Coconut Curry Chicken- The next time that you're looking to make a one-pot meal, this quick chicken curry is sure to be a perfect choice. With the classic flavors of a rich curry, this single pot dinner is a real winner, (winner, chicken dinner!!).
This rich curry, with it's bold flavors, tender chicken, creamy coconut milk, and plenty of veggies, makes an easy dinner. With minimal cook time and a little basmati rice, it's one of the great one pot meals.
We love coming up with easy delicious recipes using chicken! Check out our Jerk Chicken Kabobs, Chicken and Shrimp Fried rice, and our Chicken Cottage Pie.
Jump to:
What You're Going to Need!
- Sweet potatoes - Any variety of sweet potato or yam will work here.
- Yukon gold potatoes - we love the creamy texture of yukon gold potatoes for this recipe
- Carrots - Any color of carrot will work just fine in this recipe
- Ginger - Fresh ginger is a must for this curry
- Curry Powder - Most curry powders will be great, we love Madras Curry Powder
- Ground coriander
- Ground cumin
- Yellow onion -Peeled and medium diced
- Chicken thighs - skinless, boneless, and chopped to bite size pieces
- Garlic cloves - peeled and crushed
- Frozen peas
- Bay leaves
- Cornstarch
- Chicken bouillon (or chicken stock) - We love Better Than Boullion
- Dried red chilis - (optional, we have whole cayenne chilis from the garden)
- Vegetable oil
- Premium coconut milk - You could use the lite variety.
- Salt
- Black pepper
See recipe card for quantities
Recipe
Easy One Pot Chicken Curry with Rice
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- gather and process all ingredients to proper size and state.
- heat stock pot over medium high heat
- In a bowl, combine chicken with all dry spices, toss together to coat
- add veg. oil to pot, allow to heat for a few seconds
- add chicken and spices to pot, increase heat to high
- stir occasionally to sear chicken and fry the spices lightly
- add onion, ginger, and garlic (add diced jalapeno for extra heat).
- continue to stir through, allowing aromatics to sweat lightly
- combine chicken bouillon with water thoroughly, add liquid to pot
- add carrots, potatoes, and sweet potatoes
- bring to a rapid boil
- reduce to low boil/ rapid simmer
- cook until root vegetables become tender, about 20 minutes
- add coconut milk
- add frozen peas
- combine corn starch with cold water to form a homogeneous "slurry"
- bring back to a steady boil over high/medium high heat
- stirring steadily with a spoon, add the starch mixture slowly until curry begins to thicken. be careful to to stir too vigorously, so as not to break up the potatoes
- reduce heat to low, simmer for 5 to 10 minutes in order to eliminate any starchy flavor
- Rinse the dry rice under cold running water in a strainer until the water runs clear.
- Place the rinsed rice into a 2-quart saucepan, then add the water.
- Place the pot over high heat until it comes to a boil. Reduce to low heat and cover. Cook for 12 minutes or until the rice is cooked and fluffy.
Nutrition
Tried this recipe?
Let us know how it was!Have a Specific Food Allergy?
Ask your favorite AI Bot how to alter it for your diet!
How to Make an Easy One Pot Chicken Curry
- Gather, peel, and chop all ingredients.
2. Let me take this time to share a few chef tips about fresh ginger. First of all, peeling it. You needn't risk your fingers whittling away at it with a paring knife or peeler, just use the end of a spoon as shown. Alternately, you can keep it frozen and grate it on a microplane, or grind it up in a blender with just enough water to make it work, and freeze it in an ice tray. Neither of these two tricks require that you peel it at all!
3. Mix all of the chicken and dry spices together while getting your pot and oil hot and ready to cook, the spices benefit greatly from frying a bit with the meat.
4. Here you see the pot after the chicken and spices have gotten well acquainted with each other over medium high heat, and then the aromatic veg. is added. Notice the building of flavors in layers happening here. This is where your kitchen will start smelling delicious!
5. After adding liquid ingredients, add in the root vegetables, and bring to a slow boil, so the vegetables don't break up, and remain intact.
6. Always add the peas right towards the end, so that they will not get mushy, and they will remain nice and bright green.
7. Add the coconut milk to the pot and stir. Make a slurry out of the cornstarch with some water, bring it to a boil, stirring in the starch slowly and gently to thicken.
8. Simmer for 10 minutes to cook out the starch bitterness, serve over your favorite rice, season to taste with mint chutney.
Cooking Curry
The first time that you cook curry, like this easy weeknight version chicken curry recipe that we're presenting here, remember that it is much more than just using yellow curry powder, or cooking Indian food. There are volumes written about curry, and almost all culinary experts still agree that they all still barely scratch the surface of this incredibly rich and diverse food.
This recipe is a simple introduction to Indian curries, which are historically linked to the spices used to make the blend known as garam masala. To learn even more about the worldwide tradition of curry, check out classic Japanese curry, Thai red curry paste, as well as green curry paste. Once again that only is the tip of the iceberg, but we encourage exploring these bold flavors.
Chef Tip
This basic curry recipe is the perfect jumping off point for creating many different recipes! Adding garbanzo beans and or lentils and swapping the chicken base for vegetable base would make a delicious vegetarian main course. In addition, shrimp or firm white fish could be substituted for the chicken, for the seafood lover in the family! If using seafood, make the base if you are freezing it and add the freshly cooked seafood when you are ready to serve the curry.
Substitutions & Variations
- Using vegetable broth or vegetable boullion, as well as lentils and or beans will make this curry a hearty vegetarian meal.
- The coconut milk can be substituted with oat milk, or even cream if you have a nut allergy.
- we used coconut milk, but any milk will work to add richness, coconut being very traditional.
- you can vary your desired level of spice by changing the amount, (and/or the type)of the chilis used. the heat level of this is about a 4 on a scale of 1 to 10.
- If you would like to use chicken broth, just omit the bouillon and use the broth instead of the water.
- This recipe makes 8 large portions but can be scaled back by just dividing the amounts of everything down without having to make any adjustments.
- We serve this with Jasmine rice, but it is great with whatever your favorite rice would be, basmati being the Indian go-to, and jasmine for Thai or Vietnamese.
Storage & Helpful Hints
This curry can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. It can be portioned and frozen for a month or more! Making a large batch of this easy and delicious curry, portioning, and freezing. Is the perfect way to add a comforting home cooked meal to your busy weeknight dinner schedule.
Newest Recipe!
Tender Red Wine Braised Beef Chuck Roast
This Dutch oven pot roast transforms an affordable cut of beef into a fork tender, hearty meal with incredible depth of flavor. The slow cooking method in a covered pot creates a rich sauce that's perfect for the root vegetables cooked with it.
Jason says
comment