Autumn Chicken Salad Restaurant Recreation

Finally a restaurant recreation! A local produce market/deli counter shares interesting or unusual orders on their Instagram stories that they have the manager try. I saw a chicken salad one that had so much going on, which is precisely my sandwich style. It was chicken salad, with cranberries, cheddar, bacon, apples, and honey mustard on an onion roll. I made a few tweaks but loved it nonetheless.

This is incredible and I don’t know why I haven’t put sharp cheddar on a chicken salad sandwich…plus the apples and cranberries are so fall. I couldn’t find the video to refresh my memory (of course) for a few details! I did skip the bacon as I felt it already had plenty happening here and it might get lost.

Autumn Chicken Salad Loaded Sandwich
Ingredients: (serves ~3)

1 chicken breast, fully cooked
1/4 cup mayo
1/4 cup cranberries
onion rolls
1-2 cups arugula
1 small apple
~3 slices of sharp white cheddar
2-3 tablespoons honey mustard

Directions:
Mix up the chicken salad with shredded chicken, mayo, salt/pepper, and cranberries.
Assemble your sandwiches on the onion rolls with a smear of mayo if desired, a bed of arugula, apple slices, chicken salad, and cheese.

Drizzle on the honey mustard.
Enjoy!

This is incredible. I love the chew of the dried cranberries and some sweet and tang from the honey mustard. The apples are great as slices or chopped into the chicken salad. The cheese might be a star here. We had garlic and herb cheddar and that was delightful.

Pickle Ranch Chicken Sandwich

This has all the good stuff. I want pickles in… or on everything. This is drippy and delicious and best eaten with lots of napkins.

Mix up some better-than-bottled ranch to make this special (and so it isn’t too runny leaving you less space for the pickle juice to mix in)!

Pickle Ranch Crispy Chicken Sandwich
Ingredients: (serves 2)

2 pieces of chicken (mine was breaded and frozen)
~ 1/4 cup ranch dip
~2 tablespoons dill pickle juice
~1/4 cup dill pickles
2 brioche buns
lettuce/tomato

Directions:
Mix up the ranch dip in advance. (Ranch Dressing will be too runny to then add pickle juice to!)
Air fry/bake the chicken until cooked through – according to your package/frozen/defrosted.
Chop half of the pickles and add to the ranch with the 2 tablespoons of pickle juice. Stir well.

Assemble each sandwich with some pickle ranch on each side of the buns, lettuce, chicken, and pickle slices.

Pour on remaining pickle ranch over the top, to take the sandwich over the top!
Enjoy!

These are so good. The brioche is a lovely way to sop up the dressing and when it coats the whole sandwich you get bits of pickle and whole pickle slices…yum. I loved this. Next I’ll try it with a piece of spicy chicken! Now, go get some napkins.

Hail Caesar, Chicken Caesar Salad Pizza

{originally published in 2012 and updated in 2025}

California Pizza Kitchen introduced me to pizza on a salad and I’ve loved it since my high school days. This pizza was overdue for a refresh – even if it hasn’t been quite as long as it has been since high school!

Chicken Caesar Salad Pizza
Ingredients:

1 pizza dough ball
¼ cup tomato sauce/crushed tomatoes
Caesar Salad (3 tablespoons + 1/4 cup)
1 cup mozzarella shredded
1-2 chicken breast (marinated in Caesar dressing), grilled and sliced
1 heart of romaine
¼ cup Parmesan cheese

Directions:
Preheat pizza oven/oven to 400 degrees.
Stretch pizza dough out onto a floured baking pan or pizza stone and top with tomatoes and a drizzle of caesar dressing. Sprinkle cheese on and chicken.

Cook the pizza until crisp and melty – our pizza oven is 1-2 minutes.
Let sit a minute before slicing.

Chop the lettuce and toss with dressing, parmesan, and pepper.
Top the pizza with salad.
Enjoy!

This is the best of both worlds. Cheesy pizza with juicy chicken and then cool crisp lettuce.

Recreating French White Bean Cassoulet at Home

{originally published in 2013 and updated in 2025}

We were in Paris in 2013 and this is the epitome of comfort food. Here’s what we had in Paris – white beans, duck, pork and a delicious broth:

The Three Bite Rule - Paris Dinner Like a Local

Sometimes the best tasting dishes are not the most photogenic, but comfort comes to this dish from sauce with white beans, pork, and chicken thighs. Baguette would be good but the kiddos like to “make” (and eat) crescents so here we are.

Cassoulet at Home
Ingredients: (for 4 servings)

3-4 chicken thighs
2 sausages
2, 8 oz cans white beans
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup white wine
1 tsp thyme
1 tablespoon tomato paste

Directions:
Heat a large heavy pan to medium heat. Season the thighs with salt, pepper, and thyme. Sear them until golden and mostly cooked (about 4 minutes each side – they’ll finish in the oven). Remove from the heat. Slice the sausages.

In the same pan, deglaze with the wine and bring to a boil for about 2 minutes scraping the bottom bits off. Add in the tomato paste cooking for a few minutes. Next, pour in the broth bringing to a boil.

Pour off the excess liquid for the beans. Pour them in and add the chicken and sausage back in.
Preheat the oven to 350-degrees.

Bake for 20 minutes checking that the chicken is cooked through. My sausages were fully cooked so they were warming in the sauce.
Serve with bread to dip. Enjoy!

I loved this! There’s so much more flavor than the 40-minute(ish) cooktime.

Chopped Caesar Salad Sub

I’m easily sold on anything with Caesar flavors and saw Mortadella Head of Davis Sq become a sensation with a caesar club and I had to recreate it. It’s perfect for these black-hole days between holidays on break. It has caesar salad, crispy chicken, prosciutto, tomato, and extra caesar dressing with the roll as the crouton.

Chopped Caesar Salad Sub
Ingredients: (for 1-2)

1-2 sub rolls
~3 chicken fingers (or the nug equivalent)
2 prosciutto slices
2 tomatoes
~3 tablespoons creamy caesar dressing
2 tablespoons grated parmesan

Directions:
Cook the chicken until cooked through and crispy.
While the chicken cooks, chop the lettuce and toss with half the dressing.
Slice and gently toast the rolls.
Chop the chicken and toss with the lettuce and parmesan.

Spread remaining caesar dressing on the sub rolls then add the lettuce and chicken. Add sliced tomatoes and prosciutto.
Enjoy!

Don’t skip the prosciutto – it makes this sandwich something truly special. I loved this. Go with your mood – you can elevate it by making your own chicken cutlets, ooo la la! or you can use leftover dino nuggets or wherever you land in between. Either way, this is a keeper…and may appear on repeat while we’re home and nobody knows what day it is.