Chicken Curry Salad Recipe

When Theo first tried Trader Joe’s chicken curry salad, it was love at first taste.  Makes sense as his mama has been obsessed with chicken curry salad for some time.  I first fell in love with the stuff when I was a foreign exchange student in Belgium.  I went to a bougie Catholic boarding school that was still partially run by nuns.  Whenever my host family forgot to pack lunch I got to buy lunch from the school and I only had eyes for one thing: chicken curry salad with shredded carrots served on crispy baguette. 

The Trader Joe’s variety is not ideal for little kids since it has large, hard chunks of chicken and cashews that could be a choking hazard.  When I serve it to Theo, I have to sift through each scoop looking for large pieces to cut up, so I decided to make my own batch with smaller chicken and cashew pieces.  I swapped out the mayonnaise for greek yogurt and traded the raisins for chopped grapes.  The end product is fresher and lighter than the Trader Joe’s variety.  

Here’s the recipe I settled on:

• 1.5 lbs skinless chicken breast, cooked and diced

• 3 green onions, diced

• 1 carrot, shredded 

• 1.5 cups seedless red grapes, quartered

• 1/2 cup unsalted, roasted cashews, finely diced

• Optional for older kids who are good chewers: 2 celery stalks, finely diced

Dressing:

• 3/4 cup greek yogurt

• 1.5 tablespoon curry powder

• Juice from 1 lemon (or 1 lime)

• 1 tablespoon maple syrup

• Salt and pepper, to taste

Add a drizzle of olive oil to a large pan and heat on medium.  Add the chicken and cook completely.  Transfer the chicken to a cutting board. Once the chicken is cool enough to handle, cut it into small pieces. In a large bowl, mix chopped chicken, green onions, carrot, grapes and cashews.  In a small bowl mix together the salad dressing ingredients until smooth.  Add the dressing to the large bowl and stir until combined.  

This can be served as a sandwich, on crackers, on a bed of lettuce, in a toasted pita or scooped onto a single lettuce leaf. Theo also just likes to eat it by the handful :)

Vegetarian option: instead of chicken, substitute tofu.  Cut firm tofu into small cubes and pan try in olive oil. 

Time saver: Trader Joes also serves precooked and cubed chicken breast.