Name: Curried Chicken Salad Sandwich
Prep time: 12 min
Total time: 12 min
Yield: 2 Sandwiches
Ingredients: For the Sandwich; 1 to 2 slices sourdough (or your favorite sandwich bread), lightly toasted; Baby green or red leaf lettuce, leaves separated; For a gluten free option, use butter lettuce (Bibb or Boston); ½ cup cooked chicken breast, chopped ½-inch to ¾-inch pieces; ¼ gala apple, unpeeled, washed, finely diced; 1 tablespoon finely chopped celery; 1 tablespoon sliced scallion; 1 tablespoon pumpkin seeds, raw; 1 tablespoon mayonnaise; 1 tablespoon greek yogurt; ½ to ¾ teaspoon mild curry powder, to taste; 1 teaspoon lemon juice; Pinch cayenne pepper; Pinch sea salt; ⅛ teaspoon black pepper

Mains

Curried Chicken Salad Sandwich

Author: Mary DiSomma

If you're looking for the best chicken salad sandwich recipe, this is one of my favorites. I keep the flavors fresh and simple with mild curry powder, lemon, a touch of cayenne, crisp apple, celery, scallion, and pumpkin seeds. I like this one on lightly toasted sourdough with fresh lettuce, but you can also serve it in lettuce cups or make it an open-face sandwich if you like.

It's a great recipe to make ahead and refrigerate until you're ready to assemble your sandwich. You can use left over roast chicken from a recipe like my Spatchcock Roast Chicken.

Spatchcock Roast Chicken

Crispy skin and juicy meat are the hallmarks of this spatchcock roast chicken, which will cook quickly as part of meal prep for my chicken sandwich, three ways recipe.

Yield: 3-4 Servings
Prep Time: 15 minutes 15 min
Cook Time: 50 minutes 50 min
Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes 1 hr 5 min

Ingredients

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 425 °F.
Place the chicken breast-side down on a cutting board. Make sure the legs are pointing away from you. Using a sturdy pair of kitchen shears—poultry scissors are ideal. Work your way from the tail toward the neck and repeat the cut on the other side. Lift out the backbone and you’re good to go! Try to keep your cuts as close to the backbone as possible so you get more meat.
Flip your chicken over so it’s breast-side up. Place the heels of your hands on top of the breastbone and press down firmly until the chicken flattens out. You will likely hear a crack when the breastbone breaks. That's normal! The goal is to get the bird to lie as flat as possible. Pat the chicken dry all over with paper towels. This step makes a difference, especially if crispy skin is your end goal. Use paper towels to thoroughly pat the chicken dry all over before seasoning it.
Combine the baking powder and salt, then evenly rub all over the skin—this helps the skin crisp up. Let the chicken sit uncovered in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours or up to overnight. This step can be skipped if you are short on time, in which case just rub the bird with salt and proceed to the next step.
Once your chicken is flat and dry, you're ready for the baking powder and salt mixture.
In a small bowl, mix the olive oil with the garlic, black pepper, paprika, oregano and lemon zest. Rub this mixture all over the chicken, making sure to also get under the skin wherever you can.
Place the chicken, skin-side up, on a rack set on a baking tray. You can place it directly on the tray if you don’t have a rack.
Roast for 40 to 50 minutes, or until the skin is golden and the internal temperature reaches 165 °F in the thickest part of the breast and 175 °F in the thigh.
Let the chicken rest for 10 to 15 minutes before serving—this allows it to cool a bit and the juices to settle.

Extra Tips

If you're looking for more chicken salad sandwich ideas, make sure to try my Auntie Norma’s Chicken Salad recipe. And when you’re working with a classic chicken salad, definitely experiment: try grapes instead of apple, toasted pecans instead of pumpkin seeds, or add a handful of fresh herbs. See what you like and make it your own!