Creamy Pesto Chicken Salad with Apples and Pecans

The perfect summer salad bursting with delicious sweet and savory flavors from apples and grapes, crunchy pecans and shredded chicken all smothered in creamy pesto mayo combo!

It seems like forever since I posted. I do apologize my dear readers for that hiatus. We've been on a month-long holiday in Europe in June which extended up to the first week of July. Thereafter, it took me a little over a week to get over the jet lag and pure exhaustion. I have only been getting back into the swing of things recently and thankfully,now, I feel human again!! Hurrah! :)

Anyway, we're back in business and I have a delicious salad for you all. The other day we went to Stew Leonard's to buy some groceries as both our fridge and pantry were looking sad and empty. Hubby also wanted to get his favorite yucca bread from there which we found out upon arrival that they no longer sell as they weren't in high demand. I have a feeling we were the only ones who bought the bread!! LOL. Seriously, it was sad that we lost our supplier of yucca bread!

It was almost lunch time when we arrived there so we had a quick lunch and it was there where I spotted this delicious looking Pesto Chicken Salad!! I told myself, I would recreate it as I loved the flavor and the touch of green looked quite different from the usual pale white salad and it also looked very summery! So last weekend I set-off to re-create their yummy salad. This is not exactly the same as theirs because the store's version was more savory while I decided to add here some touch of fruity goodness since we love adding fruits to our salad in the Philippines. I love the sweet and savory flavors that this salad brings to your tastebuds!! Can you see all that fruity deliciousness?

Well, this salad didn't disappoint - it was at once creamy, savory but with a touch of fruity sweetness from the apples and grapes and not to mention the extra crunch from pecans!! Hope you try this!

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Creamy Pesto and Chicken Salad with Apples and Pecans

By: Manila Spoon
July 19, 2017



The perfect summer salad bursting with delicious sweet and savory flavors from apples and grapes, crunchy pecans and shredded chicken all smothered in creamy pesto mayo!!

Ingredients

• 3 cups cooked shredded Chicken
• 1/2 cup Mayonnaise
• 4 Tablespoons store-bought or homemade Pesto (or to taste)
• 2 Celery stalks, diced
• 1/2 cup Pecans, whole or chopped
• 1 bunch of seedless Grapes
• 1-2 sweet Apples, chopped
• Freshly squeezed juice from half a Lemon (or to taste)
• Salt and Pepper, to taste

Instructions

1. Place shredded chicken in a large bowl. Add the mayo, pesto, celery, pecans, apples and grapes. Mix everything. 
2. Taste and season with salt and pepper, as needed. Refrigerate for several hours to allow flavors to blend. Just before serving squeeze some lemon juice to give it that fresh tang! Enjoy!

Yield: Serves 8
Prep Time: 15 Minutes
Cooking Time: 0 Minutes
Total Time: 15 Minutes plus chilling time