This easy chicken curry takes just 30 minutes to make. The juicy, tender chicken is smothered in a rich curry gravy and the dish is loaded with veggies – perfect for a weekday dinner. {Gluten-Free adaptable}
Although the word “curry” often makes people think of Indian food, curry powder is indeed a frequently used ingredient in the Chinese kitchen. We use it to make various dishes such as curry puffs, African chicken (with curry peanut butter sauce), beef stew, and Singapore noodles.
When we make a curry dish, sometimes we make certain adjustments ourselves. We make things simple by using curry powder instead of blending a spice mix from scratch, which is the proper way to make Indian curry. We add a dash of soy sauce and some Shaoxing wine here and there, to boost the flavor. And we add plenty of veggies, to make a more balanced and colorful meal.
The recipe might not be approved by an Indian chef due to the overly simplified steps. But will you get a super delicious meal that is bursting with flavor? The answer is YES!
This easy chicken curry is one of the dishes I cook most frequently at home, to serve as a weeknight dinner. Not only is it super fast to make, it is healthy, loaded with goodies, and tastes so hearty.
I always add plenty of veggies, to make a more nutrition-balanced meal in one pot. In the winter, I usually add carrots and potatoes at the beginning (at step 6 in the recipe). In the summer, I throw seasonal veggies such as broccoli, asparagus, or spinach in at the end. More often than not, I add a handful of mushrooms, to further boost the flavor of the gravy.
Of course, if you prefer a more pure curry experience, you can skip the veggie part as well. In that case, I would serve it with some simple side dishes.
You only need about 30 minutes to prep and cook the dish. Start making a pot of rice before you cook the curry, and you’ll have a great meal ready in no time.
More easy dinner recipes
- Cashew Chicken
- 3-Ingredient Egg Fried Rice
- Thai Sweet Chili Chicken
- Easy Vegetarian Thai Curry
- Easy Vegetarian Lentil Stew
If you give this recipe a try, let us know! Leave a comment, rate it (once you’ve tried it), and take a picture and tag it @omnivorescookbook on Instagram! I’d love to see what you come up with.
Easy Chicken Curry (咖喱鸡)
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons butter , or vegetable oil
- 1 white onion , minced
- 3 cloves garlic , minced
- 1 tablespoon minced ginger
- 1.5 lbs (689 g) boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut to 1-inch (1.5 cm) chunks
- 4 tablespoons curry powder , or 3 tablespoons for a less spicy dish
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 (14.5oz / 411g) can tomatoes
- 3 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 cup chicken stock
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce , or tamari for a gluten-free dish
- Salt to taste
- 1/2 lbs (226 g) white mushrooms, quartered
- 1 head broccoli , cut into bite-size pieces
Instructions
- Add butter to a large nonstick skillet (or a dutch oven) and heat over medium heat until hot. Add onions. Cook and stir until lightly golden, 5 to 7 minutes.
- Add the garlic and ginger. Cook and stir for 1 minute to release the fragrance.
- Move all the ingredients to one side of the pan and melt the remaining butter on the other side. Add the chicken. Brown both sides until lightly golden, 1 to 2 minutes per side.
- Add the curry powder and ground black pepper. Stir and cook to mix well, 1 minute or so.
- Add the canned tomatoes and tomato paste. Stir and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes.
- Add the chicken stock, soy sauce, and mushrooms (if using). Bring to a boil. Turn to medium-low heat. Simmer uncovered for 10 minutes. Add the broccoli and cook until tender, 2 to 3 minutes.
- Serve hot over steamed rice as a main dish.
Nutrition
The recipe was originally published on Feb 26, 2014 and updated by Jun 27, 2018.
Looks delicious! I’m going to follow your routine and cook a big batch of this over the weekend.
Thanks for commenting and I’m glad you like the recipe!
Save some for me! 🙂
Your photos are just beautiful! You have a talent for plating your food! Love it.
Thanks Scott! If you take a look at my early pictures, you could see how ugly they are! Food photography books and Foodgawker helped a lot. Now I already had the habit of browsing Foodgawker a few minutes everyday 🙂
This looks fantastic. Marianting my organic Costco wings now, will post another message after I make this recipe overnight!
I’m so glad you hear you like my recipe! Hope everything turn out great and let me know how the cooking goes 🙂 Happy Friday!
Rich tangy and delicious full bodied curry flavor said my husband! A quiet riot of flavors said I. To say this is good is an understatement I did marinate the organic wings for almost a day. Been experimenting with homemade curry this is tops thus far its resturant quality. This is 5 star homemade eating.
Thanks so much for cooking my recipe and leaving such a nice comment! I’m so glad you like this one 🙂 It’s one of my favorite curry dish but I haven’t cooked it for a while. Now I need to make it again soon! Enjoy the rest of your weekend and happy cooking!
Thank you for this recipe Maggie.We polished off the first batch the sauce is so good I let my husband eat the last of the chicken while I just had some sauce with rice. Marianted more wings and getting ready for a great Sunday dinner.
You just made my day by telling me this! Many thanks again for leaving such nice words. Hope you’ll have a great Sunder dinner and happy cooking! 🙂
You’re welcome Maggie. I will say, we live in San Francisco surrounded by five star curry joints. We got burned at one, they served more bones than chicken in our last take out (LOL thats all you can do), googled and found you. We are sticking to this curry from now on out. Making another batch today, made tons last month and froze it. My husband totally loves it and thanks again.
You’re the most welcome 🙂 So glad you’ve add this recipe into your collection and made it again! Yep, it’s a great idea to make a big batch and freeze it. The flavor even gets better over time!
Have a great week ahead 🙂
I love this recipe! I made it the second time today and my bf loves it too! It is definitely a curry recipe that I will stick to and cook it over and over again. Thank you for this amazing recipe! 🙂
You’re the most welcome Chloe! We love this recipe too. Although nowadays we mostly uses thighs instead of chicken wings, they turn out great every single time 🙂
I love this! We eat a lot of baked chicken but grilled chicken wings are my favorite! I may try your curry sauce on our next grilled wings! YUM!
I love that you made this so simple, and your photos are beautiful as always! This seems pretty healthy, so it will be perfect for weekday meal prep!
This was absolutely delicious! I don’t think I will ever be able to enjoy original curry chicken again! I especially loved the mushrooms and broccoli in this recipe. Amazing job!
The recipe calls for boneless skinless thighs. All the reviews only mention wings ??
I posted an old curry chicken recipe long time ago that used chicken wings. But I’ve updated it with the current version that uses boneless thighs. Sorry for the confusion!