The Classic 1953 Coronation Chicken Salad Recipe

"This is my adaptation of the much loved and famous recipe created by Constance Spry for the Queen's Coronation lunch in 1953. I make this regularly for picnics and buffets; it is also amazing as a sandwich filler. In 1953, curry powder would have been used - but I find that curry paste works better. Use any type of poached or cooked chicken - I usually cook a couple of chicken breasts just for this recipe, however, a whole cooked chicken works very well; don't forget to remove the skin and check for bones first. This recipe is based on the Coronation Chicken recipe in: The Constance Spry Cookery Book by Constance Spry & Rosemary Hulme (1956)."
 
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photo by CaliforniaJan photo by CaliforniaJan
photo by CaliforniaJan
photo by Andi Longmeadow Farm photo by Andi Longmeadow Farm
Ready In:
25mins
Ingredients:
14
Serves:
4-6
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ingredients

  • 2 12 - 3 lbs cooked chicken breasts (chicken pieces or whole cooked chicken)
  • 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
  • 1 small onion, peeled and diced finely
  • 1 tablespoon curry paste
  • 1 tablespoon tomato puree
  • 2 fluid ounces red wine
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 12 lemon, juice of
  • 4 canned apricot halves
  • 1 tablespoon apricot jam
  • 12 pint mayonnaise
  • 4 fluid ounces whipping cream
  • salt & pepper
  • watercress (to garnish)
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directions

  • Remove the skin and any bones from the chicken and cut into small pieces.
  • Heat up the vegetable oil in a medium saucepan and add the onion. Cook on a medium heat for about 3 minutes until the Onion is soft and translucent.
  • Add the curry paste, tomato puree, red wine, bay leaf and the lemon juice to the cooked onions.
  • Lower the heat and simmer uncovered for about 10 minutes until reduced. Remove the bay leaf and leave to onion sauce to cool.
  • Finely chop the apricot halves and puree them through a sieve or with a hand held blender.
  • Place the pureed apricots into a bowl and mix in the mayonnaise.
  • Add the onion sauce and apricot jam and mix well.
  • Whip the cream to stiff peaks and fold this also into the mixture. Mix well.
  • Season with salt & pepper and if necessary add a little extra Lemon Juice.
  • Finally, fold in the chicken pieces coating them with the mixture well.
  • Garnish with watercress and serve.
  • Serves 4 to 6 as a salad with additional salad ingredients, or makes 8 rounds of sandwiches. Also wonderful as a vol au vents or pie filling.

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Reviews

  1. I felt as though I was going to see the Queen herself today when I made this. My guests surely felt as though they were dining with royalty. I made this earlier in the day, (I actually had the chicken cooked from a prior day) I also had put together the onion sauce last evening, so all I did while people were getting settled was whip the heavy cream. I folded the cream gently into the mayonnaise onion mixture, and added the cool chicken just tossing lightly. I made some fresh bread yesterday, and cut rounds with a biscuit cutter and piled the chicken salad atop the round bread. Oh this is delicious, FT. The taste is so smooth and very, very special. I added a little bit of apricot preserves as a side for my guests to add to the bread and chicken. Perfect, FT! Will use again, and again.
     
  2. Hello FT, I've had this recipe marked for quite a while but after a trip to London this summer where we had Coronation Chicken Salad at the Churchill War Rooms Museum and loved it, I had to make your recipe. It is sooo good and easy to make. I made it exactly as posted and will add it to my book of this year's best. Many thanks for posting.
     
  3. Made these into YUMMY sammies for Easter Sunday nibble lunch. I overcooked my chicken breasts, so I shredded them up finely and used 300ML of cream to disguise the dryness. I made and refrigerated the coronation chicken the night before, and made the sandwiches right before they were eaten, with watercress and chives mixed into the filling. They went like hotcakes!
     
  4. WOW-this looked so unique I just had to try it and I was so happy I did-DELICIOUS!!! I served on a bed of greens w/ bread on the side. Thank you for a great recipe, French Tart! Made for the Think Pink Tag Game In Honor of Breast Cancer Awareness, October 2008.
     
  5. I made this yesterday for a tea party that I had attended. I used incdeb's Apricot Jam recipe for the tablespoon that I needed for this recipe. I made profiteroles and filled them with the salad and boy, did they go fast. Luckily, I left some at home so my husband could enjoy them. This is definitely a keeper. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe.
     
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<p><strong><span>The sunflowers in the field behind my house in SW France:</span></strong></p> <p><img title=Sunflowers src=http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r271/copperhorse58/DSCN8221.jpg alt=Sunflowers width=640 height=480 /><br /><strong><span><br /><br />I am British (English-Scottish), but I was born in South Africa and have lived all over the world, including Hong Kong, Germany, Cyprus, USA &amp; Singapore. I have also been very fortunate to have travelled extensively over the years.........I still have wanderlust! <br /><br />I used to be an English Literature &amp; Art History teacher &amp; lecturer; before that, I trained and worked as a Graphic Designer for many years. I now live in France with my husband &amp; my daughter who has just started university in September 2006. We also have one very chatty Burmese cat Willow, who allows us to live with her here! (I used to have three cats, I recently lost Monty, a beautiful seal point Siamese and before that, Rama, who was a debonair blue point Siamese cat - I would love to have another Siamese cat or cats in the future!)</span></strong></p> <p><em><strong><span>This is my Burmese Cat, Willow, sunning herself on the log pile in the kitchen garden:</span></strong></em></p> <p><strong><img title=My src=http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r271/copperhorse58/ABaconButtyandSundryFoodPhotos34.jpg alt=My width=640 height=480 /></strong></p> <p><strong><span>Here is my lovely Monty, a seal point Siamese, and Willow, sitting&nbsp;in the kitchen garden last year, and a few months before Monty died; he was 18yrs old:</span></strong></p> <p><img title=Monty src=http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r271/copperhorse58/AbsolutelySinfulStickyToffeePudding.jpg alt=Monty width=640 height=480 />My</p> <p><strong><span>This is my wonderful old boy, Rama, a blue-point Siamese, who died when he was 20yrs old - excuse the old and much sellotaped photo:</span></strong></p> <p><img title=Rama src=http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r271/copperhorse58/Rama1stOctober2004164.jpg alt=Rama width=517 height=639 /></p> <p><strong><span>My favourite pastimes are: reading, writing, painting &amp; drawing, photography, gardening, anything creative, walking, travelling, dining out and of course COOKING! 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