Hen salads are simple to place collectively and straightforward to eat! This twist provides a creamy curry dressing that may maintain you coming again for extra. We packed in candy bites of apple, golden raisins, and a bit of 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, strive our simple Pesto Hen Salad.
Why Our Recipe
- A creamy curry dressing provides a twist to conventional hen salad with
- Tremendous simple to toss collectively and excellent for sandwiches, wraps, and even stuffed avocados.
- Candy and crunchy mix-ins together with apples, raisins, and toasted almonds.
Hen salad is at all times 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 fascinating. 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 may at all times bake and shred hen breasts as properly.
- Celery: Mince it up so it will possibly unfold the crunch round within the salad.
- Apple: Crips apples give the proper crunch. We advise pink apples like Gala, Fuji, Honeycrisp, Pink Girl, 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 chunk of an everyday onion.
- Almonds: Slivered almonds give a noticeable crunch so your hen salad isn’t mushy. We’ve you toast them to get a greater taste. You may as well swap out with roughly chopped cashews.
- Raisins: We use golden raisins as an alternative of standard for his or her sweeter taste and juiciness. Common raisins work, however you actually get a greater outcome with these plump golden raisins. You may additionally use dried cranberries or quarter some pink or grapes.
- Mayonnaise: We’ve achieved mayo style checks and strongly advocate utilizing a neutral-flavored mayonnaise. Seems, that is virtually at all times going to be a generic retailer model. If you’d like one thing lighter, you may change the mayo with plain Greek yogurt in the identical quantity.
- Curry Powder: We use a plain yellow curry powder. You may simply discover within the spice aisle of just about any U.S. or Canadian grocery retailer.
- Lemon Juice: Freshly squeezed at all times provides one of the best 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 greatest 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 which you can 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 terrific deal. Many shops are additionally now providing the rotisserie hen pre-shredded and packaged, too!
Frozen Cooked Hen – try 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. Drain and shred hen with a fork.
Bake Your Personal Hen – lay hen breasts out right into a evenly greased 9×13 pan. Season evenly with salt and pepper. Bake at 350 levels for 25 to half-hour till cooked by. Then shred or roughly chop.
Make-Forward Directions
That is the proper make-ahead meal. In reality, 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 Solutions
There’s no fallacious 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 excellent for therefore many alternative events.
On a Croissant: Nothing beats a flaky croissant filled with curry hen salad. It feels a bit of fancy. You may 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 properly.
Stuffed in an Avocado: Slice an avocado in half and cargo it up. It’s recent, filling, and simply feels a bit of further (in one of the best 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.
Storage Directions
Refrigerate leftovers in an hermetic container for 3-4 days. To get pleasure from it once more, you may serve it chilly, straight from the fridge or let it come to room temperature.
*Freezing shouldn’t be really helpful.