Chicken Salad Lettuce Cups
with tomato / avocado / basil salad
Chicken salad makes great sandwiches, but we love the fresh crunch you get when serving it in lettuce cups. Serve this light main dish with a summer side dish of tomato, avocado and basil.
Ingredients
- Vinegar, balsamic - 1/3 cup (any inexpensive brand)
- Chicken breasts, boneless and skinless (sub rotisserie chicken) - 1 1/2 lbs
- Oil, cooking - 1 Tbsp
- Celery - 1 stalk, diced
- Onions - 1 Tbsp, chopped
- Mayonnaise, paleo-friendly - 2 Tbsp
- Mustard, Dijon - 1 tsp
- Lemon juice - 1 tsp
- Lettuce, romaine (sub green leaf or iceberg) - 8 leaves
- Almonds, sliced - 1/4 cup
- Avocados - 1, sliced
- Tomatoes, medium (sub half a cup cherry or grape tomatoes for each medium tomato) - 2, wedges
- Basil, fresh - 10 leaves
- Oil, olive - 1 Tbsp
Nutrition Facts
Prep
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Make balsamic reduction - (If not already made from Monday’s meal.) Simmer balsamic vinegar in a small saucepan until it reduces by at least half and thickens to the texture of syrup. (Can be done up to 5 days ahead)
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Cook chicken - (Skip if using rotisserie chicken.) Season chicken with some salt and pepper and tenderize with a fork. Heat a skillet with cooking oil over medium heat. Add chicken to heated oil and cook on both sides until cooked through, 4 to 5 minutes on each side. (Can be done up to 2 days ahead)
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Celery / Onions - Prep as directed and combine. (Can be done up to 3 days ahead)
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Make chicken salad - Chop chicken. Combine with celery, onions, mayonnaise, mustard and lemon juice. Season with some salt and pepper. Taste and adjust to your flavor preferences - adding more mayo if you like it more creamy, more lemon juice if you like it more tart, etc. (Can be done up to 2 days ahead)
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Make
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Combine avocados, tomatoes, basil and olive oil. Season with some salt and pepper and transfer to a serving plate. Drizzle with balsamic reduction.
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Assemble lettuce cups by filling lettuce leaves with chicken salad and topping them with almond slices for crunch.
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Enjoy lettuce cups with tomato salad on the side.
Nutrition Facts
Reviews
Ratings
41 reviews
Normally my husband hates mayonnaise based salads. But he liked this! I preferred it to standard chicken salad. Added extra celery for crunch.
Yummy and simple chicken salad. I ended up using 3 celery stalks and 1/2 onion and mayo. 4-yr-old liked it.
My lettuce leaves weren't really wide enough to make effective lettuce cups, so I used them as a bed for the chicken salad.