Add chicken salad made with an olive oil mayonnaise to your list of easy lunch recipe ideas. No cooking. Simple to make. Perfect for a quick lunch. And it’s nutritious.
A Look at the Nutrition in Chicken Salad
Why Eat Chicken Salad with Olive Oil Mayo?
Olive oil helps lower cholesterol.
Extra virgin olive oil can help lower cholesterol levels according to studies. I’m not a registered dietician, but you can find plenty of information on the health benefits of olive oil.
Need to make food changes due to bad cholesterol (LDL) and good cholesterol (HDL) levels? Using olive oil mayonnaise in the chicken salad, like this Chicken Salad with Olive Oil Mayo Lunch, could help.
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When you want something light for lunch and feel like eating chicken salad but don’t want bread, try it on Ritz crackers.
Health Benefits of Olive Oil
Carol Firenze discusses health benefits of olive oil in her book “The Passionate Olive, 101 Things To Do With Olive Oil.” Five of the benefits are listed below:
- Help Raise HDL (Good Cholesterol) And Lower The Risk Of Heart Disease
- Use As An Antioxidant
- Calm The Stomach And Help The Digestive Tract
- Aid In Preventing Gallstones
- Ease the Pain of Arthritis and Bursitis
For instance, Firenze encourages using olive oil instead of butter (which I love). When you have a wellness exam and receive cholesterol results with a recommendation of changing levels, it’s time to listen. Ignoring the need to make food changes can cause worse cholesterol levels.
Chicken salad with olive oil is nutritious comfort food.
Think about times in your life that you ate chicken soup or chicken salad when you were sick – comfort food! Not only is it comforting when you’re under the weather.
Chicken is nutritious, and you can see from the information already mentioned how olive oil helps lower cholesterol levels. But is all chicken nutritious? Let’s take a look.
The nutritional value of a skinless, boneless, cooked (roasted) chicken breast according to nationalchickencouncil.org has:
- 165 calories
- 31 grams of protein
- 3.6 grams of fat (1 which is saturated fat)
- 85 milligrams of cholesterol
- 74 milligrams of sodium
That 85 milligrams of cholesterol may seem a bit high for one serving of chicken.
Chicken is a good source of protein and a lean type of meat. The amount of fat in the chicken depends on whether you eat a chicken breast, thigh, wing or drumstick. Even the chicken breast with the skin on has nearly as many calories as a skinless thigh or wing. A chicken breast with the skin on has twice the amount of fat than without the skin.
The next best nutritious piece of chicken to eat is a skinless drumstick. Check out the nutritional table provided by nationalchickencouncil.org to learn more.
If you want your chicken salad to be nutritious, choose your chicken wisely. To make this “no cooking” recipe, buy canned chicken breast. I purchased mine at Sam’s Club. One serving of this canned chunk chicken has “Premium, Natural, In Water” and the nutrition facts are as follows:
- Calories 50
- Fat Cal 10
- Total Fat 1g
- Sat Fat 0g
- Trans Fat 0g
- Polyunsat Fat 0g
- Monounsat Fat 0g
- Cholest 30mg
- Sodium 230mg
- Total Carb 0g
- Fiber 0g
- Sugars 0g
- Protein 12g
What is the difference between a roasted chicken breast and one serving of the already-cooked canned chicken breast?
The canned chunk chicken has fewer calories, fat, cholesterol, and protein. However, the roasted chicken breast has much less sodium. Therefore, it’s probably the best choice because it doesn’t have all the sodium.
Many times a whole chicken breast is plenty for more than just one meal. That would mean fewer calories, fat, and cholesterol.
Throughout the year, I occasionally will boil several boneless, skinless chicken breasts. Then they’re ready for multiple menus for the week. Or I can freeze a couple of them for later.
To make my recipe for Chicken Salad with Olive Oil Mayo, I prefer the canned chicken because it’s easy, simple, and already cooked – especially if I’m making the recipe on a hot summer day.
This chicken salad recipe is one of the easiest ones to make. I made it one day because it was what I happened to have on hand. I’ve made chicken salad with all kinds of ingredients and love them all.
The recipe:
Chicken Salad with Olive Oil Mayo
easy, no-cook, nutritious chicken salad
Ingredients
- 1 can Sam's Club Chunk Chicken Breast (Premium, Natural, In Water)
- 2 each Marketside Celery Sticks (4-pack celery sticks from Walmart)
- 1/2 cup Kroger's Olive Oil Mayo
- 10 each Walnuts (cut in small pieces)
Instructions
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Empty the canned chicken into a container.
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Slice the celery sticks into small pieces.
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Mix in the mayonnaise.
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Add the walnut pieces.
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Serve with 6 Ritz crackers.
As you see, I used walnuts in this recipe. I keep a bag of walnuts purchased from Sam’s Club in the freezer, and the walnuts keep their freshness.
Feel free to adapt the chicken salad to your tastes and what you have on hand in the kitchen pantry. This chicken salad would also be great on bread, toasted or not. I ate one serving without any crackers or bread. It’s just that good!
Want more simple recipes for the summer? Order the Simple Summer Recipes cookbook (it’s got a chicken salad recipe, too)