The Za’atar Crisp & Chill Chicken Salad Sandwich: so easy, but so beyond everyday. So many wonderful flavors and textures, and so satisfying.
Za’atar Crisp & Chill Chicken Salad Sandwich
Course: Lunch1
sandwich10
minutes5
minutes15
minutesIngredients
1 cooked, chilled, breaded chicken strip, or more to taste
¼ cup thinly sliced celery, or more to taste
1 Tbs pickled red onion, well drained
Dried cranberries, to taste
Sliced or slivered almonds, to taste
1 tsp mustard
1 tsp za’atar, or much more to taste
Coarsely-cracked black pepper, to taste
Mayo, to taste
1 slice pepper-jack or Swiss cheese
2 slices excellent sandwich bread
Lemon juice, to taste
Green leaf lettuce
Directions
- If the chicken is so wide that it’d be difficult to dip it into a small container dipping sauce, slice it into more appropriate width strips. Thinly slice the strips. Transfer to a mixing bowl.
- Add celery, onion, cranberries, almonds, and mustard. Sprinkle with za’atar. Bless generously with pepper. Add just enough mayo to bind the salad together. Mix until the ingredients look blended, and not a second more.
- Place a slice of cheese atop a slice of bread. Pile the salad onto the cheese. Sprinkle with a squeeze of lemon. Top with lettuce. Add remaining bread slice. Enjoy!
Social Learning
The Ingredients…
My favorite grocery store sells boxed-up, fully-cooked, breaded chicken strips, refrigerated – the deep-fried sort you’d get if you ordered them in a bar. They sell them plain, or lightly coated in a honey-barbecue sauce: both are excellent for this purpose. Chicken strips vary widely in size; you may have to eyeball it to produce one sandwich’s-worth.
Any kind of mustard will do, from yellow to Dijon to country-style.
Be generous with the za’atar. It needs to cut through the chicken’s seasonings. And I really mean obscenely generous. The amount I’ve given is a startng point.
It doesn’t take much mayo to bind the salad together. A heaping soup spoon usually does the trick. The amount of mayo isn’t obvious when the salad it chunky. If you want the salad to be more cohesive, continue stirring instead of adding more mayo. As the chicken breaks down, the mayo will become more apparent as the salad comes together. You do not want the salad to taste like mayo. You want the chicken to stand out, and then the za’atar.
The cheese and lettuce do double-duty: they’re not only excellent complements to the chicken salad, but they come between the salad and the bread, which prevents the bread from sogging if you pack this sandwich in your lunch.
Speaking of bread, I like something earthy for this sandwich in order to stand up to the richness of the salad. For the one I photographed for this post, I used a 15-grain, seeded bread, which not only added flavor, but texture. Toasting the bread might take the texture a nice step further.
The Flavor…
Because the chicken is commercially prepared, it’s going to be plenty salty enough to season the whole salad, and because it’s deep fried, it’ll also have plenty of fat. The cheese also adds fat. That’s part of the reason that you don’t want to overdo the mayo.
The tang of the mustard and the cheese balances things out.
Don’t overlook the way that accompanying this sandwich with something like a fresh strawberry will add brightness and sweetness to the meal overall.
The celery, almonds, and lettuce add freshness and crunch, while the za’atar brings in an aromatic, herby depth.
It might be nice to pair this sandwich with a chilled soup.
The Backstory
I just sold my house. This is the second time I’ve sold a house. The first time, the realtor came to see the house, and as soon as she got back to her office, one of her coworkers said, “I know someone who will pay asking price for that house.” It sold the next day, without ever making it onto the market.
This time was more traditional: lots of decluttering and staging for open houses and showings. You know what I mean: the kitchen has to look like someone would love cooking in it, and yet it has to look like no one has ever actually cooked there. And it certainly can’t smell like anyone’s been cooking there.
So, this sandwich is a compromise between wanting to eat something I made myself, while not having the ability to do a lot of cooking. But it’s way tastier (and at the same time, far cheaper) than any pre-made chicken salad I’ve ever bought in a grocery store! I was so surprised at how much I like this sandwich, that I’ll be making it well after I’m back in the kitchen! I’d serve it to guests, proudly.
Za’atar Crisp & Chill Chicken Salad Sandwich
Credit for images on this page: Make It Like a Man! unless otherwise credited. This content was not solicited by anyone, nor was it written in exchange for anything. Thank you, ⌘+C. Make It Like a Man! is ranked by Feedspot as #13 in the Top 30 Men’s Cooking Blogs.
Keep up with us on Bloglovin’
Sounds like an excellent sandwich, Jeff. I have seen (and purchased) precooked shredded chicken — I will have to look for the strips you used. And I love za’atar — all the different blends of it from different countries/regions.
This would work with shredded chicken, I’m sure. But I think the breaded strips give it an extra umph.
This sounds delicious and so far beyond our typical lunch sandwiches. The deli section of my nearest grocery store sells cooked breaded chicken tenders. The netx time I go I am getting some to try this. Other than the chicken I have everything on hand and this would get us out of our turkey sandwich rut.
I really hope you like it! I love it!
Absolutely love za’atar! I would devour the whole plate of chicken salad.
Thanks, Angie!
C’est un très beau sandwich, qui donne très envie de se faire croquer.
Bizzz.
Thank you!
I liked your trick for continue to stir the chicken to make the mayo become more apparent. Also, your use of za’atar gives this chicken salad such a fabulous flavor twist. Congrats on selling your house, too!!
Thank you, Heidi!
Looks good.. a quick and easy meal. I’ve never tried zaatar, my son has a sesame allergy.
So yes, za’atar contains sesame. I would substitute oregano and thyme.
Congratulations, Jeff! How exciting that you sold your house! We sold our second house privately; the market in that particular hood was so ready. We don’t know when we will sell our current house, but it will probably be in the next ten years. We are fortunate where we live, there are never enough houses on the market so the ones that get on the market usually sell very quickly and in a bidding war! But who knows ten years from now.
The sandwich looks fantastic, the crunchy chicken, the flavourful zaatar and the tangy mayo must be wonderfully delicious. You’re fortunate to have the cooked chicken strips at your grocery store, we have some here, but they are usually plumped, full of a sodium brine which give them a rubbery texture that I can’t get over. Using rotisserie chicken would be a good substitute.
Yes, we’re closing in a couple of days. Movers come tomorrow! So, what a mess. I can’t wait to get back into a normal flow. Yes, I think rotisserie chicken would be a great substitute. I’m sure I’d want to strip the skin away, because I wouldn’t care for that texture in a cold sandwich, I don’t think. That makes me wonder if I’d want to add some fat to replace the deep-fried coating, like maybe chopped bacon. Or maybe it’d be just fine a tad leaner, with no substitute. However! Although I can’t imagine serving this salad warm, I can imagine using warm rotisserie chicken to make it, and then serving it without chilling it.
What a combination. YES Please!!! I am all over the za’atar seasoning being use-next level.
Thank you!
This sounds absolutely amazing,za’atar with chicken salad is genius! Love how you’ve layered the flavours and textures, and that tip about the cheese and lettuce keeping the bread from getting soggy is gold.
Thank you, Raymund!
Hola,
Un sándwich ideal para el verano.
Fresco y delicioso.
Saludos ♥
Thanks!
Looks really good! You had me at the za’atar!!
I know, me too, right?