Low Fat Chicken Salad

Ok before I actually post an actual recipe and therefore contribute something positive (rather than complain) here I first like to say that I am currently right at this very second in the midst of eating my first Active Academic recipe. Seeking Solace's Grilled Pesto Chicken and Pasta Salad is awesome! Go make it. Now.

Ok, so I am going to make chicken salad for lunches this week. I developed this recipe from a super fattening one my stepmother makes. I'm not sure where I got the idea to substitue a honey mustard/yogurt mixture for mayonnaise, but I quite like it in the summer and it's very low in fat. I tend to make it in small batches because I get tired of eating it. Like SS and Rachel Ray (and others I'm sure) I don't measure a lot so I don't have exact amounts for the ingredients. I find this recipe in particular is very forgiving about that - just add what you want to whatever suits your tastes. Start by adding not a lot and then adjust as you go until you like it. Once you make this once or twice you'll get a feel for what you like.

Low Fat Chicken Salad

Ingredients

Boneless skinless chicken breasts*
Green pepper
Red onion
Celery
Lowry's Seasoning salt (or any other seasoning salt that's red in color)
Honey Mustard (in the mustard section - NOT hot mustard or sweet mustard!)
Fat free PLAIN yogurt

Directions:

1. Boil chicken. Drain and rinse with cold water. Place in refrigerator until breasts are cooled.
2. While chicken is cooking chop celery, green peppers and red onion.
   note: I use more celery than green pepper and just a teeny bit of red onion which I chop very finely.
3. Shred breasts into large bowl.
4. Add vegetables to chicken and stir.
5. Add yogurt and honey mustard (usually I add about 2/3 yogurt, 1/3 honey mustard) and stir. Keep adding until the mixture is very moist.
6. Add seasoning salt, salt and pepper to taste.
   note: I am usually quite liberal with the seasoning salt since it cuts down a bit on the sweetness of the yogurt (as do the honey mustard and the red onion). You won't need much plain salt, but I do add lots of black pepper.
7. Serve cold.

I like to eat this stuffed into a whole wheat pita or on crackers (like maybe low fat wheat thins). Some people add grapes to their chicken salad but because of the red onions and seasoning salt I'm not sure that grapes would go well. I don't like them in there anyway...

*I am lazy and also hate to prepare meat so I use the frozen breasts that come in the big bag in the frozen section - they are like half breasts or split breasts or something (about the size of a chicken tender). I find they cool faster and are easier to handle when shredding (which I do by hand)

edited to add: I just paid attention when I made it and I used 8 of those chicken breasts (they're small, remember), one medium green pepper, several stalks of celery, and one 8oz container of plain yogurt. That should help with amounts.

Tags: Recipes