Curry Chicken Salad with Mango and Cashews
This isn’t your grandmother’s curry chicken salad recipe, and that’s exactly the point.
This curry chicken salad recipe is a mouthwatering upgrade of a retro classic: tender chicken, toasted cashews, fresh mango, and a golden curry dressing made with sweet chutney and Greek yogurt. It’s the kind of irresistible summer salad that disappears at every potluck, picnic and bridal shower it attends. Make it the day before and let those flavors get acquainted overnight.
Ingredients in this Curry Chicken Salad
- chicken breasts ( skin on- bone in) or a rotisserie chicken
- olive oil
- mayonaise
- Greek yogurt
- sweet chutney- I used Patak’s
- curry powder
- turmeric
- granulated garlic
- kosher salt\ground pepper
- golden raisins
- cashews
- green onions
- celery
- red onion
- mangos
Equipment needed for this Curry Chicken Salad Recipe
- rimmed baking sheet
- parchment paper
- sharp knife
- large mixing bowl
- digital thermometer ( to check the internal temp of the chicken after roasting)
Why this Curry Chicken Salad Recipe is so special
- I take the freshest combination of warm spices to make the dressing even more deep in flavor.
- Instead of a heavy mayonnaise dressing, I swap in sweet chutney and tangy Greek yogurt to lift the flavors.
- Texture is key- creamy mangos and crunchy roasted cashews make this salad bursting with great texture.
- It’s a perfect make- ahead recipe. It gets better every day.
Why fresh spices are so important when making this Curry Chicken Salad Recipe
Chances are you have a jar of curry powder in your pantry, and chances are pretty high it is more than a year old. Fresh spices make ALL the difference in this recipe. Old spices lose their flavor and can make this recipe taste dull and craggy. You want fresh spices to brighten the recipe. I prefer to buy my spices from bulk jars at the grocery store and only buy exactly what I need.
Here are a few other of my favorite places to buy high quality spices:
Pro Tips for a great Curry Chicken Salad
Try these other Summer Salad Recipes:
- Ramen Noodle Chicken Salad
- Southern Chicken Salad
- Thai Chicken with Soba Noodles and Peanut Sauce
- Summer Salmon Salad
Curry Chicken Salad with Mango and Cashews
Ingredients
- 2 TBSP Olive oil
- 1 lbs Chicken breasts, skin on and bone in
- 1 tsp Kosher salt, divided
- 1 tsp freshly ground pepper, divided
- ½ cup Mayonaise
- ½ cup Plain Greek Yogurt
- ½ cup sweet chutney Patak's or Major Grey's
- 2 TBSP Curry powder, divided
- 1 tsp turmeric
- ½ tsp granulated garlic
- 3 stalks green onions, chopped into thin pieces, remove most of the green,
- 2 stalks celery, chopped
- ½ cup red onion, sliced into rings
- 1 cup golden raisins
- 1 cup roasted and salted cashews
- 2 mangos, 1- peeled and sliced into thin strips, the other, cut into cubes
Instructions
For the Dressing
- In a medium bowl combine mayonnaise Greek yogurt and sweet chutney. Stir well with a whisk.
- To the mayo-yogurt mixture, add 1 tsp turmeric 1 TBSP curry powder, 1/2 tsp granulated garlic, 1/2 tsp kosher salt, 1/2 tsp black pepper. Stir well to incorporate. Taste and add remaining curry powder, if desired. Chill until ready to assemble the salad.
For the Salad
- If using pre-cooked rotisserie chicken, shred the chicken and proceed to Step #5
- Pre heat the oven to 375 degrees. Line a rimmed baking pan with parchment paper.
- Season the chicken breasts with olive oil, and half of the salt and pepper. Place the chicken breasts on the prepared sheet pan and roast at 375 for 35-45 minutes or until a thermometer inserted into the deepest part of the breasts reads 165 degrees. Chill for 30 minutes or until cool enough to handle.
- Remove the skin and bones from the cooled chicken and shred or chop the chicken meat into bite size pieces. Add the chicken to a large bowl.
- To the chicken, add in the green onions, celery, red onions, raisins and cubed mango. Add the chilled dressing to the chicken mixture stiring well to coat the entire mixture well. Chill for at least 2 hours or overnight.
- Just before serving, stir in the cashews. Serve with the sliced mangos on the side- see photo.
- To store- Cover remaining chicken and store in the fridge up to 4 days.
