Stop what you are doing right now (okay, after you read this) and go buy some peaches. This is solidly the best few weeks of the year for peaches and I can’t help but want to stick them in everything I make.
Cobblers and the like are easy peach fodder, but savory peach dishes are also delicious. After all, the sweet peach can work really well with a savory dish, especially if that dish has a touch of heat to it.
These Chicken Salad Pitas have been my lunch for the last few days and the only thing I wish is that they would be my lunch for the next few days as well. They are a breeze to stir together and make a perfect late summer lunch or dinner!
Peach Chicken Salad Pitas
Ingredients
- 1 pound chicken, pulled or chopped
- 1 stalk celery, diced
- ½ cucumber, diced
- ⅓ cup red onion, diced
- 2 scallions, minced
- 2 red Fresno peppers, seeded and diced
- ½ tomato, chopped
- ½ cup Greek yogurt
- ½ lemon, juice only
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon fresh oregano
- 1 fresh peach, sliced thin
- Fresh arugula
- Salt and pepper
- 4 whole wheat pitas
Instructions
- Use leftover chicken if you have any and just pull or shred it. If needed, poach chicken in simmering water for 15-18 minutes until it’s just cooked through. Then let cool briefly and shred or chop.
- Take your time dicing celery, cucumber, onion, scallion, fresno peppers, and tomatoes. Stir together in a bowl with yogurt, lemon juice, olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. Fold in pulled chicken and fresh oregano and season to your liking.
- To make a pita, microwave a pita for 25-30 seconds on high. Split the pita in half and stuff some arugula in each half. Then add slices of fresh peaches and spoon in some chicken salad. Serve immediately!
- Store chicken salad for 4-5 days in the fridge.
Nutrition
Did you make this recipe?
Chicken Salad Pitas
The Chicken Salad
I kept my chicken salad pretty basic for theseChicken Salad Pitas. When I make a chicken salad, I like to go light on the creamy stuff and heavy on the crunchy veggies. That means all of these things are going in the bowl.
Those little red Fresno peppers can have varying heat levels. I recommend cutting a thin slice and tasting it for heat. I like to use two in my salad, but if you get a particularly spicy one then cut back.
Take your time chopping and dicing these things to make sure there isn’t any large chunks in your salad.
For the chicken part, you can use leftover chicken or just poach about a pound of chicken in simmering water for 15-18 minutes until it’s just cooked through. Then let it cool and shred it up.
Stir that into the salad along with the yogurt, lemon, oil, and fresh oregano.
As with any cold salad, you should taste it at this point and feel very free to customize to your liking. It will most likely need a big pinch of salt and pepper, but you could also add more of any of the ingredients if you wanted. Some people might like it more creamy, so you could add an extra spoon of yogurt or mayonnaise.
Peachy!
It shouldn’t be hard to find perfect peaches right now. Be picky and find the good ones for this salad. They should give a bit to pressure (but don’t go pressing on all the peaches in the store). For these Chicken Salad Pitas, you can slice up a peach and feel free to leave the skin on!
If you microwave your pita for 20-30 seconds it will steam a bit and open right up. Then you can cut each pita in half, stuff in some arugula and peach slices and then top with the salad.
One thing I wouldn’t recommend for this salad is dicing the peaches and stirring them into the chicken salad. They will just break down if you do that. It’ll make your salad to watery and the peaches will get lost in the mix.
By leaving them in big slices, you really show off the peach flavor.
Simple and fresh! Who wouldn’t want one of these Chicken Salad Pitas for lunch!?
Susan
These look amazing. Now to find peaches for this. Living in the northern part of Alberta, good, fresh peaches are probably the most difficult item to find. We are going to a larger city on the weekend and perhaps I can hunt down one of those fruit trucks from BC. I really want to make these pitas !
Nick
Hey Susan! You could use any sweet stone fruit for this I think. Not sure if that helps or not… Good luck!
Crystal @ Simply Playful Fare
These look really good! I’ve never though to use peaches this way. What an amazing idea! Can’t wait to give this a try!
Nick
Thanks for the comment Crystal! They are definitely a good lunch option this time of year. :)
Beth
What a great change from adding grapes to chicken salad! Definitely going to try this with the left over chicken in the fridge!
Cindy near Fruita
Headed to Palisade for fantastic peaches and will fix these for lunch, thanks.