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:
(Very) short list of ingredients
Curry powder is the only spice you need
Creamy curry sauce with mild coconut flavour
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.
Curry powder – the only spice you need! Any brand is fine here.
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.
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.
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!!
Peas – optional! Try other diced veg!
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:
Satay Chicken Curry – basically it’s chicken satay skewers in curry form, with loads of peanut sauce!
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:
Other proteins or vegetarian – make this with beef, lamb, pork, turkey, shrimp/prawns, fish or vegetarian. See directions in the recipe notes;
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;
Make it richer – use coconut cream instead of milk. Or use more coconut milk and simmer to reduce for longer; and
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
Slow Cooked Chicken Stew and a faster Chicken Stew (Casserole) – on the table in under an hour!
The Curry collection
Thai Red Curry or Green Curry – quick 30 minutes, or from scratch
Massaman Curry and Beef Rendang – two of the most iconic curries in the world
Biryani – the BEST chicken and rice in the world
Dal – Indian lentil curry
Goan Fish Curry – an authentic, spicy fish curry with coconut from the south of India
Indian Coconut Curry sauce – A stronger, more heavily spiced coconut curry sauce than this recipe
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!!!
Easiest tastiest curry, I have ever made five stars absolutely and more. I’m not fond of peas, so I added potato and beans and carrot. Just prepped to make another batch of this curry. Only this time I’m going to use lamb and cook it in the slow cooker. Thank you so much for all these beautiful recipes. PS I love your book
Delicious easy family curry. I added capsicum, pumpkin, chick peas, peas and corn 😋
I was looking for an old school curry recipe and found the perfect one! So reminiscent of my childhood growing up in country Qld. I tricked the recipe a bit: I had 750g of chicken thighs so increased proportions as necessary. I used peanut oil, and added crushed coriander root to the ginger, lots of garlic and shallots (instead of onion). Cooked off a good amount of tomato paste, then did the chicken. 4 heaped tblsp of Clive of India for extra flavour.
I added a 270g tin of coconut cream and same of coconut milk and 2 cups of chicken stock. Sliced red capsicum, fresh baby corn, broccoli and brown mushrooms. Then simmered till done. I did thicken the sauce a little. I tweaked the final flavours with a good squeeze of lemon, cracked black pepper, salt and about a tblsp dark brown sugar. Final garnish of toasted coconut flakes and coriander. Sooooo yum!
The Netherlands here!
Delicious!
Thank you Nagi!
Greetings.
Will be ditching the dead chook and chicken stock and using tofu and veg stock. Cheers.
On high rotation in our house. I sometimes also use this as the base for curried sausages. So so good
Delicious! So easy and kids loved it 😍
Such an incredibly simple recipe (which I ended up changing 😂)
Added a tbsp of Rogan Josh paste to fry off with the onions as I had to use it up. I also added a healthy knob of ghee as well. Added roughy chopped carrots and diced potato too in addition to the peas.
I made this for my husband and he loved it! It was easy and delicious. 5 stars!
I’ve cooked this recipe twice this last week. Family & neighbours loved it.
1st batch cooked per recipe 👍
2nd batch I only had the following:
chicken tenderloins
400ml can coconut milk (curry too strong, used whole can + chicken stock)
half red capsicum, sliced
6-8 baby potatoes, quartered
I forgot the 5 Stars rating (sorry).
There should be a way to edit one’s comment. 😊
I love your recipes. It covered my expectations. I will cook this recipe again. The only that I will change is the chicken broth amount because it took a long time to thick the sauce
Hi Nagi, just cooked your chicken curry and it was a hit. Thanks for all of your recipes and congratulations on publishing your cookbook.
Easy, tasty and loved the flavours… thanks for the variations as well
Very liquid! I think the proportions must be wrong. Had to reduce the curry for 30min for it not to be too liquid.
Quick and very tasty, despite the fact that I added the curry powder after the liquid by mistake. I also added mushrooms. My only issue was that the sauce was too thin and perhaps it’s because I used organic coconut milk not coconut cream. Even adding 2 big tsp. of corn starch didn’t really thicken it enough, However, it tasted great.
I just love this curry. it is so simple and so full of flavour. i also add mushrooms to the sauce. just beautiful 🙂
I have made this recipe many times. It’s a quick, easy and delicious recipe! I sometimes add extra Garam Masala and tonight I adde sautéed mushrooms with the curry powder. Delicious!
Bought 2 of your books at Christmas time; 1 to keep, 1 to give.
Love your recipes and happy attitude ❤️😁, and let’s not forget Dozer. 😂❤️
Cook this almost every week, thank you for sharing
This was so easy and tasty. Love it thank you Nagi.