I love the flavors of a good curry. Warm and smokey with a little bit of spice and a little bit of sweet…. everything you’d need out of a well balanced flavor profile. Typically, when you think of curry, images of saucey goodness nestled next to a bed of rice come to mind, but today we are doing curry a little differently…
I have been on a big cast iron kick lately, so I decided to blacken some chicken to make a salad full of big, bold mediterranean flavors. I paired the chicken with my favorite salad ingredients, some creamy tzatziki sauce and these fabulous ciabatta croutons and it turned out absolutely amazing! I am so excited for you to give this salad a try.
Let’s get started…
Start by slicing 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts in half lengthwise to create thin cutlets. Drizzle the chicken with some extra virgin olive oil and generously season with your favorite curry spice blend.
Now that the chicken is seasoned and ready to go, place a large skillet over medium to medium high heat and let it preheat for a few minutes.
Place the chicken into the warm skillet and let it cook undisturbed until the bottom develops a nice deeply golden crust. Flip the chicken and continue to cook until it is cooked through with a minimal internal temperature of 165 degrees and lots of deep color on both sides.
While the chicken is cooking, tear a small loaf of ciabatta into crouton sized pieces and place them on a parchment lined baking sheet. Drizzle the bread with olive oil and generously season with garlic salt and black pepper.
Bake the croutons in a 375 degree oven until they are crisp.
If you want your tzatziki sauce from scratch, simply combine a shredded english cucumber with 1 1/4 cup of plain full fat greek yogurt with 1/4 cup of finely chopped fresh dill, a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil, a finely minced garlic clove, a small pinch of black pepper, a big pinch of salt and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice. Give the sauce a good mix and add additional salt, black pepper or lemon juice if needed.
Transfer your blackened chicken onto a cutting board to rest while you chop up some heirloom tomatoes, an english cucumber, a sweet bell pepper and some red onion.
Add a generous amount of mixed greens into your salad bowls and top with the chopped vegetables.
Slice up the blackened curry chicken and add that to your salads along with some crumbled feta, a big handful of ciabatta croutons and a healthy drizzle of tzatziki sauce.
This is one truly magnificent salad. It is a full blown meal… a real main course of a salad with so much flavor and lots of great textures going on.
I am so obsessed with this salad. The bites that have a little bit of chicken, some tzatziki and one of those ciabatta croutons make me smile and keep me coming back for more of this delicious and interesting salad.
If you are looking for an exciting twist on your next salad then you should definitely give this blackened curry chicken salad a try.
You’ll be so glad that you did!
Blackened Curry Chicken Salad
Ingredients
- 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, halved
- olive oil
- 2 teaspoons of curry spice blend
- a large head of romaine or mixed greens, chopped
- 1 english cucumber, diced
- 1 cup of tomatoes, diced
- 1 sweet bell pepper, diced
- 1/4 cup of red onion, diced
- 1/4 cup of feta, crumbled
Ciabatta Croutons
- 1 small loaf of ciabatta
- olive oil
- 2 teaspoons of garlic salt
- 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper
Tzatziki Sauce
- 1 english cucumber, shredded, patted dry
- 1 1/4 cups of plain greek yogurt
- 1 large clove of garlic, finely minced
- 1/4 cup of fresh dill, finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons of freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
- a pinch of salt and black pepper
Instructions
Make the ciabatta croutons...
- Preheat your oven to 375 degrees
- Tear a small loaf of ciabatta into crouton sized pieces
- Place the ciabatta on a parchment paper lined baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil
- Toss until all of the ciabatta is lightly coated in olive oil and sprinkle generously with garlic salt and black pepper
- Bake the croutons, tossing them occasionally, until they are golden brown and crisp
Make the tzatziki sauce...
- Combine 1 1/4 cups of greek yogurt with the garlic, dill, lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper in a medium bowl
- Grate the english cucumber and place the shreds into a fine kitchen towel or cheesecloth
- Squeeze the towel to remove excess liquid from the cucumber
- Add the drained cucumber shreds into the other ingredients and mix until everything is fully incorporated
Make the blackened curry chicken....
- Slice 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts in half lengthwise to create thin cutlets, drizzle with olive oil and generously season with your favorite curry spice blend
- Place a large skillet over medium to medium high heat and cook the chicken in a single layer until it is cooked through and both sides are deeply golden and crisp
- Transfer the blackened curry chicken onto a cutting board to rest while you assemble the salad
Assemble the salad...
- Add a layer of mixed greens or chopped romaine in large salad bowls
- Top with chopped tomatoes, cucumber, sweet bell pepper and red onion
- Slice the chicken and layer it over the salad
- Garnish with ciabatta croutons, crumbled feta and tzatziki sauce
