This Golden Coconut Chicken Curry blows me away every time I make it – and I’ve been making it a lot lately! Such a beautiful spice blend, with turmeric making the coconut curry sauce a warm yellow colour. Thai vibes. Easy. Swoon-worthy!
A really great but easy coconut chicken curry
Regular readers know I love my curries. Especially Thai and Indian ones – though the good ole’ retro chicken curry and curried sausages will always have a place in my heart!
But on days when I have a hankering for a really good from-scratch curry but don’t have the time for blitzing fresh curry pastes, this is what I’m making on repeat. It’s got Thai vibes with a hint of Indian undertones, like a less shrimpy version of Thai Yellow Curry with a whisper of Massaman Curry.
It’s very, very good. And though not a traditional Thai curry recipe (as far as I know), it tastes very authentic. (You know what I mean!)
-> If you’re after something similar (ie. still easy) but with more Indian vibes, head straight to my Easy Pumpkin Lentil Coconut Curry!
Ingredients in Golden Coconut Chicken Curry
Don’t skip the star anise and cinnamon stick, and really try to use fresh turmeric rather than dried – for maximum flavour.
aromatics and spices
First up, the sauce flavourings:
Turmeric – Been a bit of a trendy ingredient in recent years, revered for its nutritional benefits, most notably arthritis relief. It looks like and has the same texture as ginger but is bright orange inside. When cooked, it turns things bright yellow! Stains like buggery so don’t wear white when using it, and grate onto non-porous things (like a plate).
Turmeric powder – While fresh turmeric will give the best flavour and colour, dried can be used as an easier alternative. I’ve made it with dried turmeric and it’s still delicious!
Ginger and garlic – Fresh is the only way! The jarred stuff is sour and tastes nothing like the real thing. As with the turmeric, we finely grate them, for maximum flavour extraction.
Garam masala – Indian spice mix that’s common these days, in the spice aisle of normal grocery stores. It’s got more flavour than basic curry powders. 🙂 But – your everyday curry powder will be an adequate substitute!
Fennel powder – I know this one isn’t a staple so don’t make a special trip if you don’t have it. Just use more garam masala!
Cumin and coriander – Staple spices!
Add-ins and sauce
Chicken – Thigh is best because it stays juicy. Breast and tenderloin will work but won’t be quite as juicy. Prawns/shrimp and fish pieces are GREAT in this curry – plonk them in in the last 3 minutes.
Broccoli – Cut them into little florets so they are spoon-eating-size. You can also use the stem – just peel and dice.
Coconut cream is thicker so makes the sauce thicker. Also has stronger coconut flavour. Both good things! If using coconut milk, suggest thickening the sauce slightly. Mix 2 teaspoons cornflour/cornstarch with a small splash of water, then mix in towards the end.
Chicken stock/broth – Gives the sauce more flavour. If using just water, it’s just a little lacking.
Onion – For sautéing at the beginning.
Other add-in options
The recipe can be made with any proteins and vegetables that will cook in the 15 minutes total sauce simmering time. Just add them in at the appropriate time. Pumpkin or sweet potato and chickpeas is a firm favourite. A friend made this with shrimp/prawns instead of chicken and reported swoon-worthy results (his words, not mine 🤷🏻♀️). Zucchini and eggplants are also amazing, though my eggplant skin gave the sauce an interesting purplish hue. 😂
Garnishes
I just realised, the coriander / cilantro is not just a garnish. A good handful is mixed into the sauce. Great finishing touch. 🙂
Coriander / cilantro – As mentioned above, a good handful to mix into the sauce plus extra for sprinkling on top.
If you’re in the I Hate Coriander club, feel free to skip this. I’d just sprinkle with green onion slices instead.
Crispy Shallots – Crispy, salty, oily pops of goodness. Find them in the Asian aisle, cheaper at Asian stores. I love them so much and use them so frequently I even wrote about them here.
How to make it
OK! The making part. Nice and straightforward. Just a specific order in which things are toasted / sautéed / simmered / added into the pot. There’s reasons! 🙂
Toast the cinnamon stick and star anise for 2 minutes. This really brings out lovely flavour that is then imparted into the sauce, so don’t skip this step!
Cook chicken – Next, sauté the onion for 2 minutes to soften, then add the chicken. Cook for 3 minutes or until the outside turns white and you can no longer see pink. The inside will still be raw which is what we want – this ensures the chicken is not overcooked by the time the sauce is finished simmering.
Toast spices – Add the grated garlic, ginger and turmeric, and stir for 1 minute. Then add the spice mix and stir for 30 seconds. Toasting the fresh and dried spices is a key step, like with the star anise and cinnamon, to bring out and improve the flavour. So much more flavoursome than just dumpling spices into liquid!
