photo by: Nick Krug

Avocado Chicken Salad

Lately, my family has been eating rather a lot of chicken. The price of beef is part of the driver for that, but I’ve also found that my children like chicken, and I can often buy fairly large quantities of it on sale.

The problem, though, is often in the quantity. If I buy a “family pack” of chicken breasts or thighs, it would feed my small family for a month. But once you’ve thawed it, you have to cook it, so there I am with a pile of chicken breasts. It’s actually a decent problem to have, though. They freeze nicely once they’re cooked, and I can pull a few out for fast dinners a couple of times a week.

This week, I had a hankering for chicken salad. But I wanted something a little different, so I spied an avocado on my countertop and thought, “Why not?”

I made up something new (at least to me) that really took chicken salad to the next level. The creaminess of the avocado meant I didn’t need as much mayo, which was a great thing because I am not a huge fan of mayo anyway, and it’s not exactly a health food.

No chicken salad is good without a crunch and a little sweetness, in my never-to-be-humble opinion, so I added some green onion, celery and grapes. A little cilantro complemented the avocado nicely, and the whole thing came together in about five minutes, since I was working with pre-cooked chicken breasts.

This was nice enough to serve to company, though I chose to eat it straight from the bowl I made it in, standing at the kitchen counter. You do you, I’ll do me, OK?

Avocado Chicken Salad

2 large chicken breasts, cooked and diced
3 tablespoons mayo
Juice of one lemon
Handful of purple grapes, halved
1 small avocado, diced
1/3 cup diced celery
2 tablespoons diced green onion
1 clove minced garlic
Salt and pepper to taste

I like to roast the chicken breasts in with just salt and pepper on them for maximum flavor, but you could boil them as well.

Use light mayo — I promise it will be just as good, especially because of the fat content in the avocados.

Just mix everything together. Eat immediately, so as to avoid your avocado turning brown or mushy.

I like it over a bed of lettuce, but it would also be great on toast or bagel or croissant. Simply delicious, and possibly the healthiest thing I have made in weeks!

Serves 4.