Featured comment
Having this for lunch today as part of #POYsugarfreeJanuary Seriously so delicious. I will be repeating this recipe many times
Marli
So… is it more or less goddess-y if it’s served on an everything bagel?
More, I think.
Guys, I am normally not big into cold creamy salads but wow. This is my season to shine with these retro-ish salads (looking at this classic chicken salad too). I think I sort of got on a kick when I revisited the egg salad (heyo, avocado egg salad!) after about a ten year boycott, and that has become my gateway into other cold creamy salads such as this lovely classic: Curry Chicken Salad.
Ingredients For This Recipe
Chicken
This recipe works best with chicken breasts, ideally thinly sliced if you want them to cook more quickly. You could also use pre-cooked shredded chicken if you’re short on time!
Spices
This uses a really simple mixture of curry powder, garlic powder, and onion power that you season right on the chicken.
Yogurt
Plain, unsweetened Greek yogurt is best here – super creamy, nice and tangy, and a hit of protein to boot.
Honey
I love the honey flavor in this, but any other liquid sweetener would also do the trick!
Golden Raisins
These are just the absolutely perfect pops of sweetness against the tangy yogurt and punchy spices. Definitely a don’t-miss!
Pistachios
These really make the texture sing with a little bit of crunch and nuttiness. Almonds would also work great here.
Fresh Herbs
Cilantro is my preference, or parsley works too. Just adds a little bit of green and a lot of flavor!
What Sets This Curry Chicken Salad Apart
This is not your ordinary curry chicken salad – it’s a GODDESS CURRY CHICKEN SALAD. Which basically just means I feel like the summer goddess of health and wellness when I eat this. Especially on an everything bagel. So, yes, my definitely of health and wellness goes a little bit outside the box sometimes.
This really isn’t all that different from a regular curry chicken salad, except no fruit – none of this apples or grapes or blueberries business – and no mayo. As you have seen from my love of Wild Rice Burgers, I have a healthy love and respect for good old fashioned mayonnaise. But if we’re getting into the summer goddess zone? Goodbye, mayo. Greek yogurt feels like such a basic stand-in, but that’s because it works. It’s good. It is thick, creamy, and the added tang is a welcome addition to this salad, IMHO.
Real Chicken Talk: THIS CHICKEN, you guys. I will never make another kind of chicken for salad toss-ins. I cut it in half horizontally, so the pieces were super thin, and then I loaded them with garlic powder, onion powder, curry powder, salt, and pepper. Sautéed in a little olive oil, and MWAH. Best quick chicken ever. I even let it get a little extra browned on the outside because I play by my own rules.
Also invited to this party are:
- Greek yogurt
- olive oil
- curry powder
- pistachios
- golden raisins
- parsley, cilantro, basil, whatever the heck herbs you want. and this idea just came to me: MINT. please someone add some mint.
Hit that up with some salt and pepper, and a little more curry powder to taste, and zing! You’ve got goddess curry chicken salad magic on your hands.
It’s practically a detox salad, except that dairy isn’t really detox, and chicken.. well, whatever. Close enough, right? It’s real food, clean eating, delicious summer love.
And you know if you give a summer goddess some curry chicken salad, she’s probably going to ask for an everything bagel. Just warning you.
Other Favorite Meal Prep Salads:
- Quinoa Sweet Potato Salad with Lemon Dressing
- Lentil Greek Salad with Dill Sauce
- Summer Quinoa Salad Jars with Lemon Dill Dressing
- Quinoa Crunch Salad with Peanut Dressing
- Cashew Crunch Salad with Sesame Dressing
- Super Yummy Chicken Salad
Check Out Our Video For How To Make Curry Chicken Salad:
Click here to see the step-by-step web story instructions for this recipe!
Common Questions About Curry Chicken Salad
We would recommend the following substitutions to make this curry chicken salad vegan:
Replace the chicken with chickpeas.
Replace the Greek yogurt with vegan mayonnaise and omit the oil.
Replace the honey with agave syrup.
Use mayonnaise and omit the oil in the recipe.
This should last about 3-4 days in a sealed container in the fridge.
Try out this recipe – all the classic ingredients and flavors!
Goddess Curry Chicken Salad
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
Description
This Curry Chicken Salad is super clean and SO delicious. Loaded with spiced chicken, golden raisins, pistachios, herbs, and Greek yogurt + olive oil as a stand-in for mayo.
Ingredients
- 1 lb. chicken breasts
- 2 teaspoons curry powder (more to taste)
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 3/4 cup Greek yogurt
- 2 tablespoons olive oil or water
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1/4 cup golden raisins
- 1/4 cup pistachios
- 1/4 cup cilantro and/or parsley
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Cook the chicken: Cut the chicken breasts in half horizontally so they are very thin. Sprinkle chicken with curry powder, garlic powder, and onion powder. Season with salt and pepper. Sauté in a nonstick skillet over medium high heat with a drizzle of olive oil until golden brown and cooked through. When cooled, chop the chicken into small pieces and chill in the fridge.
- Assemble your Curry Chicken Salad: Once the chicken is cool enough, mix in a medium bowl with all remaining ingredients. Season to taste with more curry powder, onion powder, garlic powder, and (obvi) salt and pepper. Serve over greens, on a croissant, on toast, in a wrap, or my personal favorite: on an everything bagel.
Equipment
Buy Now → 
Buy Now → 
Buy Now → - Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Category: Lunch
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Thai-Inspired
Keywords: curry chicken salad, chicken salad, lunch recipe, lunch meal prep, chicken salad no fruit, everything bagel, chicken salad sandwich
One More Thing!
