Picnic Perfect Pesto Chicken Salad (on Croissants)
When packing the picnic basket or planning to dine al fresco style, this Picnic Perfect Pesto Chicken Salad (on Croissants) is super easy and will not disappoint.
Servings: 2
Ingredients
For the Chicken Salad
- 1 pound roasted chicken breast , cubed. Keep it easy and purchase from grocery deli or use left-over meat from the roasted Spatchcock Chicken Sunday Super recipe
- ½ cup celery ,chopped
- ½ cup red grapes , sliced thinly
- ¼ cup Mayo
- ¼ cup basil pesto , use purchased jarred or refrigerated pesto
- ½ cup parmesan cheese ,shredded
- 1 teaspoon honey
- Kosher salt and black pepper to taste
- ¼ cup pine nuts toasted
For serving (optional)
- 2 croissants
- 2 Bibb or butter lettuce leaves
Instructions
- Place the roasted chicken, celery, red grapes, mayonnaise, honey and pesto in a large bowl and stir until well combined. Taste and adjust seasoning. I usually add more mayo or pesto if the salad looks and tastes "under dressed." Season with a pinch of salt and pepper. If you want more sweetness add 1 teaspoon of honey. Continue to taste and adjust.
- Toast pine nuts by placing them in a small skillet over medium-high heat, shaking them around to toast all sides. Keep an eye on them as once they start to brown they can quickly burn. Important: Top your salad with toasted pine nuts right before you serve to keep them crunchy.
Serving
- Add pine nuts and parmesan right before serving. To serve as a salad: place bibb lettuce on the plate then spoon pesto chicken salad on top of the lettuce leaves.To serve as a sandwich; Serve immediately in sandwich roll or croissant with lettuce.
Notes
Cooking for Two?
To keep this quick and easy, and perfectly portioned for two; purchase 2 grilled chicken breasts from your grocery deli or you can use your left-over chicken from the Step-by-Step Spatchcock Chicken Sunday Supper. Purchase a refrigerated or jarred basil pesto for this recipe. Pesto freezes well; what you don’t use, freeze!How to avoid soggy picnic sandwiches:
Add both the parmesan and pine nuts right before you serve: this helps keep the texture. Pine nuts like to soak in moisture from the pesto, mayo and honey and will become soggy quite quickly. To keep the croissants from going soggy, let guests assemble their own sandwich.Keep cold food cold when eating outside.
The Picnic Perfect Pesto Chicken Salad should be kept in the cooler at 40 °F or below until serving time. According to the U.S. Food & Drug Administration:- Once served it, it should not sit out for longer than 2 hours, or 1 hour if the outdoor temperature is above 90 ° If it does — discard it.
- Foods like chicken salad can be placed directly on ice, or in a shallow container set in a deep pan filled with ice. Drain off water as ice melts and replace ice frequently.