This chicken curry recipe has a rich coconut curry sauce with aromatic spices. Serve it over rice for a quick weeknight meal.
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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!
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
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.
I have tried soooooo many curry recipes over the years trying to duplicate my great grandma’s insanely good curry, and THIS, by far, is the BEST!!!!
Thank you for posting this and please know that this will now be in my arsenal of awesome recipes forever!
Yay! So happy to hear that Tanya. We hope you enjoy this recipe for many years to come!
Delicious!
Thanks Coty!
This is seriously the best curry I’ve had, with coconut cream it is insanely good!
So happy you think so Adam! I love this one too!
This is the first curry recipe I’ve ever tried and it turned out AMAZING! I love how simple it is. I’ll defiantly be using it again in the future.
I am thrilled that you enjoyed the curry Abel!
This was fast and easy! Thanks for the great recipe. I thought about adding veggies, but wanted to keep it fast and simple, so I threw some veggies in the oven, as suggested, and doubled the recipe. Used salt instead of fish sauce because it was right next to the stove. My family was impressed and they are used to pretty authentic food. It passed the test! Served with cilantro and green onions, cukes, lime juice and mango chutney. Fantastic!!
I am so glad you enjoyed the curry Dana!
Haven’t tried the recipe so can’t comment about it but I’m confused about what yellow curry powder is ?. In the UK you get different types of curry powder like Madras or Tandoori and the only thing that makes them ‘yellow’ as you said is turmeric, and all curry powder has it in various different amounts.
A curry powder can consist of pretty much any spices and the word curry is just an Anglo-Indian word made up to explain the basic suases used in Indian cookery as the British needed a word to describe it. The word curry loosely translates to gravy in English.
Sorry for the long post but a little confusion maybe for us Brits regarding some ingredients.
Hi Mark, we use a yellow curry powder such as McCormick. You can use your favorite blend in this recipe. I hope that helps!
I used Shwartz Hot Curry powder as I like hot curries, it worked very well.
Sounds yum! Is the red curry paste hotter than yellow curry paste? I like mild things but it’s so hard to find yellow curry paste!!
It is a bit hotter but you could always alter the amount to your desired spiciness! It may affect the flavor but definitely will reduce the heat!
I should have scrolled down more to read the comments. I don’t recommend the optional water/broth as the coconut milk and liquid released from cooked chicken made it watery enough.
It was so bland that I had to add salt, onion powder, garlic powder, and Korma masala. And it was still missing something. I ended up dumping a Tikka masala packet so food wasn’t gone to waste.
Delish!
Easy to follow and doesn’t break the bank either. I was very happy with the outcome. I gave 5 stars because of the simplicity/price and taste, but it does taste like its missing something…If anyone has any ideas let me know!
Glad to hear you enjoyed it Alex! If you can put your finger on it, definitely let us know!
Can I use lemon juice in place of lime juice? Also can I make do without fish sauce should I not succeed in getting it
I’ve only tried this as written and while your substitutions will likely work just fine it will change the flavor slightly. The fish sauce adds lovely a salty umami flavor.
This was amazing! Gave me the courage to experiment with curry!!!
Once you figure it out, it is so worth it…and delicious!!
We love this and have made it twice already since I found this recipe last week. The only thing I did differently was to add cut up raw veggies at the same time as adding the chicken. Perfect
I am so glad you enjoyed the recipe Lizzie! Adding veggies to the chicken is a great idea for a complete meal!
This was the best curry recipe I’ve tried, everyone in the house loved it! I did not make any changes to the recipe and it was delicious, quick, and easy to make.
So glad it was a big hit with your family Cortney!
I want to make this tonight because it sounds amazing but I’m missing the red curry paste and fish sauce :( I’m afraid these are key ingredients!
I made this the other night and was so proud of myself. It was absolutely delicious. For a little spice…..i added some crushed red pepper flakes while I sauted the chicken with the curry. And at the end I added a little cayenne pepper for some extra heat. Also threw in some broccoli and sliced red peppers. I felt as though it was very authentic tasting.
Your additions sound delicious for those nights you want a little heat Andrea! Thanks for sharing!
Does it have to be full fat coconut milk or can it be the light? :-)
Using the light will change the consistency. Let us know if you try it Ann!
Loved the recipe but for some reason mine didn’t come out thick it was very watery eventhough I didn’t add water I don’t know if the brand of coconut milk matters? Can you let me know what brand did you use?
I’m so happy to hear that you love this chicken curry. I agree that coconut milk brands may vary. I usually just buy whatever brand is on sale. If I think it may be too watery, I add half of the coconut milk first, and add a little at a time until I get the desired consistency. Hope that helps Gris!
I omitted the Thai red curry paste and took mine off the heat before it got thick and added a few tablespoons of white bean hummus. It thickened up very nice and cut the heat from the curry and enhanced the flavors. I am so in love with this recipe!!
I’m so glad you loved it, thank you for sharing your tips Crystal!
I did not have the Thai red curry or the cilantro, but went ahead and gave the recipe a try. SO delicious! A keeper, for sure. Cannot wait to make it again with all of the ingredients. Thank you!
So glad you loved it Liza!
I have no fish sauce. Is there an alternative? Is it necessary?
You can leave out the fish sauce if you don’t have it on hand but it does add a nice complexity to the sauce in this recipe.
I forgot to rate the recipe!
Thanks Susan!