Chicken Curry is a rich and aromatic dish that my whole family loves!
Tender chicken in a flavorful sauce is served over white rice. This coconut curry chicken is fragrant and offers complex flavors in an easy to make recipe.
Easy Curry Chicken
One of my favorite things to do is explore the world with my taste buds. A few years ago my husband and I were able to visit South Africa. While there we ate so many different kinds of curry. Potato curries, and bean curries, and various meat curries. There is even this curry called Bunny Chow that is served inside a loaf of bread. There is a lot of history to the curries in South Africa.
The bunny chow curry is served inside bread because the field workers were not supposed to be eating the foods from their homeland and the plantation owners did not like the smells. The workers decided to hide their curries inside their bread loaves and would carry them out into the fields, and eat them there. It is how they held on to their own traditions. Now you can get them all over in South Africa, and it is a celebrated dish.
How to Make Chicken Curry
Obviously I loved curry. And this chicken curry is one of my favorites. I have a creamy red curry chicken recipe on my site that I love when I want a little more spice, that you may like to try. As I started getting really into making curries, I talked to a friend who is from India who makes curry a lot, and she shared this Mixed Vegetable Curry Chicken recipe with me. But this chicken curry is still one of my go to recipes because of the simplicity and flavors. I have played around a lot, and tested and tested. And we have eaten so much curry, trust me when I say this recipe is a great one.
What is in Chicken Curry?
This chicken curry is one of my favorite simple curries. It uses both red curry paste and yellow curry powder, and a nice rich flavor is developed using onions and garlic, but also fish sauce. A little lime juice makes a big difference.
If you haven’t ever cooked with fish sauce before, just keep in mind a little goes a long way. You can find it in most grocery stores in the Asian section or ethnic section. Or if you can’t find it, you could get it at an Asian market, but most major grocers carry it.
We love to serve curries with fresh or Oven Roasted Broccoli and some naan bread (or even 30 Minute Dinner Rolls in a pinch).
Chicken Curry
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 pound chicken breast boneless skinless, chopped into bite-sized pieces
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon garlic minced
- 1 small yellow or white onion chopped
- 2 tablespoons yellow curry powder
- 1 tablespoon Thai red curry paste
- 15 ounces coconut milk canned, full fat
- ½ cup water or chicken stock optional
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon fish sauce
- 2 tablespoons lime juice
- salt to taste
- handful fresh cilantro roughly chopped
- 4 cups cooked white rice for serving
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a large pot over medium low heat. Add the onions and minced garlic and cook for a few minutes until the onions are fragrant and softened.
- Add the chicken and cook for 2-3 minutes, browning it a little. Add curry powder and paste; cook for 3-5 minutes.
- Add the coconut milk, and let simmer for 15-20 minutes or until the chicken is fully cooked.
- Add water or chicken stock depending on the consistency you want for the sauce, or let simmer longer to thicken if needed.
- Stir in the brown sugar, fish sauce, and lime juice. Taste and salt if needed
- Top with fresh cilantro, serve over cooked rice.
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Chicken, Dinner
Cuisine American, Chinese© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
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Love this simple Curry Chicken recipe. It has great flavour. I often add some sweet pepper chopped up with the onions and garlic to add to the complex flavours. This time I used boneless skinless chicken thighs. I am not into too much spice so this recipe suits my palette fine. My husband will sprinkle generous amount of hot chili flakes to give it an extra kick. I serve it over brown basmati rice and put lots of cilantro on top! Recommend this highly and it can be frozen for another meal if you wish.
It was so delicious.
Recipes like these are the reason I don’t need restaurants.
This tastes absolutely amazing! All of the family enjoyed this meal. Thank you for such delicious meals!
I made this last night for the first time and it got rave reviews from my teenagers. I will be putting this into the regular rotation! I also think I know why a couple people are finding it bland. The flavor here is totally dependent on the freshness and quality of your curry powder and curry paste. I bought some new curry powders to try at a spice market in Seattle a few months ago and thought this recipe was calling for them. I also grabbed the supermarket blend that I’ve had for a few years and compared them. The grocery store version had almost no smell or taste, while the ones from the spice market were bursting with flavor.