Simmer 12 minutes – Stir in the coconut cream and chicken stock/broth, then simmer for 12 minutes. Simmer energetically, not a slow simmer like when making stocks and stew, because we want the sauce to reduce to concentrate the flavour and thicken slightly. And we want this to happen quick – before the chicken is overcooked!
Broccoli 3 minutes – Next, stir in the broccoli and cook for 3 minutes. That’s all it will take to soften, because you cut the florets into small spoon-size, just as the recipe asks you to do. Right?! 🙂
Finish the coconut curry off by stirring in the fresh coriander. Let it cool for 5 minutes or so – there will be a LOT of heat in that pot! Cooling slightly also allows the sauce to thicken a bit.
Now, the best step – EATING time!
How to serve this curry
Serve over rice with a sprinkle of my favourite crispy fried shallots and some more fresh coriander/cilantro. Jasmine or basmati rice are on point. Otherwise, any other plain rice of choice. Or even cauliflower rice for the low-carbers out there!
Love to know what you think if you make this. Curious to see if it’s just Team RecipeTin that’s madly obsessed with this coconut curry, or if it’s a universal thing. I’m banking on the latter, obviously, which is why I’m sharing this recipe!! 🙂 – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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Golden coconut chicken curry
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp coconut oil , vegetable or canola oil (Note 1)
- 3 star anise
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 onion , finely diced
- 500g / 1lb chicken thigh fillets , cut into small 1cm / 1/3" slices (Note 2 options!)
- 1 tsp garlic , finely grated
- 1 tsp ginger , finely grated
- 3 tsp turmeric , finely grated (sub 1 1/2 tsp powder, Note 3)
- 2 cups chicken stock/broth , low sodium
- 400g / 14 oz coconut cream , unsweetened (sub coconut milk, Note 4)
- 1 large head broccoli , florets cut small (can use stem too – peel & dice), or other veg (4 heaped cups)
- 1 cup coriander/cilantro leaves , lightly packed, plus extra for garnish (I'd still make without this)
Spice mix:
- 1 1/2 tsp cooking/kosher salt
- 1 1/2 tsp garam masala (Note 5)
- 1 1/2 tsp coriander powder
- 1/2 tsp cumin powder
- 1/2 tsp fennel powder (sub more garam masala)
Serving
- Crispy fried shallots , store bought, for garnish (Note 6)
- Rice – jasmine or basmati recommended, or other plain rice
Instructions
- Spice mix – Mix the spices in a small bowl.
- Toast – Heat the oil in a large heavy based pot over medium high heat. Toast the star anise and cinnamon for 2 minutes.
- Add onion, cook for 2 minutes.
- Add chicken, cook for 3 minutes or it's no longer pink on the outside (still raw inside).
- Add aromatics – Add garlic, ginger and turmeric. Cook for 1 minute.
- Add spice mix and stir for 30 seconds.
- Simmer 12 minutes – Add stock and coconut cream. Stir and bring to an energetic simmer. Cook for 12 minutes (no need to stir) so the sauce thickens slightly.
- Add broccoli florets. Bring back to a simmer and cook for 3 minutes or until softened.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Life of Dozer
Look who was in the paper on the weekend! And they stuck me in it too. 😂 In case you want to read it, the online version of the article is here.
Hi Nagi & JB,
Thank you for this recipe.
As someone who loves making curries from scratch (Indian & Asian), this was such a lovely simple, quick and flavourable curry. Yes, mild but you can adjust that and it felt quite virtuous with the tumeric and the broccoli! So yummy! I just had some leftovers earlier… just delicious! I could not source fresh tumeric this time either so look forward to trying that next time. PS. I ADORED your yellow curry recipe!!
I meant flavourful** sorry! Lol
Wow. I don’t normally love curries, made this more for hubby. But man oh man the flavour!!! I didn’t use any of the subs. Took me forever to grate (my prep time was 50mins…I’m pretty slow) but it was so worth it!! Had it with roti. Will definitely make this again!
Hi Nagi, this was the best curry we have ever had. Grandchildren said “10 out of 10 Nana” It will a frequent favourite in our house, thank you
not one of my favourites, the curry looked great but I had to add a bit more spice to give more taste, good curry for kid’s
Delicious, last few curries hubby has moaned they are too spicy, this was perfectly balanced and so good, so many possible variations and my 6 year old loved it! Made it onto the regular monthly dinner love list!
I have Never made a curry before. I have made this twice now. So delicious. Quick to make. Leftovers are better the next day.
