My New Kentucky Home

A blog about faith and family, home and homeschooling.

Black Pepper Cherry Chicken Salad

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I never pass up the clearance bread items at the local grocery store bakery.  Sometimes I can find some great deals on Italian breads and French breads and specialty rolls that are near their “use by” date, and so long as I’m ready to eat or freeze them quickly, they’re still delicious!

The clearance bread rack was where I found the croissants.  No matter what you plan to do with them, how on earth do you walk past half-price croissants? Unfortunately, it was only after I’d gotten home from the store that I realized these croissants were begging me to make some chicken salad!

I love the chicken salad with halved grapes and chopped nuts.  I didn’t have a recipe, but thought maybe I could throw a good chicken salad together.  One problem…I didn’t have grapes!  Chicken salad just couldn’t be as good without that touch of tart/sweetness!

But suddenly I remembered!  No, I didn’t have grapes, but I did have fresh cherries, and why couldn’t I try making chicken salad with cherries instead of grapes?  The result was fantastic!  I’ve shared the recipe with a few friends and I have to say it’s gotten some pretty rave reviews.

So here it is:

Black Pepper Cherry Chicken Salad
 
1 1/2 cups chopped cooked chicken (You can use the canned stuff, by why would you want to?? Leftover grilled chicken makes this the best!)
12-15 fresh pitted cherries, diced (You can slice around the pits, of course, or use this handy technique I discovered from Simple Foody— Pitting Cherries (the easy way) )
1 1/2 Tablespoons diced red onion
1/4 cup chopped cashews (Pecans would probably be pretty good, too…)
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 Tablespoon Italian dressing
1/4 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper (Use more or less to taste.  You can use regular ground black pepper, but the freshly cracked black pepper adds so much flavor and I think it pairs really well with the cherries.  If you don’t have one, invest in a pepper grinder!  Or at least pick up one of the disposable ones in the spice section of your local grocery store.)
Dash garlic powder
Salt to taste
 
Mix all the ingredients together and spread it on a croissant or other roll.  It is delicious!  And I love the purplish color, too.  Something about it would be perfect for a wedding shower, I think, or a ladies get-together.

Deelish!  And purple!  (Well, kind of…)
 
Croissants were meant for chicken salad.  Trust me.

So check out your local bakery’s clearance rack.  And be sure to pick up some cherries on your way home…

 
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Comments

  4. living from glory to glory says

    Hello, Looks really yummy and yes once in awhile when I have a friend pop-over, I will use canned chicken. Then I can make this lovely dish to serve them in a jiffy! My sweet babies are grown and gone, but my heart is still home! Have a lovely week!
    Blessings, Roxy

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