- This might just become
your next go-to chicken salad and wait until you see
how many different ways you can serve it. (upbeat music) (Natasha grunts) Hey everybody, it's Natasha
of natashaskitchen.com. In our house, we call
this fancy chicken salad because of that yummy creamy dressing. Also the pecans and the grapes. This salad is so versatile, so good. Perfect for meal planning, and seriously you guys are
going to love this dressing and I'm hungry, I want lunch. So let's get started. (counter thuds) If you haven't already, make sure to subscribe to our channel to get all of our recipes and tips. We'll start by toasting one cup of pecans. I'm just gonna lightly
toast these on a dry skillet over medium, low heat until
they're golden and fragrant. Make sure you're tossing
the nuts frequently when you're toasting so they don't burn. As soon as they're golden, transfer them to a cutting board and coarsely chop them up. Set those aside to cool. And we're gonna work
on dicing the chicken. I have a whole roasted
chicken that I roasted myself. I have a great recipe for this and I will leave a link
to it in the notes. You can also use a
store-bought rotisserie chicken or just cook some chicken breasts. You'll need two large
chicken breasts diced up. It should be about four cups. Add that to a large mixing bowl. Now we're gonna chop up about one cup or two to three sticks of fresh celery. Trim the ends off of the celery. Then cut them in half lengthwise
and finely chop them up. Add those to your mixing
bowl with the chicken. And now we're gonna cut up two cups of red seedless grapes. You can use any kind of
seedless grapes really, but I do love the color
that the red grapes add to the salad. If you have any easy tricks
for cutting grapes in half, let me know in the notes. The best way I've found is
just to use a serrated knife and they slice easily. Next, we'll need a red onion. You'll want to peel off and
discard the dry outer layer. Then finely dice up half of the onion. You should get about half a
cup of finely chopped onion or you can add it to taste. Add the onion along with your
grapes to the mixing bowl. Also add your toasted and cooled pecans. Now we're gonna make our favorite dressing for chicken salad. In a small mixing bowl, we're gonna combine half
a cup of real mayonnaise and it's important to use real mayo for the best flavor in the dressing. Also, add half a cup of sour cream. And if you're looking
for a lighter dressing, you can substitute the sour cream with a plain fat-free Greek yogurt. Next, add two tablespoons of
freshly squeezed lemon juice and make sure you use fresh
and not from concentrate because it will make all the
difference in your dressing. And this is our favorite and
longest lasting lemon squeezer. I will link to it in the notes. Next, finely chop and add two
tablespoons of fresh dill. Dill is my favorite
herb for chicken salad. But if you can't find it, you
can also use two tablespoons of finely chopped parsley. Last but not least, we're
adding half a teaspoon of salt and half a teaspoon of ground black pepper or you can add the seasoning to taste. Just stir to combine and
your dressing is done. All right, our salad is made. Our dressing is ready. All that's left to do
is combine and serve. And I'm excited 'cause we're
that much closer to lunch. All right, you can just
add the dressing to taste. I like to add all of it because it's really good
and you won't regret it, but you want to make sure
that the salad is creamy. Here we go. Stir to combine. Oh yeah, this is one creamy salad, but also the dressing
preserves all the ingredients so it'll keep well in the
refrigerator for a few days which I love because
it's great for meal prep. Just transfer it to a
Tupperware cover it up and pop it in the fridge. Oh, look at that. You wanna stir until
everything's evenly coated. Okay. That looks amazing. And I'm gonna transfer
that to a serving bowl. So it's prettier, 'cause that's important. We eat with our eyes. Look at how saucy and
creamy this salad is. It's also really easy, both the salad and the dressing
and everything about it. It's so good. A little more. Don't want to leave anything behind. And you can see the little
bits of dill in there, but I do like to add a little
bit of fresh dill to garnish, if I'm serving this as a salad. Dill is like my grownup glitter. (laughs) Okay, beautiful. Now the moment I've been waiting for. I'm gonna show you all the different ways that you can serve this. It is so versatile and
it makes lunch exciting. First, you can put this on lettuce cups. Got a few fresh lettuce cups here. Lettuce cups are a great
gluten-free option, if you want to avoid the
bread and skip the carbs. Super healthy and lighter lunch or you can serve it like a salad. Then, I love to put some
fresh arugula on the bottom. Just like that. Fill up a plate with salad greens, arugula, whatever kind of greens you love. And then just add the chicken salad over the top and be generous. And I also love that the creamy dressing in the chicken salad becomes a
dressing for the arugula too. And you don't need to add anything else. It's so good. Try it, such a treat. And then last, but certainly not least, you can serve this as sandwich
and for a special lunch, you can make a croissant sandwich. And I'm gonna show you my
secret to reheating croissants. So it's basically the best
reheated croissant of your life. Check this out. Simply put a whole croissant into the air fryer at
350 degrees Fahrenheit. No need to preheat it, and let that air fry
for just three minutes. All right. Hot crispy croissant. These seriously tastes like they just came out of a bakery, but they didn't. (laughs) Seriously, you guys have to try that. That's the best way, the best
way to reheat a croissant, is in the air fryer, like
listen to this crunch. Just listen. (Natasha laughs) Okay, I get excited about these things. Okay, just slice this in half. I like to make a little pocket. I don't cut it all the way through. So then my filling
doesn't fall out the back. Then just open it up like a sandwich and it's warm and soft
inside, crispy on the outside. Mhmm. And then just stuff it with
this super yummy chicken salad. Here we go. That's about all I can
fit in there. (chuckles) That is a serious sandwich. Okay. And this is literally just as good, probably better than what
you can get in a bakery or at any deli, really. This is delicious. Okay, here we go. The taste test. Mm. Mm. This is one seriously satisfying sandwich. And I love all the flavors and textures in the chicken salad. I mean, you've got that
tender chicken breast and then I love the juicy grapes in here. It adds that pop of
sweetness to the salad. It's so good. And if you don't want to use grapes, you can use other fruits. Apples are another favorite of mine. Easy to change this up, seriously. And then also I love the little crunch from the what is it called? Oh my gosh. Celery. How do you forget what celery is? But I just did. I love that the celery is crunchy. If you're thinking about
skipping it, don't. It adds amazing texture
and flavor to this. Even if you don't like celery,
please, please, please try it at least once and you'll
change your mind. (chuckles) Oh, and then also the
crunchy toasted pecans in here are such a treat. This seriously has great flavor. Great texture. It is a winning combination. Yum yummy yum, yummy yummy yum. Oh and the salad is, the
chicken salad is good enough to serve as a salad on its own. Even if you decided to
go without the croissant, we do it all the time for lunch. I'm gonna go finish this chicken sandwich, because I'm hungry. I hope you guys make this and love it. And we'll see you in our next video. (lips smack)
