Pen & Pantry: Need a quick, tasty summer meal? Try these nutty, fruity chicken salad wraps

Full-time working parents: This one’s for you. 

So you thawed chicken breasts on Sunday and put them in your refrigerator to make on Monday. And then you worked late Monday, and never circled back.  

But now it’s Tuesday, and it’s time to get creative. 

It’s summer, and while you’re not dealing with homework and sports practices, you have summer camp pickups, daycare sign-out, or you’re running to the grandparents’ house to grab the kids. 

I feel you. 

So let’s make these easy, tasty, and frankly, inevitably quite popular, chicken salad wraps. But with a unique twist: They appeal to both the savory AND sweet chicken salad lovers. 

Here’s my recipe for something that includes the crunch of walnuts and almonds with the juicy sweetness of firm red and green seedless grapes: 

Prep time: 15 minutes | Cook time: 40 minutes | Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

For the chicken base:

• 2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 1 to 1.5 pounds total)
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp Himalayan pink salt
• ½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
• ½ tsp lemon pepper

For the mix and binder:

• ¼ cup walnuts, chopped
• ¼ cup almonds, chopped
• ½ cup red grapes, sliced lengthwise
• ½ cup green grapes, sliced lengthwise
• ¼ cup fresh basil leaves, finely chopped
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• A pinch of Himalayan pink salt
• Juice of half a large lemon (about 1 Tbsp)
• ½ cup fat-free plain Greek yogurt (or light mayonnaise)

For serving:

• 1 head of Bibb lettuce, leaves separated, washed, and patted dry

Instructions

1. Cook the chicken

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Place the chicken breasts on a baking sheet. Drizzle with the olive oil and season evenly on both sides with the garlic powder, Himalayan pink salt, black pepper, and lemon pepper. Bake for 40 minutes, or until the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees.

2. Cool and dice

Remove the chicken from the oven and let it cool completely at room temperature. Once cool, cut the chicken into small, bite-sized pieces. (Tip: Don't skip the cooling step, or the heat will melt your dressing and make the salad watery).

3. Build the mix

While the chicken is baking or cooling, combine the chopped walnuts, almonds, sliced red and green grapes, and fresh basil in a large mixing bowl. Stir in the remaining garlic powder, a pinch of rock salt, the fresh lemon juice, and your choice of Greek yogurt or light mayonnaise.

4. Assemble and serve

Add the cooled, diced chicken to the mixing bowl. Toss thoroughly until everything is evenly coated in the dressing. To serve, spoon a generous portion of the chicken salad into the center of each Bibb lettuce leaf. Roll the leaves tightly to form clean, portable wraps.

— Heather VanDyke covers northern Ottawa County for the Ottawa News Network. Contact her at hvandyke@ottawanewsnetwork.org.