Our infatuation with canned mandarin oranges goes back to the time when our firstborn, Sam, was a two-year-old who was exploring flavors and textures of food. We’d freeze an entire can of mandarin oranges then feed her small portions of the frozen fruit that we scraped with a teaspoon.
Sam still loves canned mandarin oranges to this day. She’s not a toddler anymore so we don’t need to scrape frozen fruit for her. She adores vegetable salad in just about every iteration but especially when segments of mandarin oranges are tossed in.
Mandarin Chicken Salad
Grilled chicken fillets, mandarin orange segments, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, croutons and cashew nuts go into your bowl of mandarin chicken salad. A summer dish that hits all the right notes!
Ingredients
- 2 cups cubed cooked chicken (see notes after the recipe)
- roasted sesame salad dressing (available in Asian groceries)
- 4 cups torn lettuce
- 2 to 4 tomatoes cubed
- 1 onion peeled and thinly sliced
- 2 cups croutons
- 1 ½ cups mandarin orange segments well drained if using canned
- ½ cup roasted cashew nuts
Instructions
- Place the cubed chicken in a mixing bowl.
- Drizzle in two tablespoons of salad dressing and toss well (this will flavor the chicken better especially if underseasoned).
- Add the rest of the ingredients, add two tablespoons of salad dressing and toss.
- Divide the mandarin chicken salad among four bowls.
- Drizzle more salad dressing over the salad in the bowls before serving.
Notes
The chicken can be boiled, grilled, roasted or poached. How it was cooked before the meat was cut into cubes will affect the texture of the salad. The best option is fire-grilled chicken which will give the salad a smoky aroma and flavor. The second best option is rotisserie chicken.
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