Chicken of the Woods Salad with Cranberries
This chickeny mushroom lends itself perfectly to a vegan version of the classic American chicken salad. Featuring foraged chicken of the woods mushroom, it’s easy to make. Just roast your mushrooms, and do a little chopping. Mix it together and you’re ready to eat. Our chicken of the woods salad is a colorful dish, with the orange of the mushrooms, red from cranberries, green celery and tarragon, and purple onion. Add the nuttiness and slight bitterness from walnuts, a creamy vegan mayonnaise-based dressing, and this stunning Fall salad is ready to grace your table.
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Drive by Foraging
It’s been a really dry year- New England has been in a drought which is rare for us. As the climate changes I imagine it will become more and more common. Because of this lack of rain, I’d mostly given up mushroom foraging this summer. There was very little point, since mushrooms need rain to grow their caps. We finally got a little rain this week, and I’ve been seeing a resulting joyful burst in mycological activity. But before that rain came I did have one stroke of mushrooming luck. While driving down to the grocery store, I saw a flash of orange on the side of the road and hit my breaks irresponsibly hard- fortunately there was no one behind me. There at the roots of a large tree sprouted a large rosette of a mushroom. Traffic cone orange, and beautifully fresh and juicy. Out of the car I popped, and collected the treasure. I put it into the grocery bag I had brought with me- the clerk at the grocery store would later give me a bit of a dirty look that I hadn’t brought a bag with me, but mine was occupied. But I had a gift from nature, the result of some drive-by foraging.
Disclaimer: When foraging wild mushrooms, you are responsible to verify beyond the shadow of a doubt that you have positively identified that mushroom. While I take responsibility for the accuracy of the information on this site, I can not take responsibility for the identification of the mushrooms you’ve foraged. Please consult multiple resources (books, websites, and human experts) to verify the identification of your mushroom.
Additional disclaimer to practice responsible driving, and watch the road. Drive-by foraging is an irresponsible activity and should not be practiced.
I am not going to provide information on identifying chicken of the woods in this post, but you can read this recipe I wrote previously for more information.
Looking for Chicken of the Woods Recipes? Try one of these!
- Vegetarian Chicken Nuggets (Chicken of the Woods Recipe)
- Cream of Chicken of the Woods Mushroom Soup
- Chicken of the Woods Mushroom Picatta
- Chicken of the Woods Vegan Pad Kee Mao
- Butter Chicken of the Woods (Vegan Butter Chicken)
Looking for Fall Salads? Try one of these!
- Maitake and Wild Rice Thanksgiving Salad
- Roasted Chestnut Crabapples and Kabocha Squash
- Indian-Spiced Vegan Warm Pumpkin Salad
- Roasted Cranberry and Lima Bean Salad
- Curry Leaf Oven Roasted Carrot Recipe
How to Make Chicken of the Woods Salad
First things first, you have to get your chicken of the woods. If you’ve got those, most of the hard work is done! You’ll want about a pound and a half for this recipe, and since chicken of the woods tends to grow fairly large that should be fairly easy. You’ll need to clean and cook the chicken of the woods for food safety. We kept it simple and cooked our mushrooms by roasting them in oil, salt, and pepper. Towards the end we added some fresh herbs- I like tarragon or thyme best here. You can keep the mushrooms in bite-sized pieces, or you can smash them a little to turn it into shreds. Either way you’re going to mix them together with purple onions, celery, walnuts, and dried cranberries (you can substitute fresh grapes here if you like!). You can also add other vegetables if you have them- some cauliflower chopped up small, bell peppers, and shredded carrots are all examples of additions that would be great. The dressing we made is very simple- just vegan mayonnaise, mustard, lemon juice and a little salt and pepper. I ate mine on a sandwich, but it could also be served over lettuce, in wraps, or just eaten as is.
Chicken of the Woods Salad with Cranberries
Ingredients
- 1 ½ lb. chicken of the woods mushroom
- 2 tbsp. olive oil
- 1 tsp. fresh tarragon or thyme
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- 2 stalks of celery
- ½ small purple onion
- ½ cup dried cranberries
- ½ cup chopped walnut pieces
- ½ cup vegan mayonnaise
- 1 lemon, juiced
- 1 tsp. whole grain mustard
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Clean your mushrooms well and cut them into bite-sized pieces. Place on a baking sheet with the olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. Roast for 45 minutes, taking out about half an hour in, and the fresh herbs, and stir, and return to the oven. Cook for the remaining 15 minutes, remove from the oven, and let cool.
- Dice the celery and onion and place them in a large bowl with the roasted chicken of the woods, walnut, and cranberries. Add the vegan mayo, lemon juice, and mustard in a small bowl and mix. Add the sauce to the mushrooms and mix together- I like to use the spoon to break the mushrooms apart some. Season with salt and pepper to taste, and refrigerate until use.
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