Chicken Salad with Indian Spices (Video)

Chicken Salad with Indian Spices is a tasty low-carb chicken salad idea to make with leftover chicken or turkey! This is a low-carb salad that’s delicious and unusual, and chopped cashews are the secret ingredient that adds a little crunch. 

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This delicious Chicken Salad with Indian Spices is a salad I first made to use leftover turkey at Thanksgiving, and it’s an especially tasty option for anyone who wants to get right back on the healthy eating plan after the big holiday. But then though the years I started to make the salad more and more with chicken, and I’m guessing that’s what most people would use for this tasty salad.

The low-carb salad  features chunks of turkey or chicken with a dressing that’s seasoned with Indian spices, what could be better? The finishing touch is chopped cilantro, but if you’re not a cilantro fan I would just use more green onion. And then the salad is topped with chopped cashews to add some crunch!

What ingredients do you need for this recipe?

• leftover chicken (or turkey)
• green onion
• chopped fresh cilantro (or use more green onion if you’re not a cilantro fan)
• chopped cashews
• whole cumin seeds (affiliate link)
• whole coriander seed
• Olive Oil (affiliate link)
• minced fresh ginger root or Minced Ginger (affiliate link)
• minced fresh Jalapeno
• salt
• zest of 2 lemons and fresh-squeezed lemon juice 
• mayo

What gives this salad Indian flavors?

I’m not claiming this is an authentically Indian recipe, but toasting whole cumin and coriander seeds and then grinding them, plus using minced ginger root and minced Jalapeno gives this recipe Indian flavors, and anyone who likes Indian food will probably enjoy the salad.

What if you don’t like Cilantro?

If you’re not a cilantro fan, just replace it with more thinly-sliced green onion.

What other nuts can you use?

If you don’t have cashews or aren’t a big cashew fan, peanuts, almonds, or pine nuts would all be delicious in this salad.

Want more salad ideas to use leftover chicken?

Check out my ideas for Low-Carb and Keto Chicken Salads if you want lots more ideas for salads with chicken!

How to Make Chicken Salad with Indian Spices:

(Scroll down for complete recipe with nutritional information.)

1. In a dry pan, toast the cumin and coriander seeds until they start to get fragrant about 3 minutes.
2. Use a spice grinder or mortar and pestle to grind the spices.
3. Finely minced the ginger root and jalapeno.
4. Heat the olive oil and saute the minced ginger and jalapeno about 3-4 minutes. Let cool.
5. Chop up the cilantro and slice the green onions.
6. Zest two lemons and squeeze the juice. (I would freeze the extra lemon juice.)
7. Cut the chicken or turkey into chunks about 1 inch square. 
8. When the ginger-jalapeno mixture is cool, stir together the mayo, Greek yogurt (if using), lemon zest and juice, spices, and ginger-jalapeno mixture.
9. Stir the dressing into the chicken and toss until it’s coated with dressing. (Use it all, because the dressing gets partly absorbed by the chicken.)
10. Add the sliced green onion and chopped cilantro and stir to combine.
11. Chop cashews and serve the salad with a sprinkling of cashews on each serving.

More Salad Ideas with Leftover Turkey or Chicken:

• Chicken Salad with Green Olives
• Chicken and Avocado Salad with Lime and Cilantro
• Tarragon Chicken Salad
• Chicken Salad with Green Olives
• Chicken Pesto Salad

Continue to Content

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Yield: 4 servings

Chicken Salad with Indian Spices

Prep Time 25 minutes

Total Time 25 minutes

You can use leftover turkey or chicken in this tasty Chicken Salad with Indian Spices and this is a low-carb salad that's a delicious and unusual!

Ingredients

• 4 cups leftover chicken diced into 1 inch cubes
• 3/4 cup thinly sliced green onion
• 1 cup chopped fresh cilantro, or less (or use more green onion if you’re not a cilantro fan)
• 1/3 cup chopped cashews

Dressing Ingredients:

• 1 tsp. whole cumin seed
• 1 tsp. whole coriander seed
• 1 T olive oil
• 3 T finely minced fresh ginger root
• 2 T finely minced fresh jalapeno (or more)
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• zest of 2 lemons and 3 T fresh-squeezed lemon juice (see notes)
• 2/3 cup mayo (see notes)

Instructions

1. In a dry pan, toast the cumin seed and coriander seed until it becomes fragrant, about 3 minutes.  Use a spice grinder or mortar and pestle to grind the spices.
2. Finely mince the ginger root and jalapeno.  (Use 2 T minced jalapeno or more if you like it spicy.)  Heat the olive oil in the same pan you toasted the spices in and saute the minced ginger and jalapeno about 3-4 minutes.  Turn off the heat and let it cool.
3. While it cools wash, dry, and chop the cilantro and slice the green onions.
4. Zest lemons and then squeeze the juice.
5. Cut the leftover chicken into cubes about 1 inch square.
6. Mix together the cooled ginger-jalapeno mixture, mayo, lemon zest and juice, salt, and ground spices to make the dressing.
7. Put the chopped chicken into a bowl and mix with the dressing. (Use it all because the chicken will absorb some of the dressing.)
8. Mix the chopped cilantro and sliced green onions into the salad.
9. Coarsely chop the cashews and serve the salad with a sprinkling of cashews on each serving.

Notes

Zest the lemon first, and then squeeze the juice.  You can freeze the extra lemon juice to use at a later time. You can use partly light mayo or fat-free Greek Yogurt for the dressing if you prefer.

Recipe adapted from Lemon Cashew Chicken Salad from Sunset Magazine.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

4

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 673Total Fat: 54gSaturated Fat: 11gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 41gCholesterol: 142mgSodium: 701mgCarbohydrates: 12gFiber: 3gSugar: 3gProtein: 36g

Nutrition information is automatically calculated by the Recipe Plug-In I am using. I am not a nutritionist and cannot guarantee 100% accuracy, since many variables affect those calculations.

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Low-Carb Diet / Low-Glycemic Diet / South Beach Diet Suggestions:
Chicken Salad with Indian Spices is a perfect salad for low-carb, Keto, or low-glycemic eating plans. If you’re making this for the original South Beach Diet, they would prefer replacing some of the mayo with non-fat or low-fat greek yogurt, and maybe use light mayo as well. Other low-carb plans would want full-fat ingredients.

Find More Recipes Like This One:
Use Salad Recipes to find more recipes like this one. Use the Diet Type Index to find more recipes suitable for a specific eating plan. You might also like to follow Kalyn’s Kitchen on Pinterest, on Facebook, on Instagram, or on YouTube to see all the good recipes I’m sharing there.

Historical Notes for this Recipe:
This recipe was first posted in 2012. It was last updated with more information in 2022.

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