Simple shouldn’t mean bland – and this Chicken Curry recipe knocks it out of the park! A mild, creamy coconut curry sauce made with just 5 ingredients (from scratch!), it tastes so good for something so quick, you will be amazed.
If you want to go all out, serve this with Soft No-Yeast Flatbreads to slop up the sauce (it’s basically naan, but much easier to make!)
Chicken Curry
Curries are notorious for lengthy ingredient lists to achieve the richly spiced sauces and punchy flavours. And while we’d all love to be able to whip up a from-scratch Tikka Masala and Butter Chicken whenever the craving hits us, it’s simply not viable.
So today, I’m sharing the best SIMPLE chicken curry that I know. This recipe is a Western style curry – it’s not a traditional Indian curry, Thai curry, nor any other cuisine. And here’s why you’re going to love it as much as I do:
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(Very) short list of ingredients
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Curry powder is the only spice you need
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Creamy curry sauce with mild coconut flavour
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30 minute recipe – from scratch!
This chicken curry is the perfect way to get your curry fix without being in the kitchen all day!
What you need for Everyday Chicken Curry
Here’s what goes in this Everyday Chicken Curry.
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Curry powder – the only spice you need! Any brand is fine here.
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Garlic, ginger and onion – fresh aromatics add a flavour boost that makes all the difference with quick curries! It’s the same when making quick Thai Green Curry or Red Curry using store bought paste.
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Chicken broth/stock AND coconut milk – for creaminess and flavour. We’re just using 1 cup of coconut milk here – this isn’t intended to be an overly rich, heavy coconut sauce.
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Chicken – thighs are best because this curry needs to be simmered for 12 minutes for the flavours to develop. But yes, it can be made with breast – but the steps need tweaking otherwise you’ll complain that the chicken is dry!!
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Peas – optional! Try other diced veg!
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Coriander/cilantro – lovely freshness and flavour boost. Coriander haters – use chives or green onions instead.
Don’t let the short list of ingredients fool you. The curry sauce tastes SO GOOD!
Curry Powders
These are the curry powders I currently have in my pantry – but I’ve used plenty of other brands in the past. Curry powder is used in all sorts of recipes, not just Indian curries, including:
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Satay Chicken Curry – basically it’s chicken satay skewers in curry form, with loads of peanut sauce!
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Chickpea Potato Curry – very popular with readers!
How to make it
There’s nothing groundbreaking about how this chicken curry is made. The one key step is to fry off the curry powder. This brightens up the flavour of the spices + creates more golden bits on the base of the pan, and both of these things add more flavour into the curry sauce!
So don’t skip this step. 🙂
Make it your own!
This recipe is all about the curry sauce, so it’s really versatile in terms of what you can put in it, as well as extra add ins. Here are some options:
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Other proteins or vegetarian – make this with beef, lamb, pork, turkey, shrimp/prawns, fish or vegetarian. See directions in the recipe notes;
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Make it SPICY! This is not a spicy curry. So to add heat, either use HOT curry powder, or add cayenne pepper or ground chilli powder;
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Make it richer – use coconut cream instead of milk. Or use more coconut milk and simmer to reduce for longer; and
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Add tomato paste to thicken the sauce a touch and make the sauce a darker colour. Use about 1.5 tbsp.
Try this curry with a side of Green Bean Salad, my friend JP’s famous Iceberg Lettuce salad, or this no-mayo Cabbage Salad.
Serve it over rice, or even mashed potato or noodles. Basically anything that can be doused with that coconut curry sauce! ~ Nagi x
More cosy Chicken recipes
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Slow Cooked Chicken Stew and a faster Chicken Stew (Casserole) – on the table in under an hour!
The Curry collection
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Thai Red Curry or Green Curry – quick 30 minutes, or from scratch
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Massaman Curry and Beef Rendang – two of the most iconic curries in the world
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Biryani – the BEST chicken and rice in the world
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Dal – Indian lentil curry
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Goan Fish Curry – an authentic, spicy fish curry with coconut from the south of India
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Indian Coconut Curry sauce – A stronger, more heavily spiced coconut curry sauce than this recipe
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View all Curry recipes
Watch how to make it
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Easy Chicken Curry
Ingredients
- 1.5 tbsp oil (vegetable, canola)
- 2 garlic cloves , minced
- 2 tsp ginger , grated
- 1/2 onion , finely chopped
- 500g / 1lb chicken thighs, sliced (Note 1)
- 2.5 tbsp curry powder (Note 2)
- 270 ml / 1.25 cups coconut milk , full fat (9 oz) (Note 3)
- 1.5 cups (375 ml) chicken stock low sodium
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3/4 cup frozen peas
- 1/4 cup coriander / cilantro leaves , chopped
Instructions
- Heat oil in a skillet over medium high heat. Cook garlic, ginger and onion for 3 minutes until onion is translucent.
