Earlier today I had a late lunch, so at dinner time, I wasn’t hungry at all. Naturally though by about 9 o’clock I had the munchies. Of course I didn’t want a heavy meal so I had to check out the pantry to see what I could scrounge up. Low and behold, I had some canned chicken and thought I’d throw together a little chicken salad. For some reason, that sounded kinda good.
Normally, I make chicken salad the usual boring way… with mayo, celery, maybe some grapes, onions, blah blah blah. I had some farm fresh apples in the fridge and seeing yesterday was the first day of Fall, I thought maybe I could concoct some sort of “autumn-ish” chicken salad. So I continued searching for items I could add into the mix.
Of course a touch of chopped purple onion is a must, along with some red and orange pepper I had on hand. I hit a home run when I found some Trader Joe’s “Roasted and Salted” Pecans, which added a huge touch of fall flavor!
Now get this! In my cupboard I had some dried dates and figs! I chose the dates and chopped some up, along with a few dried apricots I had on hand. BINGO! My Autumn Chicken Salad was coming together nicely!
I added a touch of salt and pepper and then thought….. cinnamon…. that’s “fall-ish”! And while I was at it, a touch of All Spice.
I mixed it all together with a heaping tablespoon of mayo and much to my surprise, it was delicious! I chilled it for about 15 minutes while I took my evening shower and then came back downstairs and had a small sandwich with the other half of the apple I didn’t use.
Cut calories by using low fat mayo and eat it on lettuce instead of bun and you’ll save even more! I didn’t do either, but I did eat it with apples instead of chips, so that counts for something! 🙂

Autumn Chicken Salad
Ingredients
- 1 can Canned chicken (Drained)
- 1 tbsp Mayonnaise
- 1 tbsp Chopped pecans (Trader Joe’s, roasted and salted are awesome)
- 1/2 Chopped apple
- 2-3 Seedless dates or figs (Chopped)
- 2-3 Dried apricots (Chopped)
- 2 tbsp Chopped purple onion
- 2 tbsp Chopped red, orange or yellow pepper
- 2 tsp Cinnamon
- 1 tsp All Spice
- 1 tsp Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Drain liquid from can of chicken
- Chop all veggies, pecans and fruit
- Sprinkle on the cinnamon, all spice, salt and pepper.
- Mix in a bowl with mayo. Add more to taste
- Chill for a few minutes and enjoy on either lettuce leaves or a bun
2 comments
Join the conversationChris - September 24, 2020
This looks and sounds delicious! I definitely want to try this. Thanks for sharing.
Adam Lapsevich - December 14, 2020
Thanks Chris. I just noticed your comment today. Oops! Sorry about that! 🙂