Italian Chicken Salad

Ingredients:

Chicken Salad

  • 2 1/2 lbs of chicken breast
  • 2 stalks of celery, diced
  • 1 red bell pepper, chopped
  • 1/2 cup of sliced almonds (1/2 bag)
  • 1/4 to 1/2 of a medium red onion, diced
  • 1/4 cup of chopped parsley
  • 1 package of bacon, cooked and chopped
  • olive oil
  • salt
  • black pepper

Vinegarette

  • 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 1 tsp dijon mustard
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • black pepper
  • 1/2 cup olive oil

Instructions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 425˚ F
  2. Put chicken breasts on a baking sheet. Rub olive oil on the chicken and then salt and pepper both sides to season.
  3. Cook chicken in oven for 30-40 mins, until done. The recommended internal temp of poultry is 165˚ F.
  4. While the chicken is cooking, toast your almonds in a skillet for about five minutes until they are fragrant and golden brown and remove from skillet and set aside
  5. In the warm skillet, cook your bacon and set aside to cool
  6. Dice your vegetables. I found my bell pepper ended up being about a cup, so I chopped enough celery to match and then about half that amount of onion and parsley.
  7. Chop the bacon into dime to nickle size pieces
  8. Make Vinegarette by combining the vinegar, mustard, sugar, salt and pepper in a small bowl. And then whisk the contents while adding the oil to emulsify the dressing.
  9. Once the chicken is cooked, remove from the oven and let it sit for at least five minutes allowing it to cool slightly.
  10. Shred chicken once cool enough to handle and place in a large bowl.
  11. Add celery, peppers, onion, almonds, bacon, and parsley to the bowl and mix.
  12. Pour dressing over the the chicken salad mixture and mix
  13. Serve on bread or in wraps

Notes:

Adapted from this recipe