Curry Chicken Salad
This Curry Chicken Salad is perfect when you’re looking for new flavor variations from the classic. It’s great for lunches, picnics, or for keeping on hand in the fridge. It only takes 15 minutes to make!
Chicken salad is so underrated, and I think it’s one of the best foods out there.
I’ve done a few variations on this blog, like Cranberry Chicken Salad and Waldorf Chicken Salad, but curried chicken remains in my top 3 favorite flavors.
Since my son started school this week, I’ve been trying to think of some lunchbox friendly foods to send with him. Something better and a bit more nutritious than a PB&J, you know?
Chicken Salad was one of the first things to come to mind. It’s one of those instances where the meat is pleasant to eat cold, it packs lots of protein and healthy fats (if you use a good quality mayo), and most importantly, it’s quite delicious. It’s good enough to eat on its own, or it can be packed into wraps.
The key to a great Curry Chicken Salad is balancing out the flavors.
Yellow curry powder is relatively mild, but it greatly benefits from the sweetness of raisins, some fresh crunchy apple, crunchy cashews, and the freshness of crisp celery and chopped chives. Each ingredients brings an important role in making the end results delicious and balanced.
Tips for Best Results
Use fresh curry powder – Spices, especially ground spices, tend to lose their flavor rapidly as they sit in the pantry. The general rule of thumb is that they will stay potently fresh for 3 to 6 months after opening. They won’t necessarily be “bad” at that point, but less flavorful. So try to use freshly purchased yellow curry powder here for optimal flavor.
Consider how to cook the chicken – If you want to make things extra easy, you can simply buy a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store, and chop it up. However, my absolute favorite way to cook chicken breasts for chicken salad is to use the slow cooker. It makes for the absolute juiciest, moistest meat ever! See Crockpot Chicken Breast for directions. This is also a great opportunity to use leftover chicken.
Let the chicken salad rest – After you mix everything together, I recommend letting it chill in the fridge for an hour in order for the flavors to meld. This is optional, but it does taste marginally better.
Step by Step Overview:
In a large bowl, combine mayonnaise, yellow curry powder, kosher salt, black pepper, and lemon juice in a medium bowl:
The lemon juice might seem slightly unusual, but its brightness balances out the rich mayo and warm spices in the curry powder. It also gives the curry dressing a more buttermilk-like consistency that I find really delicious.
I also recommend using a high quality creamy mayo here. You can buy one that uses a healthy oil, like olive oil, or make your own homemade mayonnaise.
Whisk that to combine, then add cooked chicken breast, chopped apple, raisins, cashews, crunchy celery, and fresh chives:
I use this Crockpot Chicken Breast for the salad. It’s really easy (basically just throw the meat into the slow cooker), and makes for very moist end results.
I like to chop it into cubes, but you may use shredded chicken if you prefer that texture.
Substitution Ideas
Curried chicken salad takes well to quite a few variations, and is easily adapted to any personal preference you have for particular flavors. Here are some swaps that I love.
The apples – I love using apples for this recipe, whether sweeter red varieties or more tart green apple, but you can also swap in grapes for a different type of sweetness.
The chives – I like using chives here because they provide a nice freshness and onion-like flavor, without being too harsh. If you prefer something different, feel free to try fresh chopped cilantro or parsley. You can also try thinly sliced green onions or minced red onion.
The cashews – Cashews are my favorite nut to use here, but almonds and pistachios would also go nicely in this mix.
The dressing – Swap out half the mayonnaise for Greek yogurt, if you enjoy a more tangy flavor.
The raisins – Feel free to use other types of raisins, such as golden raisins. Dried cranberries are great here too.
Stir all of the ingredients together, until evenly coated in the creamy dressing:
Ideally, like with any protein-based salad recipe, you want to let it sit for an hour or two so the flavors can meld, and the raisins can plump, but you are free to eat it right away too.
Keep in mind that the cashews will soften as they sit, so if you prefer a crunchy texture when eating, you can save those until you’re ready to eat, and stir them in at the end.
How to Serve It
This easy curry chicken salad is great for meal prep, or for eating freshly made. Here are my favorite ways to enjoy it.
Make a wrap – Stuff into a storebought tortilla wrap or butter lettuce wrap and pack for lunch or a picnic.
