Curried Chicken Salad with Roasted Carrots
It’s rather amusing to me that although I’m doing a post on chicken salad today, the truth is up until about roughly 3 years ago, I absolutely LOATHED the stuff.
Seriously. I just couldn’t abide it. If you were to put a bowl of chicken salad underneath my nose I’d probably start gagging. That’s how serious it was.
The thing is, (and as you guys know about me by now) I actually love chicken and eat it all the time. And the ingredients in most chicken salads are ingredients that by and large, I’m fine with.
Save for one.
Friggingodawfulmayonnaise.
Oy vey.
I don’t think there are enough words in the English language for me to express how much I completely and vehemently despise mayonnaise.The smell is enough to trigger my gag reflex and kill my appetite. The thought of the stuff literally makes my skin crawl. Not joking, guys. It’s just one of the worst things to ever be created and for the life of my I don’t understand how people can actually enjoy it.
Miracle Whip is slightly less egregious to me, but not by much.
However, as we all know mayonnaise happens to serve as the base for most chicken salad recipes. If you don’t like it, then chances are you won’t like chicken salad–which would explain my nearly life-long aversion to it.
So, how did I get over it? Easy. I learned a little trick of swapping out the mayonnaise for another base: Greek yogurt.
Whole milk Greek yogurt is thick, creamy and a perfect substitute for those of us who can’t get down with the mayonnaise. It’s much better for you too so this dish is actually one you can eat and feel pretty good about afterwards. If I had one personal criticism of Greek yogurt it’s that sharp tangy aftertaste it’s got. I know that most people love that about it, but for me, I need something to temper it. That’s where this recipe came in and saved the day.
The other ingredients in this salad really work to temper the sharpness of the Greek yogurt. The roasted carrots and golden raisins give it an excellent sweetness all on their own, but then the spices (curry powder, honey, cumin, turmeric and cardamom) also work together to give it another depth of flavor that elevates the typical ‘monotony’ that is most chicken salad recipes. The nuts just give it that extra edge of crunchy texture that it needs. The recipe does suggest using walnuts, but all I had in the house were almonds at the time so that’s what I went with and (like most of my improvisational kitchen decisions) it actually turned out to be what I think I would’ve preferred in the first place.
As you may have guessed, chicken salad actually tastes better the day after you make it, when the ingredients and flavors have time to sit and really meld together. So if you have the time to do so, I do recommend you making it at night just before you go to bed, then maybe taking it with you to work for lunch the next day, or saving it for dinner the next day. You won’t be disappointed, this makes an awesome sandwich, guys.
Side note: you want to send your chicken salad sandwich over the top and into the stratosphere of deliciousness? Add a layer of potato chips before you put on the top slice of bread. TRUST ME.
As I do every week, I’m linking this post up to the Fiesta Friday #116, co-hosted this week by Judi @ cookingwithauntjuju and Cynthia @ eatmunchlove.
Curried Chicken Salad with Roasted Carrots
Recipe Adapted from Food & Wine
Ingredients
- 3/4 pound carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
- 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- Kosher salt
- Pepper
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (or almonds, which is what I used)
- 2 cups plain whole-milk Greek yogurt
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 2 teaspoons curry powder
- 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 4 cups shredded rotisserie chicken (1 pound)
- 1/2 cup golden raisins
- 1 small Granny Smith apple-peeled, cored and cut into a fine dice
Directions
Preheat the oven to 400°. On a rimmed baking sheet, toss the carrots with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
Roast for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the carrots are tender. Let cool to room temperature. While the carrots are roasting, spread the almonds on a pie plate and toast for 3 to 5 minutes, until golden.
In a large bowl, mix the yogurt with the honey, cumin, curry powder, turmeric, cardamom and remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Fold in the shredded chicken, carrots, walnuts, golden raisins and apple and season with salt and pepper.
I make curried chicken salad (or coronation chicken as we Brits are apt to call it) often but I have never added carrots to the mixture. That sounds like a delicious addition. I must try it. I will miss out the raisins though – I feel about those the way you feel about mayo.
Ah, so THAT’S what “coronation chicken” actually is; I never knew that before now lol Thank you Laura, this recipe is SO adaptable to whatever you like, that’s one of my favorite parts about it 😉
What meal doesn’t curry save?? <3 Looks beautiful!
I sure as heck don’t know any lol Thank you, it’s not easy to make chicken salad look appetizing in pictures, so I really appreciate that 🙂
Beautiful looking chicken salad, I like to use greek yogurt too and just a tad of mayo 😀 I’m sure the curry powder makes this even more better 🙂
Thanks Freda, I really do think the curry powder and other spices makes this a step above ordinary chicken salad 😉
Wow, this is much more gorgeous than Coronation Chicken! and looks much more yummy!
Thank you, I think plain chicken salad CAN be tasty, but curry sure makes it better 😉
I roast carrots weekly and your dressing sounds lovely, I think I’d make a veggie version of this and eat it all very happily by myself!!!
Oh I definitely think this could be a wonderful vegetarian dish Elaine! Thank you very much 🙂
You obviously put a lot of thought into your recipe especially not liking mayo.I can handle mayo but in moderation – using Greek yogurt is a great substitution. Your version is very different from what I have eaten but it sure looks and sounds delicious. Thanks for sharing with Fiesta Friday.
Thank you ma’am, it took me a while to get on the chicken salad band wagon and even when I did I had to make adjustments. I hope you had a wonderful weekend 🙂
I love your healthy subsitution for mayo! This would be such a great recipe for lunch! THank you for sharing this at FF and I definitely need to get my hands on some curry powder to try this out!
Thanks Cynthia, I like that I finally get to have chicken salad that “works” for me lol
Very smart swapping out the mayo for greek yoghurt!
Anytime I can find a good recipe for chicken breast I bookmark it and I’m def bookmarking this!
This dish sounds delicious! I haven’t ever made a curry myself yet. I am also near a Whole Foods that recently opened about 2 months ago-I’m so excited to have one close by!
Thanks Nancy, I’m also relatively new to using it in my cooking but I’m quickly becoming a huge fan of it 🙂
Yum! I look forward to trying your recipe 🙂
Thank you sir, it’s VERY simple but also VERY yummy 🙂