This recipe is part of our best healthy spring recipes page. Check it out!
This is really good, I used a rotisserie chicken, added celery, apples, changed to cashews and served over greens. Super easy/ quick lunch
Next time I’m going to make sourdough pitas and serve these as a sandwich. Would be great for camping
I tried this recipe — came out really nice! 😋 I bought the chicken from Onsup, so it was super easy to make. Fresh and already cleaned, so I just had to cook and mix. Definitely trying it again!
Woah, this recipe is incredible. I’m not a huge raisin or chicken salad person but I was looking for different lunch ideas and I always put my trust in POY. The flavor profile is incredible – this will be a repeat recipe in our house for sure!!
Can you freeze this?
Unfortunately this recipe doesn’t freeze well!
Can’t wait to try this recipe! I can’t get the link to work for your chefs knife under equipment. Can you tell me which one it is please? I am currently looking for one. Thanks!
This goddess curry chicken recipe was delicious! I did substitute regular yogurt for most of the yogurt quantity because I didn’t have enough Greek and it worked fine! Substituted mayo too for olive oil because I didn’t have that on hand (forgot it at the store) make it the way the recipe says or make a few tweaks like I did, but a great easy recipe and so delicious!
SO DELICIOUS!! I doubled the sauce ingredients, except for the honey (kept it at 2T) and used with a whole rotisserie chicken, which ended up being about 1.75 pounds of chicken. Very very delicious. Quite good on an everything bagel as shown!
A favorite go to for lunch! The flavors are just so yummy! I usually add the nuts just before making the sandwich so they stay crispy.
Hi Lindsay – I think this is the first time I am leaving a message even though I have been following you and recommending you for YEARS!
I’m in England (UK) and here we call your curried chicken salad ‘Coronation Chicken’
You can add all kinds of extras like fresh mango slices, celery, mango chutney, chopped dried apricots etc but best of all toasted almond flakes! Do you want me to send you my mother’s recipe?
I’ve just seen you have 184 comments… perhaps you will never get round to mine!
Coronation Chicken – named in India for Queen Victoria!
Thank you for the curry recipe.
I just did this recipe. I used a spicy curry powder and lots of honey, walnuts, and raisins, red onion, and a little sorry. I use some ACV because I didn’t have any lime juice and it came out. Amazing! I used the cilantro and I had fresh dill, but I ended up using the cilantro and this is my new favorite recipe ever! I’ve never used yogurt instead of mayo and it made such a difference in such a beautiful taste. I’m so glad I found this recipe, and I will teach it to my children and claim it as my own, lol! Kudos to you this is a great recipe. Thank you.
Glad you enjoyed it, Lisa!
Love everything about this salad! Quick, easy, delicious! Great for meal prep!
This recipe is AMAZING! I’m a vegetarian so I used gardien chick’n strips as a substitute for the chicken. I put it on a croissant with dressed arugula, chefs kiss. Thank you for the recipe, I will definitely be adding this to the rotation!
Just made this and it is seriously yummy! A nice combo of savory and sweet with a little kick from the hot curry powder I used. My only modification was adding a little bit of diced celery for extra texture and veggie content. Thanks for so many great recipes! You guys are my go to for delicious!
Do you think you could substitute leftover turkey?
That could work!
Great recipe! I substituted dried cranberries for the raisins, as my store didn’t carry them. I also left out the pistachios. I really liked how it turned out. I used it in a wrap with Parmesan. Yum!
This was one of the easiest and most delicious meals I have ever made!
I bought chicken cutlets from the store and seasoned as directed. The cutlets cooked in a very short amount of time (about 8 minutes). In the sauce, I used cranberries instead of golden raisins because it was what I had on hand. I reduced the honey to about 1 tbsp, added some fresh celery I needed to use, and also added some mashed avocado that I had left over from making your orange cilantro chicken kebabs (also very tasty!).
I ate the chicken salad on a toasted english muffin with sweet potato chips for lunch.
Outstanding and will recommend to others! I will be saving this recipe.
Omg!! First off . . . I probably wouldn’t have tried this recipe because I didn’t want my house smelling of. Curry (even though I love it, but I also don’t fry foods either for the same reason),, but i tried this because of the menu plan and this was a game changer. Love it! The salty//sweet and crunch from the nuts. Exquisite! Thank you for turning me on to something different.
I usually love POY recipes but this one fell flat for me. I was expecting more vibrant flavors and even after adding more seasoning just wasn’t for me.
I love, love, love this recipe. It’s delicious and a great option to make on Sunday and have for lunches throughout the week.
This was delicious! I had some leftover roast chicken I needed to use up and it worked perfectly here. I just added the curry, onion, and garlic powder directly to the greek yogurt mixture. Also had a plethora of cashews so I used those instead of the pistachios and it was great. Whole thing came together so quickly. Ate wrapped in butter lettuce and also with some ritz crackers. Highly recommend!
I have made this many times and it’s always a winner! I used fresh dill and chives as herbs and cashews as the nut. I also added fresh lemon juice. Soo good and versatile!
What kind of giant leafy green is that in the video that she folds it in to make a wrap? That looks delicious!
They’re collard greens!
Made this this morning and I am in love. What a fabulous recipe…just as it is!!! I used a huge handful of cilantro and thought it was great!!!!! It does need the touch of salt and pepper at the end, but what a great recipe!!! Thank you!
Glad to hear it, Patsy!
This looks incredible! Any suggestions for pistachio substitutes? I’m allergic 🙁
Sliced or slivered almonds would work well!