By Kelly Bogard

There are a few things that I consider truly Southern–sweet tea, watermelon on a hot day and chicken salad. I’m sure other places have these things, but in my mind they originated in the South. So today I’ll share a chicken salad recipe from one of our Texas Table Top readers and a sweet lady from my church, Hazel. It has several ingredients that I wouldn’t have thought would fit, but it is absolutely amazing!

[wpcol_1half id=”” class=”sep” style=”vertical-align:text-top;”]
For Hazel’s Chicken Salad, you will need…
4-4 ½ pound stewed chicken
2 cubes chicken bouillon
½ lemon, sliced
½ cup walnuts, toasted and chopped
1 tablespoon salted butter
1 cup celery, chopped
1 cup red grapes, halved
2 cups apples, chopped

[/wpcol_1half] [wpcol_1half_end id=”” class=”” style=”vertical-align:text-top;”]
And for the sauce, you will need…
1 cup vanilla yogurt
1 cup mayonnaise
Juice of half a lemon
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon cinnamon[/wpcol_1half_end]

The first thing you’ll want to do is stew your chicken. After thoroughly cleaning your chicken, place it in a large stew pot filled with water, chicken bouillon Fruit and Veggiesand half of a sliced lemon. Simmer the chicken until fork tender and then set aside to cool. At the same time, in a small sauce pan, melt salted butter and walnuts to toast. Make sure to occasionally stir your walnuts around so they don’t burn. They should only take a few minutes to toast up. While your chicken is cooking and your walnuts are cooling, go ahead and cut up your celery, apples and grapes. I like to put them back in the refrigerator after chopping so they are nice and cold when you add them to the chicken.

Once the chicken is cool enough to work with, remove the skin, debone and cube. Go ahead and place the cubed chicken in the refrigerator to Chicken Salad saucechill, as well, while you make your sauce. Combine all of your sauce ingredients, mixing well to get all of the flavors combined. I know it seems a little strange to use sweet ingredients like vanilla yogurt and honey, but I have to tell you, it makes it wonderful.

Now you can get all of the fruit, veggies and chicken out of the refrigerator and combine in a large bowl. Pour the sauce over the mixture and stir until well combined. Chill and it is ready when you are.Mixed Chicken Salad

This chicken salad is super yummy, and you really must try it! Thanks so much to Hazel for sharing her recipe with me and allowing me to put it on Texas Table Top. If you have any yummy recipes you’d like to share, please email them to me at kbogard@txfb.org. I always love getting new recipes and would like to share some of yours, as well.

From all of us at Texas Table Top, enjoy!

[print_this]

[box]

Recipe: Hazel’s Chicken Salad

Summary: Cool chicken salad with a sweet, savory sauce

Ingredients

Hazel's Chicken Salad

Chicken Salad

  • 4-4 ½ pound stewed chicken
  • 2 cubes chicken bouillon
  • ½ lemon, sliced
  • ½ cup walnuts, toasted and chopped
  • 1 tablespoon salted butter
  • 1 cup celery, chopped
  • 1 cup red grapes, halved
  • 2 cups apples, chopped

    •    

    Sauce

  • 1 cup vanilla yogurt
  • 1 cup mayonnaise
  • Juice of half a lemon
  • 1 tablespoon honey
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon

    •    

    Instructions

  • Simmer chicken, bouillon and lemon until chicken is fork tender.
  • Combine walnuts and butter in a small sauce pan and toast over low heat, stirring occasionally to keep the walnuts from burning.
  • Set aside chicken and walnuts to cool.
  • Cut up celery, apples and grapes.
  • Set aside in refrigerator to cool while preparing the sauce.
  • Combine yogurt, mayonnaise, lemon juice, honey and cinnamon in a small bowl, mixing well.
  • Combine chicken, celery, apples, grapes and walnuts in a large bowl.
  • Pour sauce over chicken mixture and stir until well combined.

    •    

    Cooking time (duration): 1 hour

    Number of servings (yield): 6-8

    [/box]

    [/print_this]