One of my favorite places to go for lunch with friends is Panera Bread. Have you been there? It is chain out here in the South. I am not sure if there are Panera Breads all over the county now, but when I lived in Arizona and Utah, they were not there then. Anyway, Panera Bread has a great menu of homemade soups, salads, sandwiches and lots of fresh baked goods. When I go, I always order the Fuji Apple Chicken Salad. It is the BEST! I may mix it up by adding a cup of soup or a half of a panini but I never change the salad! This salad hits the spot every time for me! I love the crunchy sweet dried apples, the fresh greens, savory onion slices and the tangy blue cheese. I also LOVE the toasted pecans (which I forgot to sprinkle on for this picture, but you can bet I added them before I ate it). If you leave the chicken out, this makes a great side salad. In fact I served it with our Thanksgiving feast this year, with one change. I omitted the tomatoes and added craisian. It was fantastic!! If you are not a blue cheese fan then try feta which is also great on this salad. Around here you can buy the Panera Bread Fuji Apple dressing in the grocery store, but I always make my own. I am not a fan of bottled dressing. Dressing only takes a few minutes to make and I think tastes so much better homemade than the processed ones you can buy in the store. Fresh is always better, in my humble opinion:) Well, I am off to finish up some baking for the ‘Happy Cart’ (teacher appreciation event at my boys elementary school). Stay tuned–I will be sharing some mouthwatering new muffins and cookies soon!! xoxo
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Fuji Apple Chicken Salad (Panera Bread Copy Cat)
Description
If you’re a fan of Panera Bread, you probably know that their Fuji Apple Chicken Salad is a fan favorite. The combination of crisp Fuji apples, tender grilled chicken, savory gorgonzola cheese, and the tangy apple vinaigrette dressing is simply irresistible.
Ingredients
- 10 ounces mix of spring mix salad and chopped romaine
- ¼ to ½ red onion, thinly sliced
- 2–3 vine-ripened tomatoes or grape tomatoes, sliced into bite size pieces
- 1–2 grilled sliced chicken breast or about 2 cups chopped rotisserie chicken
- 2 cups apple chips
- ¾ cup toasted pecan halves (put in a pan on the stove over medium for a few minutes stirring often, until warm and toasted)
- ½ cup crumbled Gorgonzola cheese
- ¾ cup Apple Vinaigrette
Apple Vinaigrette:
- 2⁄3 cup olive oil
- 2 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 2 –3 garlic cloves, finely diced
- 1 teaspoon Onion Powder
- 1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 3 Tablespoons Apple Juice Frozen Concentrate (or Honey, or Sugar)
Instructions
- Starting with the greens, layer everything in one big serving bowl or divide evenly into 4 smaller bowls. Drizzle on the Apple Vinaigrette and enjoy! Of course the salad amounts are to your taste. I don’t actually measure when I put salads together!
Dressing
- Blend all the ingredients together well and enjoy!
- *I do not always have apple juice concentrate when I am craving this salad, so I have used some honey or sugar instead. Just taste and adjust to get a flavor you like. Of course I prefer the apple juice concentrate but you can make it work without, if you need to!
Hello Melanie,
Yes, indeed I am too my favorite salad, every time with friends I always ordered same salad, Yummy so good. I will try this one.
Thank you for posting that. 😊