Who’s ready for an easy way to prep lunches for the week? If you are, this is your recipe!

We are subbing in Greek yogurt for traditional mayo and adding color with red peppers, grapes, and onions; adding freshness with parsley, thyme, and celery, and topping the whole thing off with the bright acidity of vinegar and lemon juice.  Time to start stirring!

What I love the most about a chicken salad is that you can make it your own with what you have available – there is flexibility to this salad. 

If you don’t have…

• Greek yogurt – substitute mayonnaise. 
• Cashews – substitute walnuts or pecans.
• Red pepper – omit or add a different pepper. 
• Parsley – make it french and add tarragon.
• Dijon mustard – use yellow mustard mixed with splash of white wine.

You can use any good vinegar to sub for the red wine, but that is most common.  I also like to add raisins on occasion to our chicken salads.  Like I mentioned…this dish is flexible.

This recipe was made for the book club feast of the trio of dips and the quattro of salads (is that a real phrase?).  Accompanied by two mayonnaise based salads (Chickpea Salad and Ham & Pickle Salad), and the Heart of Palm Salad.  This was a refreshing way to add Greek yogurt as the creamy base. It was a crowd pleaser, evidenced by not much being left over.

For this meal, I boiled 2 chicken breasts in water with garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and pepper. Remove the chicken when done cooking, let cool, and then shred for the salad.  Another option could be purchasing a rotisserie chicken, letting it cool slightly, and then pulling the meat off (discarding the skin) for both a light and dark meat of the chicken.

My favorite part is the bright pop of the grapes and the crunch of the celery and cashews.  They all compliment each other well. 

Serve this on its own, with crackers, over a bed of mixed greens, or on a croissant.  No matter which way to eat this, I hope you will appreciate the flavors as much as I do.

Chicken Salad + Grapes

Ingredients:

• 2-3 cups shredded chicken
• 3/4 cup Greek yogurt
• 1 cup halved grapes
• 1/2 cup diced red pepper
• 1/2 cup diced red onion or shallots (or a little of both)
• 1/2 cup celery
• 1/3 cup cashews, chopped
• Bunch parsley, chopped
• 3-4 springs fresh thyme
• 2 Tbls red wine vinegar
• 1 Tbls dijon mustard
• 1 Tbls lemon juice
• Kosher salt & fresh cracked pepper

Preparation:

In a large bowl, combine chicken, red pepper, onions, celery, parsley, and thyme. Stir together. In a separate bowl, stir together Greek yogurt, red wine vinegar, mustard, and lemon juice. Fold this into the chicken mixture. Add grapes and cashews and fold to combine. Taste and add salt & pepper, as needed.

Serve by itself, with crackers, or over a bed of lettuce dressed with olive oil and red wine vinegar. Enjoy!

Happy Shredding Chicken!!!

*Recipe Original from Experimental Spoon. Although influenced by any chicken salad recipe and potluck dish I’ve ever seen or eaten.