Chicken Apple Walnut Salad

Equipment

• ✓ Mixing bowl
• ✓ Knife and board
• ✓ Frying pan
• ✓ Food thermometer

Ingredients

• 600 g chicken breast
• 2 crisp apples
• 90 g walnuts
• 120 g celery, thinly sliced
• 100 g mixed leaves
• 80 g Greek yogurt
• 50 g mayonnaise
• 20 g Dijon mustard
• 30 ml lemon juice
• 15 g honey
• 20 g chives, sliced
• 9 g fine salt
• 3 g black pepper

Easy Step-by-Step Method

Complete one numbered step before moving to the next. Keep the heat and timing exactly as written.

Chef Notes & Tips

Cool chicken before mixing with yogurt dressing; warm meat makes the emulsion thin and the leaves wilt.

Ingredient choices: The chicken in the ingredient list starts raw and must be cooked safely before assembly. Choose crisp apples and prepare them near serving. Use ready-to-eat mayonnaise and check walnut freshness before toasting.

Cooking control: Cook chicken to 74°C, then cool promptly and cut with clean equipment. Mix the dressing, coat apple lightly with the lemon component and fold through chicken and celery. Add leaves and walnuts near serving.

If something goes wrong: Watery dressing can come from warm chicken or wet leaves. Brown apple is reduced by timely preparation and lemon, but acidity does not replace refrigeration. Soft walnuts may have sat too long in the dressing.

Ingredient Substitutions

• ↔ Chicken breast → cooked turkey
• ↔ Walnuts → pecans or sunflower seeds
• ↔ Greek yogurt and mayonnaise → thick unsweetened plant yogurt plus olive oil

Food Safety & Doneness

Keep raw poultry separate from ready-to-eat food and do not wash it. Check the thickest flesh and any stuffing reach at least 74°C with a food thermometer; colour and timing alone are not reliable.

Serving & Plating

Serve on the leaves with chives and reserved walnuts. Keep the salad chilled until eating and identify dairy, egg and nuts according to the chosen products.

Storage

Keep prepared components covered at 4°C or below. Use within 2 days, or sooner if a package use-by date requires it. Store dressing separately where possible; do not leave perishable salad at room temperature for more than 2 hours.