Background: Whenever we have roasted or fried chicken leftovers one of our “go to” leftover dishes is chicken salad sandwiches. Over time we’ve worked to elevate it somewhat by making celery the “star” ingredient, using “Old Bay” hot sauce to compliment the celery and add more depth of flavor, including our ever present leftover grilled corn all piled on whole grain bread.

Ingredients:

1 leftover chicken breast chopped finely

1 large celery stalk split and finely chopped

½ medium red pepper sliced and finely chopped

1/3 medium onion (or whites from spring onion or two green onions) chopped

1 small ear of leftover roasted corn kernels

1 medium jalapeno cored and chopped finely

2-3 leaves Romaine lettuce cored and cut in large pieces

15-20 cilantro leaves

2-3 tbsp. homemade mayonnaise

2 tsp. Old Bay hot sauce

2-3 full tsp. apple cider vinegar (adjust to taste)

4 slices whole grain bread (like Dave’s Killer 21 grain)

Steps:

  1. Toast or grill the four pieces of bread and place on plates. I like to grill my bread to give the sandwich a more “deli feel” and not dry out. Distribute the Romaine leaves to cover two pieces.
  2. In a medium mixing bowl add the celery, red pepper, onion, corn, jalapeno, chicken, mayonnaise, Old Bay, and cider vinegar and mix to combine. Salt and pepper to taste.
  3. Using a large spoon distribute the chicken salad evenly between the two slices of bread with lettuce on them, then cover with cilantro leaves. Place the remaining bread on top and cut in half to serve (bring a fork!).