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Curry Chicken Salad with apricots and walnuts

Curry Chicken Salad with apricots and walnuts. A bright, intensely flavourful twist on good old chicken salad! Delicious on sandwiches or as the star of a dinner salad.

Curry Chicken Salad sandwich

Curry Chicken Salad sandwich.

Originally published July 2018.

This Curry Chicken Salad recipe came about because of a mass of leftover chicken breast in the fridge. Truth be told, there is almost always leftover chicken in our fridge!

If I’m roasting chicken it is very rare for me to cook just one. I almost always cook two and plan for leftovers, especially if it is a Sunday dinner.

Curry Chicken Salad ingredients

Curry Chicken Salad ingredients

Monday leftovers can be both a blessing and a curse though. It does take a little imagination and a bit of creative thinking to make sure those leftovers never get boring.

On this occasion there were more leftovers than usual. I had cooked two whole chickens in my backyard smoker Beer Butt Chicken style.

At the time I thought there would be 4 of us for dinner.

Curry Chicken Salad on whole wheat sourdough bread

Curry Chicken Salad on whole wheat sourdough bread.

However, as so often happens with teens in the household, they tend to make their own last minute plans. Mom and Dad are very often left to our own devices, especially during these warm sunny days.

As a rule, Spouse and I prefer the dark meat and the kids have almost always preferred the white meat. Therefore we had 4 whole chicken breasts in the fridge the next day.

Curry Chicken Salad served on green salad

Curry Chicken Salad with apricots and walnuts on a green salad.

Curry Chicken Salad Sandwiches.

I had baked some fresh whole wheat and spelt flour sourdough bread  in the morning, so by lunchtime we were ready for a great chicken salad sandwich.

I turned to Spouse for ideas about how to jazz up our chicken salad. We bounced some ideas back and forth as we were scouring the cupboards and fridge.

Some previously toasted walnuts and a few leftover dried apricots gave us the inspiration for this version of chicken salad. We’ve always liked adding fruit and nut elements to salads. Our Turkey Waldorf  Wraps are a great example.

We knew we were onto a winner at first bite. Wow! It turned out to be a terrific combination of flavours and textures.

From the sweet touch of the apricots to the crunchy nuts and crispy crusted bread, it really was a substantial meal all in itself.

Leftovers

The next day, we had leftover leftovers, with some of the curry chicken salad remaining from the day before. Number one son ate some on a sandwich and loved it; the rest Spouse and I had on a simple green salad for lunch.

It was perhaps even more delicious the next day. The green salad idea, is also a terrific one to keep in mind for a summer dinner party.

It’s an appetizer course that could easily be made a day ahead and then served in small portions on the night of the party. I’ll be keeping that one in mind for later as the summer moves on.

If you liked this recipe you’ll be sure to find many more to try and love in our collection of 26 Best BBQ Side Dishes.

26 Best Barbecue Side Dishes photo collage for Pinterest

 

Like this Curry Chicken Salad recipe?

You’ll find hundreds of other great ideas in our Quick & Easy Category and even more in our BBQ & Grilling Category.

Curry Chicken Salad with apricots and walnuts, image with added title text

Curry Chicken Salad with apricots and walnuts

 

Curry Chicken Salad sandwich
Yield: 4 servings

Curry Chicken Salad with apricots and walnuts

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 25 minutes

Curry Chicken Salad with apricots and walnuts. A bright, intensely flavourful twist on good old chicken salad! Delicious on sandwiches or as the star of a dinner salad.

Ingredients

  • 2 cups leftover cooked chicken
  • 1/4 cup chopped dried apricots
  • 1/4 cup red bell pepper, diced finely
  • 1/2 tsp yellow curry powder
  • 1/4 cup low fat mayo
  • 1 tbsp honey
  • 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
  • 1/4 cup toasted walnuts
  • 1 tbsp chopped chives, or 2 tbsp green onion
  • salt and pepper to season

Instructions

  1. Toast your walnuts first so they can cool. I place them on a small cookie tray and bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees F.
  2. Toss the walnuts at the half way point to help them toast evenly.
  3. Roughly chop the nuts once they have cooled for 10-15 minutes
  4. Toss all of the ingredients together until well combined. Add a little more mayo if the dressing seems to be too thin.
  5. Serve on good crusty bread as sandwiches or on a green salad.

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Nutrition Information

Yield

4

Serving Size

serving

Amount Per Serving Calories 206Saturated Fat 1gCholesterol 50mgSodium 193mgCarbohydrates 12gFiber 1gSugar 9gProtein 17g

The nutritional information provided is automatically calculated by third party software and is meant as a guideline only. Exact accuracy is not guaranteed. For recipes where all ingredients may not be used entirely, such as those with coatings on meats, or with sauces or dressings for example, calorie & nutritional values per serving will likely be somewhat lower than indicated.

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Sherrill

Wednesday 24th of April 2024

This chicken salad is so good. Perfect mix of flavour and crunch.

Clarice

Sunday 12th of June 2022

Can I substitute pecans for the walnuts in the Curry Chicken Salad with Apricots and Walnuts? I love walnuts, but I am subjected to really bad heartburn when I eat them.

Barry C. Parsons

Wednesday 24th of April 2024

Of course.

Crystal

Sunday 15th of July 2018

I am getting back into sour dough bread starter/bread. Would love your whole wheat and spelt recipe? I always have starter on the go but my bread really sucks.

Barry C. Parsons

Monday 16th of July 2018

I get a lot of my recipes from Perfect Sourdough Group on Facebook. There's lots of help and advise there from members too!

2pots2cook

Sunday 15th of July 2018

Perfect one to watch the soccer finals game today ! Thank you !

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