Serve with crackers – Make some homemade Rosemary Croccantini Flatbread Crackers or Buttermilk Crackers and spoon heaps of this on top.
In a croissant – Of all the breads you can use to make a sandwich with this, I happen to think a croissant is the best. It holds the chicken mixture well and has a soft and buttery quality to it that’s perfect here.
In a pita – Another great option that holds the filling well. Add romaine lettuce or whatever other fillings you’d like.
In wonton cups – These are an unexpected but delicious vessel. See how I did it in my Crispy Green Curry Chicken Wonton Bites post.
Also try my Egg Salad, Salmon Salad, and Shrimp Salad for similar protein-packed, low carb lunches that keep well in the fridge.
Steak Salad, California Cobb Salad, and Zucchini Ribbon Salad are a few of my other favorite cold salads. Enjoy!
Recipe FAQ and Tips
Keep in an airtight container or a bowl tightly covered in plastic wrap in the fridge for up to 5 days. Know that the fresh flavor starts to go downhill on day 3, but it will still be safe to eat.
The raw ingredients like the celery and apple won’t freeze well, so it’s not recommended.
Absolutely, and it is better when made ahead! For peak flavor, do not make it more than 2 days ahead of time.
Did you enjoy the recipe? Please leave a 5-star rating in the recipe card below and/or a review in the comments section further down the page. Or, follow me on Facebook, Instagram or Pinterest!
Curry Chicken Salad
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1 tbsp yellow curry powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 3 cooked crockpot chicken breasts cut into bite-size chunks*
- 1 tart apple peeled and cut into bite-sized pieces**
- 2/3 cup chopped celery
- 1/2 cup roasted salted cashews
- 1/3 cup raisins
- 1/4 cup sliced chives
Instructions
- In a large bowl, whisk to combine the mayonnaise, lemon juice, curry powder, salt, and pepper. It should have a relatively thin texture, like buttermilk.
- Add the chicken breast, chopped apple, celery, cashews, raisins, and chives. Stir well to coat.
- Ideally, refrigerate the salad for an hour or two before serving, so the flavors can meld and the raisins can plump. Then enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition is estimated using a food database and is only intended to be used as a guideline for informational purposes.
18 Comments on “Curry Chicken Salad”
My new go to . Pared back the lemon a smidgeon.
This was easy and turned out really well. I added a few small boiled potatoes. I make chicken stock fairy regularly and am sometimes at a loss as to what to do with all the chicken meat. Glad I have this option now too!
Delicious! Easy to put together. Nice to have something prepared in the refrigerator that you can just take out and eat.
Great recipe. In addition, I added grapes, cut in half and served the salad on croissants. It’s our go to recipe for a quick lunch or dinner.
As described even better after being refrigerated for at least a few hours. Used what I had on hand which meant substituting scallions which imo were a tad ovewhelming. I’ll use chives next time. Will also use granny smiths as they’ll no doubt keep crispy longer than the honeycrisps used. I remember ordering this in a deli a while ago and this is even better. Gluten free (I’m celiac) as well! Thanks.
I made this for dinner last night and my whole family loved it. Twin 5 year old girls gobbled it up. I did use grapes instead of raisins and scallions instead of chives. I bought a cooked rotisserie chicken from the grocery store, pulled all the meat and chopped it up. I used the entire chicken and felt I needed to add some more mayonnaise. So yummy.
This is a great recipe! I left out the apple and used golden raisins instead.
What is the green leaf that you wrapped the salad in?
It’s a collard green. Collard wraps are great, and you can use them raw or blanched.
Add curry powder to anything and I am a fan! This is perfect for lunches
This is a great recipe! I used golden raisins instead of regular and left out the apple. I made curried chicken wraps.
This makes for a great healthy lunch! Thank you for sharing!
I need to eat this Curry Chicken Salad more often!
I agree chicken salad is so underrated! yum!
The raisins give such a yummy texture to this chicken salad
Loved having a new chicken salad recipe to test out and this did not disappoint! I loved the curry and cashews!
I made this for my visitors at home and we enjoyed it too much. Thanks for it.
Tried this for lunch and really enjoyed. Simple too!