This chicken salad with sun-dried tomatoes and pine nuts turns leftover chicken into an Italian-flavored lunch, at about 3 grams of net carbs and no bread in sight. It comes together in the time it takes to dice a few tomatoes.
Today I'm keeping things simple with a chicken salad. I had some leftover shredded chicken from when I made the Eggplant Lasagna. I mixed the chicken with sun-dried tomatoes, pine nuts, and a little mayonnaise. Something so simple turned out so tasty that I just had to share it with all of you.
Why sun-dried tomatoes and pine nuts make it
Sun-dried tomatoes and pine nuts, pomodori secchi and pinoli, are the backbone of so much Italian cooking, and they turn a plain chicken salad into something with real depth. The tomatoes bring a concentrated, almost sweet tang and the toasted pine nuts add butter and crunch, which is most of what a good chicken salad needs. And like all my chicken salads, who says it has to go between two slices of bread? Scoop it with whole walnuts or sturdy romaine leaves, the same way I serve my pesto chicken salad.
Net carbs, and keeping it from going flat
At about 3 grams of net carbs a serving, this is an easy lunch to fit in. The chicken and mayonnaise are near zero, so the sun-dried tomatoes are the only real carbs to watch, at roughly 3 grams each tablespoon. The thing that makes or breaks chicken salad is fat and acid: the mayo carries the richness that keeps it from tasting dry, and the tomatoes bring the tang that keeps it from tasting flat. One note since this uses already-cooked chicken: if you are reheating leftovers first, bring them to 165 degrees F, and keep the finished salad chilled. It is one of the quick chicken lunches in my low carb salads guide.
Sources
USDA FoodData Central, nutrient references for chicken, sun-dried tomatoes, pine nuts, and mayonnaise.
Sugarfreechic test kitchen, low-carb lunch notes.
