Curried Chicken Salad–Day Three of the Four Day Chicken

Boring food?  Not in this house!  David and I are admittedly foodies who enjoy a wide variety of colors, textures, and flavors.

When planning my four-day chicken challenge, I wanted to include a salad.  But not just any plain salad.  No thank you!  Ours  had to have excitement–some zip and zing.  My curried chicken salad fits that description perfectly.  It has flavor, crunch, a hint of sweetness, and is just the thing for a warm summer evening.

I served our on beds of dark, mixed greens, but this would also make a nice sandwich filling or would be great on crackers.  An added bonus:  the longer this sits the more the flavors meld together which makes for some pretty delicious leftovers.  Here’s the recipe.

Curried Chicken Salad

4 cups of cooked chicken

1T curry powder–some people like more so adjust to taste

1 cup of raisins or dried cranberries.  David isn’t a fan of raisins, so I used the cranberries.  He loved them.

2 cups of chopped celery

1 cup pecans or almonds, roughly chopped–I toasted my pecans in the oven for 10 minutes at 350 degrees to give them extra crunch

1 cup mayonnaise

Put the chicken in a large bowl and add the curry powder, stirring to coat.  Next, add the cranberries and finally, the rest of the ingredients.  Stir to incorporate.

Chill or serve at room temperature.

Yield:  6-8 generous servings

Now I need to tell you about my OOPS!  Yesterday, I took some leftover salad to work for lunch.  Then, distracted by other things, I mindless stuck it in the microwave.  Groaning, I thought, “Well, why not give it a try anyway?”  It was delicious–kind of like a curried chicken casserole.  I think if I ever made it on purpose though, I would add a bit more curry.  You know the old idea…accidents can lead so some pretty great inventions.

Tomorrow I’ll wrap up my four-day challenge with an old traditional standby, Chicken Soup.  Send me your recipes and ideas so we can continue to learn together.

And since chicken is on your mind right now, don’t forget to order your meat birds.  It’s time to start filling your freezer for the months ahead.