This tropical chicken salad makes for a refreshing and easy lunch. It’s creamy, sweet and crunchy, and reminiscent of Hawaii. I ate mine on top of massaged kale (see #3 here for instructions), but romaine, mixed greens, or spinach work as well. Sure, you can eat it plain, but I recommend something leafy and green.
For the mayo, I finally cracked open the macadamia nut oil AND macadamia nuts I brought back from Hawaii. The nuts were really tempting to open right away, but we ate a lot of them during our trip and they’re expensive, so I held off. But, this recipe was the perfect reason to open them up. And, making homemade mayo the with oil was a delicious choice.
Anyway, I hope you all have a lovely weekend! I have TONS of homework to do, so that’s what’s in store for me. On the bright side, this term is nearing the end!
Cheers!
Tropical Chicken Salad
Ingredients:
- 1 lb cooked boneless skinless chicken breasts, shredded
- 1/4 – 1/3 cup homemade macadamia nut oil mayo (recipe below)
- 3/4 cup fresh pineapple, chopped
- 1/4 cup macadamia nuts, chopped
- Sea salt and pepper to taste
- Torn raw kale (stems removed) or romaine, for serving
Directions:
- In a large bowl, combine the shredded chicken, mayo, pineapple and macadamia nuts. Mix well and season to taste with sea salt and pepper.
- Serve atop of raw massaged kale (see link above) or romaine. Other leafy greens work as well.
Yields: 3-4 servings
For the macadamia nut oil mayonnaise:
- 1 pastured egg
- 1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1/4 tsp ground mustard
- 1 cup macadamia nut oil(for a different variation, avocado oil is also delicious)
- Sea salt and pepper to taste
- Add the egg, vinegar and mustard to the blender, and blend. Once mixed together, slowly and I mean SLOWLY, pour in the macadamia nut oil and only pour little bits at once! If you are not patient and pour too much or go too fast, your mayo will not emulsify.
- Once your mayo is creamy and has emulsified, add sea salt and pepper to taste. Pour into a jar and store in the refrigerator.
Yields: 1 cup
Mmmm…makes me miss Hawaii too!
🙂
Nostalgic for roaming on macadamia nut farm, ocean breezes and fresh pineapple from neighbor’s field; all of this would work great for this recipe.
Am amazed at how many homemade, healthy oil or pale mayo recipe blogs do not mention MAKE SURE ALL INGREDIENTS ARE ROOM TEMP. The slow drizzle of best oil is critical too, but the right temp is vital to get the process of emulsion to actually work. It is OK to leave free range eggs out of fridge, or put them in a cup of hot water. Lemons kept in fridge take forever to warm up, so we leave half our lemons out on counter. We also strongly prefer fresh squeezed lemon juice to apple cider vinegar, or at least a blend; dried mustard powder and ground white pepper are our staples. Avocado or walnut or coconut oils are yummy too.
I have been seriously wanting Mac nuts today. Just didn’t feel like going to get them. 😀
You just made that craving worse. 😀
Ha, sorry about that, Shonnie! Bad timing on my part, eh? 😉
Oh my, this recipe looks delicious! :0)
Thanks, Juliet!