Tarragon Chicken, Grape, and Pear Salad

inChicken & Poultry Recipes, Recipes, Recipes for Leftovers, Salad & Dressing Recipes
  • YIELDS | 2-4 SERVINGS
  • PREP TIME | 15 MINS
  • COOK TIME | 0 MINS

This tarragon chicken salad is so easy to make—it uses leftover, cooked chicken—and has has so many wonderful flavors. The cardamom and grapes marry well with the tarragon, and the crunch from the walnuts give the salad a “meaty” texture. This salad has it all and happens to be very healthy too!

Ingredients

Dressing

  • 3 tablespoons Basic Dressing or olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon orange marmalade
  • 1 tablespoons fresh tarragon, chopped, or 1/2 tablespoon dried
  • 1/4 teaspoon cardamom
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Salad

  • 2 6-ounce chicken breasts, cooked cut into 1-inch cubes
  • 2 large handfuls of fresh baby spinach, rinsed about 4 cups
  • 2 stalks celery, chopped (about 1 cup)
  • 1 medium ripe pear, chopped, or 10 seedless grapes, halved
  • 1 tablespoons fresh tarragon, chopped, or 1/2 tablespoon dried
  • 3 tablespoons chopped walnuts, optional
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon hulled, raw sunflower seeds
  • 1 tablespoon dried cranberries or dried cherries, chopped, optional
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Instructions

Dressing

  1. In a small bowl or jar with a lid, add the Basic Dressing or olive oil,  tarragon, cardamom, and marmalade, and mix or shake until incorporated.

Salad

  1. In a medium-sized serving bowl, mix the chicken, olive oil, cardamom, and tarragon, and sprinkle with salt and a couple cranks of fresh pepper.
  2. Add the spinach, nuts, seeds, and fruit to the serving bowl. Toss with some of the dressing and serve.

Notes

Substitute favorite greens—spinach, mache, arugula, or watercress—to vary the salad’s taste.