A layered chicken salad you can make the night before

This is a make ahead salad, built in layers in a single dish, chilled, and ready exactly when you are. It travels to a potluck, it waits in the fridge for tomorrow's lunch, and it asks for no cooking at all if you start with a rotisserie or already cooked chicken. A meal that is ready before hunger arrives is a real kindness to your future self.

The plate carries honest nourishment. Chicken is a source of vitamin B6, involved in protein metabolism and steady energy, and it brings the protein that holds you over between meals. Green lettuce and vegetables stack fiber that feeds a healthier gut community. Built on a creamy AIP dressing instead of egg mayonnaise, it stays satisfying and squarely within what you can eat right now.

There is a small beauty in the layers when you lift the lid: the pale dressing under the green, the chicken at the base. Make it with care, chill it well, and let the first cold forkful be a genuine pleasure on a warm day.

Ingredients

• 1 pound cooked chicken, chopped
• Sea salt to taste
• 1 cup roasted parsnips or cauliflower, chopped, in place of hard-boiled eggs
• 2 cups green beans, trimmed and cut, in place of peas
• 1 cup AIP-compliant egg-free mayonnaise, such as a coconut-cream or avocado-oil emulsion mayo (see the egg-free mayonnaise for a from-scratch version)
• 1/2 teaspoon unfortified nutritional yeast (a reintroduction item; omit on strict elimination)
• 1/2 head green lettuce, shredded

Swaps made: The source is a paleo recipe, not AIP, so several excluded items were rebuilt. The 6 hard-boiled eggs are replaced with chopped roasted parsnips or cauliflower for body, the 2 cups peas (a legume) are replaced with green beans, the egg-based mayonnaise is replaced with an AIP egg-free mayo, and the black pepper is omitted as an excluded seed-spice.

Method

• Season the chicken with salt and spread it across the bottom of a 9-inch dish.
• Layer the roasted parsnips or cauliflower, then the green beans, over the chicken. Stir the unfortified nutritional yeast into the AIP mayo and spread it over the vegetables. (a reintroduction item; omit on strict elimination)
• Finish with the shredded lettuce and chill at least an hour. For leftovers that hold better, keep the lettuce on the bottom so it wilts more slowly, and plate it cut-side up.

*Adapted from a-clean-plate*