Whole30 Curry Chicken Salad is a fantastic easy cold lunch option. It’s flavorful but made with simple ingredients. Also, it takes only 10 minutes to put together once your chicken is cooked and shredded. A great option to take to work, school, or when you travel!
The base of this chicken salad is mayo and shredded chicken. We love to make our own mayo with this recipe, though any compatible store-bought brand works as well. Then, add all the fun mix-ins to create a variety of textures and flavors that will keep you coming back for more!
We love serving this on butter lettuce leaves. Butter lettuce has soft, flexible leaves that are perfect for a small wrap. You can also wrap this in a coconut wrap. Or, just grab a fork and enjoy it as is!
As long as you have a cold pack, this salad is nice and portable. It’s a great one to pack for lunch at work or on the go. We take it with us in our Insulated Lunch Puffer.
Our Favorite Way to Make Shredded Chicken
This recipe gets its base from shredded chicken, which you can make yourself or use compatible canned chicken. One easy way to make shredded chicken is to put 2-3 chicken breasts on the trivet inside your Instant Pot, add 1 cup water to the bottom, seal, and steam or cook on manual for 10 minutes. Then use a standing or handheld mixer to shred the chicken. If you have a handheld mixer, you can do this right in your Instant Pot! Just remove the trivet and excess water and put the handheld mixer beaters right down into the Instant Pot. A great one-dish trick! Note: If using a standing mixer, we find covering the bowl when you shred the chicken with a mixer helpful for less mess. Easy peasy!
A Flexible Recipe
Like all chicken salads, this recipe is super flexible based on what you have on hand and your personal preference. You can also increase or decrease the amount of any of the mix-ins as desired. Here are some substitutions:
- Use ½ cup finely chopped apple instead of grapes.
- Swap another chopped nut, like pecans or cashews, instead of almonds. Or make it nut-free by using pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds for a crunch instead!
- Use unsweetened dried cranberries instead of raisins.
- Trade an equal amount of finely chopped red onion for the green onions.
Whole30 Curry Chicken Salad
Ingredients
- 1 cup compatible mayo
- 2 tsp curry powder
- 4 cups shredded or chopped chicken
- 1/2 cup quartered grapes
- 1/4 cup sliced almonds
- 2 tbsp green onion thinly sliced
- 2 tbsp raisins
- 2 tbsp finely chopped celery
- 1/2 tsp salt
Optional for Serving
- Butter lettuce leaves or coconut wraps
Instructions
- WHISK mayo and curry powder together in a small bowl until well combined.
- COMBINE all the ingredients, including the mayo mixture, in a large bowl. Stir until well mixed.
- SERVE in butter lettuce leaves or coconut wraps. Store remaining chicken salad in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
