Skip the watercress and cucumber, and opt for heartier fare for your Mother’s Day Tea with this easy allergy-friendly recipe for Cherry Pecan Chicken Salad. Serve this delicious soy-free and egg-free delight with gluten-free bread or crackers for all your guests to enjoy worry-free. Or just make a nutritious lunch of adorably shaped finger sandwiches for the kiddos and a stuffed tomato for yourself. Either way, try some today!
Ingredients:
- 1 oven baked chicken breast (see my recipe for this here… or use a can, leftovers, or even turkey)
- ½ cup pecan pieces (or walnuts, almonds, etc.)
- ½ cup diced green onion (or leeks, onion, etc.)
- ½ cup dried cherries (or dried cranberries, raisins, etc.)
- ¾ cup soy-free veganaise (or mayo, vegan unsweetened yogurt, etc… or mix these ½ and ½)
- sea salt to taste (or salt free substitute)
- ground peppercorns to taste
- optional: heirloom tomato to stuff, gluten-free crackers to top, artisan lettuce to fill, gluten-free bread for tea sandwiches, etc.
Instructions:
Bake and cut a chicken breast into cubes. (See my roasted cocorico chicken with root veggies recipe here, and my chicken with sautéed mixed greens recipe here.) Wash and dice the green onion.
Measure and mix all of the ingredients. Add sea salt and pepper according to your taste and sodium requirements.
Here I cut the top off of a large red and purple heirloom variety tomato, and then scooped out some of the center. Then I spooned a good portion of chicken salad into it and garnished the top with ground red peppercorns and green onion.
The green and purple artisan lettuce it’s resting on, also makes a wonderful carb-free wrap for the chicken salad. Those are gluten-free vegan Mary’s Gone Crackers in the Super Seed variety… yum!
The chicken salad was the perfect filling for the gluten-free tea sandwiches I served at the Spring Garden Mother’s Day Tea.
To go beyond tea sandwich triangles, simply press a cookie cutter into the bread, and fill with chicken salad. (Tulip, daisy, and butterfly shapes were my choice for the tea, but you can see bunny bread here with my carrot crouton recipe.)
Thanks Mom, for all the chicken salad you’ve made me over the years!
Faithfully Yours,
Leigh
P.S. If you’re looking for another easy version of this, try my turkey salad recipe here.