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6 Comments Yes, I know! I’m going all out this cherry season but this chicken salad with cherries is too good not to share. It’s easy and can function as a lunch or a light dinner dish.
Chicken salad with cherries
What you need for this cherry chicken salad is the following:
- fresh cherries
- chicken fillet
- avocado
- roasted almonds
- almond paste
- orange juice
- lamb’s lettuce
It will work perfectly with leftover chicken but in this case I cooked some chicken and pulled it apart. You can bake the chicken too. Whichever you prefer. I like to cook my chicken breast.
Assembling the chicken salad with cherries
Now for making the salad you need a large bowl. You start by taking the stones out of the fresh sweet cherries. I cut the cherries in half as they were pretty big. You can leave them whole if you want but I prefer mine sliced. You clean the avocado and slice in cubes.
Mix the chicken with the cherries, avocado and the lamb’s lettuce.
Orange dressing
For the chicken salad with cherries I went with an orange dressing with a bit of mayonaise and a bit of almond paste. I just love the combination of flavors! If you want to make it a little bit lighter you can go for plain Greek yogurt instead of the mayonaise. A splash of lemon juice is also delicious to add, as well as some black pepper and salt to bring the flavors home.
I like to make the dressing in a small food processor as the almond pasta can be a bit chunky and hard to smooth out. A stick blender or small food processor will do the trick for you. Once the dressing is made you sprinkle some of it over the chicken mixture and serve the rest of the dressing on the side.
Additions and variations
Now this chicken salad with cherries is pretty simple. But as with most recipes you can add a lot of other things to it. Making it even better. If the cherry season is over you can use any other kind of fresh fruit you like. I also love adding some blue cheese, crunchy nuts of sunflower seeds. Some green onions or red onion is also a fun twist on the classic chicken salad. In terms of healthy lunches this is a pretty good one. The chicken salad has some healthy fats from the avocado and enough veggies to get you going. You can add a cup celery as well. Not every one is a big fan of celery but I think it does add a lot of crunch to any salad.
Instead of serving this on a bed of lettuce you can also make it more chicken heavy and serve it on lettuce cups. It’s definitely my favorite way to use up leftover rotisserie chicken.
Chicken salad with cherries
Ingredients
- 200 g chicken fillets cooked
- 2 pcs avocado ripe
- 150 gram cherries halved and pitted
- 75 gram almonds
- 75 gram lamb's lettuce
- lemon juice
- salt and black pepper to taste
Dressing:
- 2 tbsp mayonaise
- 1 tbsp almond butter
- 60 ml orange juice
- salt
- pepper
How to make the chicken salad with cherries
- First cook the chicken in salted water in about 10 minutes or until cooked through. let it cool slightly and pull apart with two forks.
- For the dressing add all the ingredients together and stir until it is all dissolved and smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Cut the chicken and the avocado in small pieces and add them with the cherries, almonds and lettuce into a bowl. Mix it all together with lemon juice, pepper and salt and sprinkle the dressing over it. Serve immediately.
Nutrition Information per portion:
Disclaimer:
The nutritional values above are calculated per portion. The details are based on standard nutritional tables and do not constitute a professional nutritional advice.
Never thought of combining chicken and cherries! Eager to try if not too late for cherries over here!
O no, is it already the end of cherry season there? We’re still in the middle. And yes perfect combination chicken and cherries!
Oh I love this salad (and in any event I am a sucker for anything with cherries in it!). How funny about the cats – clearly they have stumbled upon a community of special needs frogs that have no idea how to escape being caught! 😉
What a delicious looking salad – just summer on a plate!
What a beautiful salad, perfect for the summer!
Fresh and fabulous recipe.
Interesting and inviting recipe. Beautiful and blissful pictures.