- Add chicken and cook until it it changes from pink to white.
- Add curry powder and cook for 2 minutes.
- Add coconut milk and chicken stock. Stir, lower heat to medium and cook, simmering rapidly, for 10 minutes until sauce reduces and thickens.
- Add peas and salt. Cook for a further 2 minutes, then taste to see if it needs more salt. Garnish with coriander.
- Serve over rice, noodles or mashed potato!
Recipe Notes:
- Chicken breast - sprinkle with 2 tsp extra curry powder plus pinch of salt and pepper. Sear first in a bit of oil then remove (no need to cook through). Follow recipe - fry off curry with just the onion. Add breast back in towards end of sauce simmering, just to finish cooking.
- Shrimp/prawns or fish pieces - as above with breast.
- Other proteins (beef, turkey, lamb, pork) - use a quick cooking cut that's tender and juicy, slice or dice. Follow chicken breast steps.
- Vegetables - add into sauce based on cooking time.
Nutrition Information:
Life of Dozer
I forgot to share this when I published Gozleme! (Turkish stuffed flatbreads) I took them down to Jeff, a local who lives down at the dog park and he gave them a big thumbs up.
And there’s Dozer. Being shameless!!!
Can you use Coriander powder instead of fresh and if so how much
I’m always wary of “fewer ingredients but still tastes great” because I have been bitten on other sites and ended up ordering uber eats Haha! Your recipe however was awesome…. I did add 2 red chillies to the recipe but otherwise used exact steps and my family loved it!! Thank you…. will definitely be trying your other recipes 🤗
I cook this once a week but add all sorts of vegetables even the ones the child doesn’t like eating on his plate but will eat them in this curry! Very quick and easy. Don’t need to be a whiz in the kitchen!
Another winner! I have made 3 of your recipes in the last week and they’re all amazing. This one is simple, yet full of flavour.
I love your recipes, and your tips. Thanks a million
You’re so welcome Karen, thanks so much for letting me know 🙂 N x
Personally, I wouldn’t add peas and chicken broth. I would also make my own curry powder. However, the recipe is a delicious base.
This an excellent recipe!
Thanks so much!! N x
Absolutely delicious. 😊Doubled the recipe with chicken breast (we don’t like thighs!) & only added 3 Tbsp curry powder and it was perfect! Chicken was very tender and tasty.
Made this for dinner with cauliflower mash, what a hit, everyone went back for 2nds, no leftovers.
Thankyou
Wahoo!!! That’s the best compliment Paula!! N x
Hi there, do you have any tips on how much more coconut milk/stock and curry powder to use if I needed to use 2 kg of chicken? I tried to work it out but with some of the other comments saying not to use so much curry powder ect I’m a bit confused thank you
Hi Taylor, if you scale the recipe up to 2 kg of chicken all the ingredients will scale for you 🙂 N x
Hi Nagi
Could this be cooked in a slow cooker and could Yellow Curry paste be used instead of powder?
Hi Jemma, not this one as written and using yellow curry paste would be a totally different recipe – something to add to my list! N x
Our family absolutely loves this simple yet delicious chicken curry recipe. Be careful if doubling the recipe though, as I did and the 5 tablespoons of curry powder were like WOW! It was super spicy, so now when I am using 1kg of chicken I double everything else but just use 3 tablespoons of curry powder. This is the yummiest chicken curry I have ever made, thanks Nagi, you are a kitchen superstar ⭐️!
I thought this recipe was good. I do find that the western style curries always seem to miss something for me. The smell was amazing but the flavours just weren’t well rounded enough for me to give this a 5. If I make it again I will add some honey for some sweetness and a bell pepper with the onion etc.
Thanks Nagi!
Holly x
Hi – is the 2.5 Tablespoons Of curry powder correct? Could it be teaspoons? I made with 2 tablespoons and my family and I couldn’t eat it (and my husband likes spicy food) 😊
Hi Sharae, it could be the brand you’re using – can I ask which one you used? – N x
Hi Nagi, I had a similar result using Keen’s curry powder, and that was with using a 400ml can of coconut cream. I ended up adding a second can of coconut cream which helped a little.
This is the best. Chicken was so flavorful! I would use a little less chicken stock or a little more cornstarch to thicken the sauce a bit. I will use the left over sauce over chickpeas. This an excellent recipe!
Hi – is the 2.5 Tablespoons Of curry powder correct? Could it be teaspoons? I made with 2 tablespoons and my family and I couldn’t eat it (and my husband likes spicy food) 😊