Roast Chicken Salad With Croutons and Shallot Dressing

Name: Roast Chicken Salad With Croutons and Shallot Dressing
Total time: 30 min
Yield: 3 or 4 servings
Ingredients: 1/3 cup minced red onion or shallots; 3 tablespoons sherry or balsamic vinegar; Salt and freshly cracked black pepper; 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, more to taste; 1/4 cup minced parsley; 3 tablespoons olive oil; 2 to 3 cups bite-size bread pieces; 10 to 12 ounces leftover roast chicken, skin and bones removed, with any juices that have collected in the container; 5 to 6 ounces tender salad greens, like mesclun, Bibb or oak leaf lettuce; 2 ounce chunk Parmesan or aged Gouda or other sharp cheese

Recipe from Antoine Westermann

Adapted by Julia Moskin

Roast Chicken Salad With Croutons and Shallot Dressing — Melina Hammer for The New York Times

Total Time: 30 minutes
Rating: 5(319)
Notes: Read community notes

This bowl of chicken, croutons and greens makes a cool, satisfying summer dinner. Leftover roast chicken with its juices yields the most savory dressing, but leftover fried or poached chicken are also excellent. —Julia Moskin

Featured in: A French Chef Is Making Sure Leftovers Don’t Get Left Behind

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Ingredients

Yield:3 or 4 servings

For the Dressing

⅓cup minced red onion or shallots
3tablespoons sherry or balsamic vinegar
Salt and freshly cracked black pepper
¼cup extra-virgin olive oil, more to taste
¼cup minced parsley

For the Croutons (optional)

3tablespoons olive oil
2 to 3cups bite-size bread pieces

For the Salad

10 to 12ounces leftover roast chicken, skin and bones removed, with any juices that have collected in the container
5 to 6ounces tender salad greens, like mesclun, Bibb or oak leaf lettuce
2ounce chunk Parmesan or aged Gouda or other sharp cheese

Ingredient Substitution Guide

Preparation

Step 1
Make the dressing: In a bowl, combine shallots and vinegar and set aside 10 to 30 minutes to soften. Add 2 big pinches of salt and a dozen grinds of black pepper. Whisk in the oil and then the parsley. Taste and add more oil, salt and pepper as needed.
Step 2
Make the croutons: Gently warm the olive oil in a skillet. When a piece of bread sizzles when dropped into the pan, add all the bread and cook slowly, stirring, until golden brown on all sides. Sprinkle with salt, transfer croutons to a bowl and wipe out the pan.
Step 3
In the same pan, add the cooled chicken juices (they may have jelled). Don’t worry if your chicken doesn’t have juices; the salad will still be excellent. Add a tablespoon of water to pan and heat juices until smooth and runny. Dice or tear the chicken into bite-size pieces.
Step 4
In a large bowl, toss the greens well with about ⅔ of the dressing. Taste and add more if needed. Divide greens among 3 or 4 bowls or plates. On top, divide the chicken, then the croutons, then the juices. Using a vegetable peeler, shave 3 or 4 thin, wide slices of cheese on top of each salad. Spoon a little more dressing on top and grind pepper over. Serve immediately.

Ratings

5 out of 5

319 user ratings

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Cooking Notes

hp6 years ago

I've made a similar dressing for years. I use meyer lemon juice (we have a tree). I just can't imagine this dressing with balsamic vinegar. it's just too strong and would overwhelm the delicate shallot flavor. stick with lemon juice or sherry vinegar.

Delise6 years ago

Delicious! I sliced garlic cloves and let them sit in olive oil for a few hours, then used the garlic infused oil to toast the croutons and for the vinaigrette (minced some of the garlic slices for the dressing as well). I used lemon and a dollop of Dijon mustard for the vinaigrette, no vinegar at all. Used an organic Bell & Evans herb roasted chicken from the supermarket. Doesn't get much easier than this for a weeknight meal.

Es6 years ago

Delicious salad. I had half of a very juicy chicken, a few slices of sourdough bread for croutons, and some beautiful greens, and these ingredients came together to make a delicious entree salad. In Step 3, I shredded the chicken and put it and the juices into a frying pan for a couple of minutes so that the juices had melted and the chicken was at room temperature. It wasn't warm enough to wilt the lettuce. I tossed it all together in a large bowl and topped with the thin slices of cheese.

virginia6 years ago

A white lemon-flavored balsamic works beautifully.

D-MONEY3 months ago

Not sure why or how this recipe is highly rated. Super-underwhelming save for the onion breath afterwards. Made following recipe exactly. Seems like reviews who liked this recipe all seemed to add stuff that's not included in recipe, which to me indicates a weak recipe. I get it's perhaps meant to be "simple," but as written, this recipe is totally lacking. You'd be better off winging it on your own and seeing what you come up with. 1-star.

Vaughn M1 year ago

I’ve made this zillions of times and is perhaps my favorite of all the recipes I’ve cooked from the NYT. I use Ina Garten’s chicken recipe for the chicken, which is easy enough to do on a weeknight. Sherry vinegar is the only way to go for the dressing… it’s worth the spot in your pantry.

Mary Day1 year ago

This is a tasty easy weekday meal but could use a bit more flavor in the dressing. I used the chicken dripping but still felt it needed a squeeze of lemon or more. Next time will add some dijon as others have noted. Otherwise, a keeper!

Casey in Maple Ridge, BC1 year ago

This was so wonderful! We kept talking about it all night! The dressing was perfect as written, with sherry vinegar. Will make this again!

arlyn2 years ago

9/15/22: made pretty much as recipe, but I mixed the chicken with the juices and let B layer the rest on. B loved it!

hhb2 years ago

a very underwhelming recipe

Good2 years ago

Made for 3 people. Made only half of dressing recipe - could have used more. Use about half of shallot - it's too strong as the recipe is written. Be sure to shave a lot of parm on top of the salad - it really makes it better.

Debra2 years ago

Delicious. I didn't do the croutons because of lack of time, so I used bought tortilla strips instead. I heated up the leftover roasted chicken with the jelled juices, then added minced garlic. I used balsamic vinegar and the dressing was yummy. Followed the recipe entirely, otherwise. It was really tasty, quick and easy.

kc3 years ago

Used champagne vinegar and mustard in the dressing ; didn’t like the sherry vinegar,

Steve3 years ago

I used White Balsamic vinegar and grilled sourdough croutons, (tossed with garlic infused olive oil) as previously mentioned by other cooks, adding roasted asparagus with a squeeze of lemon to bring it that one notch up. Very well received and enjoyed by all.

brooklyn Jen3 years ago

Absolutely enjoyed the simplicity of this dish. Only modification I made was Infusing the oil with garlic slices for the croutons. Chicken juices aren’t necessary to make this dish a success.

arlyn5 years ago

I made it just as written, and it was fabulous!

Es6 years ago

Lis lewis6 years ago

Balsamic and white wine vinegar. Soaked garlic in olive oil for both sautéing croutons and salad dressing. Threw out garlic.

Delise6 years ago

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