So I’ve been a huge fan of Whole Foods’ mock chicken salad for a couple of years now. I’ve long wanted to figure out how to make it, but the texture of the faux chicken they use is, IMHO, what makes it so damn good. Well, I finally figured out what product they’re using… Delight Soy Nuggets. I found them recently in the frozen foods section at the local Whole Foods, and they looked just like the soy nuggets I’ve seen in the prepared foods section at The Mothership. Long story short… they are the very same nuggets my beloved mock chicken salad is made of.
I decided to try my hand at making my own, if only because the Whole Foods stuff is just so damn pricey. Now I just needed a good chicken salad recipe. For that I turned to the Shannons, and their Betty Crocker Project. I used their chicken salad recipe, and it came out fantastic! I failed to take any pictures, but it looked just like the Whole Foods mock chicken salad, and by all reports tasted even better. I ended up replacing the red onion called for in the recipe with yellow, because that’s what I had on hand. And rather than frying the nuggets, I prepared them as directed on the package - baking them for 10 minutes at 350, then letting them cool before chopping them up for the salad.
My estimate is that I made about twice as much as normally comes in the large to go container at Whole Foods (at an average price of $10 per container), at a total cost of around $7. My only regret is not putting some back for me to have today, since my guests devoured the entire batch last night. Next time, double batch!
