It’s easy to make a delicious curried chicken salad in just one bowl, and this dish makes a wonderful lunch or light dinner. Chicken salad can be made in so many tasty ways, but this recipe for chicken salad with curry powder, apples, and cashews is definitely one of my favorites! A creamy dressing with the perfect blend of spices coats tender chicken, veggies, fruits, and nuts to create a healthy, hearty salad that checks all the boxes. Love chicken salad? Be sure to try my Classic Chicken Salad, and Tarragon Chicken Salad too!
Why You’ll Love This Curried Chicken Salad Recipe
Key Ingredients
Here’s what you need to make this delicious curry chicken salad:
Cooked Chicken: Already cooked chicken, cut into small pieces is the main ingredient in Curry Chicken Salad. Use leftovers, or chicken that you’ve cooked just for this occasion. I prefer to use breast meat, but dark meat is also fine. Creamy Curry Dressing: The perfect ratio of mayonnaise to Greek yogurt makes this salad wonderfully creamy but also healthy! Mix that with curry powder, honey, fresh lemon juice, salt, and pepper for an easy and flavorful salad dressing for your chicken salad. Tasty Mix-Ins: There is so much crunch in this chicken salad! Sliced almonds, whole cashews, and fresh celery do the trick. We’ll also add sweet raisins and diced apples, and some green onion and parsley for color and flavor.
Complete list of ingredients and amounts can be found in the recipe card below.
How To Make Curry Chicken Salad
I always make chicken salad in one bowl! Start by mixing up the dressing in the bottom of your salad bowl, then stir in everything else. It’s simple and quick this way.
Recipe Tips
Rather than using just mayo, I like this recipe with mostly Greek yogurt. In place of yogurt, you can use sour cream or more mayo if you prefer. Regular or golden raisins work well in this recipe. To soften the raisins, you can soak them in warm water for about 15 minutes before adding them to the salad. Keep the apples from turning brown by tossing the pieces with lemon juice. Any cooked chicken will do. This recipe can be used with leftovers from last night’s dinner, the meat from a grocery store rotisserie chicken, or chicken that you’ve cooked just for this purpose. Check out my recipe for how to boil chicken breasts if you need it! Be sure to chop the chicken small enough so that the chicken salad is easy to eat. You can also shred the chicken if you like that texture better. The mix-ins in this recipe give the curry chicken salad the perfect balance of textures and flavors, but you can leave out any that you don’t love. Feel free to adjust the amount of curry powder based on your preferences. I suggest tasting the dressing before mixing, and adding salt if needed. Taste the salad again after adding the chicken and adjust it to make it perfect.
Storing Tips
Keep homemade curry chicken salad in a sealed container in the refrigerator. It should stay fresh for up to 3 days this way. If the chicken salad seems dry when you go to eat the leftovers, stir in a little bit of extra mayo to make it nice and creamy again.
How to Serve Curry Chicken Salad
I enjoy serving curried chicken salad on large lettuce leaves. You can roll them up like a low-carb wrap sandwich, or eat the chicken salad with a fork.
Curry Chicken Salad is also delicious stuffed into a fresh buttery croissant, or as a sandwich on homemade seed bread.
It’s perfect with crackers too, especially if you’re packing it up as lunch to go.
Curried Chicken Salad is a delicious twist on a classic, and perfect for sandwiches! Be sure to try this recipe as well as my Tarragon Chicken Salad Recipe the next time you need a tasty lunch or party idea.
© Little Sunny Kitchen
