Chicken Salad Sandwich

A cool and creamy chicken salad sandwich makes for a terrific grab-and-go picnic lunch or tasty light supper. My sweet and savory chicken salad sandwich recipe calls for a kiss of mayo, roasted cashews, dried tart cherries, plus a sprinkle of fresh, flavorful tarragon all piled generously into a soft croissant!

The Perfect Cool and Creamy Sandwich

The warm, sunny season calls for cool and refreshing salads brimming with all sorts of delicious morsels that are both sweet and savory.

Chicken salad is a classic, and it's the perfect pick to turn into a sandwich to enjoy outdoors as a lovely picnic lunch with a side of fresh fruit and lemonade, or even as a light evening meal with a few chips as a crispy accompaniment.

My favorite way to enjoy a delectable chicken salad sandwich is to whip up my homemade chicken salad recipe, and pile it generously into a soft, buttery croissant. Sheer heaven in sandwich form!

My chicken salad is brimming with lots of crunchy texture from a handful of roasted cashews, plus sweet and tangy dried cherries and a sprinkle of freshly chopped tarragon leaves. I like to combine these morsels with a hint of mayo, some honey, a whisper of spice, and a kiss of Dijon for nice, complex flavor that's both a little bit sweet and savory.

When spooned into a fresh croissant, this chicken salad sandwich is a bit of a gourmet treat that's very easy to put together, and perfect to keep on hand when the craving comes around for a light, simple meal.

It's also a terrific recipe to double up on and share with others as part of a light and delicious menu for an outdoor gathering!

A Mouthwatering Chicken Salad Sandwich Served on a Croissant

Whipping up a tasty chicken salad from scratch is a pretty quick and easy endeavor, and to make things even more streamlined, I love to use a really good quality rotisserie chicken to save some time.

If I happen to have a couple of skinless, boneless chicken breasts (about 1 ½ pounds) already on hand, then I might just poach those for a few minutes in salted, gently simmering water until cooked through and tender, and then cube them for the salad.

But rotisserie chicken is terrific as you can simply cube up the (roughly) 2 cups needed for this recipe, with no cooking required.

What I like to do is combine my cooked and cubed chicken with cool and flavorful ingredients to create lots of flavor, and since I'm such a big fan of the combination of crunchy, roasted cashews and dried, tart cherries, I sprinkle some of those for texture.

Then, I chop up a bit of fresh tarragon. It has a very mild anise-like flavor, which compliments the cherries deliciously.

All that's left is to spoon this yummy salad into either large croissants for more substantial sandwich, or the mini croissants for more of a light snack or even to serve as a fun finger food.

Here's a peek at my chicken salad sandwich recipe: (or just jump to the full recipe...)

1. To begin, I combine my cooked, cubed chicken with all of my chicken salad ingredients, and keep this salad cold in the fridge until ready to use.
2. When ready to assemble my chicken salad sandwich, I cut open a fresh croissant, add some fresh arugula leaves to the bottom half, then spoon a generous amount of the chicken salad over the greens. I top with the other half of the croissant, and serve with fresh fruit or chips on the side.

Recipe

Chicken Salad Sandwich

by Ingrid Beer

Print Recipe

This cool and creamy chicken salad sandwich is brimming with roasted cashews, dried cherries and tarragon, all piled into a buttery croissant!

Category: Sandwich
Cuisine: American

Yield: Serves 4

Nutrition Info: 649 calories per sandwich

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 0 minutes
Total time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

• 2 cups (slightly heaping) cooked and cubed chicken (rotisserie is terrific for this)
• ¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
• ¼ cup (heaping) roasted cashews, chopped
• ¼ cup dried, tart cherries
• 1 ½ tablespoons fresh tarragon leaves, finely chopped (or 1 ½ teaspoon dried tarragon)
• 1 teaspoon honey
• ½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
• ¼ teaspoon lemon zest
• ¼ teaspoon lemon juice
• Pinch of two salt
• Pinch or two black pepper
• Small dash ground cinnamon
• 4 croissants (or 8 mini croissants), cut in half and lightly toasted
• 2 cups wild arugula leaves

Preparation:

1. Begin by gathering and prepping all of your ingredients according to the ingredients list above to have ready and organized for use.
2. Combine the cooked and cubed chicken with the remainder of the ingredients up to and including the dash of ground cinnamon in a large bowl, and mix thoroughly to incorporate well. Check the seasoning, and then keep the chicken salad cold until ready to use.
3. To assemble the chicken salad sandwiches, add about ½ cup of the wild arugula leaves to the bottom half of each of the toasted croissants (¼ cup if using mini croissants), and add generous, equal portions of the chicken salad over the greens; cover with the toasted top half of the croissant, and serve cold with a side of fresh melon and berry salad, or chips.

Tips & Tidbits for my Chicken Salad Sandwich recipe:

• Standard croissants or mini: While I typically will use a larger croissant for this tasty sandwich, when preparing this recipe for a gathering or as part of a platter with other items, using the mini croissants makes for a great presentation. Either way, opt for nice, fresh, buttery croissants.
• Good quality rotisserie chicken for convenience: An organic rotisserie chicken is a terrific way to go when prepping chicken salad for sandwiches, as it saves you some time cooking. You can use all white meat or a combo of white and dark for more flavor. Simply remove the skin and cube the meat.
• Fresh tarragon or dried: While this recipe calls for a few fresh tarragon leaves chopped, you can substitute dried tarragon if that's what you have on hand, or cannot find the fresh. (Use about 1 ½ teaspoons of the dried, when substituting.)
• Tart, dried cherries for sweetness: I love the flavor of Montmorency dried cherries as they are nice and tart, but any tart cherry will do. However, feel free to substitute dried cranberries instead, or even dried currants or golden raisins.

Hungry for more recipes similar to this? Check out this Curried Chicken Salad, this Chicken Salad with Apples, this BBQ Chicken Salad Wrap, this Macaroni Salad, this Bow Tie Pasta Salad!

Cook's Note: This recipe was originally published in 2012, and has been updated with even more love!