A good chicken salad sandwich filling is a great asset to have in ones recipe files and this is mine. My recipe makes a hearty filling that is surrounded by a flavorful dressing.
This is a versatile filling in that it can be made into hearty sandwiches or used in more dainty teatime sandwiches. In fact, if you follow my postings about afternoon tea events, this is often a filling found in the tea sandwiches on my sandwich plate. It can also be served, on its own, as a salad on a bed of crisp lettuce.
The recipe calls for cooked shredded chicken which I find blends better into the filling than does diced or chopped chicken, for example, and especially for the smaller teatime sandwiches, in particular. I find chicken shreds better while it is still warm so, if I have a roasted chicken, I try to snag some of the meat while it is still warm and shred it up and set it aside for chicken salad sandwiches. If you don’t have roast chicken on hand, boneless, skinless chicken breasts can be roasted specifically for this purpose and that is the route I often go when I have a hankering for these sandwiches. Meat from warm BBQ chickens from the supermarket or deli could also be shredded for the filling.
The other core ingredients to this chicken salad filling are celery, apple, dried cranberries, onion, and green grapes. I recommend tossing the chopped apple with approximately 1-2 teaspoons of lemon juice to prevent the apple from turning brown. If the dried cranberries are lovely and moist, simply chop them up into smaller pieces, more suitably sized for a sandwich filling. If, however, they are overly dry, they should be rehydrated as no one wants to bite into a hard piece of cranberry. To do this, place the cranberries in a small bowl and pour either boiling water or orange juice over them to cover and let them sit for 10-15 minutes and then drain them really well and pat them dry with paper towel before chopping them up for the filling.
Like any kind of salad-type sandwich fillings, it’s the flavor of the dressing surrounding the meat and other ingredients that will define a tasty and flavorful filling. If you don’t have flavor in the dressing, you will end up with a very bland sandwich. One of my secret ingredients in many of my sandwich dressings is fig jam. I tend to use fig jam for dishes more on the savory than sweet side for some reason. This is not an altogether common type of jam, at least not in my neck of the woods. I have, however, regularly found it in the grocery aisles of stores like Winners and HomeSense.
In addition to fig jam, my chicken salad sandwich recipe calls for mayonnaise or salad dressing. In order to avoid a potentially “soupy” filling, I recommend starting with a scant 2 tablespoons of mayonnaise or salad dressing and, then, when mixing in the filling ingredients, if more is needed, adding it then in small incremental amounts until you reach the desired consistency of the filling.
Dijon mustard adds a bit of kick to the dressing, as does a small amount of lemon juice or a good quality white balsamic vinegar. I almost always have Cranberry Pear Balsamic Vinegar on hand as it is a favorite that I use in my salad vinaigrettes so this is the flavor I use in this chicken salad recipe. I buy this balsamic at the local Liquid Gold and All Things Olive store here in Charlottetown. Other suitable white balsamics can be substituted if Cranberry Pear Balsamic is not available or you have another flavor you prefer. You want to make sure, though, that you are not using a dark balsamic in this recipe as it will be too heavy on the flavor side. The only other ingredients I add to the sandwich dressing are a bit of garlic salt, a small amount of curry powder, fine sea salt and pepper to taste, and some fresh herbs.
Fresh herbs liven up a salad filling and I use chives, parsley, and dill in this recipe. As for amounts of these, I suggest going with personal taste preferences though I have given an indication of how much I typically use in this recipe.
This salad filling can certainly be mixed up and made into sandwiches right away. However, if time allows, the flavor will improve if the salad filling is refrigerated for 3-4 hours before making it up into sandwiches.
This chicken salad filling will make enough for two very generously-sized sandwiches. The recipe is scalable meaning it can be halved or it can be multiplied to make more servings if required.
