Curry Chicken Pasta Salad

WI Cheesehead's Note:

Another great recipe from Penzey's Spices. Prep time includes refrigeration time.

• Total Time: 1 hrs 20 mins
• Prep Time: 1 hrs
• Cook Time: 20 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 8

• 1 lb chicken breast, diced
• 1 tablespoon sweet curry powder
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice, divided
• 4 quarts water (for boiling pasta)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 lb dry pasta
• 2 cups snap peas, chopped in half
• 1/2 cup minced red onion
• 2/3 cup low-fat mayonnaise
• 1 tablespoon dijon-style mustard

Directions:

1. Combine curry, oil, and 1 T lemon juice, pour over chicken, toss to coat, cover and refrigerate 1-2 hours.
2. Heat large nonstick skillet over med heat, add chicken.
3. Cook, stirring regularly, about 3 min (or more). Reduce the heat a bit if the sauce starts to darken.
4. Remove the pan from the heat, let cool while the pasta boils.
5. Boil pasta in salt and water, rinse and set aside. For about the final 2 min of cooking time, add the peas, drain and rinse w/rest of pasta.
6. While pasta cooks, prepare the salad dressing. It is important to have dressing done at same time as pasta, so pasta doesn’t sit w/out dressing too long, as it will clump.
7. In a large bowl, blend minced red onion, mayonnaise, mustard and 1 T lemon juice.
8. Add the curried chicken w/all the sauce out of the pan; whisk to blend.
9. Add pasta and peas, toss to coat and add salt if desired.
10. Serve right away or chilled for later. 8-12 servings.

Reviews

[Chef Dudo]

Yes, I liked the salad. Felt that 1lb pasta would be too much for the dressing so I decided to cut the pasta in half and was glad I did. I think the salad would benefit from something fresh and/or crunchy. Maybe some pickles, celery stalk, bell peppers or such. Pleased I tried it. Thanks for posting.

[Tekno_Zen]

I first saw this recipe in a Penzy's catalog and have used it over and over ever since. My husband and I were never big curry fans but it's probably because we didn't have a recipe to use it in. We do now, and absolutely love this recipe.

[Cheri-Beri]

Exellent!! I didn't want to go to the grocery store so I used what I had on hand. I substituted turkey for the chicken and petite frozen peas for the snap peas. It was fantastic. I will definitely be adding this to my permanent recipe collection.