Angostura Bitters Chicken Salad

Cooking with bitters? Why not. Their flavorful aromatic properties can be harnessed in recipes beyond just cocktails. Angostura's website has recipes for a number of dishes.

The Washington Post's Jane Touzalin recently wrote about cooking with bitters as a Free Range on Food chat leftover. (Coincidence? Not really. I was the one that asked about it.) Touzalin perused the recipes on the Angostura site, which mostly are for appetizers, entrees and desserts. She suggested that fruity bitters would be particularly at home in a dessert or vinaigrette.

I liked the idea of using bitters in salad dressing, although instead of going the fruity route, I stuck with the spicy classic aromatic Angostura bitters.

The Greek yogurt dressing I developed for this chicken salad tastes great without the bitters, but adding them gave the dressing a wonderful spicy dimension. Just like how bitters can pull together ingredients in a cocktail, the bitters in this salad dressing was the final touch that made the dressing really sing.

Angostura Bitters Chicken Salad

Salad:

2 tbsp. olive oil
1 lb. chicken breast cutlets
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2 dashes angostura bitters
1/4 cup sliced almonds
1 apple, cored and chopped
2 celery ribs, chopped
3 or 4 scallions, white and green parts chopped
3 cups baby kale leaves

Dressing:

1/2 cup nonfat Greek yogurt
1 tbsp. fresh lime juice
2 tsp. honey
2 tbsp. chopped fresh mint
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2 dashes Angostura bitters

1. Heat olive oil in a medium frying pan over medium heat. Pat chicken dry with paper towels and add to pan. Season chicken with salt and pepper and cook until browned and cooked through, about 10 minutes, flipping over halfway. Transfer to a plate to cool, then cut into pieces no larger than an inch.

2. Heat a small frying pan over medium-low heat. Add sliced almonds and toast until lightly browned, stirring frequently to prevent burning. Transfer to a plate to cool.

3. Combine apple, celery, scallions and baby kale in a large bowl. Add chicken and almonds once cooled.

4. Whisk together yogurt, lime juice, honey, mint, salt, pepper and bitters. Pour over salad and toss to combine.

Related Post: Cocktail Bitters: An Introduction and History