Curry Hen Salad – The Keep At House Chef

Hen salads are straightforward to place collectively and straightforward to eat! This twist provides a creamy curry dressing that may hold 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 hen salad goodness, attempt our straightforward Pesto Chicken Salad.

Why Our Recipe

• A creamy curry dressing provides a twist to conventional hen 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 all the time 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 women’ luncheon, too. A curry model is an effective 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 if you need one thing lighter for lunch.

Ingredient Notes

• Hen: This recipe makes use of 2 cups of pre-cooked hen. Rotisserie hen or leftovers work completely. You’ll be able to all the time bake and shred hen breasts as effectively.
• Celery: Mince it up so it might probably unfold the crunch round within the salad.
• Apple: Crips apples give the right crunch. We advise purple apples like Gala, Fuji, Honeycrisp, Pink Woman, or Purple Scrumptious for his or her sweetness, however you should use inexperienced apples for a extra tart taste.
• Inexperienced Onions: These add a recent, delicate onion taste and texture to the salad with out the sharp chew of a daily onion.
• Almonds: Slivered almonds give a noticeable crunch so your hen salad isn’t mushy. Now we have you toast them to get a greater taste. You can too 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 end result with these plump golden raisins. You would additionally use dried cranberries or quarter some purple or grapes.
• Mayonnaise: Now we have achieved mayo style checks and strongly advocate utilizing a neutral-flavored mayonnaise. Seems, that is nearly all the time going to be a generic retailer model. If you’d like one thing lighter, you’ll be able to change the mayo with plain Greek yogurt in the identical quantity.
• Curry Powder: We use a plain yellow curry powder. You’ll be able to simply discover within the spice aisle of just about any U.S. or Canadian grocery retailer.
• Lemon Juice: Freshly squeezed all the time provides the perfect taste, however the bottled stuff works too.
• Cilantro: We love cilantro for that distinctly recent, citrusy, and barely spicy style, however some folks 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 hen and that comes with all types of choices.

Rotisserie Hen – many American grocery shops promote cooked rotisserie chickens you could purchase and shred. It’s usually a “loss chief,” which implies they promote it for lower than it truly prices to mak,e so it may be a fantastic deal. Many shops are additionally now providing the rotisserie hen pre-shredded and packaged, too!

Frozen Cooked Hen – take a look at the freezer part of your grocery retailer for pre-cooked hen strips and chunks.

Boiled Hen – Merely boil 2 hen breasts (about 1 pound) in both water or hen broth (for extra taste) for about quarter-hour, or till cooked by way of. Drain and shred hen with a fork.

Bake Your Personal Hen – lay hen breasts out right into a frivolously greased 9×13 pan. Season frivolously with salt and pepper. Bake at 350 levels for 25 to half-hour till cooked by way of. Then shred or roughly chop.

Make-Forward Directions

That is the right make-ahead meal. Actually, 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 unsuitable approach to serve curry hen salad, and there actually are so many choices. It’s form of good as a result of it makes it good for thus many various events.

On a Croissant: Nothing beats a flaky croissant filled with curry hen 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 a giant 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 obtained a simple wrap that travels effectively.

Stuffed in an Avocado: Slice an avocado in half and cargo it up. It’s recent, filling, and simply feels just a little further (in one of the simplest ways).

Over a Salad: Go extra old style and scoop it on high of your favourite greens for a brilliant fast salad.

With Crackers: Scoop it up along with your favourite crackers or pita chips for a simple snack board state of affairs or appetizer.