We made a delicious roasted chicken recently and had about half of it just calling to be made into chicken salad. As usually happens at my house, we also decided that curry was the way to go with it. As always, "recipe" is a bit of a strong term, but here's (vaguely) what we did. It turned out tasty, so give it a shot!
Since we're doing Whole 30 around here, we used a Whole 30 approved mayo (I like Sir Kensington or Chosen Foods avocado mayo) and a juice sweetened cranberry. We are cheating a bit and adding a little honey (your call) mostly because of the amount of curry I use and also because we have the most amazing honey from my local farmer/beekeeper.
So here's the "leftover" chicken, pulled by hand. All the scraps, of course, became chicken bone broth, or are becoming currently. The way I have been doing my roasted chicken (and may never do any other way again!) can be found HERE.
This step is optional, but highly recommended. Heating curry powder (and many kinds of spices) "opens them up" and brings out a ton of fragrance and flavor! So I heated a small skillet, added a good scoop of coconut oil (1-2TBSP ish) and once it was melty and warm, I added my curry powder. Now, we LOVE curry and are not afraid of strong flavors, so do with that what you will, but I added probably 3 ish TBSP of my yellow curry powder. I picked one that is milder and on the more sweet side rather than the more spicy or pungent for this. I stirred to make a paste and let it toast up until fragrant and slightly darker. Then I turned off the heat and added 1 ish TBSP of our amazing honey to let it melt and distribute nicely.
This method also helps it coat the chicken super well and distribute evenly and yummily.
If your mouth isn't watering yet, you definitely need to try this because it will. Next came our other ingredients. I often skim a few other recipes online when I'm creating something or winging it, or I just look around the kitchen and see what I have around, or both! Today was apples, celery, cashews and of course the mayo.
A quick stir and a taste told us we wanted a little more pop, so a handful of the cranberries it was. This was the right call today. Also, I just bought them and they were still super soft and juicy and just perfect. Another stir, taste for seasoning (the chicken was pretty well seasoned from cooking so it needed very little seasoning) and it was lunch!
Curried Chicken Salad (Whole 30) (All measurements in "ish")
3 cups pulled chicken (we used half of a roasted 5lb chicken)
1-2 TBSP coconut oil
1-4 TBSP curry powder (yellow or your favorite)
*Optional 1-2 TBSP honey*
2 stalks celery with leaves, diced
1 small apple, tiny diced
1/4-1/2 cup mayo
1/4 cup cashews
2-4 TBSP dried cranberries
salt and pepper to taste
Melt coconut oil, add curry powder and heat until fragrant. Turn off heat and add honey if using. Pour over chicken, stir, then add remaining ingredients. Stir, taste, season as necessary. Enjoy in lettuce wrap, other wrap, sandwich, salad, with a fork... you do you.
Yum!