Curried Chicken Salad Recipe… Party Size!

For Indyanna’s first birthday party, I made my favorite Curried Chicken Salad using my Easy Slow Cooker Poached Chicken. This was a perfect party dish! It’s easy to scale up, you can make it in advance and who doesn’t like their lunch stuffed in an avocado? I loved that I could make this the day before, leaving me the morning of the party, to do last minute things , like make buttercream frosting!

We served this over arugula, drizzled with a lemon vinaigrette. The peppery/spicy flavor of the arugula worked really well with the sweet/tangy flavor of the chicken salad. And the avocado added the perfect, buttery goodness that brought it all together!

Hope you love this recipe, as much as we do!

Curried Chicken Salad
[Printable Version]

serves 12-14

Ingredients
Meat from 1 whole poached chicken (get directions here) or you can use 1 rotisserie chicken, diced
1/2 cup dried apricots, finely diced
1/4 cup dried cranberries, finely diced (or sub currants)
1 gala apple, finely chopped
1/4 cup chives, minced
1 stalk celery, finely chopped
1/4 cup red onion, finely chopped
salt + pepper to taste
2 cups homemade mayonnaise (recipe below)

6-8 large handfuls of arugula
6-7 large avocados, halved
Lemon Vinaigrette (recipe below)

1. In a large bowl, combine the first 8 ingredients.
2. Fold in the mayonnaise.
3. Adjust salt and pepper to taste.
4. Cut avocados in half, remove the pit, and top with chicken salad. You can also slice the avocado into segments, making it easier to scoop out.
5. Place over a bed of arugula, drizzled with lemon vinaigrette and serve!

Homemade Curried Mayo

Ingredients 
Two egg yolks, at room temperature
2 teaspoons stone ground mustard (I use this kind)
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 cups mild-tasting olive oil or avocado oil (I like this olive oil and this avocado oil)
2 teaspoons curry powder (mild) (I use this kind)

1. Into the bowl of a food processor fitted with the blade, place the egg yolk, mustard, lemon juice, salt, and pepper.
2. While it’s running, add the olive oil to the insert. The insert should have a tiny little whole in it that will slowly drip the oil into the food processor. Leave the food processor running until all of the oil has completely dripped through. This emulsification process is key when making mayo. Trust me, the first time I ever made homemade mayo, I just poured the cup of olive oil right in with the ingredients and it just made a liquid-y mess and not a mayo.
3. Add the curry powder and give the food processor a quick whirl.
4. Adjust salt and pepper to taste.

Lemon Vinaigrette 

Ingredients
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice (I use meyer lemons)
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/2 teaspoon sea salt or to taste
1 teaspoon stone ground mustard or to taste (I use this kind)
1/4 teaspoon black pepper or to taste

Place all ingredients in a jar and mix well, until thoroughly blended. 

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