How to Make a Delicious Cranberry Walnut Recipe: This Chicken Salad with Walnuts and Cranberries is a dish that should always be stocked in your pantry because it is simple to prepare and uses ingredients that you probably already have on hand.
This recipe for chicken salad calls for canned chicken, mayonnaise, Greek yoghurt, dried cranberries, toasted walnuts, celery, onion, lemon juice, and a number of different spices. This salad’s luscious creaminess and flavour combination are sure to please your palate.
The combination of mayonnaise and Greek yoghurt is used in the perfect proportion, preventing the chicken from becoming submerged in the sauce. Have you ever eaten a chicken salad that was drenched in dressing?
With all of the walnuts and celery, I like how the texture comes out more crunchy. If, on the other hand, a chicken salad with an excessive amount of dressing is more your style, then simply increase the amount of mayonnaise and Greek yoghurt in the recipe.
INGREDIENTS
I’m willing to bet that you already have these ingredients stashed away in your pantry.
- Chicken in a Can: In order to quickly prepare a meal, I keep chicken packed in water that has been canned on hand at all times. If you have access to raw chicken breasts, you can always choose to cook those breasts, then cut them up and use them in place of the canned variety.
- Mayonnaise is an essential component of chicken salad. On the other hand, I’m not a huge fan of dressings that taste extremely mayonnaise-y, which is why I added Greek yoghurt.
- I use Greek yoghurt because I love the thickness and creaminess that it brings to the chicken.
- Each component packs a lot of flavour and helps the dish maintain its shape.
- Cranberries that have been dried I really enjoy the sweet and sour flavour of cranberries, and I have a lot of them left over from the holidays. Raisins can be used in place of dried cranberries if you don’t have any on hand.
- Walnuts that have been toasted have a flavour that is so satisfyingly rich and nutty; they are one of my favourite kinds of nuts.
- To get that crunch, celery is a must.
- Onion: only a teeny tiny bit
- Lemon juice fulfils the requirement for a trace amount of an acidic substance. If you don’t have any lemon juice on hand, you can substitute another type of vinegar, such as apple cider vinegar.
- If you ask me, the most delicious part of chicken salad is the spices. I incorporated dill, cumin, garlic powder, salt, and pepper into the dish. Dill can be used fresh if you have it, but dried dill will do just fine in its place.
- To prepare the salad, simply measure out the components into the bowl, and then combine everything thoroughly. If you ask me, recipes like this are the best kind because they are so easy to follow.
HOW TO BREAD AND TOAST WALNUTS
The recipe calls for toasted walnuts, which are my absolute favourite kind of nut. Toasting walnuts is a very simple process, even if you’ve never done it before.
The only thing you need to do is heat a small pan over medium heat, add your walnuts, and stir them frequently until they are toasted and golden brown. There is no need to add oil; all you need to do is place the walnuts in a pan and heat them over medium heat.
It should take about 5 minutes, give or take a few seconds depending on how browned you want them. You can bring out the buttery and nutty flavour of almonds, pecans, and other nuts and seeds by using the same method!