Rotisserie Chicken Salad With Broccoli Slaw and Apple

Nutrition Snapshot

  • About 31 grams of protein and 6 grams of fiber in one bowl, from rotisserie chicken, broccoli slaw, apple, and flaxseed.
  • The flaxseed and apple carry the soluble kind of fiber, which holds water and softens stool, and the broccoli slaw carries the kind that adds bulk.
  • The trade-off: rotisserie chicken is salted before it is roasted, and it is most of the sodium here. The card shows the amount, and the notes show how to lower it.

Meat pulled from a rotisserie chicken and shredded, tossed in a big bowl with a bag of broccoli slaw, a diced apple, and a quarter cup of ground flaxseed. The dressing is Greek yogurt, lemon juice, olive oil, Dijon mustard, and pepper, stirred in a cup and folded through.

It is four bowls of lunch that need neither a stove nor any standing, and each bowl is eaten with a full glass of water beside it. The water is part of the recipe.

Why This Salad Is Great for Getting Things Moving After Surgery

Constipation after surgery is nearly universal, and the causes stack. Opioid pain medication slows the gut directly, and anesthesia slows it further. A person who is eating little, drinking little, and barely walking has removed the three things that keep it moving. Four or five days without a bowel movement is common, and it is miserable on top of an incision.

Stool softeners help. Food helps as much, if it is the right food. The fix is fiber and fluid together, and the word together matters, because fiber without enough water makes the problem worse.

The Two Fibers and the Water

This bowl carries both kinds of fiber in one meal. Soluble fiber from the flaxseed and apple absorbs water and softens the stool. Insoluble fiber from the broccoli slaw adds bulk and moves things along. It also carries about 31 grams of protein, which the healing incision needs at the same time. The glass of water is the third ingredient.

What else the body needs in the first two weeks after surgery is in Eating to Heal: Protein, Vitamin C, and Zinc After Surgery.

Fiber Without Fluid Makes It Worse

Fiber works by holding water in the stool. Without the water, a high-fiber meal turns into a dry, dense mass that is harder to pass than what was there before, which is how a well-meant bran muffin makes a bad week worse.

The rule is a large glass of water with every meal that carries fiber, and more through the day, about eight glasses in all, more if the weather is warm.

Soups, yogurt, fruit, and melon count toward the fluid, and this salad’s apple and yogurt carry some on their own. How the two kinds of fiber add up across a day, and which foods carry each, is in Fiber Math: Getting to 30 Grams a Day Without Trying.

No Cooking, No Standing

A rotisserie chicken from the store, a bag of slaw, an apple, and a tub of yogurt make this a meal that someone recovering can assemble sitting down, or that a visitor can make in ten minutes. The bowl keeps three days in the refrigerator, so one chicken covers most of a week of lunches, and the chicken’s carcass makes a broth that counts toward the fluid too.

A bowl of rotisserie chicken salad with broccoli slaw and apple next to a glass of water in a bowl.

Rotisserie Chicken Salad With Broccoli Slaw and Apple

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Shredded rotisserie chicken tossed with bagged broccoli slaw, diced apple, and ground flaxseed in a Greek yogurt, lemon, olive oil, and Dijon dressing. No cooking, four bowls, about 30 grams of protein and 6 grams of fiber each; eat with a full glass of water.
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Prep Time 15 minutes
Total Time 15 minutes
Servings: 4 bowl (about 2 cups)
Course: dinner, lunch
Cuisine: American
Calories: 296
Ingredients Equipment Method Nutrition Notes

Ingredients
  

Salad
  • 12 ounces rotisserie chicken meat skin removed, shredded (about 3 cups, from one chicken)
  • 1 bag (12 ounces) broccoli slaw
  • 1 large apple cored and diced
  • 1/4 cup ground flaxseed
  • 2 scallions sliced (optional)
Lemon-yogurt dressing
  • 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
  • 3 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
  • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
  • a pinch of salt
With each bowl
  • 1 large glass (12 to 16 ounces) of water

Equipment

  • Large mixing bowl
  • Sharp knife

Method
 

  1. Stir the yogurt, lemon juice, oil, mustard, pepper, and salt together in a cup.
  2. Put the chicken, broccoli slaw, apple, flaxseed, and scallions in a large bowl. Pour the dressing over and toss until everything is coated.
  3. Let it sit 10 minutes so the slaw softens a little and the flaxseed swells.
  4. Serve about 2 cups a bowl, each with a large glass of water. Keeps 3 days covered in the refrigerator; the apple browns a little but stays crisp.

Nutrition

Calories: 296kcalCarbohydrates: 16gProtein: 31gFat: 13gSaturated Fat: 2.3gSodium: 371mgPotassium: 707mgFiber: 5.5gSugar: 7.6gCalcium: 114mgIron: 1.7mgMagnesium: 75mgPhosphorus: 352mgCholine: 88mg

Notes

The glass of water is part of the recipe: flaxseed and other fiber need fluid to work, and without it they make constipation worse. Lower-sodium version: use plain cooked chicken breast in place of rotisserie, which cuts the sodium by about half. Ground flaxseed goes rancid at room temperature; keep it in the freezer. Chia seeds work in place of flax. For a softer bowl in the first days after surgery, steam the slaw 3 minutes and cool it. Pear works in place of apple. A cup of the chicken-carcass broth alongside counts toward the day’s fluid.

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Gluten Free

Chicken, broccoli, carrots, apple, flaxseed, yogurt, lemon, and olive oil are naturally free of gluten. For people with celiac disease, the rotisserie chicken is the ingredient to check: some store chickens are seasoned or injected with solutions that contain wheat, and the label or the deli counter should confirm. The Dijon mustard should list no malt vinegar or wheat. People who avoid gluten by preference can use any rotisserie chicken.

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