Coronation Chicken Salad Sandwiches

I’ve been in a lunch rut. Have you been in a lunch rut? These coronation chicken salad sandwiches will surely get you out of it.

It’s all salads, salads, salads over here and while I’ve got some good and interesting ones, it’s time to mix it up a little more, lest I start settling for my fall back of cheese squares and honey roasted peanuts (my dad’s fall back snack…and monkey see, monkey do). I call it my meal of last resort and in the summer, especially when I don’t want to cook AT ALL…it happens more than it should.

I don’t even know how I stumbled upon the idea of this one, but somehow Coronation Chicken got in my head and here we are, an open-faced version because avocado toast made that all the rage and I’m nothing if not a follower sometimes.

Rumor has it that this recipe was created back in 1952 when Queen Elizabeth became Queen Elizabeth and her kitchen staff were looking to create a dish to satisfy all the foreign tongues that may be in attendance. What we have is chicken salad that is a little bit tangy, sweet, spicy, fruity, crunchy and creamy. It’s all very good.

There are a slew of recipes out there, and this one has my own little HB twist on it.

First, I didn’t have dried apricots but did have dried cranberries, so there we go there. Creme fraiche replaced mayo because i had the former in the house from yet another batch of ice cream* and did not have the latter because frankly, I don’t eat that much mayo. Greek yogurt would be dandy as well. Use good bread because life is too short to eat bad bread, and if you’re doing no bread (life is too short for that, too), then lettuce wraps would be splendid!

Otherwise, this recipe is adapted from Tea Time and will give your lunch a much needed shake up, and your normal chicken salad a run for its money.

Written after some grilling, and some Greek festing.

*I made more ice cream. It’s a problem. Lemon creme fraiche. From Dana.

**This post contains affiliate links.

June 13, 2017

Servings: 6

Prep: 10 min

Cook: 1 hr

Total: 1 hr 30 min

Difficulty: Easy

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Open-faced coronation chicken salad sandwiches are a delicious way to spicy up lunch- baked chicken, curry, chutney and your favorite bread.

By: Chrissy

Ingredients

1 1/4 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 TB unsalted butter
1/2 cup yellow onion, finely diced
1 TB curry powder
2 TB tomato paste
2 TB water
2 TB red wine (or red wine vinegar)
2 TB lemon juice
3 TB mango chutney
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/3 cup creme fraiche
1/4 cup sliced almonds
2 TB chopped dried cranberries
2 TB sliced green onions
2 TB chopped parsley
6 slices good bread, toasted

Directions

Step 1 Preheat the oven to 375F.
Step 2 In a large sheet of aluminum foil, add the chicken breast and season with 1 tsp each salt and black pepper. Fold the foil into a packet and baked for about 45 minutes until the chicken is cooked through. Let cool completely, and then using your hands, pull apart into shreds. Alternatively, chop into desired pieces.
Step 3 While the chicken is cooking, in a small saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter and add the onions. Cook about 5 minutes until the onions are soft. Add the curry powder, salt and pepper and cook until the spice is toasted, another 2 minutes. Add the tomato paste, chutney, lemon juice, water, wine, additional salt and pepper. Cook over medium-low heat until it is the consistency of ketchup. Set aside to cool completely. Once it is cool, fold in the creme fraiche.
Step 4 Once the chicken is cooled and shredded, fold it into the tomato-spiced mixture. Add the almonds, cranberries, green onions and parsley. Serve open faced over a slice of toasted bread.