“Club” Chicken Salad
Serves 6-8
This easy salad starts with a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store. I improvised this, and you should too! You can’t really mess it up.
Serve this at or near room temperature – neither bacon nor cheese are their best when cold. This isn’t really a make-ahead dish in any case - it holds for a while, but the avocado will eventually start to discolor unless you wait to cut it and mix it in at the last minute.
Ingredients #
- 4 tbsp white wine vinegar
- 1 scant tbsp Dijon mustard
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 scant tsp salt
- 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- Breasts from a grocery store rotisserie chicken (cooled), cut into 3/4” cubes
- 6 slices thick-cut bacon, cooked until crisp and crumbled
- 1 cup of Jarlsberg or Swiss cheese, cut into 1/2” cubes
- 1 avocado, cut into 3/4” cubes (optional)
- 1 red bell pepper, diced
- 6 scallions, sliced (white and green parts)
- 2 ribs celery, diced
- 1/2 can water chestnuts, rinsed and diced
- 1 jalapeño, minced
- 1/4 cup sliced Peppadew peppers
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
- 2/3 cups good quality mayonnaise (Duke’s is excellent)
Instructions #
In a large bowl, whisk together the vinegar, Dijon mustard, sugar, and salt and pepper to taste — you’ll want this salad highly seasoned, but remember that the bacon and cheese already bring a good amount of salt. Whisking continuously, drizzle in the olive oil to make a lightly thickened vinaigrette.
Add the chicken meat, bacon, swiss cheese, avocado (if using), bell pepper, scallions, celery, water chestnuts, jalapeño, pickled peppers, and cherry tomatoes. Using a big spoon, fold everything to coat well with the vinaigrette, and then fold in the mayonnaise. Taste and correct the seasoning as necessary.