Looking for a delicious and refreshing way to welcome spring? Check out our easy recipe for plum sauce on chicken salad! This delicious sauce is perfect for adding a touch of sweetness and flavor to your meal, and will make it a hit with everyone in your family. Plus, it’s easy to make and can be made in just a few minutes – making it the perfect recipe to add to your meal plan this spring.
When I think of Spring with my family, I think of gatherings with family and friends, taking our first swim in the pool, wearing shorts and a sweatshirt and my Keds with no socks, and my mom making light dishes in celebration of the warmer weather. One of those dishes is one of my all-time favorites, her Plum Sauce Chicken Salad. The crunch, the scent, and the sweet/tart flavor all bring me back to those blissful days. I’ve had a hankering for my mom’s refreshing salad for a while, after a winter of heavy recipes. So I headed to Smart and Final to gather my ingredients.
Plum Sauce on Chicken Salad
At Smart and Final, I found most of my ingredients, including many in their First Street line of products to recreate my mom’s recipe: Chicken breast and lettuce for the main part of the salad, plums and sweet chili sauce to make the dressing, sliced almonds, and (my favorite part!) pineapple rings and mandarin oranges for the fun butterfly garnish!
I had ginger on hand along with dry rice noodles (also known as mai fun, rice sticks, or rice vermicelli). Or, you can use “bean threads” (shown in the yellow package). The noodles will be deep fried and used as a garnish, but if you want an alternative, you can make some of these udon noodles available at Smart and Final, prepare them according to the package directions, allow to cool and mix them with the lettuce.
We are going to start with deep frying with the noodles, because heating that oil takes FOREVER! You really need to heat the oil to 350 degress and use enough to cover the noodles, or you will not get the lightly crispy noodles you want. First, separate the noodles into a few portions. Use a candy thermometer to make sure the oil is hot enough, and also, you can test the oil’s readiness by dropping in a few strands. If it immediately (as in immediately) puffs up and starts crackling, then the oil is ready yet. If it does, take it out when it rises to the top and it will look like this. Also take a bite…if it’s as light as air, it’s ready. If it feels like you’re chewing on a fish bone, it’s not ready. Also, if your noodles crackle just a little bit, then start turning yellow from absorbing oil, that also means the oil is not ready yet. When the oil is ready, fry the noodles in a few batches and drain on a paper towel.
So while you’re waiting for the oil to heat up for the noodles, you can work on the chicken and the plum sauce. You can buy ready-made for both (a rotisserie chicken and jarred plum sauce) and make this recipe super easy as well. I bought some bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts and I roasted them in the oven.
After the chicken cooled, I cut it up into pieces.
For the sauce, I cooked down the plums with sugar and lemon juice (which makes a yummy jam, by the way!), and added some grated ginger, garlic, white vinegar, and some sweet chili sauce (the one I used is called Mae Ploy, which is available at Smart and Final). You can add a little bit or a lot, depending on how much spice you like. Sweeten it and also thin it down with some pineapple juice (from the can of pineapple rings that you will use in a minute!).
Now that you’ve cooked and cooled everything that needs cooking and cooling, you can now shred the lettuce (quarter it and cut into shreds, wash and drain in a salad spinner). Then the fun part…the butterfly pineapples! This is the part I remember most from my childhood. I helped my mom shred the lettuce and the cooked chicken, but my favorite part was making the butterflies. First, cut a pineapple ring into quarters. Then take two pieces, and put them together, curve to curve. Then take two mandarin oranges and put them back to back, on top of the pineapples. Ta-daaah, pineapple butterflies, perfect to welcome Spring.
Time to assemble the salad. Line up the pineapple butterflies along the edges of an oval platter.
Toss some of the dressing with the lettuce and add that to the platter. Next, layer the chicken on top with some sliced almonds (which you can toast up in a dry pan to bring out the flavor) and chopped parsley. Drizzle more dressing on top of the chicken, and finally, put the crunchy noodles on top. This recipe can make about 3 times this platter of salad, so make one big platter, or make 3 small ones for a buffet (just be sure to buy additional pineapple to decorate 3 platters).
It’s the day after I made this salad, and I can still smell the plum sauce perfuming my home. It transforms me back to those Spring days and making this salad with my mom. Now I’m looking forward to a new Spring with my own girls and things are blissful again, but in a different way.
Plum Sauce on Chicken Salad–Ingredients
- 2 First Street Split Chicken Breasts (with ribs)
- 2 Tbs olive oil
- 2 Tbs First Street soy sauce
- 1 Head iceberg lettuce
- About 8 ripe plums
- 1 lemon
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 Tbs sweet chili sauce
- 2 Tbs white vinegar
- 2 Tbs pineapple juice
- 1 clove garlic, grated
- 1/2 tsp ginger, grated
- 3 oz (half a package) rice noodles
- 3 cups vegetable oil
- 1 can First Street pineapple rings
- 1 can First Street mandarin oranges
- 2 Tbs chopped fresh parsley
- 1/2 cup First Street sliced almonds, toasted
Plum Sauce on Chicken Salad–Directions
Heat vegetable oil in a pan that is at least 2 inches high to 350 degrees F. When the oil is ready, add the rice noodles to the oil in small batches. When it puffs up and stops crackling, turn the noodles over to make sure all of the noodles have cooked. Remove and drain on a paper towel to cool. Set aside.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Trim excess fat from chicken breasts and cover with olive oil and soy sauce. Roast for 35-45 minutes. When cool, shred chicken with a knife or with fingers, and set aside.
To make the plum sauce dressing, peel and chop about 8 ripe plums. Place in a saucepan with sugar and the juice of the lemon. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer, about 45 minutes. Then add white vinegar, ginger, garlic, and sweet chili sauce. Taste the sauce and adjust as needed. Thin the sauce if needed with pineapple juice. Allow to cool.
Cut pineapple rings into quarters and create butterflies: take two quarter pieces and place them curve to curve along the edge of a platter. Place two mandarin orange slices on top of the pineapple pieces. Then add a layer of shredded lettuce tossed with a few tablespoons of plum sauce dressing, followed by a layer of shredded chicken topped with more dressing, followed by the toasted almonds, chopped parsley, and finally the deep fried rice noodles.
Spring is finally here! And what better way to welcome the season than with a delicious and refreshing plum sauce on chicken salad. This easy and quick recipe is perfect for any time of year and will leave your taste buds longing for more. Will you try it out? We hope so! Keep an eye out for our upcoming blog posts where we will be sharing more delicious recipes like this one. In the meantime, happy cooking!
Frequently Asked Questions
Where did chicken Salad originate?
What goes with plum sauce on chicken?
Coconut rice or steamed jasmine rice
On the side, a crunchy Asian slaw – a terrific all-around Asian salad that fits with anything Asian.
For any fresh salad or steaming vegetables, use Asian Sesame Dressing.
