Coronation Chicken Salad

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If you love curry and a sweet-salty combination, you are going to love this coronation chicken salad recipe. This curried chicken salad has British colonial roots and, with all the flavors and textures, it’s hard to stop eating!

And if you’re a fan of chicken in general, you may also like this chicken with mushrooms and thyme.
For ease of browsing, take a look at all my poultry recipes.

NOTE: I added some new images and process shots on 7/26/2020.

Coronation chicken salad on a bed of lettuce.

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My Accidental Coronation Chicken Salad

Let me introduce you to my new favorite salad: coronation chicken salad, or curried chicken salad.

I didn’t refer to a recipe when I made this. I just made it up, adding some curry-ish ingredients and made a dressing spiked with curry powder.

It was delicious, so I decided to write it up. As a teaser, I shared a photograph of it, and my friend Deon from Food Jam asked if it was like Coronation Chicken Salad.

This was the first time I’d ever heard of Coronation Chicken, so I went and looked it up on The Google.

Chicken, fruit, curried dressing. I told him that it was indeed more or less the same thing as Coronation Chicken, and then I started doing some research into the dish.

Origins of the Dish

A scoop of curried chicken salad on a lettuce-lined plate.

As you can guess, Coronation Chicken (really just a schmancy curried chicken salad) was invented in celebration of Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation.

The dish was developed by Constance Spry and Rosemary Hume, both of Le Cordon Bleu culinary school in London.

This dish not so subtly paid homage to the contracting British Empire, borrowing some flavors from India, the “crown jewel of the British Empire” until 1947.

Over the ensuing years, it seems that Coronation Chicken lost some of its luster, ending up in soggy sandwiches on buffet lines and being made fun of in the way that Spam is made fun of in the US. Except in Hawaii.

It became something of a wink and a nod recipe. I imagine British hipsters eating it ironically.

Why This Recipe?

A sandwich of coronation chicken salad on a homemade bun with a garnish of cherry tomatoes and potato chips. — *So good on a bun, sandwich bread or served on top of your favorite greens.*

A good curried chicken salad made with mild, juicy chicken punctuated by pops of chewy fruit and bathed in a silken saffron-hued dressing is a beautiful thing.

The British seem to think so, too. The dish seems to be making a comeback in the UK, getting updates in both the cooking method and ingredient list.

It has also been kept alive with updates called “Jubilee Chicken,” commemorating Elizabeth’s fifty and now sixty years (and counting–sorry, Charles) on the throne.

What makes this version so good is that, if you’re like me, you’ll have most of what you need on hand.

You can also mix up the fruit and nut mix-ins to suit your own taste. Same goes for the dressing: if you like it sweeter, add more honey. Spicier? Use a hot curry powder.

This is a very easy recipe to make. Poach the chicken one day, chill it in its juices so it doesn’t dry out, and then whip up this easy chicken salad in just a few minutes.

And while it will taste better if you let it hang out in the fridge for a few hours, it’s also really good right out of the gate.

How to Make It

A bowl of curried chicken salad with obvious pieces of red onion, red apple, golden raisins, and cashew nuts.

The components to any great chicken salad are:

moist chicken (generally white meat)
a mixture of crunchy, fruity, and chewy mix-ins
a creamy dressing

For my version of this British classic, here are the components:

Collage of ingredients needed to make my curried chicken salad recipe.

for the chicken: chicken breast poached in chicken stock with turmeric

Collage of 4 images showing poaching chicken breast in chicken stock and turmeric. — *Poaching in the turmeric chicken broth yields bright yellow chicken breasts. Let them cool in the poaching liquid so they don’t dry out.*

mixins: roasted cashews, raisins, red onion, apple (add snipped dried apricots too if you have them. They are super traditional)

Collage of 2 pictures. First shows whole red onion, a whole red apple, packaged cashews and a box of golden raisins. Second pictures shows all chopped and in a glass bowl. — *No need to peel the apples unless you really want to.*

dressing: mayo, cider vinegar, honey, curry powder, salt & pepper

2 images showing dressing ingredients and the ingredients whisked together. — *The dressing comes together with just a quick whisking.*

Time-Saving Tip

To save time (and to not have to turn on the stove at all) substitute chopped rotisserie chicken for the chicken breasts.

Q & A

You may have a few questions about how to make this dish or about substitutions for ingredients.

I’ll try to address all that here.

Could I make this with turkey?

Sure. This would be a great way to use up leftover turkey from Thanksgiving. If you do use turkey, you could also add some dried cranberries to the mix.

I don’t like mayonnaise. What can I use instead?

Feel free to substitute Greek yogurt or sour cream for the mayonnaise.

How do I store this?

Keep your chicken salad, covered, in the fridge for up to a week. Don’t freeze it–just eat it! It will be best the second day as the flavors will have a chance to mingle and get to know each other.

Can I use rotisserie chicken?

Absolutely. I prefer the “all soft” texture of poached chicken, but rotisserie chicken would be a great, no-fuss substitution.

Give me some other mix-in ideas, please.

Snipped apricots are traditional in coronation chicken, so you can’t go wrong there. You could also add dried currants or other dried berries such as blueberries or cherries. If you don’t like cashews or have an allergy, use chopped toasted almonds, walnuts, or pecans. Or go outside the box and use toasted pepitas or even sunflower seeds.

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