Freds’ Chicken Salad With Balsamic Dressing Recipe (2024)

I love it when people use their imagination and come up with some ideas that really sing. It speaks highly of both the cook and the recipe creator. Sadly, all too many people just curse the recipe, find fault with the ingredients, act like food police, and worse. Some even ask things like "can I use my Instant Pot"? Of Course you can, you silly.You can do anything you want when you cook. However, some thoughts are best kept to yourself.

This dressing recipe makes almost 2 cups of dressing, with a whole cup of olive oil!! Surely this cannot be right....unless you are meant to refrigerate the extra dressing to use for many future salads.

I just made this for dinner. I used a rotisserie chicken from Whole Foods because ain't nobody got time to be roasting one. I blanched the green beans as directed. The only modification I made was using slightly less olive oil for the dressing (I'm stingy) and I don't have a food processor so I used a salad shaker. I'm on my second serving. If I don't stop soon I won't have any for lunch tomorrow!

Don't bother dirtying the food processor! Shake all the dressing ingredients except the oil in a tightly closed jar until the mustard is completely dissolved. Then added the oil and shake some more. That's what I did, and It emulsified nicely. That said, I found the soy sauce overwhelming, and I'm not sold on the pears in this mix.

This dressing is a keeper! The first time I made it I didn't have any soy sauce and subbed in tamari & found it really needed more salt. About 1/2 tsp of salt really made a big improvement. So stick with the soy sauce! However, if you aren't sure if the salad will all be eaten at one sitting, don't dress it before bringing it to the table. Leftovers get heavy and soggy & the texture suffers. Also, if you can't find pears, seedless red grapes are a good alternative.

Excellent. Made this yesterday for a Mother's Day picnic. Roasted four, well-seasoned bone-in breasts instead of a whole bird (faster, cleaner and quicker to shred.) As others have noted, the recipe makes an enormous volume of dressing; far more than you'll need for the quantity of salad specified. Begin by dressing the salad sparingly. The balsamic and soy make for an intensely flavored dressing, and too much dressing will overwhelm delicate greens.

Some good modifications suggested here, but it's not FRED'S if you change the recipe. Any salad can and should be changed to suit personal tastes and availability of ingredients. One caveat I'd suggest is to use the best possible chicken you can afford. Some "store-bought" chickens have a decidedly "chemical" taste from what the chickens were brined in. Read the ingredients on the label.

Made this tonight. Had 8 boneless chicken thighs on hand so placed them in a baking pan, squeezed the juice from the lemons over them and sprinkled on the remaining ingredients that would have been placed inside the whole chicken, drizzled with olive oil and baked for 25 minutes. Cooled and shredded them. This was a beautiful dinner salad. I think it would benefit even more by adding toasted pecans or walnuts or pistachios. Used half the dressing and refrigerated the rest for later use. So good!

I always emulsify my dressings with an immersion blender. So quick and easy.

I made this tonight and it was GREAT. I substituted sugar snap peas for green beans because that's what I had. I used a store bought roasted chicken. Super quick and easy and GOOD!

I did not bother with the food processors. I just put all the ingredients except the olive oil in a jar, shook until that emulsified then added the oil. I will use considerably less soy sauce next time. I found it a little over powering. Otherwise, this was a fantastic salad. I am definitely adding this to my repertoire especially for a group as it is quite a large portion! I divided it in half for lunch for 2 and it was plenty.

Don't forget to save the carcass for chicken soup. Boil chicken in water with root vegetables. Strain broth, chill in refrigerator and skim off fat.Reheat broth with fresh vegetables, add shredded chicken and serve with toasted french bread croutons and parmesan cheese. Freezes well.

the dressing is very similar to the house dressing that I serve. use maple syrup instead of sugar.

The recipe calls for so much dressing to be made, that I can not fathom using it all on even six or more servings. The fastest way to ruin a good salad is to over dress and to my eye this seems to be the case here.

My favorite part of this recipe is the dressing. I make it all the time and allow the salad to just be whatever is on hand. The dressing is savory and delicious!

Instead of chicken, rip pieces of Burrata cheese on top just before serving. The combination of flavors is amazing.

Salad dressing recipe

Exceptional salad! Can't imagine what all the hubba is about with the dressing etc. Usually not one to change a first-time recipe (how can you give an honest review) but did make a couple of changes here. Cucumber in place of avocado (not a fan), increased by half the pear, a little over a quarter cup of toasted pecans ruff chopped, feta, and no onion (does not agree with wife's digestive system). Used rotisserie chicken. Yes, I know, more than a couple of changes. Truly great! Many thanks!!

Half of a roasted chicken is plenty of meat for four lunch salads.

Cut the dressing in half, cut the sugar in half, add some really good croutons, and we even air fried the chicken… Amazing salad. My wife had thirds, I had massive helping of seconds, and the kids didn’t really complain much. Wins all around.

Makes a lot of salad dressing - could do half

Oh my this salad gave me crazy magic mouth and I will be eating it many many many times hence! One of the best salads I’ve ever had! GREAT use for after the first night of rotisserie chicken when that fresh from store (Costco here- their prepared food generally a no, but the chicken a YES!) glow has worn off… the dressing is another reason to love life.

Absolute classic! I chickened out on using all the soy sauce & additional salt in the dressing (I used half the soy sauce and no additional kosher salt) - and it was fabulous!

HOO DOGGIES...this dressing is AWFUL. I used low-sodium soy sauce and the saltiness still made me gag. This salad with another dressing would probably be good, but even then it's nothing special. Half the recipe is how to roast a chicken. Here's the short version: Toss some leftover chicken with some greens, your favorite veggies, and a good dressing, and you have.......a salad.

I enjoyed the comments from other reviewers and have learned to read those first before I make it. I only made the dressing, so can't be entirely sure, but as others have observed, I added slightly less less soy sauce and I skipped the added salt entirely. Really a nice, less sweet balanced dressing.

A decidedly unremarkable salad. Surely, if you miss the salad at Fred’s, I’m sure you’ll love this. But as salads go, this one is good, but nothing about it makes me excited to eat it again. The dressing, though, is worth treating the recipe. It comes together quickly and it’s pretty versatile. I think it’s worth using a nicer quality, aged balsamic vinegar here, and you could omit the sugar. Overall, make the dressing and keep it for anything from chicken marinade to dressing roasted veg.

I did not like the dressing. The soy sauce was too much.

Your food processor has a low speed?

An enjoyable summer meal. I was cooking for two so opted to roast a couple of boneless chicken breasts which I fork shredded. Sliced ripe peach was a juicy salad addition. Left out the minced onion.

Skip the food processor! Shake all the dressing ingredients except the oil in a tightly closed jar until the mustard is completely dissolved. Then add oilLess oil?? makes a lot of dressing; omit soy? make 1/2? boneless chicken thighs in a baking pan, squeezed the juice from the lemons over them and sprinkled on the remaining ingredients that would have been placed inside the whole chicken, drizzled with olive oil and baked for 25 minutes. Cooled and shredded them.snap peas