This stewy flavorful Indian chicken curry recipe with rice is fairly easy to make and always a crowd pleaser, especially with a colorful garnish like cilantro or sliced green onions.
Spices For Chicken Curry with Rice
There are a lot of spices in Indian curry recipes but if all else fails, just make sure you at least have the curry, cumin, and hopefully coriander for this chicken curry with rice recipe. Salt works wonder in bringing out flavors if your curry chicken tastes bland.
Conversely, if you add too much salt to chicken curry sauce it's harder to correct. If it tastes salty then try it over rice and that might correct it because of the lack of salt in the rice.
If that doesn't work, add diced potatoes to the curry chicken sauce, remove some liquid and add more cream to the curry. Also try adding a little sugar or more acid like lemon or lime juice or vinegar.
The cayenne pepper takes the heat level up a notch in Indian Chicken Curry. Leave it out if you're sensitive to heat. Some ground powdered curries are hot and some are mild. Go easy on the amount of ground curry in this recipe as well if you don't know and don't like spicy food.
Chicken Thighs OR Breast in Curry Chicken and Rice
I recommend chicken thighs for this recipe but chicken breast works too for curries.
Don't like chicken thighs? Cool, use chicken breast but the breast will cook very fast compared to thighs. Chicken breast can be overcooked easier and turn the chicken "rubbery".
Thighs are really where it's at if you want tender, moist, and juicy chicken in curry sauce. Chicken thighs are very forgiving in recipes and are hard to overcook.
What is the difference between Indian Curry and Thai Curry?
There is a ton of differences but what distinguishes the two in my mind is the rich, spicy, thick stewy, and savory flavors of Indian Curry. Thai Curry reminds me of more soupy, herby, lighter, faster, and "fresher" tastes.
I also mostly associate heavy whipping cream and ground "powder" spices like curry powder, turmeric, cumin, coriander, etc... with Indian cuisine and associate coconut milk and chili paste spices with Thai curries.
FAQS About Indian Chicken Curry and Rice
Yup! Knock it out. If you don't have milk or are dairy free, you could also substitute your favorite non-dairy creamer, half and half, light cream, or add a little butter or ghee to this chicken curry recipe.
Yup. Add fresh or frozen vegetables to the curry chicken mix. I always have frozen broccoli, green beans, or peas for a quick vegetable add on. Throw them in the sauce in the last 5 minutes of cooking so they stay vibrant in color and crispier in taste.
Any garnish! I've listed green onions and cilantro. And although it's not traditional, parsley, mint, or basil will bring out a beautiful pop visually and also taste wise to this dish.
Yup! You'll take the chicken curry from "stew like" to more like a chicken thigh or breast with sauce and there ain't nothing wrong with that either!
What My Man Says
"This curry dish is really flavorful and pretty simple to make."
"Dicing the chicken thighs (9) took me longer than I expected, and as a result my prep time was around 45 minutes."
"Working with all the different spices is a cool sensory experience - they all have powerful smells and the different colors are very pretty and combine to make a rich ocher."
"I found that I really had to turn the temperature back up after I added the chicken to get everything back to a boil / simmer."
"We didn't have any Cilantro, so I omitted it but we did have some frozen peas that I added for a couple of minutes at the very end (turning the temperature up again). The end result was quite delicious and the sauce gets even thicker and richer the next day for the leftovers :-)"
Things In My Kitchen:
- Microplane grater for grating / mincing the ginger.
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Serving Suggestions
Serve this flavorful Indian curry Chicken recipe with a lighter simpler side dish or salad like:
You May Also Like
If you like the flavorful taste of curry, try one of these recipes:
Indian Curry Chicken & Rice
EatSimpleFood.com
This flavorful chicken curry recipe is fairly easy to make and always a crowd pleaser, especially with a colorful garnish like cilantro or sliced green onions.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 6 1x
- Category: Main Dish
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Indian
- Diet: Gluten Free
Ingredients
- 3 Tbsp vegetable oil
- 2 lb boneless skinless chicken (breasts or thighs), diced
- 1 ½ cup onion, diced
- 1 Tbsp garlic, minced
- 1 Tbsp fresh ginger, grated
- 1 Tbsp curry powder
- 1 tsp coriander
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp garam masala
- pinch cayenne pepper
- 1 tsp salt
- ¾ cup water
- 1 15 oz canned fire roasted diced tomatoes
- 1 ½ cup heavy whipping cream
- 1 ½ Tbsp lemon juice
- ¼ cup fresh cilantro, chopped & divided
- 6 cups cooked rice
Instructions
- Bring a large pot to medium heat and add the oil. When hot add the onions and cook 3-5 minutes or until translucent.
- Add garlic and ginger and cook 1-2 minutes or until fragrant. Add more oil if the mixture looks dry.
- Stir in all spices, salt, and 2 tablespoon cilantro and cook ~1-2 minutes.
- Add water, tomatoes, and cream. Bring curry to a boil covered, reduce heat and simmer low uncovered ~ 20 minutes.
- Add chicken and cook and an additional 5-8 minutes or until chicken is done.
- Squeeze in lemon and serve chicken curry over rice and garnish with remaining cilantro.
- Add salt to taste. Happy Eating! Beckie
Notes
- Tryin' to up your veggies? Add some frozen peas or broccoli to the mixture when you add the chicken.
- Dairy Free? Use coconut milk instead of whipping cream.
Hillary says
Very mild but we enjoyed it. Heat is a matter of preference anyway. Next time I will use hot curry powder instead of half and half.
beckie says
Thanks for the comment Hilary!
Wilma Trip says
I made it as a birthday dinner. It was very well received. Will make it again. I served it with the cauliflower, sweet potato, peas recipe and naan bread. Super!!!
Beckie Hemmerling says
That sounds delicious and like an inspiring birthday dinner Wilma – thanks for sharing!
Ginny says
This was easy and oh my...DELICIOUS
THIS WAS AWESOME
Beckie Hemmerling says
Thanks for the comment Ginny - I love this recipe so much too!
Katie says
This is the perfect weeknight curry. Simple to make, aromatic and fragrant. I added some steamed broccoli on the side and heated up some Trader Joe’s garlic naan. This will be a staple this fall.
Beckie Hemmerling says
Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment Katie. And for letting me know what you did. Your meal sounds perfect with the sides! Beckie