Not a fan of mayo? Me either. I’m always on the lookout for a healthy no mayo chicken salad recipe and this one with blood orange vinaigrette is winter perfection! It’s packed with bright, flavorful winter vegetables and sweet pops of pomegranate. It’s an easy weeknight meal that comes together quickly and is perfect for using up leftover roasted chicken.
I’ve got one or two more winterish recipes to share before we move onto greener and springier pastures, the first being this No Mayo Chicken Salad with Blood Orange Vinaigrette. In addition to being delicious and leftover friendly, it’s also ridiculously easy and super fast to pull together.
When I was in Austin in late February, one of my friends brought homemade blood orange marmalade that she had canned from the crop on her property. This stuff is the jam (cue spectacularly bad mom pun).
I slathered it on brie and bread for a few days before I decided that I should probably share it with my family. Sharing is caring y’all. My charitable mood birthed this blood orange vinaigrette, and it’s finger licking delicious.
I’m not a fan of mayo and pretty much exclusively prepare chicken and potato salads with vinaigrettes. I’m also lazy frugal and almost exclusively make chicken salad only when I have leftover roasted chicken.
Since I had a healthy portion of leftovers from my Mustard Spatchcock Chicken, I used that for the base and then scrounged around the fridge for odds and ends to fill it up. I love “make it work” dinners, and it’s like winning the fridge lottery when they’re packed with this much flavor!
I had a decent portion of pureed sweet potatoes and butternut squash leftover too, so made a quick soup out of those to serve with the salad.
I sautéed some sweet onions and garlic in butter, deglazed with a splash of white wine, then added the puree and about a cup of broth. Then I simmered it for 10 minutes or so and whizzed it all together with a stick blender. How’s that for maximizing leftovers, eh?
No Mayo Chicken Salad with Blood Orange Vinaigrette Recipe Notes
This guy is pretty straightforward, and honestly, the magic is in the blood orange vinaigrette.
This recipe takes just fifteen minutes to prepare, provided you have some leftover roasted chicken on hand. If you don’t, use a fresh cooked rotisserie chicken from the grocery store, or make your own freezer stash using my cast iron skillet roasted chicken recipe.
I use my trusty mandoline for slicing and julienning the celery, carrots, and radishes. The variety of textures keep each bite interesting and filled with every flavor.
Sub any raw vegetables you have on hand that suite your palette. This would be really nice with a little quinoa, faro, or wild rice if you need a grain. The pops of pomegranate are delightful and pair so well with the flavors in the blood orange vinaigrette, so definitely keep those.
If you have leftover no mayo chicken salad, it keeps keep well in the fridge for about 3 days, and tastes even better the second day after it’ had time to soak in all that vinaigrette goodness.
If you don’t have access to fresh blood orange marmalade, sub the juice of one blood orange plus a tablespoon of honey. It won’t be quite so thick but it will still be delicious.
No Mayo Chicken Salad with Blood Orange Vinaigrette
Ingredients
Blood Orange Vinaigrette
- 1/2 c. olive oil
- 1/3 c. blood orange marmalade
- 1/4 c. red wine vinegar
- 1 garlic clove smashed
- 1 tsp honey
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 tsp cracked black pepper
No Mayo Chicken Salad
- 2 c. roasted chicken
- 1 medium carrot julienned
- 1 celery stalk thinly sliced
- 4 radishes julienned
- 1/3 c. chopped pecans
- 1/3 c. pickled red onion
- 1/3 c. pomegranate seeds
- 4 c. winter greens, such as kale, swiss chard, or spinach shredded or coarsely chopped
Instructions
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Prepare the blood orange vinaigrette. Place all ingredients into a blender and blend until completely incorporated and the citrus rind is pulverized. Strain through a fine mesh strainer to remove any large bits of rind.
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Toss the roasted chicken, carrot, celery, radishes, pecans, red onion and pomegranate seeds together in a large bowl. Dress with half the blood orange vinaigrette and toss again.
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Arrange the greens on 4 dinner plates and top each plate with 1/4 of the chicken salad. Serve with additional blood orange vinaigrette on the side.
Recipe Notes
If you don't have access to blood orange marmalade, sub any citrus marmalade of your choice. You can also swap the marmalade for the juice of one blood orange and increase the honey to a full tablespoon.
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