Hen salads are straightforward to place collectively and simple to eat! This twist provides a creamy curry dressing that can maintain you coming again for extra. We packed in candy bites of apple, golden raisins, and just a little crunch from toasted almonds and celery. Serve on a sandwich, over a mattress of lettuce, stuffed in an avocado, or just by itself!
For extra rooster salad goodness, attempt our straightforward Pesto Chicken Salad.
Why Our Recipe
- A creamy curry dressing offers a twist to conventional rooster salad with
- Tremendous straightforward to toss collectively and ideal for sandwiches, wraps, and even stuffed avocados.
- Candy and crunchy mix-ins together with apples, raisins, and toasted almonds.
Hen salad is at all times on the menu for a picnic or spending a day by the pool. It additionally appears to be one of many quintessential inclusions at each child bathe and girls’ luncheon, too. A curry model is a good way to maintain issues attention-grabbing. We’ll load it up on a croissant if we’re feeling fancy, or simply scoop it into an avocado whenever you need one thing lighter for lunch.
Ingredient Notes
- Hen: This recipe makes use of 2 cups of pre-cooked rooster. Rotisserie rooster or leftovers work completely. You possibly can at all times bake and shred rooster breasts as nicely.
- Celery: Mince it up so it may well unfold the crunch round within the salad.
- Apple: Crips apples give the proper crunch. We recommend purple apples like Gala, Fuji, Honeycrisp, Pink Girl, or Crimson Scrumptious for his or her sweetness, however you should utilize inexperienced apples for a extra tart taste.
- Inexperienced Onions: These add a contemporary, gentle onion taste and texture to the salad with out the sharp chunk of an everyday onion.
- Almonds: Slivered almonds give a noticeable crunch so your rooster salad isn’t mushy. We’ve you toast them to get a greater taste. You may as well swap out with roughly chopped cashews.
- Raisins: We use golden raisins as a substitute of normal for his or her sweeter taste and juiciness. Common raisins work, however you actually get a greater consequence with these plump golden raisins. You would additionally use dried cranberries or quarter some purple or grapes.
- Mayonnaise: We’ve completed mayo style assessments and strongly suggest utilizing a neutral-flavored mayonnaise. Seems, that is virtually at all times going to be a generic retailer model. If you’d like one thing lighter, you possibly can change the mayo with plain Greek yogurt in the identical quantity.
- Curry Powder: We use a plain yellow curry powder. You possibly can simply discover within the spice aisle of just about any U.S. or Canadian grocery retailer.
- Lemon Juice: Freshly squeezed at all times offers the very best taste, however the bottled stuff works too.
- Cilantro: We love cilantro for that distinctly contemporary, citrusy, and barely spicy style, however some individuals have that gene the place it tastes like cleaning soap. Use your finest judgment for whether or not or to not embody.
Hen Choices
This recipe requires shredded cooked rooster and that comes with all types of choices.
Rotisserie Hen – many American grocery shops promote cooked rotisserie chickens which you can purchase and shred. It’s usually a “loss chief,” which implies they promote it for lower than it really prices to mak,e so it may be an incredible deal. Many shops are additionally now providing the rotisserie rooster pre-shredded and packaged, too!
Frozen Cooked Hen – try the freezer part of your grocery retailer for pre-cooked rooster strips and chunks.
Boiled Hen – Merely boil 2 rooster breasts (about 1 pound) in both water or rooster broth (for extra taste) for about quarter-hour, or till cooked via. Drain and shred rooster with a fork.
Bake Your Personal Hen – lay rooster breasts out right into a flippantly greased 9×13 pan. Season flippantly with salt and pepper. Bake at 350 levels for 25 to half-hour till cooked via. Then shred or roughly chop.
Make-Forward Directions
That is the proper make-ahead meal. In reality, this chilly salad is even tastier if it’s been left within the fridge for a few hours and even a whole day earlier than you eat it! That is nice information if you wish to put together for a picnic or just make a chilly lunch forward of time. Merely observe the directions and canopy your salad tightly with plastic wrap earlier than storing it within the fridge.
Serving Strategies
There’s no fallacious strategy to serve curry rooster salad, and there actually are so many choices. It’s sort of good as a result of it makes it good for thus many alternative events.
On a Croissant: Nothing beats a flaky croissant full of curry rooster salad. It feels just a little fancy. You would additionally use numerous different buns and rolls, however croissant is the basic.
In a Lettuce Wrap: If you’d like one thing lighter, scoop it into an enormous piece of butter lettuce or romaine leaves.
Wrapped in a Tortilla: Roll it up with some spinach or greens in a tortilla and also you’ve acquired a straightforward wrap that travels nicely.
Stuffed in an Avocado: Slice an avocado in half and cargo it up. It’s contemporary, filling, and simply feels just a little additional (in one of the best ways).
Over a Salad: Go extra old skool and scoop it on high of your favourite greens for an excellent fast salad.
With Crackers: Scoop it up together with your favourite crackers or pita chips for a straightforward snack board state of affairs or appetizer.
Storage Directions
Refrigerate leftovers in an hermetic container for 3-4 days. To take pleasure in it once more, you possibly can serve it chilly, straight from the fridge or let it come to room temperature.
*Freezing is just not beneficial.