"Southern CHICKEN SALAD SANDWICH RECIPE WITH GRAPES AND PECANS

By RoketJSquerl

Best chicken salad sandwich recipe ever -with red grapes and toasted pecans. Made with cubed chicken breast - southern tearoom style. Serve on croissants, a bed of lettuce, or your favorite bread

Ingredients

• 1 pound chicken breast
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 1 1/2 cups red grapes halved and make sure they are the firm ones not the soft ones
• 1 cup celery diced
• 1 cup pecans chopped and toasted
• 1/2 cup green onions sliced
• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup sugar or as desired
• 2 tablespoons whipping cream more as needed
• Salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Smoked paprika to garnish
• 6 croissants split in half

Details

Adapted from restlesschipotle.com

Preparation

Step 1

Instructions
Simmer the chicken in the chicken stock until cooked through and tender.
Remove the chicken from the stock and reserve the stock for another use.
Cube the cooked chicken and place in a bowl.
Add the grapes, celery, pecans, and green onions.
Stir gently.
Mix the mayonnaise and 2 tablespoons of the sugar.
Stir into the chicken mixture.
Add the cream if needed to thin it out a little.
Taste and add more sugar if you like it sweeter - I like mine a little sweet.
Mix in the salt and pepper.
Pile on the cut side of the bottom croissant.
Sprinkle with smoked paprika.
Top with the other half of the croissant.

TIPS FOR GREAT CHICKEN SALAD

Chicken salad isn’t rocket science but it does take a little tweaking to get it exactly right. Here are some tips for making the perfect chicken salad sandwich.

Use a sweeter bread than you normally might. Croissants and potato rolls work well but when I owned the tearoom the most popular bread to put chicken salad on was plain raisin bread – no cinnamon swirl just a plain white or wheat bread with raisins kneaded in.

Poaching the chicken in chicken stock helps it retain more flavor than if you were poaching in water.

One of the best ways to do the chicken breast is to add a bunch of chicken breast and about half the stock called for in the recipe to a slow cooker and cook it on low for about 6 to 8 hours. Let cool, cube, and freeze in recipe sized portions.

Adjust the amount of sugar you use to your own taste – I ‘m telling ya I bet I put in close to 1/2 a cup.

You don’t “have” to toast the pecans if you don’t want to… but it’s so much better.

Toast the pecans in a 350F oven for about 5 minutes, stirring often and watching carefully.

Make sure the grapes are the kind that are firm and sort of “pop” when you bite down on them.
Add more or less grapes to your own taste.
Same with pecans.