Chicken and Roasted Pepper Sandwiches
Cold roast chicken, paprika yogurt, and a roll toasted harder than feels sensible.
- 10 minprep
- 4servings
there is cooked chicken in the fridge and no appetite for cooking
you are starting from raw — then it is a roast, not a ten-minute lunch
This barely counts as cooking, which is the point. Pull the chicken off the bone with your hands. Whisk the yogurt with lemon, salt and any paprika-stained oil left from roasting — that fat is the best thing in the fridge and most people throw it away. Toast the rolls hard so they hold up.
What you buy
- 400 g cooked chicken, pulled off the bone
- 2 roasted red peppers
- 4 crusty rolls
- 4 tbsp Greek yogurt
- 1 lemon
- 0.5 tsp salt
Made with a shop-bought roast chicken and a jar of peppers, it is still very good.
What you do
- Mix the yogurt with a squeeze of lemon, salt, and any paprika-y oil from roasting.
- Toast the rolls hard. Pile in the chicken and peppers, spoon the yogurt over.
Three things that decide it
- Pull the chicken with your hands. A knife gives you slices, and slices slide out of the bread.
- Toast the rolls harder than feels sensible. The yogurt will soften them within a minute anyway.
- Any roasting oil left in the tray goes into the yogurt. It is seasoned fat and it is free.
If you have not got it
- Roast chicken
- Shop-bought rotisserie, or leftover turkey. Poached breast works and tastes of less.
- Greek yogurt
- Mayonnaise, or half of each if you want it richer.
- Crusty rolls
- Focaccia, ciabatta, or thick sourdough toasted hard.
Ahead, and afterwards
Mix the yogurt up to two days ahead. Assemble at the last minute: a made-up sandwich goes soggy inside twenty minutes and there is no saving it.
If it went wrong
- Soggy
- Built too early, or the peppers were wet. Pat them dry and assemble when you are ready to eat.
- Dry
- Not enough sauce. It should look like slightly too much before the roll closes.
- Bland
- Salt the chicken again after pulling it. Cold meat needs more seasoning than hot meat.
Three ways to change it
Hot sauce in the yogurt and pickled onions in the roll.
Anchovy and parmesan whisked into the yogurt, with cos lettuce.
Build it, wrap it in foil, ten minutes in a hot oven. A different and very good sandwich.
Questions people ask
How long does cooked chicken keep in the fridge?
Three to four days in a sealed container. Let it cool before it goes in, because trapped steam is what turns leftovers slimy.
Can I use shop-bought roast chicken?
Yes, and it is the fastest version. One medium bird gives roughly the 400 g here, with some left over.
What else can I put in it?
Rocket, pickled onions, or a sliced tomato. Avoid anything watery unless you are eating it immediately.
Cooking it for a different number
Written for 4. For two, halve the 400 g cooked chicken and leave the seasonings as they are — they scale badly by arithmetic and well by taste. For six or more, add half again rather than double, and use two trays or two pans instead of crowding one.
Or change the number once and let the shopping list follow. That is the one bit of this a person should never do by hand.
Read next
Greek Salad, and Bread for the Juice
No lettuce and nothing switched on. Tomatoes, a slab of feta, and bread for what they leave in the plate. 25 min
Caesar Salad, and the Egg Gets One Minute in the Water
The dressing is not mayonnaise loosened with a squeeze of lemon. It is built from a barely-cooked egg yolk, whisked with garlic, anchovy and oil until it turns pale and thick — the same emulsion a vinaigrette is, just richer. Skip the coddling and the yolk is either raw or scrambled; there is only one minute where it is neither. 18 min