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Lunch

Chicken and Roasted Pepper Sandwiches

Cold roast chicken, paprika yogurt, and a roll toasted harder than feels sensible.

10 minprep

—no cooking

4servings

Roast chicken with peppers and potatoes in a tray, ready to be pulled for sandwiches

Make it when

there is cooked chicken in the fridge and no appetite for cooking

Skip it if

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

And from the cupboard

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

Piri piri

Hot sauce in the yogurt and pickled onions in the roll.

Caesar-ish

Anchovy and parmesan whisked into the yogurt, with cos lettuce.

Toasted

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.