Apple Pecan Chicken Salad is a great copycat recipe for the Panera Fuji Apple Chicken Salad. It makes a great lunch or add soup for a fantastic dinner. This also can be a great side dish if you leave the chicken off.
1chicken breastgrilled, sliced (can also use rotisserie chicken)
½cuppecanstoasted and chopped
1medium slicing tomatodiced
2sliced rings of red onionrinsed under cool water, helps the onion flavor not overpower the salad AND keeps you from tasting onion for the next 4 hours!
Whisk all the ingredients together until it is completely combined. You can also place all the ingredients in a mason jar with a lid and shake vigorously until the ingredients come together.
Apple Pecan Chicken Salad
Sprinkle the diced tomato with salt, pepper and garlic powder. Let them sit as long as you can, 10 minutes (up to an hour, if you have time)
Toast the pecans in a dry pan over low heat for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
In a large bowl toss the romaine with desired amount of the apple dressing.
Add the chicken, pecans, tomato, red onion, blue cheese, and crispy apple slices- toss to coat in the dressing.
Serve!
Notes
If you need your salad dressing to stay emulsified and not separate you can sub 1 tablespoon of the honey for molasses. It will keep the dressing together and not let it seperate.