This chicken curry recipe has a rich coconut curry sauce with aromatic spices. Serve it over rice for a quick weeknight meal.
Recipe Highlights For Chicken Curry
- Flavor: This curry chicken recipe is flavor-packed. The creamy sauce has a delicious curry flavor and is slightly sweeter than coconut milk.
- Skill level: So simple! Just cook the chicken and veggies, then simmer in the sauce.
- Budget tip: Frozen peppers and onions will stretch this recipe out even more.
Ingredient Tips For Chicken Curry
- Chicken: Use boneless chicken breasts or boneless, skinless chicken thighs in this recipe.
- Coconut milk: Use full fat coconut milk (ensure it’s not coconut cream).
- Curry: Yellow curry powder adds a distinctive color and a warm, earthy flavor, while red curry paste is a bit more complex and contains aromatics like lemongrass and lime. You can use just one or the other (add a bit extra), but I recommend both if possible.
- Fish sauce: Fish sauce adds a savory umami. If you don’t have fish sauce, you can replace it with some soy sauce.
Variations
- Spice up the dish with red chili flakes, diced Thai chiles, or sambal.
- Stir in a little plain yogurt for extra tang and creaminess.
- Add some chopped tomatoes.
- Garnish with extras like sliced green onion or a little squeeze from a wedge of lime to marry the flavors.
Serving Suggestions
Chicken curry is delicious served over plain white rice, basmati rice, or coconut rice. It’s also delish over zucchini noodles.
Serve with a side of steamed broccoli, sauteed green beans, or some bok choy.
Storing Curry Chicken
- Separate leftover chicken curry from rice (if using) and store it in a covered container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Before reheating, add a little coconut milk, chicken stock, or water to loosen the sauce.
- Freeze portions in zippered bags (without the rice) for up to 6 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before reheating.
More Curried Favorites
Did your family love this Chicken Curry recipe? Leave a rating and a comment below!
Chicken Curry
Chicken Curry is an aromatic and flavorful chicken dish featuring tender chicken simmered in a rich coconut curry sauce.
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts diced into bite-size pieces
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 small yellow onion or white onion, chopped
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 2 tablespoons yellow curry powder
- 1 tablespoon Thai red curry paste
- 15 ounces coconut milk canned, full fat
- ½ cup chicken stock or water, optional
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon fish sauce
- 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
- salt to taste
- 1 handful cilantro roughly chopped
- 4 cups cooked white rice for serving
Instructions
- Heat oil in a large pot or deep skillet over medium-low heat. Add onions and minced garlic. Cook until onions are fragrant and softened.
- Add chicken to the pot and cook for 2-3 minutes, allowing it to brown slightly. Stir in the curry powder and paste, and cook for an additional 3-5 minutes.
- Pour in coconut milk and simmer for 15-20 minutes, or until the chicken is fully cooked.
- Add the water or chicken stock, and simmer until the curry reaches the desired consistency.
- Stir in the brown sugar, fish sauce, and lime juice. Taste and season with additional salt if desired.
- Top with fresh cilantro, serve over cooked rice.
Notes
- Adjust the thickness of the curry sauce to preference. Add chicken stock or water to thin it after simmering or simmer longer to thicken the sauce.
Nutrition Information
Calories: 623 | Carbohydrates: 57g | Protein: 32g | Fat: 31g | Saturated Fat: 22g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Trans Fat: 0.04g | Cholesterol: 73mg | Sodium: 312mg | Potassium: 842mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 5g | Vitamin A: 727IU | Vitamin C: 8mg | Calcium: 74mg | Iron: 5mg
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Chicken, Dinner, Entree, Main Course
Cuisine American, Indian© 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.
Oooh was this good! And so easy. I added some green bell peppers and frozen peas for color but didn’t change the recipe any other way. This one is staying in the rotation!
Love this recipe…have made it many times …l just cut back a bit on the brown sugar and add more red chili paste for spice!
i’ve been using this recipe for years. pro tip: cook the chicken in chili oil, portioned to taste (i use a lot), & triple the garlic, lime juice, and fish sauce.
I added a cup of zucchini and a cup of green pepper ( both chopped) and it was as delicious.
Made this recipe tonight, exactly as written. It was delicious. I used to make chicken curry with cream of mushroom soup but this recipe has so many levels of flavor, nothing can compare to it. I’ll be making this on a regular basis, for sure.
This was my lunch today, very delicious. I replace fish sauce with soya sauce.
So glad you enjoyed it, Andy!
Curry is such a flavorful dish! There are countless variations across different cuisines, each with its unique blend of spices and ingredients.
Oh my gosh. This was so easy and so good. I have made many recipes and this is my favorite now. Fish sauce is the key! I didn’t have red curry paste, but will try it next time. Instead I used two different curries from Penzeys spices. Best place for spices. Over the top fabulous.
Thanks for the recipe!
Amy
This was amazing! tasted like it was from a restaurant. Even my curry naive kids gobbled it down.
This is absolutely amazing!! The flavors are outstanding! It is a easy recipe too. I had most of the ingredients on hand. Can’t wait until I can make it again. Looking forward to the leftovers in the meantime. Thank you so much
I add green bell pepper, golden raisins, and chickpeas. I also season my chicken with garlic & onion powder. Add a pinch of cayenne and a tsp of granulated chicken powder to the sauce. I would sprinkle a little lime zest on top.
I used cauliflower instead of rice, with extra vegetables, for low carb. Stir fry the cauliflower and the rest first, then add chicken cooked with the garlic with the curry . The liquids finish it. It was great.
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.