Chicken Salad With Corn, Quinoa and Yogurt Dressing
- Total Time
- 45 minutes
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
- 1½ to 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 4ears of corn, kernels removed, cobs reserved
- 1large red or white onion, halved
- 1jalapeño, halved
- Kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal)
- 1lime, zested and juiced
- 1cup quinoa (preferably tricolor)
- ¼cup full-fat Greek yogurt
- Romaine or Little Gem lettuce (optional), for serving
- Any combination of pepitas, mint, radishes, jicama, Cotija or Parmesan to garnish (optional)
Preparation
- Step 1
In a large pot, combine the chicken breasts, corn cobs, ½ onion and ½ jalapeño. Cover with about 1 inch of water and season generously with salt. Bring to a simmer over medium-high, then reduce heat to low, cover, and cook until the chicken is just cooked through (do not overcook!), 7 to 10 minutes. Skim most of the foam off the water; transfer the chicken to a plate and set aside to cool. Discard the corn cobs, onion and jalapeño; leave the water in the pot.
- Step 2
While the chicken cooks, coarsely chop the remaining ½ onion and ½ jalapeño together. Sprinkle with salt, then chop and smash using the side of your knife until a juicy, coarse paste forms. (You can also do this with a mortar and pestle.) Transfer to a large bowl, along with the lime zest and juice.
- Step 3
Once the chicken is cool enough to handle, use two forks to shred it.
- Step 4
To the reserved water in the pot, add the quinoa, bring to a boil, and cook according to package instructions until the quinoa grows white tails and is tender but not mushy. Drain the quinoa, run it under cold water until cool to the touch, then shake it very dry.
- Step 5
Add the quinoa, corn kernels, chicken and yogurt to the large bowl and stir to combine; season to taste with salt. Serve over lettuce leaves, if desired, and top with any garnishes, if using. The chicken-quinoa mixture keeps refrigerated for up to 3 days. Bring to room temperature and adjust seasonings with salt and lime juice as needed, as flavors will shift from the chill of the fridge.
Private Notes
Cooking Notes
It is in step 5, "Add the quinoa, corn kernels, chicken and yogurt to the large bowl and stir to combine". The large bowl contains the paste plus lime.
Are the corn kernels cooked?
Recipe states to add it to the large bowl.
This was very disappointing. It’s a healthier alternative to traditional chicken salad, but way too much work, especially given how bland it is. Cooking the chicken with the corn cob, onion and jalapeño yields no noticeable flavor. Also the onion and jalapeño paste is a pain without much payoff. I’ll try again, but I’ll add toasted cumin seeds like someone else mentioned, and I’ll cut out a lot of the fussier steps.
Boring is right! But I added toasted cumin seeds and cilantro - and doubled the jalapeno - & kept the jalapeno seeds too. Pretty good now.
Quinoa is somewhat redundant in my view - works well without. Would add cumin as another poster suggests and double up on lime and jalapeño Rotisserie would save time for no major loss of taste
Pretty bland, so I added cumin and black pepper! However, this is a nice tasty mix of healthful food.
Bland, boring. Took too many steps and ingredients for the end result. Cooking chicken in corn cobs that results in no flavor really is a waste of my time. Annoyed. Not sure who is writting the directions either. Not concise, missed a step and did not flow. Overly wordy.
corn is uncooked when kernels are removed from cob - adds a delicious crunch!
Are the corn kernels cooked?
7-10 minutes to cook the chicken from cold water?
7-10 minutes *after* bringing to a simmer
use a rotisserie chix and cut the labor in half
Are the corn kernels added raw, or cooked?
Are the corn kernals uncooked?
You don't cook the corn?
Looks like this is missing a few steps (when to add the onion & chile mash?)
When is the onion/jalapeno paste used/added? It's never mentioned again after step 2.
It is in step 5, "Add the quinoa, corn kernels, chicken and yogurt to the large bowl and stir to combine". The large bowl contains the paste plus lime.
Recipe states to add it to the large bowl.
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