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!!!
Delicious. We are eating leftovers tonight, Christmas Eve!!
It’s that good
Delicious. We are eating leftovers tonight, Christmas Eve!!
It’s that good
I found the sauce very runny finally removed the chicken from the sauce and let it thicken. Easy delicious recipe
I love this curry. It is so very easy and tasty. You are a magician. This is something we have on very high rotation but I haven’t made it for a while been too busy enjoying the recipes from the book. Which are so great. A very good investment. Thanks for sharing your passion with us Nagi! You have improved the nightly dinners around the country if not the world!
Thank you so much, Nagi! Was craving a curry but didn’t want to be in the kitchen for too long especially after a long day at work. I have made this recipe a number of times and is still my go to curry recipe. You are magical!!! I was wondering if this can also be done with lamb but omit the coconut milk? 🤔
Made this today and it was delicious. Did not have coconut milk, so used regular milk & heavy cream. Sauce was thin, but I added cornstarch with the cream & it turned out perfect! Thanks!
Thank you Nonna you saved me tonight as my coconut milk did not look right out of the can grey and was curdled (only got it last week thanks coles in Australia) your advice to not having coconut milk and alternative with milk ,cream and corn flour saved me and it tasted delicious. Thank you
Made this for dinner at church. It was a hit! Got so many compliments! I added a little coriander and turmeric. It was delicious! A definite keeper! Thank you!
Quick, easy and an absolute winner! We love this chicken curry! We probably have it once a fortnight due to its flavour, week night speediness and it reheats perfectly for lunch!
Made this for the first time tonight. I’ve never cooked curry anything. This was delicious! Substituted the coconut milk with evaporated as that’s all I had. So good. I will be adding this to my rotation! Thank you
Made this tonight. Whole family loved it. I have made it once before, but found 2.5 tablespoons of curry powder too much. Tonight I used 2.5 teaspoons and it was perfect.
Yum! I needed a quick recipe that I could make up easily between online meetings (and used up the homemade chicken stock that I couldn’t fit into the freezer!). This absolutely fit the bill.
My alterations were:
Used pre-cooked chicken (again, trying to clear freezer space)
Used two large mushrooms and a whole onion to up the veg count
Slightly jiggled the stock to coconut milk ratio, but that was more because of the amount of stock I had available.
Served over cauliflower rice.
I was a little worried that it would be runny because of the mushrooms (as they add extra water), but the cauli-rice absorbed it all really easily.
Definitely going on to the make again list – thank you Nagi!
I have made this a number of times, and it’s still the BEST chicken curry recipe ever! So simple, yet so complex in flavor. And even better the next day. Thanks once again Nagi – you’re the magic recipe Angel 🙂
Years ago, all supermarkets carried mild and hot curry. Nowadays, it’s very hard to fidn mild. I like to control the heat myself, so do be careful how much curry powder you use if you’re not sure how hot it is!
Made this quire a few times. Not curry lovers here but this recipe is lovely. Rich and flavourful. I add tomato paste ( brown it off before adding curry powder, sweet potato, broccoli and pineapple. Delicious!
Loved this chicken curry, so simple, tasty and inexpensive. With food prices rising every week its nice to not need too many ingredients, Thanks Nagi!
I really dislike coconut. What can I use instead?
Made this for dinner tonight, a great success!!!
Love your recipes 🥰
Amazing! I used breast meat and followed the notes for using. I added extra veg (potatoes, zucchini, carrots) and a couple of kaffir lime leaves. Super yummy!
Sadly, this one bombed for me. The sauce didn’t reduce so we had mild chicken curry soup. Hum………
You could have used cornflour slurry to thicken it 🙁
Yeah i agree with you Bella😊the first time i try this recipe wasnt great the sauce didnt reduce but i try again the next time i put 14 oz of coconut milk and very small amount of water and it goes well 👌tasty and delicious.
for me it took about 20 minutes, you just have to wait a bit!
My go to quick chicken curry for midweek easy. I use diced chicken leg meat-so even easier. This is the recipe my kids ask for when I tell them I’m cooking curry.🍛💖🙏