Chicken Salad with Herb Tahini Dressing

Vivid in Both Flavor and Color!

I don’t know about you, but I eat a lot of chicken salads. My family and I love them. I will poach a load of chicken breasts and make different salads with them throughout the week. We love most all kinds – classic, Thai, Chinese, Vietnamese, etc. But here is one that I particularly love, using simple ingredients, that I’ve been making for the last couple of years.

This variation came about because I wanted a creamy salad that had no mayonnaise. I find that mayonnaise based chicken salads can be too greasy at times. I wanted it to be creamy, but not oily. Know what I mean? I also happened to be loaded with fresh herbs, so after poaching the chicken breasts I went to work on a dressing.

The exact type of fresh herbs isn’t terribly important, but the amount is. You need at least 2 cups of loosely packed fresh herbs. This time around I used flat leaf parsley, mint, and lemon verbena because the mint and lemon verbena are growing like crazy in my garden. But I’ve also used cilantro and basil. Just use a mix of what looks the best in the market or your garden. Each will impart their own flavor to the dressing and they’re all good.

All the dressing ingredients go into the blender and are blitzed until the dressing is smooth and creamy. While you can play around with the particular herbs and seasonings, there are a few ingredients that are essential – tahini ,* sesame oil ,* and soy sauce. The tahini provides the creaminess, the sesame oil reinforces the sesame flavor, and soy sauce brings the needed salt and umami. 

I used fresh lime juice in this variation, but fresh lemon juice is good, too. I also always add apple cider vinegar to make sure there is enough acid. A little honey to round it out, along with additional salt and you’re good to go. I specified a half cup of ice water to be added to the blender, but sometimes I find I need more in order to get the consistency just right. You don’t want it too thin, but this does thicken a little as it chills. 

When I’m ready to serve the salad, I pour on all the dressing and gently stir it. It will seem like too much dressing, but it’s not. The chicken will absorb some of the dressing. I like some crunch with my chicken salad, so I thinly sliced some red cabbage and used it as the bed for the salad and then topped it with plenty of sliced scallions and cherry tomatoes. A dusting of red pepper flakes, such as gochugaru or Aleppo pepper finishes it off nicely.

Now, I’m sure you’ve noticed the little crackers in the photo. I’ve recently started making sourdough breads and came upon this recipe from King Arthur called Easiest Sourdough Discard Crackers . I’ve seen lots of recipes for things to make with sourdough discard, but this was the first one I’ve encountered that uses no other flour in the recipe. It consists of the discard, butter or oil, and seasonings. That’s it. Nothing more. 

The batter is spread out very thinly on a parchment lined sheet pan and baked. I figured I had nothing to lose, so I gave it a try. To say I was pleasantly surprised is a gross understatement. These aren’t so much crackers as they are crisps. They’re very thin and super crispy. I’ve now made them several times because they’re on high demand from my family. I change out the seasonings and seeds. I used poppy seeds and smoked paprika in the ones in this photo. I’ve tried them with olive oil instead of butter, added some roasted sesame oil and sesame seeds, etc. If you’re a sourdough baker, I couldn’t recommend this recipe more highly. Needless to say they were great with the chicken salad. 

Well, there you have it. A chicken salad recipe that’s different, but not loony. No bizarre ingredients. Just a really delicious chicken salad for those of you who love them as much as we do. Or perhaps this recipe may even convert you.