Mary Berry Coronation Chicken
What is the Original Coronation Chicken?
The original Coronation Chicken, created for the Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation dinner in 1953,. The whole dish, created by Constance Spry and Rosemary Hume, was even published in newspapers so people could prepare it while watching the ceremony on TV.
The original Coronation sauce consists of cooked chicken pieces in a curry-flavored mayonnaise-based sauce, often enriched with additional ingredients like apricot puree, lemon juice, and red wine. Traditionally served cold, the recipe is popular for the combination of savoury and sweet flavours and makes a perfect filling for sandwiches and salads.
The original recipe had apricots instead of grapes and didn’t contain a single sultana.
Why you’ll like this Coronation Chicken Recipe?
- Quick and Easy for Meal Prep: Ready in just 15 minutes!
- Sweet and Tangy: Combines sweet grapes and apricot jam with tangy lemon and curry for a unique and refreshing taste.
- Creamy: With fresh cream and mayo it’s a luxurious mix!
- Perfect for outings: Use in salads, as a filling for your sandwich or roll, or as a pasta sauce.
Tips to Make the Mary Berry Coronation Chicken
- Chicken: Prepare the chicken from the day before so you can quickly prepare a packed lunch for the office, a nice picnic, or any outing. Pan-fry, boil, poach, bake, or grill. Nevertheless, the chicken will taste amazing!
- Curry: Use mild curry powder and adjust the amount according to your taste.
How to Cook the Chicken?
When it comes to cooked chicken, whether it’s breasts or thighs, the key is to make sure it’s cooked all the way through. My go-to quick fix is boiling the chicken in water and letting it simmer for about 15 minutes – perfect for those busy moments. But, if you’ve got a bit more time on your hands, toss in a peeled carrot, onion, and celery stalk while boiling. You’ll end up with some tasty tender chicken plus the stock that can be a game-changer for soups or risotto later.
Quick tip for poaching times:
- Whole Chicken: A medium-sized whole chicken takes around 30-45 minutes of poaching.
- Chicken Pieces: It usually takes about 15-25 minutes, depending on their size.
- Boneless, Skinless Chicken: Poaching time is generally shorter, ranging from 10 to 20 minutes. Easy peasy!
Variations of Mary Berry Coronation Chicken
- Add toasted almonds or cashews for added crumch
- Subs the fresh cream with Greek yoghurt for a lighter option.
- Adjust the amount of curry powder to your spice preference.
- Fruits. Experiment with different fruits like fresh mango, dried sultanas or apricots.
- Swap apricot jam with mango chutney for a different flavour.
If you love this recipe, you mught also want to try favourite variations from Jamie Oliver and Delia Smith@
How to store Coronation Chicken Mary Berry?
- Refrigerating the Coronation Chicken. Cool the sauce completely first. Store any leftover sauce in the fridge in an airtight container for 3-4 days.
- For freezing, Remove the salad and fresh grapes. Transfer to freezer-safe bags or containers. Freeze for up to 2-3 months. To thaw, place in the fridge overnight. To reheat. Remove the salad and fresh grapes. Microwave for 1-2 minutes stirring occasionally or otherwise heat for a couple of minutes until the recommended temperature of 165°F (74°C) is reached.
What to Serve with Coronation Chicken Recipe?
- Filling: Spread the coronation sauce on white, whole wheat, baguette, pita pockets, naan or wraps.
- Topping. Serve atop toasted bread, jacket potatoes, salad, rice or pasta.
- Grilled veggies: Serve the coronation chicken with grilled veggies as a side.
Health Info
- Calories: 435.8kcal
- Sugar: 39.2g
- Sodium: 365.gmg
- Fat: 39.2g
- Carbohydrates: 12.3g
- Fiber: 1.2g
- Protein: 10.8g
Mary Berry’s coronation chicken salad is naturally gluten-free, soy-free, peanut-free and nut-free.
Coronation Chicken Recipe Mary Berry
Description
Ingredients
For the Coronation Chicken
- 1 pound cooked chicken cut into pieces
- 2 tbsp apricot jam
- 1 tbsp curry powder
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- ¾ cup half fat fresh cream
- 1 tbsp tomato purée
- 1 Lemon zest finely grated
- 1 Lemon juice
- 2 spring onions finely chopped
- Salt and ground black pepper
- 1 cup black/green seedless grapes cut in half lengthways
- Rocket or parsley to garnish
Instructions
FOR THE MARY BERRY CORONATION CHICKEN
- Remove the chicken skin and cut the chicken into small pieces.
- Prepare the sauce. Heat the jam and curry powder in a small saucepan and set aside to cool when the jam is melted. Combine with the mayonnaise, fresh cream, tomato puree, lemon zest and juice and mix together
- Combine the chicken with the sauce, spring onion, and seasoning with salt and pepper. Add half of the grapes and put on a serving platter. Garnish with the remaining grapes and rocket leaves.
- Keep in the refrigerator for up to three days and serve with salad, wraps, rolls and omelets.
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I have stumbled this recipe by Mary Berry by coincidence and I must say I love the mix of the mayo, spice and grapes. When I forgot to buy grapes I have swapped them for dried cranberries or dried apricots!
That’s smart Linda! Sometimes I don’t feel like apricot jam and just throw some extra dried apricots with the grapes and it still tastes awesome!
I was looking for a Coronation Chicken without mango chutney. I’m glad I found this since I always keep apricot jam and grapes in my fridge. I tried it for kids packed lunches and they truly enjoyed it though I almost didn’t use any curry. Will bookmark this and give it a try if you have kids that won’t eat chicken at all!
We share exactly the same thoughts. In fact when I have tried the recipe a year ago I wanted to share it for the same reason.
In the USA, what would be the equivalent of half fat cream? Half and half?
Half and half is perfect. In UK half cream is cream with not less than 12% milk fat.