Poppy Seed-Chicken Pitas

  4.4 – 13 reviews  • Poultry
Level: Easy
Total: 40 min
Prep: 20 min
Cook: 20 min
Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

  1. 3 skin-on, bone-in chicken breasts (about 2 pounds)
  2. Kosher salt
  3. 1 large orange
  4. 1/2 cup mayonnaise
  5. 1/3 cup sour cream or low-fat Greek yogurt
  6. 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
  7. 1 stalk celery, chopped
  8. 1/2 cup chopped pecans, almonds or walnuts, toasted
  9. 1/4 cup chopped fresh chives
  10. 1 1/2 tablespoons poppy seeds
  11. Freshly ground pepper
  12. 1/2 cup dried apricots, chopped (optional)
  13. Torn lettuce leaves, for serving
  14. 4 whole-wheat pitas, halved
  15. Photograph by Antonis Achilleos

Instructions

  1. Cover the chicken with cold water in a saucepan and add 1 teaspoon salt. Remove strips of zest from half of the orange with a vegetable peeler; add the zest to the water. Cover and bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, uncovered, until the chicken is cooked through, about 18 minutes. Remove the chicken and let cool.
  2. Grate the remaining orange zest into a large bowl; juice the orange into the bowl. Stir in the mayonnaise, sour cream, mustard, celery, nuts, chives, poppy seeds, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and pepper to taste. Add the apricots, if desired.
  3. Shred the chicken, discarding the bones and skin, and toss with the dressing. Stuff a few lettuce leaves and some of the chicken salad into each pita.

Nutrition Facts

Calories 749
Total Fat 41 grams
Saturated Fat 7 grams
Cholesterol 109 milligrams
Sodium 957 milligrams
Carbohydrates 51 grams
Dietary Fiber 8 grams
Protein 43 grams

Reviews

Connie Santiago
I made this and it turned out great. My kids and husband love it. I added some fresh strawberry slices to it.
Dawn Smith
I used a whole raoster mixed orange zest with butter and rubbed it under the skin as well as outside salt and peppered and raosted, it soo flavorful my son took leftovers forschool lunch
Joshua Carr
Everyone loved this. Deliciously different with the chewy apricots & crunchy pecans & celery. Had it with a bowl of soup on a blustery day.
Raymond Martin
Simple, light, flavorful. Great for a hot summer day.
Nicole Grant
I used the breast meat from a rotisserie chicken and while it was still hot, I shredded it and let some orange zest soak while I prepared the other ingredients. It worked beautifully. I used my chopper to really get the celery “near” minced. I used a bit more dijon mustard and I used the Greek yogurt. Other ingredigents used were honey-roasted slivered almonds (that you get for salad toppings, a little extra chive and finely diced apricots. Everyone loved it … it was a big hit!
James Herrera
I dipped them is ketchup for some extra zest. 3 stars.
Terry Carey
I thought this was really good! Next time we make these, I will use half of a stalk of celery instead of a whole one.
Tiffany Davis
I made this for dinner last night and thought it was terrrific. I used boneless chicken thighs because thats what I had and it was moist. I used sour cream but I think next time I will use the yogurt for a healthier version.
Brian Silva
very good! First of all, it does not say to BOIL the chicken. It says to bring it to a boil then turn it down to LOW simmer, it is like poaching the chicken. you actually can just turn off the water to let the chicken poach. Look it up. Yes never boil but do poach. secondly, chicken should not smell like rotten eggs like the last post mentioned. (sounds like its bad, or cooked wrong. Organic chicken never smells and is never dry. if you add the orange zest, the acidiy work with the chicken it should smell good. I followed the recipe and added a dash of honey.
Very good and healthy different version of chicken salad to break up the monotony.
April Roberts
I followed the recipe almost to the letter, however, I didn’t have Dijon mustard and used Gulden’s Spicy Brown, and Greek plain yogurt. Plus I didn’t have chives and used 1 tbsp. dried onion. For the nuts I chose almonds and added the suggested dried apricots which gave a nice sweetness, plus added 1 1/2 tbsp sesame seeds (non toasted) which added to the crunch.

Although it was tasty, it seemed to be lacking something and I couldn’t figure out what it needed, given it already had so many ingredients. I tried adding more salt but that didn’t do it. Since I had so much left over, I was going to try and freeze the rest…don’t know if it’ll separate and be as good.

 

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top