I enjoy a good chicken salad sandwich for lunch, particularly on special bread such as sourdough or a crescent. Aldi sells several types of chicken salad that are good when I need something quick and convenient, or sometimes I make chicken salad from scratch using pasture-raised chicken from a local farm.
Trader Joe’s, which is a cousin to Aldi, also sells several types of chicken salad in its deli section. I spotted one version with a curry flavor and, being a fan of Indian food, I had to try it. (TJ’s, by the way, has an excellent selection of Indian-inspired dishes, including butter chicken, paneer tikka masala, vegan tikka masala, and more.)
Trader Joe’s Curry Chicken Salad cost $4.49 for an 11-ounce container at the time of publication. The label states this is “slightly sweet with a spicy kick.” It is perishable and should be kept refrigerated. The container I purchased on June 20th had a use-by date of July 21st, but I think it’s probably better to use it up sooner than that, considering this has ingredients such as fresh carrots, green onions, etc. With that said, I finished my container on July 6th and it was fine.
The container states to use this like any kind of chicken salad: on salad, in a sandwich, or as a meal on its own.
Ingredients include chicken breast meat, mayo, carrots, raisins, honey, green onions, cashews, curry powder (cumin, coriander, turmeric, ground mustard seed, cardamom, fenugreek seed, cayenne pepper), lime juice, and sea salt.
Nutrition information and ingredients. (Click to enlarge.)
If you’re looking out for allergens, this contains egg and cashew.
There are about three 1/2-cup servings per container. One serving has 300 calories, 20 grams of total fat (26% DV), 1.5 grams of saturated fat (8% DV), 330 mg of cholesterol (14% DV), 21 grams of total carbohydrates (8% DV), 1 gram of dietary fiber (4% DV), 15 grams of total sugars, 7 grams of added sugars (14% DV), and 12 grams of protein.
Just after opening, prior to stirring. It looked much chunkier after stirring.
The first thing I noticed after opening and stirring this container of chicken salad is just how many things are in it besides chicken. It has visible raisins, carrot slivers, cashew halves, and green onion slices. The chicken pieces themselves are very small and mixed in with a generous amount of sauce.
I had this on some Aldi everything bagel-seasoned sourdough bread as well as on some Aldi whole grain white bread. I wasn’t sure how much I would like it, especially considering that I don’t like raisins all that much. I was pleasantly surprised at how good this chicken salad is. It is not spicy, but it is aromatic and has a complex sweet and savory flavor owing to all the spices along with the combination of veggies and chicken. This takes chicken salad to a whole new level. If you like Indian food and curry, this is well worth picking up.
The Verdict:
Trader Joe’s Curry Chicken Salad has a unique mix of small bites of chicken along with carrot slivers, cashew halves, green onions, raisins, and curry seasoning with a mayonnaise base. It has good flavor but isn’t spicy. It’s an obvious choice if you enjoy Indian food.
Was the Chicken Salad available at Aldi, or did you have to pick it up at TJ’s? My nearest Trader Joe’s is 60 miles away…
I tried this new version of Trader Joe’s curry chicken salad. All I can say is bring back the old recipe!! The flavor was flat, the texture was mushy and I had to hunt for pieces of chicken. The chicken pieces lacked a true chicken texture – perhaps “pressed” chicken is now being used in the recipe. Overall a huge disappointment: I will not be purchasing this product again.
I agree, I couldn’t get enough of the old recipe the “New Recipe” is exactly as Susan describes. It is a huge disappointment and I will not be buying it again.