Curry Apple Salad with Spiced Chicken & Chickpeas

I've had a version of this salad recipe in the notes section of my phone for months and months! Clearly a recipe that stuck out to me at some point enough for me to copy and past it into my notes to make later!! But I completely forgot about it until yesterday when I was meal planning and going through my notes on my phone for inspiration.

I often save recipes or old meal plans for the week there the only trouble with this one is that I didn't save the recipe link so I have no idea where I found it!! So I have no way to know who I can give credit to for the inspiration. I did change the original recipe up to make it my own and added the spiced chicken to it as well for protein but I always like to give credit where credit it due.

In any case this salad has got to be one of the best salads I've ever made! The curry mixed with the apples and chicken is a lovely combo!

I have never roasted chickpeas before and it was super duper easy! Then I basically did the exact same thing with the chicken by coating it in coconut oil and dusting on a layer of curry spice mix. So simple

After the chicken was cooked I then threw it into the food processor to shred as I find the chicken goes so much further!

Last week I made the Buffalo Chicken Rice Bowls for lunches and did the chicken in the crock pot and then used the stand mixer to shred them in less than a minute. You could totally do this with this recipe as well!!

I did use glazed pecans in this recipe but you could swap out for regular ones too! There are so many options to what else you could add here, cranberries would be yummy as would cucumbers and even top with a nice chutney! I seriously need to learn how to make chutney!!!

Curry Apple Salad with Spiced Chicken & Chickpeas

Serves 3-4

Ingredients

5 oz/142 g salad mix
2 granny smith apples, sliced
3/4 cup glazed pecans or regular

1 Can Chick peas

4 teaspoons coconut oil, melted

Curry Spice mix (Recipe below)

2 Chicken Breasts

Spice Mix

2 teaspoon Madras curry powder
2 teaspoon cumin powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon sea salt

Curry vinaigrette

1/4 cup olive oil
3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon Madras curry powder
1/4 teaspoon cumin powder
1/8 teaspoon cardamom
1/4 teaspoon maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon salt
Black pepper, to taste

Directions

Spiced Chickpeas

To make the spiced chickpeas, thoroughly rinse and dry chickpeas. Transfer chickpeas to a baking sheet. Pour 2 teaspoons of melted coconut oil over chickpeas and toss to coat. Add half the spice mix and toss to coat. Bake for 25-30 minutes, stirring halfway through, until chickpeas are firm and dry. Remove from oven and allow them to cool.

Spiced Chicken

Place two large chicken breasts into a baking dish and drizzle with remaining melted coconut oil, sprinkle remaining spice mixture over top chicken breasts and bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes or until cooked through. When done, shred chicken in food processor or stand mixer or simple cut into small bite sized pieces.

Curry vinaigrette

In a small mason jar, prepare the curry vinaigrette. Add olive oil, apple cider vinegar, mustard, curry powder, cumin powder, cardamom, maple syrup, salt and pepper. Shake to combine.

Put it all together

You can choose to make this one large salad or use for lunches through the week as I am doing. I prepared all the ingredients for the salad and stored them to be packed for lunches all week.

If you are serving this as a dinner or as a large salad; in a large bowl, add the lettuce, chopped cucumber, sliced apples and pecans. Pour the vinaigrette over salad and toss well. Top with spiced chickpeas and chicken and serve.