Sunday Meal Planning Series {Chicken Salad}

With the temperatures rising in AZ, I have zero desire to turn my oven on.

One of my favorite meals to make when avoiding the added heat to my kitchen is chicken salad. I love that this meal is COLD, but also that there is room for variety. My husband eats his on a whole wheat bun or pita and I usually eat it on mixed greens to make it a salad. The kids eat it by the forkfuls right off their plate, ignoring any bread or greens I try to add. I’m not a big fan of mayo so I use a couple different versions that replace most of the mayo with Greek yogurt. I also like to buy the already cooked and shredded chicken from the grocery store so I don’t have to turn the stove on either. My measurements are estimates, I usually eyeball it and add more seasonings as I go along and change up the ingredients from time to time depending on what I have in the pantry.

Avocado Chicken Salad: Here is a basic start for this recipe, but I encourage you to experiment and add more flavors that you think your family will like!

2 cups shredded & cooked chicken
1 avocado
2 tsp lime juice
1-2 Tbsp mayo or Greek yogurt
Salt & pepper to taste

Additional ideas: garlic powder, cilantro, green onion, hardboiled egg chopped.

Mash up your avocado, then mix in remaining ingredients. Serve on bread, greens, or right out of the bowl.

Chicken Salad with Almonds & Apples: Here is the link for this recipe. I pretty much follow this one according to the website, but replaced the tarragon with dill just because I don’t have tarragon in my spice rack and keep forgetting to get it. I also replaced the dried cranberries with raisins because again, it is what I always have on hand.

Do you have any go to meals to keep the kitchen cool in the summer? Or any new takes on the traditional chicken salad you would like to share?

Be sure and check out the other recipes in our Sunday Meal Planning series!