This is autumn in a sandwich. This 15-minute chicken salad is filled with rotisserie chicken, Medjool dates, grapes, tarragon, celery seeds and pecans. Then it’s topped off with a medley of autumn’s harvest – roasted acorn squash, granny smith apples and radicchio dressed in a light tarragon vinaigrette. All of which are nestled between two warm pieces of homemade rosemary focaccia. You can use store bought focaccia or any bread of choice which will cut down your prep time significantly. However, I always find making bread at home so rewarding, especially when your home smells of freshly baked rosemary focaccia.
inspiration
I was never really into chicken salad sandwiches until my second pregnancy. Now all I want is a chicken salad sandwich! Pregnancy cravings are so random but it’s allowed me to test recipes in the kitchen that I normally would rarely make at home.
key ingredients
chicken salad
- store-bought rotisserie chicken
- red seedless grapes
- Medjool dates
- celery seeds: or celery salt
- scallions
- tarragon
- Kewpie mayonnaise
- freshly squeezed lemon juice
No-Knead rosemary focaccia
You can always substitute this with store-bought focaccia or any bread of your choice but I promise you’ll be shocked how easy it is to make this focaccia at home.
- all-purpose flour
- active dry yeast
- honey
- kosher salt
- olive oil
- fresh rosemary
sandwich toppings
- acorn squash: or butternut squash
- radicchio
- granny smith apples
- apple cider vinegar
- fresh tarragon
- extra virgin olive oil
- maple syrup
- Dijon mustard
- pickled red onions
3 tips
1. tight on time? use Store-Bought Rotisserie Chicken
You can always poach your own chicken breast at home but if you’re pressed for time, use store-bought rotisserie chicken instead. It will save you at least 20 minutes of prep time. It takes only 2 minutes to shred the chicken breast of the rotisserie chicken!
2. substitute celery seeds for a whole stalk of celery
My pet peeve when I make a chicken salad is when I’m forced to buy a whole stalk of celery when I just need a stick or two. Then I get stressed out all week trying to come up with ways to use the rest of the celery for my family. So in place of the chopped celery, I added a pinch of celery seeds which I think added just the right amount of celery-ness to this chicken salad. If you can’t find celery seeds, celery salt is a good substitute as well. If you prefer fresh celery, by all means add 1-2 sticks of chopped celery to this chicken salad.
3. the easiest homemade focaccia
If I can make focaccia at home, so can you. If you’re a novice at making bread at home, start with Sarah Jampel’s No-Knead Focaccia recipe. It takes just 10-minutes of prep time, half of which is just waiting for the active dry yeast to foam. This no-knead focaccia turns out best when you let it rise in the refrigerator for at least 24 hours. I’ve tried to make this in 6 hours and the focaccia didn’t turn out as airy and fluffy as when I let the dough rise in the refrigerator overnight. When you get to step 5 in the recipe, I modified it a little by adding chopped rosemary and a generous drizzle of olive oil on top of the focaccia before baking. You can skip steps 6-7 all together.
I also divide the dough in half and bake the focaccia as needed in a 8″ x 8″ baking pan. Day old focaccia is never as good as freshly baked focaccia!
Autumn’s Chicken Salad Sandwich
Ingredients
- 3 cups shredded chicken breast from store-bought rotisserie chicken
- 1/2 cup Kewpie mayonnaise or regular mayonnaise
- 1/2 tbsp Dijon mustard
- 1/2 cup red grapes sliced
- 1/4 cup Medjool dates chopped
- 1 scallion finely chopped
- 1/2 tbsp fresh tarragon finely chopped
- 1 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1/4 cup pecans chopped
- 1/8 tsp celery seeds or celery salt: start with 1/8 tsp and add more if you prefer more celery vibes in the chicken salad
- salt and cracked black pepper
Sandwich Toppings
- 6 radicchio leaves each leaf cut in half
- acorn squash cut into 1/4" thick slices
- granny smith apples thinly sliced with a mandoline
- olive oil
- salt and cracked black pepper
- pickled red onions
Vinaigrette
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 tsp maple syrup
- 1 tsp Dijon
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 tbsp fresh tarragon chopped
- salt and cracked black pepper
No-Knead Rosemary Focaccia
- homemade rosemary focaccia or any bread of choice; refer to Tip #3 above for recipe link and directions
Instructions
Autumn's Chicken Salad
- Add all the ingredients to a large bowl and mix all the ingredients together with a spoon until well combined. Season with salt and pepper. Let the chicken salad chill in the fridge until you're ready to serve.
Sandwich Toppings & Assembly
- Preheat oven to 400°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a bowl, season the sliced acorn squash with olive oil, kosher salt and cracked black pepper. Roast for about 8-10 minutes until the squash becomes fork tender.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the apple cider vinegar, olive oil, Dijon, tarrago and maple syrup. Season with salt and black pepper.
- In a medium bowl, add the radicchio, acorn squash and apple slices. Add the dressing and toss everything together.
- To assemble the sandwich, add a generous amount of the chicken salad to one side of the focaccia and top it with the dressed radicchio, acorn squash, granny smith apples and pickled red onions. Enjoy!