Chicken Salad Sandwich Recipe
Ingredients:
For Dressing:
Apx. 2 tbsp mayonnaise or salad dressing
1 tbsp fig jam
2 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp lemon juice, Cranberry Pear Balsamic Vinegar, or other good quality white balsamic vinegar
¼ tsp garlic salt
1/16 – 1/8 tsp curry powder
Fine sea salt and pepper, to taste
Fresh chives, chopped (to taste, e.g., 1-2 tsp)
Fresh parsley, chopped (to taste, e.g., 1- 2 tsp)
Fresh dill, chopped (to taste, e.g., 1/16 – 1/8 tsp)
For Sandwich Filling:
4 oz shredded cooked chicken
¼ cup celery, finely diced
¼ cup apple, finely diced and tossed with 1 -2 tsp lemon juice to prevent browning
3 tbsp dried chopped cranberries (cranberries rehydrated, if necessary, drained well, and blotted dry)
2 tbsp red onion, finely diced
4-6 seedless green grapes, diced small (optional)
4 slices of sandwich bread of choice
Butter
Method:
For the Dressing:
Combine the mayonnaise or salad dressing, fig jam, Dijon mustard, lemon juice or balsamic vinegar, garlic salt, curry powder, and salt and pepper in small bowl. Chop the fresh chives, parsley, and dill and blend into the dressing. Refrigerate dressing until needed.
For the Sandwich Filling:
Shred chicken while it is still warm. Dice celery, apple, onion, and grapes. In small bowl, toss diced apple with approximately 1-2 tsp lemon juice to prevent apple from turning brown. If dried cranberries are very dry or hard, rehydrate the whole cranberries in boiling water or orange juice in small bowl for 10-15 minutes then drain really well. Blot dry with paper towel and chop cranberries into small pieces suitable for the filling.
Combine all filling ingredients in bowl and mix well. Stir the dressing into filling ingredients until well mixed. If necessary, blend in a bit more mayonnaise or salad dressing in small increments to achieve desired consistency of sandwich filling.
Sandwich filling may be made into sandwiches immediately but will have better flavor if refrigerated for apx. 3-4 hours beforehand.
Yield: Apx. 2 generously-sized sandwiches
Note: This chicken salad filling may also be served on a bed of fresh greens.
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Chicken Salad Sandwich Recipe
Ingredients
For Dressing:
- Apx. 2 tbsp mayonnaise or salad dressing
- 1 tbsp fig jam
- 2 tsp Dijon mustard
- 1 tsp lemon juice, Cranberry Pear Balsamic Vinegar, or other good quality white balsamic vinegar
- ¼ tsp garlic salt
- 1/16 – 1/8 tsp curry powder
- Fine sea salt and pepper, to taste
- Fresh chives, chopped (to taste, e.g., 1-2 tsp)
- Fresh parsley, chopped (to taste, e.g., 1- 2 tsp)
- Fresh dill, chopped (to taste, e.g., 1/16 - 1/8 tsp)
For Sandwich Filling:
- 4 oz shredded cooked chicken
- ¼ cup celery, finely diced
- ¼ cup apple, finely diced and tossed with 1 -2 tsp lemon juice to prevent browning
- 3 tbsp dried chopped cranberries (cranberries rehydrated, if necessary, drained well, and blotted dry)
- 2 tbsp red onion, finely diced
- 4-6 seedless green grapes, diced small (optional)
- 4 slices of sandwich bread of choice
- Butter
Instructions
For the Dressing:
- Combine the mayonnaise or salad dressing, fig jam, Dijon mustard, lemon juice or balsamic vinegar, garlic salt, curry powder, and salt and pepper in small bowl. Chop the fresh chives, parsley, and dill and blend into the dressing. Refrigerate dressing until needed.
For the Sandwich Filling:
- Shred chicken while it is still warm. Dice celery, apple, onion, and grapes. In small bowl, toss diced apple with approximately 1-2 tsp lemon juice to prevent apple from turning brown. If dried cranberries are very dry or hard, rehydrate the whole cranberries in boiling water or orange juice in small bowl for 10-15 minutes then drain really well. Blot dry with paper towel and chop cranberries into small pieces suitable for the filling.
- Combine all filling ingredients in bowl and mix well. Stir the dressing into filling ingredients until well mixed. If necessary, blend in a bit more mayonnaise or salad dressing in small increments to achieve desired consistency of sandwich filling.
- Sandwich filling may be made into sandwiches immediately but will have better flavor if refrigerated for apx. 3-4 hours beforehand.
Recipe Notes
Yield: Apx. 2 generously-sized sandwiches
Note: This chicken salad filling may also be served on a bed of fresh greens.
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