It makes sense for my family to have chicken salad–frequently–because I roast two chickens every Sunday. Remember? Family of seven here. But there is one problem: I also more than kind of hate mayonnaise. This recipe solves the whole “my hubby loves chicken salad but mayo makes me gag” crisis and gives my leftovers a creative and delicious second life. In other words, this recipe is a Paleo winner in more than just the taste department for me. I hope your family likes it too.

Ingredients:

2 cups of chopped or shredded chicken

1/4 cup chopped red grapes (roughly 8 whole ones cut into fourths or smaller; do not substitute green grapes because they don’t give as crisp of a texture)

1/2 cup of chopped apple ( I prefer Gala or Honey Crisp, but if you want less sweet and more bite, go for a green apple)

1/4 cup raw walnuts, coarsely chopped

2 avocados

1 lime

salt

2 TBSP cilantro

Directions:

1. Peel, pit, and mash your avocados and then add the lime juice. I whisk to make this creamy. Set aside.

No Mayo Chicken Salad--Sisterhood of the Sensible Moms

Use the ripest avocados you can find. You could probably use one avocado if you used all of the pulp, but I try to use just the creamy light yellow part. Otherwise, your chicken salad could be a little green which tastes fine but might be off-putting to some.

2. Shred or cube your cooked chicken. I almost always have roast chicken, but if I don’t I poach it in a pan. Poaching takes about 20 minutes.

3. Now it’s time to chop everything. Grapes, apples, walnuts, and cilantro. Chop it all. Chop it now and chop it small so that you don’t have any awkward big bites of chicken salad dribbling off your chin.

4. Now combine everything. The mashed avocado, the chopped chicken, the grapes, apples, walnuts, and cilantro. Salt to taste. I sometimes give it another hit of lime at this point. Taste test before you do this so it doesn’t tip too far to sweet.