All week I have been waiting to make this . Cooked it up this morning it was a bit bland for me unfortunately I was hoping for a rich thick curry anyway it was still ok
My 5yo who eats practically nothing is eating this!!! (Sauce separate in a little bowl, chicken and rice on her plate). Her 3yo sister is scoffing it and singing about her love of broccoli. Brutally honest husband says it’s banging!!!!
Delicious. I love how it had so much flavour but was not hot. I can’t cope with too much chilli 🥵 but still like all the other spice flavours. It tasted like it had taken ages to make but was actually really quick and easy. I love Nagi’s Thai yellow curry, but this one is a great alternative when you want something quick and easy. 🤩
Added a handful of cashew nuts
Absolutely delicious! The flavour was incredible and so so simple to make! This will definitely be in rotation (like quite a few of Nagi’s recipes 🤩)
I think I added a little too much stock as it was just a bit too runny for my liking – that was my fault! I can get a bit liberal with ingredients!
It did not take anything away from the deliciousness of this dish!
Thank you
Hit in particular with my kids. Mr nearly-5 had seconds then asked for a third bowl of “just sauce”. Easy. And nice flavours easily enhanced with q bit or chilli for the adults.
Hello Nagi,
I’ve just made your Golden Coconut Chicken Curry, and I’m so pleased with it! I did add some potatoes, as mine were turning into geriatrics, plus I love potatoes. I didn’t have any broccoli, so I added cut up stems of baby bok choy, and added their sliced leaves at the end. I kept some leaves to chop up and add as a garnish when serving, because – you guessed it – I didn’t have any fresh coriander either.
But regardless of these substitutions, the flavours taste really good to me. I’ll keep it to mellow up overnight, and plan to serve it to my husband tomorrow. He’s almost 82, and I’m heading for 80, and we both love curries.
I was given your cookbook for my last birthday, as I’d lost both my appetite and my previous interest in cooking, and things were getting serious. Well, your book and your recipes, both online and in the SMH, have done the trick, and I’m starting to cook for the two of us again! A big thank you!
Hugs,
Dawn
Very successful recipe! I used Chinese long beans, cut into 2 inch pieces, instead of the broccoli, added a few leftover boiled potatoes, and about 1/2 tsp of cayenne pepper. With the potatoes, the dish becomes massaman-ish! Luckily we have enough to eat the dish again tomorrow night!
Loved this like all the other Nagi recipes. My store didn’t have broccoli so I used pumpkin and cauliflower. I also didn’t have fennel powder so I used fennel seeds and added them with the anise and cinnamon stick. I loved this and I’ve been eating all the leftovers for lunch. My coworkers keep asking for the recipe. If you like a bit of spice then add some garlic chili oil. But it’s wonderful on its own.
Delicious curry, however, first time ever that I’d like to comment something: living in EU (Netherlands) I made the mistake of thinking coconut cream was the same as what they sell here as ‘creamed coconut’. Turns out, recipe needed lots and lots of extra water to make the curry thinner and the overall taste of spices was sort of diluted by the extreme coconutty taste. Not that we cared; still very good comfortfood. But the whole thing was a bit too heavy on the stomach as well, as the 300g coconut cream was more then 2100kcals alone. Oops.
Amazing, tastes very complex for the effort it takes. Seriously recommend following the recipe to a T. Kids and the ole grandma both loved it! Broccoli and all.
We substituted broccoli for spinach and it was lovely. Maybe next time we will add a bit of chilli.
Nice dish – we both liked it. Easy-to-follow recipe – we made it as written.
Bland with a vague hint of the amazing flavours that could have been. I was quite disappointed as the other comments had me excited for a new addition in my rotation. I did sub with turmeric powder instead of fresh turmeric, and subbed more garam masala instead of fennel powder as per the notes, but they do not seem to be adequate substitutes/amounts as they get lost in the liquid. These subs plus the flavour variation between different brands of garam masala (though mine works wonderfully in Nagi’s other recipes) could be why it ended up lacking. Bummer 🙁
You didn’t even follow the recipe and added subpar replacements and then rated the recipe badly?? What sense does that make? 🙄
There’s no need to ridicule. I clearly stated that I subbed only two ingredients as per the notes, which are provided IN the recipe. I did not stray from it in any other way. My experience is that the subs just don’t achieve the intended flavour and it was lacking – something I’ve not experienced with Nagi’s recipes. That’s not to say I wouldn’t remake it to a ‘T’ and update my rating as appropriate. As of now, the subs are there for anyone else to opt for, hence me mentioning it to inform / encourage others to choose the original ingredients where possible vs. giving a vague “it’s bland” review. If they’re that “subpar”, then it may be a question of whether those ingredients should be subbed at all. Some recipes only shine when made as intended and this just may be one of them 🙂