The roast chicken at Zuni Café is undoubtedly one of San Francisco’s most iconic dishes from one of its most iconic restaurants. On the menu, it’s described as “Chicken for two roasted in the wood-fired brick oven; warm bread salad with scallions, garlic, bitter greens, dried currants, and pine nuts.” Delicious? Yes. So good, in fact, that it’s nearly impossible for me to order anything else, despite the many gorgeous dishes populating the menu.

The recipe for the famous chicken is written in great detail in the inimitable Zuni Café Cookbook. To date, I’ve made it twice, in large part because the recipe runs five pages long and requires starting at least 24 hours in advance. That means, for me at least, both the restaurant chicken and the cookbook chicken are special occasion dishes. In the interim, when I’m craving those fabulous flavors and textures, I make this weeknight-easy spin on Zuni chicken.

About Zuni-Inspired Chicken Salad

To be clear, I’m not claiming this recipe is on par with the Zuni original–which is in a category of its own. What I will say is that the salad scratches the itch beautifully. The recipe has all the basic elements, only simplified and delivered more as a warm salad than a roast dinner. The key ingredients include:

Roast chicken — My version involves a giant shortcut: picking up a rotisserie chicken at my local market.

Bread — One of the key elements of Zuni’s dish is a bread salad. My version has similarly big, craggy croutons, but the ratio of bread to greens is flipped — more greens, less bread.

Salad — My recipe uses bitter greens just like Zuni’s. Instead of mustard greens and frisée, I go for a combination of escarole, arugula, radicchio, and endive and bump up the total volume of greens.

Nuts and dried fruit — I borrowed from Zuni’s recipe by using nuts and dried fruit, only mine uses golden raisins instead of currants and chopped walnuts in place of pine nuts (that’s usually what I have on hand). I also upped the amounts a touch.

A Few Tips for a Stellar Salad

Buy the chicken close to serving time — Ideally the rotisserie chicken is still warm when you pull it off the bones and tuck it into the salad. If you’re using leftover chicken, reheat it in a low oven just until warm before adding it to the salad. Also, there is a big difference between rotisserie chickens — if you can get one from a local market or butcher that sources from a quality producer, it will make a difference.

Get good bread — Crusty bread is such a key element to this recipe that I recommend hitting your favorite bread shop for a good, chewy loaf. My preference is sourdough with some whole-grain flour in the mix.

Make it your own — I took some major liberties with the Zuni chicken and encourage you to do the same. Use the greens you love, tinker with the dressing, swap in different nuts or dried fruits, add herbs, and so on.

Note: If you’re inspired to tackle the real thing, the recipe for the Roast Chicken with Bread Salad is in The wonderful Zuni Café Cookbook and available over on Food & Wine.

If you like this Zuni-inspired salad, you might like these other dishes, which were inspired by travel and dining out:

Crunchy Slaw with Chicken Skewers

Celery Salad with Hazelnuts and Pecorino

Shaved Brussels Sprouts Salad with Lemon

Jammy Eggs on Savory Yogurt

Rustic Italian Apple Cake

Zuni Cafe-Inspired Warm Chicken Salad with Greens and Craggy Croutons

A weeknight-easy dinner inspired by the iconic roast chicken from San Francisco's Zuni Cafe. It's a salad of chicories and bitter greens with big crusty croutons, a savory dressing, and warm rotisserie chicken.

Course Dinner

Prep Time 30 minutes

Servings 4

Author Katie Morford

Ingredients

1 whole rotisserie chicken
2 thick slices crusty bread, such as levain, torn into big croutons (3 cups)
5 scallions, thinly sliced white and light green parts only
1/4 rounded teaspoon kosher salt, plus more for seasoning the bread
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil, divided
3 tablespoons champagne, white, or red wine vinegar
2 teaspoons white or mellow miso (sub Dijon mustard if you don't have miso)
Freshly ground black pepper
1 small clove garlic
5 big handfuls torn bitter greens/chicories (escarole, arugula, endive, radicchio, baby kale, mustard greens, frisée)
3 tablespoons chopped walnuts
3 tablespoons dried currants or golden raisins

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400°F.
Use your hands to break down the chicken, pulling all of the meat off the bones and into large, 2 to 4-bite pieces. You can keep the skin on or discard (I tend to go skinless for this dish). Save any juices that pooled in the rotisserie chicken container.
Pile the croutons, scallions, and pinch or 2 of salt on a large baking sheet. Drizzle 1 tablespoon of the olive oil over the croutons and rub everything into the bread. Spread the croutons out and toast just until they begin to brown on the edges, 5 minutes. Remove from oven.
In a small bowl, combine the vinegar, miso, salt, and several generous grinds of black pepper. Microplane the garlic into the bowl and add the remaining 1/2 cup (minus 1 tablespoon) olive oil. Whisk well to blend.
Transfer the croutons to a big bowl (set the nuts aside for now). Drizzle a few tablespoons of the dressing and 1 to 2 tablespoons of the chicken juices over the croutons. Toss well and transfer to a large platter
Put the greens/chicories, walnuts, and currants into the same bowl you used to toss the croutons. Add enough dressing to evenly coat the greens (you should have a little dressing left over). Add the greens to the platter with the croutons and toss well.
Tuck pieces of warm rotisserie chicken into the salad. For four servings as a main dish, you will likely use most of the chicken. Drizzle what remains of the dressing over the salad. Taste and add more salt, olive oil, or vinegar, as needed. Serve immediately. If you have leftovers, they will keep overnight in the fridge.

Inspired by Judy Rodgers’ Roast chicken for two at Zuni Cafe and in her inimitable The Zuni Cafe Cookbook (Norton, 2002)

Zuni Café-Inspired Warm Rotisserie Chicken Salad with Big Craggy Croutons