High-Protein Curried Chicken Salad

I have been making this super high-protein curry chicken salad to keep in the fridge for lunches every day here, and I figured I’d share with you guys how to make it.

Instead of yogurt or mayonnaise, we are using cottage cheese. It makes the dressing incredibly creamy, packs in way more protein, and when you blend it with all these spices, you won’t even know it’s there. It’s spicy, sweet from the grapes, crunchy, and keeps you full.

things we need

Special Equipment/Instruments:

• Large pot (for poaching)
• Blender or Food Processor (essential for smooth dressing)
• Microplane or zester
• Large mixing bowl

Ingredients:

The Poached Chicken

• 6 large chicken breasts (approx. 3 lbs)
• 4 cups Chicken stock (or enough water to cover)
• 1 tbsp Smoked paprika
• 1 tbsp Garlic powder
• 1 tbsp Onion powder
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1 tsp Black pepper

The Cottage Cheese Curry Dressing

• 16 oz (1 container) Cottage cheese (full fat or low fat works)
• 2–3 tbsp Yellow curry powder (don’t be shy)
• 1 tsp Cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp Ground coriander
• ¼ cup Rice vinegar
• 1–2 tbsp Olive oil
• Zest of 1 lemon
• Juice of ½ lemon
• Splash of chicken stock or water (to thin if needed)
• Salt and Black pepper to taste

The Mix-Ins

• ½ cup Red onion, diced
• Juice of ½ lemon (for soaking the onion)
• 4–5 stalks Celery, diced
• 1 ½ cups Red grapes, halved
• 1 cup Roasted cashews (or almonds)
• ¼ bunch Fresh cilantro, chopped (leaves and stems)
• 1 tbsp Fresh ginger, grated
• 1 Jalapeño, finely diced (optional)

First, Let’s Poach The Chicken

1. Pot and liquid
We’re gonna poach the chicken first. Have some chicken stock—you could use water, whatever, just make sure you season it up! I’m using about six chicken breasts, which is a little over three pounds. This is a big batch for meal prep.

2. Season heavily
Start the chicken in cold water when poaching it. Add it to the pot with smoked paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and pepper.

3. Cook it through
Bring it to a boil on high heat, then turn it down to medium-low and let it cook through.

The Secret High-Protein Dressing

1. Base ingredients
We’re going to blend up a whole container of cottage cheese to turn it into the dressing. In your blender, toss in the cottage cheese, cayenne, ground coriander, and a quarter cup of rice vinegar.

2. The flavor punch
Add a buttload of curry powder, at least two or three tablespoons. Then add a tablespoon or two of olive oil and some lemon zest.

3. Blend it up
Squeeze in half the lemon juice and add a splash of stock or water to thin it out. Blend until smooth.

The Crunch & The Onion Hack

1. The Onion Hack
While the chicken cools. Chop the garnishes. Here is the trick: Take your diced red onion and put it in a bowl with the juice of the other half of the lemon and a pinch of salt. Let that sit. It gets rid of that really strong, raw red onion flavor.

2. Chop the veg
For the rest, chop up your celery and cilantro. Always use the cilantro stems—there’s so much good flavor and crunch there. Finely dice a jalapeño if you have one.

3. The sweet and spicy
Slice up your grapes (precisely “a lot” of them) and grate some fresh ginger.

Bringing It All Together

1. Prep the chicken
Once the chicken is cooled, dice it up—or shred it, doesn’t matter to me.

2. Combine the solids
Toss the chicken in a big bowl with your onion mixture, celery, grapes, cilantro, ginger, jalapeño, and cashews.

3. Dress and serve
Pour over that cottage cheese curry dressing and give it a good mix. Throw it in a wrap, put it in lettuce cups, whatever you want. Enjoy!

Checkout more recipe

• Spicy, Honey, Garlic Butter Shrimp Pasta (Ready in 30 Minutes!)
• Cozy Cabbage and Potato Soup
• Apricot Glaze Chicken

If you like this recipe Explore more recipes

FAQs

Save

High-Protein Curry Chicken Salad (Cottage Cheese Hack)

Recipe by Sana ReiCourse: Lunch / Meal PrepCuisine: Fusion / HealthyDifficulty: Easy

Servings

6

servings

Prep time

20

minutes

Cooking time

15

minutes

Calories

380

kcal

Chill time

30

minutes

Total time

1

hour 

5

minutes

A twist on coronation chicken that uses blended cottage cheese for a creamy, protein-packed dressing. Loaded with crunchy cashews, sweet grapes, and a “buttload” of curry spice.

Ingredients

• Equipment Needed:

• Blender

• Large Pot

• Chef’s Knife

• Ingredients:

• 1.3 kg (3 lbs) Chicken breast, boneless skinless

• 950 ml (4 cups) Chicken stock (for poaching)

• 450 g (16 oz) Cottage cheese

• 3 tbsp Curry powder

• 1 tsp Cayenne pepper

• 1 tsp Ground coriander

• 60 ml (¼ cup) Rice vinegar

• 30 ml (2 tbsp) Olive oil

• 1 Lemon (zested and divided)

• 75 g (½ cup) Red onion, diced

• 5 stalks Celery, diced

• 250 g (1 ½ cups) Red grapes, halved

• 150 g (1 cup) Cashews, roasted

• 15 g (¼ cup) Cilantro, chopped

• 1 Jalapeño, diced (optional)

Directions

• Poach: Start chicken in cold stock with paprika, garlic powder, and onion powder. Bring to a boil, then simmer on low until cooked. Remove and cool.
• Mellow Onions: Soak diced red onion in half the lemon juice with a pinch of salt.
• Blend: Blitz cottage cheese, curry powder, cayenne, coriander, vinegar, oil, lemon zest, and remaining lemon juice until smooth.
• Chop: Dice the cooled chicken, celery, and jalapeño. Halve grapes. Chop cilantro (stems and all).
• Combine: Mix chicken, veggies, nuts, and onions in a large bowl. Pour over dressing and mix well.

Notes

• Storage: Keeps in the fridge for up to 4 days. If it dries out a little by day 3, stir in a splash of water or lemon juice.
• Serving: Great in lettuce cups, high-fiber wraps, or just with a fork.
  
• The Ginger: Grate the ginger right into the bowl—don’t worry about peeling the skin, you won’t notice it.
  
• Shortcut: You can use rotisserie chicken to skip the poaching step, but poaching it yourself lets you control the seasoning.