This chicken salad sandwich recipe swaps out celery and grapes for pecans and dried cranberries. Use precooked rotisserie chicken and it’s the perfect no-cook meal for hot summer days.
I used to be one of those people who made fun of the British for complaining about the heat. I’d see a Youtuber comment on it, check the temperature in London, and it would be about 70 degrees. Naturally, as a girl who grew up in the Arizona desert, I thought that was ridiculous. Oh, how the tables have turned.
True, it’s only been between about 65 and 70 degrees here. That’s great when you’re outside. But here, the buildings are built to keep in the heat through the cold, wet winters, which means that it’s absolutely baking by about noon. So I’ve been thinking up meals that don’t require the oven, and chicken salad is one of the first things that came to mind.
I love chicken salad sandwiches. I am always glad to see it at baby showers and church picnics, and I’m honestly not that picky about it. I’ll even risk food poisoning and eat the questionable ones you find in plastic containers at gas stations on road trips. However, I don’t love celery and Abby doesn’t like grapes in chicken salad, so I swapped those for pecans and dried cranberries. Chives are pretty and green and good with everything. You can make these ahead—you can completely assemble them and they keep really well.
If you’re tempted to leave out the cheese, don’t. It makes a surprisingly big difference and ties the whole sandwich together.
This recipe is super straightforward. Mix the chicken, the mayonnaise, the cranberries, chives and pecans in a bowl and season it generously with salt and pepper. Then you just slap it on some croissants with cheese and lettuce, and call it good. As always, it’s important to taste it to make sure you’ve salted and peppered it enough. I cannot stress the importance of salt in this recipe (and every recipe).
If you use store-bought rotisserie chicken, you don’t even have to actually cook anything. Very appealing if you, like me, do not have an air conditioner and live on the fifth floor and have an oven that heats up the whole flat like a bonfire every time you so much as think about turning it on.
chicken salad sandwiches
time: 10 minutes + 20 minutes chill time
makes 6 (very full) sandwiches or 8 normal sandwiches
ingredients
4 cups rotisserie chicken, shredded
1 cup mayonnaise
1 tsp lemon juice
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/3 cup chives, finely minced
2/3 cup pecans, roughly chopped
salt & pepper, to taste
6 iceberg lettuce leaves
6 slices gouda or havarti cheese
6 croissants
directions
- Mix chicken, mayo, lemon juice, cranberries, chives, and pecans in a medium mixing bowl. Salt and pepper to taste. Chill for 20 minutes to let flavors blend. Slice the croissants in half, but not all the way through.
- Stuff croissants with lettuce, salad, and cheese. Refrigerate within 2 hours and eat within 3 days.
