A light and healthy chicken salad sandwich recipe that has all the garden veggies, fresh avocado, dill, cheddar and a light poppy seed dressing all piled up on a toasted wheat hoagie bun.
This is not quite the typical chicken salad that you'd think of in a chicken salad sandwich. It's way more fresh and vibrant and the recipe incorporates the season's best flavors.
use chicken breast or rotisserie chicken
The perfect time to make these, is when you have some leftover rotisserie chicken, or leftover chicken breast that you need to use up, because it doesn't take much to fill a few sandwiches once tossed with all the other ingredients that go inside. But if you don't have any, don't let that stop you. Bake a chicken breast (salt and peppered); one breast will lend enough meat to fill four large hoagie buns full of chicken salad.
Rather than slicing the chicken with a knife, just use your hands to pull it apart into pieces. It's a better texture that way.
toss with fresh garden veggies
With the chicken breast pieces torn up and tossed in a large bowl, add to that the veggies. The veggies in this is what makes this chicken salad sandwich so fresh and amazing. A handful of yellow grape tomatoes (halved) romaine lettuce and arugula, and red onion get added to the bowl, followed by lots of fresh dill, chopped avocado, and a handful of shredded sharp cheddar cheese.
using sharp cheddar means you can use less
You can omit the cheese to make these more low fat, but one of the bonuses of using sharp cheddar is that you can use less of it.
dressing the salad
Now for the garlicky, poppy seed dressing. Combine the mayonnaise (light or regular), garlic powder, lemon juice, salt and pepper and poppy seeds in a separate, smaller bowl.
Give the chicken salad ingredients an even, light toss and then spoon spoon fulls of the dressing around the outside of the bowl, tossing to coat everything, and adding more as needed. This way you don't over do the dressing and drown the chicken salad.
Load up 4 toasted wheat hoagie rolls with the chicken salad and serve right away.
- To make this dressing with homemade mayonnaise, check out my easy, 60 second mayonnaise recipe.
- If you like the idea of a garden veggie twist on the usual, try my Garlic Ranch & Zucchini Pizza and my simple Pasta With Greens.
Chicken Salad Sandwiches
Ingredients
- 1 large or 2 small chicken breasts baked
- 1 cup romaine lettuce chopped
- ½ cup arugula
- ½ cup yellow grape tomatoes quartered
- ¼ red onion slivered
- 1 handfull fresh dill chopped
- 1 large avocado chopped
- ½ cup sharp cheddar cheese grated
Dressing
- ¼ cup neutral oil of choice
- juice of one lemon
- 12 tablespoons of mayonnaise
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ⅛ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 tablespoon poppy seeds
- 4 wheat hoagie rolls toasted
Instructions
- Salt and pepper thawed chicken breasts top and bottom.
- Bake chicken breasts (thawed) first at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes; let rest enough to handle and pick apart into pieces.
- Prepare veggies by chopping greens, slicing tomatoes in half, and slivering red onion. Wait til the end to dice avocado.
- Shred the sharp cheddar cheese.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the oil mayonnaise, lemon juice, garlic powder, salt and pepper, and poppy seeds.
- In a large bowl toss together the chicken pieces, sliced veggies, dill, avocado and cheddar cheese.
- Spoon spoon fulls of the dressing around the outside of the chicken salad bowl, and toss to coat. Add more dressing one spoonful at a time until satisfied.
- Dice the avocado and toss into the salad as well.
- Store leftover dressing in an airtight container.
- Serve on toasted wheat hoagie rolls.
Notes
- Use store bought or homemade wheat hoagie rolls.
- Use rotisserie chicken (breast) or bake 1-2 chicken breasts and pick apart into pieces.
- Cheddar can be left out, but sharper cheddar has more flavor, so you can use less than mild cheddar, therefore lowering the fat content.
- Use preferred mayonnaise of any kind.
- Use a neutral flavored oil like vegetable oil, avocado oil, or light olive oil.
- Don't use all the dressing, start by pouring small amounts on the outside of the bowl and tossing to coat. It's likely you won't need it all.
- Store extra dressing in fridge for up to one week.
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