Chicken Salad Sandwich

Beautiful chicken salad sandwich on a buttery croissant with warm, seared romaine lettuce and a sun dried tomato pesto. Perfect for lunch!

I love to make a chicken salad sandwich with leftover chicken. I used breast from leftover roasted whole chicken. However, this will also be great with grilled or baked chicken breast as well. This recipe makes 4 -5 sandwiches, just depends on how much of the chicken salad you put on your sandwich! Plus, doubling or tripling the recipe is always and option.

Ingredients: (see recipe for each below)

4 Buttery croissants

Chicken salad

Seared romaine leaves

Sun dried tomato pesto

For the spice blend

1 tsp each salt and pepper

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp dried oregano

1/4 tsp ground coriander

1/2 t celery seed

For the seared romaine:

3 leaves of romaine lettuce per sandwich

1/2 c good olive oil

1/4 c white balsamic

1 tsp ground anise

1 shallot, thinly sliced

pinch kosher salt

1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

For the chicken salad:

2 chicken breast from whole roasted chicken (will be great using grilled or baked breasts as well)

2 whole carrots, washed and optionally peeled. Roughly chopped

Spice blend (see recipe above)

1 c mayonaise. You can add more or less depending on how moist you want it

1 clove garlic, roughly chopped

For the sun dried tomato pesto:

4 oz sun dried tomatoes

2 tbsp avocado oil

2 cloves garlic

1 tsp each salt and pepper

2 oz parmesan cheese

2 sprigs worth of dried oregano leaves, about 1 tsp

1/3 c lightly toasted pumpkin seeds

Making the vinaigrette and marinating shallots. Gently toss romaine leaves to coat.

Procedure for making the chicken salad and seared romaine:

Thinly slice 1 shallot. Add to a mixing bowl along with pinch of kosher salt. The salt helps pull out the natural sweetness of the shallot and helps cut the hot flavor. Add the black pepper, vinegar and oil-mix. Let marinate for 10 minutes while you make the chicken salad.

This chicken salad is super easy to make and has tons of flavor!

Make the chicken salad:

Roughly chop the chicken breast. In a mixing bowl, add the chicken and chopped carrot. Add in the spice blend and chopped garlic clove. Gently toss and add in the mayonnaise. Gently fold in the mayonnaise until fully incorporated.

Sear the romaine leaves:

Preheat a cast iron or stainless steel pan over medium heat. Toss the romaine in with the marinating shallots, fully coat. Place the romaine, shallots and some of the dressing to the preheated pan. Sear the leaves in batches for around 45 second. You want to lightly wilt and cook the vinaigrette into the romaine. The shallots will also get warmed up soaking up all the flavor while adding flavor to the romaine! This is a quick sear and don’t completely wilt the lettuce. The idea is to get the romaine warm to “waken up the flavors of the vinaigrette” onto your lettuce. Pull from heat and set aside.

Wow, the flavor in this sun dried tomato pesto is amazing!

How to make your sun dried tomato pesto:

Lightly toast pumpkin seeds in a pan over medium low heat. This is a dry roast and will take 2-3 minutes. Stir frequently until lightly browned. Toss all ingredients except for the garlic and oil in a food processor and puree 30 seconds until all ingredients are blended. While it’s blending, drizzle in the oil. Stop the processor, add in the garlic and pulse until garlic is fully broken up. I add it last because I don’t want the garlic to get too hot. The more it gets pureed, the hotter is will become!

Plate it up:

Cut your croissant in half lengthwise. Spread sun dried tomato pesto on both halves. Top bottom half with a couple spoonfuls of chicken salad and top with seared romaine and shallots. Drizzle some of the vinaigrette on there as well! Top it with the other croissant halve and enjoy!

Enjoy this chicken salad sandwich recipe!

-Logan