jalapeño, crispy turkey bacon, cilantro and lime

Do you ever, just not want to cook? The answer for me, is often a, “yes”. With four mouths to feed, there always has to be something to eat, as a snack, for lunch or a light dinner. This recipe is great year round to fill a sandwich, top over a baked potato but especially great as an appetizer for a weekend party. It keeps in the fridge for a few days, making it great for meal prepping. The best part, everything comes together in 10 minutes, which includes the cooking of your turkey bacon and jalapeño. Ideally in an air fryer but a quick toss in a skillet works great here too! This really is delicious, easy, and something that gives life to leftovers or the same old chicken.

If you saw cilantro and have decided this salad is not for you, I’m here to tell you that it is! Why you can omit it. Our family loves it, but this salad is just as delicious without. I’ve made it without countless times when getting to a grocery store wasn’t an option or peaked into my refrigerator to find my cilantro had wilted beyond saving.

My favorite way to eat this salad is over crispy tostones, a crispy twice fried green plantain popular across Latin American and Caribbean cuisines. NYTCooking has a recipe, but the comments underneath are gold mine filled with information on how to get your tostones to be as delicious as possible.

Ingredients:

2 cups shredded chicken (rotisserie, grilled or baked chicken, canned chicken)

1 large jalapeño (halved)

5 strips of turkey bacon

2 scallions finely minced

6 sprigs cilantro

1/2 cup mayo

2 tbsp honey mustard

2 tbsp fresh lime juice

1/4 tsp dry chipotle seasoning

1/4 tsp garlic powder

salt and pepper to taste

Method:

Place bacon and half of the jalapeño into the air fryer for 8 minutes on highest setting until bacon is crisp. Remove, cool and roughly chop.

In a large mixing bowl, mix mayo, garlic powder, chipotle seasoning, lime juice, honey mustard and scallion.

Chipotle is a smoke dried ripe jalapeño pepper. If you’re shopping for it you’ll see a few possible options:

Chipotle in adobo sauce

Smoke dried jalapeño packed in a tomato based sauced, usually sold in tins/cans

Chipotle

Smoke dried jalapeño whole peppers as they are, usually in a clear package

Chipotle Seasoning

Finely ground smoke dried jalapeño in a seasoning jar, available in the spice aisle. Some of the jarred options are blended with other spices, filler and salt, sometimes sold under a name like “southwestern seasoning” . For this recipe, you’ll need only finely ground smoked jalapeño chilies.

To this mixture add in the remaining half of fresh jalapeño, finely mincing and removing seeds if pepper is too hot for your taste.

Whisk until everything is combined. If the dressing looks loose add a few tablespoons of mayo. Combine dressing over shredded chicken, mixing and tasting for salt.

Lastly mix in the chopped turkey bacon and roasted jalapeño followed by roughly chopped cilantro. If you’re not a fan of cilantro, leave it out entirely or add a few tablespoons of chives. Cilantro has tender and delicious stems, don’t discard them, chop finely and combine. No waste cooking is always the goal at the wonky stove!

Mix and let chill.

That’s it! I’m certain this post took longer to make than this salad.

If you’ve made this, let me know! Nothing makes a cook happier than seeing others enjoying their recipes.

Share your thoughts in the comments below or tag me on Instagram Anisa @TheWonkyStove