Famous Curried Chicken Salad

Turn your everyday, classic Chicken Salad into Famous Curried Chicken Salad with a pinch of curry powder, raisins, crunchy celery, apricots, creamy mayo, and more with this super easy recipe. Every bite of this Chicken Salad has a unique texture and is full of such a variety of flavors, all your tongue can think is YUM!

Even though I love eating chicken with the skin-on, I don’t often buy it for meals. It’s been drilled into my head for years that eating healthy means buying skinless chicken. I guess that’s why I buy boneless, skinless chicken breasts like they are going out of style.  

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy eating my boneless, skinless chicken breasts, and using them in my favorite recipes, but it shouldn’t come as a surprise that skin-on chicken is juicier, more tender, and with loads of yummy flavour.

I enjoy making these kinds of summertime cold salads for light lunches, side dishes, and to take to your next potluck get together! If you’re looking for a few more summer cold creamy salads, check out this Creamy Shrimp Pasta Salad, a personal favorite Cheese Potato Salad or a Macaroni Dill Salad.  

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Disclosure: I am participating in the Chicken Farmers of Canada campaign managed by SJ Consulting. I received compensation in exchange for my participation in this campaign. The opinions on this blog are my own.

This recipe was inspired by the absolute best chicken salad I’ve ever tasted from Chicken Farmers of Canada.

Why You’ll Love Curried Chicken Salad 

• Using a cheaper cut of chicken means staying on budget is easier
• So many flavors and textures your tastebuds will be dancing
• No funky smelling canned chicken
• Easy to customize and add more of your favorite chicken salad ingredients
• Great to take to the next potluck

Curry Chicken Salad Ingredients 

• Cooked chicken breasts
• Golden raisins
• Mayonnaise
• Sour cream
• Hot curry paste
• Salt
• Whole dried apricots
• Celery
• Green onions
• Apple
• Cilantro
• Almonds

How to Make Curried Chicken Salad

• Step One: Place raisins in a bowl of boiling water to plump up. Set aside.
• Step Two: Combine mayonnaise, sour cream, curry paste and salt in a large bowl. Blend together until no streaks of curry remain. Mix in chicken.

• Step Three: Add apricots, celery and green onions to chicken mixture and stir together.
• Step Four: Drain the raisins and mix into the chicken mixture. Add in apple and cilantro and mix to combine.
• Step Five: Top with almonds. Serve on a bed of greens, if desired.

Equipment Needed 

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• Mixing bowl
• Measuring cups and spoons
• Mixer
• Cutting board

What to Serve with Famous Curried Chicken Salad

• Burgers or stuffed burgers
• Steak
• Maple Dijon Grilled Chicken
• Taco Chicken Burgers
• Ginger Lime Chicken
• Serve stuffed inside a butter lettuce wrap is a great option

Recipe Tips and Tricks 

• Always be sure to use different cutting boards for meat and other ingredients to avoid cross contamination.
• Use a meat thermometer to be sure the internal temperature of the chicken reaches 165F before consuming.
• Make sure to cut the ingredients into small pieces so that it’s easy to get a forkful and eat it. 

Variations and Substitutions 

• Trade raisins for grape slices or just add the grapes in with the raisins for a tasty addition.
• Swap almonds out for other nuts, or simply add other crunchy nut choices in.
• Use light mayo instead of regular mayo.
• Swap out the green onion for red onion.
• Use low-fat plain Greek yogurt instead of sour cream.
• Add a squirt or two of lemon juice.
• Add a dash of celery seed, a little salt, and black pepper to taste.

Storage Instructions 

Due to the perishable ingredients in this recipe, always make sure to refrigerate leftovers when not in use. This Curried Chicken Salad should not sit out longer than 2 hours, it will need to be refrigerated. 

Leftover Chicken Salad should be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3-5 days.

Can I Freeze? 

Mayonnaise tends to separate when thawing after it’s been frozen. Since this homemade Chicken Salad uses mayo, I don’t recommend trying to freeze this recipe.

What’s Juicier- Skinless or Skin-on Chicken?

I think leaving the skin on your chicken makes for more juicy, tender chicken. The reason skin-on chicken is juicier is because the skin traps the natural juices inside the meat as it cooks. 

Cook a chicken breast with skin and cook one without skin and you will be able to tell the difference between the two.

Why Should I Leave the Skin On Chicken, Isn’t It Unhealthy?

All we’ve ever been told is how the skin on chicken is full of fat and unhealthiness, but it’s also filled with so much flavor and even helps keep the chicken meat under the skin nice and moist. 

But after a nutrition study conducted by The Chicken Farmers of Canada, you can now leave your chicken skin on and not feel guilty about it!

They learned that a skin-on cut of chicken can attain similar nutritional value as its skinless counterpart IF the skin is removed prior to consumption. What this means is that you cook your chicken with the skin on it and then remove it before you eat it. This allows the chicken to keep all those juices and flavours that we know and love. 

Serving your chicken this way is essentially the same health-wise as serving a skinless cut of chicken, all because of a process where the fat in the meat is drawn into the skin and absorbed during cooking. So when you remove the skin, you are also removing most of the fat from the chicken with it!

Are There Any Benefits of Cooking with Bone-in Chicken?

Bone-in chicken contains significantly more zinc, Vitamin B and B12 than boneless chicken. Now you can take advantage of these extra health benefits without the extra fat and calories when you cook with bone-in cuts of chicken.

You know what this means right? Now, I’ll be able to purchase the bone-in, skin-on cuts of chicken at the grocery store which are cheaper than the boneless, skinless chicken. Saving money is always a good benefit!

More Amazing Chicken Recipes

• Slow Cooker Salsa Chicken
• Classic Traditional Chicken Salad
• Chicken Bundles
• Taco Chicken Salad
• Chicken Salad with Grapes
• Hot Chicken Salad
• Mustard Chicken Salad
• Greek Chicken Salad

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