Curried Chicken Salad

AgraCulture, a local fast casual chain, has a curried chicken salad sandwich I love and used to order all the time when I worked in Uptown and we had free "healthy lunches" once a week. (I have to give a bit of side eye to AgraCulture's "food ethos" with its reference to the Dirty Dozen, but I appreciate their focus on quality ingredients and they always had Organic Valley milk available.)

I haven't worked near an AgraCulture in years but that sandwich stuck with me. Last year, I discovered a recipe that seemed similar and set out to create a version that was perfect for me.

This curried chicken salad is a great lunch meal prep, and usually makes just more than enough for a week of lunches so would be good to prep for two as well. If you already have cooked chicken on hand, this is a great recipe to quickly put together Sunday night (or hey, Monday lunch time during #wfh) and then you just have to serve it the rest of the week.

I serve it in half of a pita pocket, but some days I need the entire pita. You could also go lighter, or GF, with a lettuce wrap version, though I haven't personally tried. 

Curry Chicken & Apple Salad
Adapted from The Real Food RDs

Servings: 4-6

Time: 15 minutes if you already have your chicken cooked, 40 if not

Ingredients:

• 1/2 c Greek yogurt
• 2 t curry powder
• 1/2 t ancho chili powder, ground
• 2 T lime juice (roughly half a lime if using fresh)
• 1/4 t salt
• 2 c cooked chicken, diced or shredded
• 1 small or medium apple, diced
• 2 celery ribs, finely diced
• 2 green onions or 1/4 c red onion, diced (depends on what I'm feeling and what I have on hand, both work well but provide different flavors)
• 1/4 c raisins

For serving:

• 3-6 pita pockets (depending on if you want to use half or the entire pocket)

Instructions:

In a medium bowl, whisk together yogurt, curry powder, chili pepper, lime juice, pepper and salt.

Add the chicken, apple, celery, onion and stir until well combined. Fold in the raisins. Store in the fridge; keeps up to 4-5 days in the fridge, though it will get a bit more saucy closer to 4 days.

To serve, cut pita pocket in half and then heat it up in the microwave for 10-15 seconds (otherwise, it won't open as easily). Gently separate the pita to expand the pocket. Spoon chicken salad into the pocket to fill and enjoy!


Note: For the cooked chicken, I roast or grill a bunch of chicken breasts at once, shred them using my KitchenAid (paddle attachment) and then use it as needed for recipes like this, freezing any not needed right away. To roast, I coat them in olive oil and then rub with Penzey's Northwoods seasoning (salt, pepper and garlic powder will also work) on a foil-lined baking sheet, then put in a 450 oven for 18 minutes or until they reach 165. Alternatively, you can use leftover rotisserie chicken.