Remember when I said my friends and I had a cookout? Hopefully you do because it was just yesterday that I said that. Anyway, I was told to bring something. My first thought: beer. My second thought: something more filling like, say, chicken salad.
My first job was at a grocery store and I believe it was around that time when I first tried chicken salad and immediately I was hooked. I knew right off the bat though that not every grocery store or deli made it the same way my grocery store did. Sometimes I’d go over to my friends house and her family would be eating chicken salad sandwiches for lunch and I’d try some and think, huh, this tastes different than the kind I am used to. Still good though!
I’d seen lightened up chicken salad with greek yogurt before and thought about giving that a try. However, if you know me, then you know I’m not a fan of yogurt; I don’t like the taste. I wish I did, but I don’t. Sometimes, replacing ingredients with yogurt is awesome because you literally can’t taste the yogurt, but I was reluctant to try it with this chicken salad, So, I opted for something I knew I’d enjoy: cottage cheese.
I know I recently rambled on about cottage cheese in this post, but I love it. Though I brought the chicken salad to the BBQ we didn’t actually eat it until we arrived at the winery. I swear I’m not bragging when I say this stuff was a huge hit! I was so, so happy 🙂 I mean, I liked it but not everyone likes cottage cheese but everyone who liked cottage cheese said this stuff was gOoOoOd. <<just like that. Oh and in case you were wondering, it does NOT have celery in it. Besides yogurt I’m also not a fan of celery. I know most chicken salads have it but this one has a few other goodies instead.
So if you’re looking for a lightened up chicken salad recipe, you’re going to want to give this a try. ..and then bring it to a cookout and impress all you’re friends and family 😉 Duh!
Ingredients
- 2 chicken breasts
- 2 cups grapes sliced in half
- 1 cup slivered almonds
- 1 cup Craisins
- 2 cups cottage cheese
- 2 tbsp mayonnaise
- Pepper to taste
Instructions
- Cook chicken as you normally would. I baked mine in the oven and then placed them in a frying pan with a dash of olive oil. After the chicken is cooked, shred/cut into smaller pieces and place in a medium-large bowl.
- Add grapes, almonds and Craisins to the bowl.
- Add mayo, cottage cheese and pepper; stir until everything is mixed together.
- Store in the refrigerator and serve on whole grain bread.
- Enjoy!
Q: When was the first time you tried chicken salad?
This looks delicious! I actually don’t like mayonnaise, so I’ve never had a ‘real’ chicken salad. Love the idea of using cottage cheese, and since I do love greek yogurt I could just sub that in for the mayo. My kids are crazy for cottage cheese, so I’ll be trying this for lunches.
Yes it’s perfect for lunches. Let me know if you try it!
What a good idea! I haven’t bought cottage cheese in forever…I should change that.
I loveeeee cottage cheese – and whilst I’ve never tried chicken salad, I think this recipe may convince me to try it!
Erin…. You might be onto something here! Whenever I make chicken salad, I add a huge mayo to Greek yogur ratio because of the tartness- never thought to use cottage cheese!
I’ve actually never tried chicken salad – I should probably get on that 😉
Oooh, what a good idea to replace yogurt with cottage cheese in a recipe. I am also not a huge fan of yogurt (probably the tartness?) so in my dairy-eating days I would’ve been all over this. And have I ever told you how much your food photos rock? You’re a food photography rockstar, missy.
Thanks Jordan! And I’m glad I’m not the only person who isn’t in love with yogurt.
i love making egg salad with cottage cheese, so this is a must!! yum!
I would much rather have grapes, almonds and craisins than celery 😉 sounds awesome! I love cottage cheese, but I never would have thought to try it in chicken salad. I couldn’t tell you the first time I tried it…but my guess would be on a sandwich my mom made for me in elementary school.
Yum I haven’t thought about chicken salad in a while but I loveee it when it has grapes/craisins! And with my love for cottage cheese, this sounds perfect!
pretty sure I ate chicken salad in the womb! I’m not a hugeeee cottage cheese fan but I may give it a try if I run out of yogs!
Love this! All the ingredients look perfect – I hate when celery makes the chicken salad crunchy!
Never thought about using cottage cheese in chicken salad! I’ve been wanting to try out greek yogurt. But this is a great idea! Next time I’m making it I’ll have to remember!
Looks great! I actually have a bit of a phobia…well maybe not a phobia, but I am not keen on chicken salads….or the american version of them haha since I went to chick-fil-a. I really did not like it, but I love all the ingredients in this, so I will give it a go 🙂
My second thought (or, let’s be real, FIRST thought) would probably have gone to dessert. I never volunteer to bring anything savoury — the sweets is where it’s at for me 😀 And ugh… I wish my stomach liked cottage cheese as much as I do.
Gosh… why can’t I be okay w/ Cottage Cheese? Idk why, just the thought gives me the creeps. You mentioned people who liked cottage cheese being a fan, were the people like myself able to tell it was there?
Yes 🙁 It’s a pretty distinct taste… sorry lady! Maybe your taste buds will come around one day 😉