2-4 portions, depending on your pouch capacity)


Ingredients:

  • 1 c. shredded chicken meat (I used breast meat)
  • 1/3 c. unflavored Greek yogurt (I used 0%)
  • 1 heaping tbsp lowfat mayo (you can use fat-free if you want, I never will!)
  • 2 tbsp. your favorite raspberry vinaigrette (I used this)
  • 1/8 tsp. ground black pepper
  • A dash of garlic salt
  • 3 strawberries (that are just about ripe), sliced
  • 1/4 c. blueberries
  • Optional: any other berries you like + a handful of toasted nuts might be nice for crunch. I didn’t have any.
Directions:
In a cup, combine Greek yogurt, mayo and dressing and stir until it resembles yogurt. (It will first be sort of clumpy but if you stir it for a minute or two it’ll smooth out.)
Put your shredded chicken in a bowl and add spices to the chicken. Mix thoroughly.
Add yogurt/mayo mixture (Note: if you don’t want to use mayo, try a drizzle of olive oil but you do need a little bit of fat. Greek yogurt alone doesn’t hold well in chicken salads without giving off a “dry” aftertaste). Mix thoroughly.
Lastly add your berries and nuts, if using them.
This was a delightful surprise. Interestingly the black pepper is the star of this thing. The pepper against the berries and the savory chicken is quite nice! I ate this straight out of the bowl for lunch. They would also be good on a plain rice cake or with some whole wheat crackers if that’s your thing.
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