Garden Chicken Salad Sandwich

It’s officially summer and when I think of summer I think of picnics and packing up a lunch and heading somewhere.  Well with us the only place we headed this weekend was the beach and even then we had a short visit because the storm clouds started to roll in and the rain started to fall.  With it also being super hot here in Florida we were ok with coming home and having our packed lunch inside in the nice air conditioning.  Now onto our inside “packed lunch”….

As you probably already know I’m not a huge fan of mayonnaise but I do love chicken salad so I’m always looking for ways to make it with alternatives.  That’s what I love about cooking too because all you have to do is use your imagination and see what comes out of it.  So with this recipe I just had some fun and in the end yummy!  There is a nice variety of flavors that all work together for this salad.  You have the tart of the apples, the sweet from the honey, the zest from the lemon, and then the herb vinagrette!  Now as I mentioned above I don’t like mayonnaise so I substitute it with greek yogurt that has a similar thickness, but without the fat.  Now, I did add a tablespoon of light mayonnaise but really everything else in this salad makes you forget the it is in it. 

Now even though we didn’t get to have a packed picnic lunch this weekend I did get to pack a sandwich for my lunch this week and yum!  Enjoy everyone and happy summer!

Garden Chicken Salad Sandwich

Print Recipe

2 cups cooked chicken, cubed (such as a rotisserie chicken)

1/2 cup chopped celery

2/3 cup Granny Smith apple, cored and diced

1 tbsp light mayonnaise

1/3 cup 2% Greek yogurt

2 Tbsp Herb Vinagrette (see recipe below)

1 Tbsp lemon juice

1 Tbsp honey

1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper

1 tsp ground coriander

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp lemon zest

Topping and Bread of choice

Herb Vinaigrette

1/2 of juice of one lemon

1/2 cup parsley, chopped

1/2 cup basil, chopped

2 Tbsp honey

1/4 cup grapeseed oil

Instructions:

For Vinaigrette: Blend all ingredients in a food processor until smooth.

For Chicken Salad: Combine chicken, celery, apple, mayonnaise, vinaigrette, lemon juice, honey, coriander, pepper, salt, and zest and toss well. 

Line bread with toppings of choice and spoon 1/2 cup chicken salad to make each sandwich.  Serve and enjoy!