Easy Chicken Curry

Easy Chicken Curry
Craig Lee for The New York Times
Total Time
30 minutes
Rating
4(4,328)
Notes
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Weeknight cooking doesn't get any easier than this endlessly adaptable five-ingredient, 30-minute curry from Mark Bittman. Sauté a pile of chopped onions in a little oil, then stir in curry powder (or red curry paste for Thai flavors). Pour in a can of coconut milk and swirl to combine. Add chicken, simmer until it's cooked through and finish with some chopped tomatoes. And dinner is served! This recipe lends itself to experimentation, so change it up. Be generous with spices. Toss in chopped bell pepper or carrots with the onions. Add a can of drained chickpeas or a generous handful of fresh spinach with the tomatoes. Instead of chicken, try shrimp, duck, turkey, firm fish, tofu, lump crab meat or beef. Just watch the cooking time: Fish, shrimp and crab cook faster than other meats. Also, don't forget to season as you go with salt and pepper.

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Ingredients

Yield:4 servings
  • 2tablespoons canola, corn or other neutral oil
  • 2large onions, peeled and sliced
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
  • 2teaspoons curry powder
  • 1can unsweetened coconut milk (1½ to 2 cups)
  • pounds peeled shrimp or boneless chicken, cut into ¾- to 1-inch chunks
  • 1cup peeled, seeded and diced tomato (canned is fine; cut up and drain before using)
  • Chopped basil or mint for garnish (optional)
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)

447 calories; 29 grams fat; 19 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 6 grams monounsaturated fat; 3 grams polyunsaturated fat; 13 grams carbohydrates; 3 grams dietary fiber; 5 grams sugars; 38 grams protein; 961 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Place oil in a large skillet; turn heat to medium-high. A minute later, add onions, along with a generous pinch of salt and some pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are very soft and almost falling apart, 15 minutes or more. Stir in curry powder, and cook, stirring, for another minute or so.

  2. Step 2

    Add coconut milk, and cook until it thickens, about 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add chicken, and stir, then cook until done, 3 to 6 minutes. (If you use shrimp, keep in mind that it cooks a little faster than chicken; if you are in doubt about whether chicken is done, cut into a piece.)

  3. Step 3

    Add tomato, and cook another minute; adjust seasonings as necessary. Serve over rice, garnished with basil or mint, if desired.

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4 out of 5
4,328 user ratings
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Cooking Notes

Yes, agreed. Thai curry paste is worth seeking out, preferably made with kefir lime leaf and shrimp paste. Salmon filet cut into pieces is delicious too. Grating in lime zest makes it maddeningly flavorful. After heat is turned off, squeeze in lime juice and stir in chopped fresh cilantro.

To take this up a notch, add ginger, garlic, while you saute the onions. When you add coconut milk, add some red pepper, peppercorn, and if you want it really spicy, some split green chilis. Finally at the end add fresh coriander leaves. Another way to do this is to marinate chicken for an hour or with above spices and some yogurt and lemon. Have fun experimenting.

For greater depth of flavour, cook the onions till very soft and a little browned, and simmer the coconut milk for a few minutes until it's thicker. Maybe other curry spices instead of just curry powder? Turmeric, cayenne, cumin?

I made this using a recipe for curry powder from a 1971 cookbook called "The Grub Bag" by Ita Jones. It makes a slightly sweet curry that my family likes and that works really well in this dish: 1/2 tsp. ginger 1/2 tsp. cinnamon 1/2 tsp. cardamom 1 tsp. coriander 1 tsp. turmeric 1 tsp. cumin 2 tsp. chili powder A more purist cook than I am could grind the spices, but I've always used powdered versions and it comes out fine.

I added about 1 tsp more curry and about 1 tsp cumin - I think I might just be a curry snob but I'd say there's more to curry than to think you can make it "easy." Consider curry paste as an alternative.

Thanks to readers suggestions, to give the recipe more kick, I added several tablespoons of freshly ground ginger root, several tablespoons of chopped garlic, freshly ground cumin and coriander which I added to the oil to heat up for a few minutes before adding the chopped onion. After the onions were browned, I added several teaspoons of turmeric. We were delighted with the results.

I love this very simple recipe...it's even better with chopped red peppers.

Add: 1 red bell 2-3 cloves garlic minced Spices use: 5 ts curry 2 ts garam masala 1/8 ts cayenne Cook chicken in veggies and spices before adding coconut milk. Used 1 can of coconut milk.

Thanks for your comments; I like the idea of adding garlic and ginger. But your suggestion to “sous vide or IP the whole thing” meant nothing to me. Using those terms/abbreviations without explanation doesn’t help those of us who are new to cooking or simply not familiar with those techniques (?).

Disappointingly bland, even though I used a lot more curry powder than the recipe called for. Next time I would add garlic, maybe some ginger, definitely more spices, and I might brown the chicken with the onions and garlic before adding the coconut milk. Also chicken takes much longer to cook than 6 minutes! It was easy to make but not sure it was worth it in the end.

Instead of curry powder buy curry paste... Mae Ploy Curry Paste is great to have on hand and comes in several options (yellow, red, green, Massaman etc). Even though I use the paste I start with chopped garlic and fresh ginger, then the onion. This has been one an easy weeknight dish of ours for years. Try the suggested recipe and then experiment from there.

This is one of the simplest and most delicious recipes to make.
I used "light" coconut milk, which has 60 percent less fat than regular, and garnished with chopped basil. The recipe, to me, is perfect as is, but, of course, other spices can be added as desired.

I used both curry powder (generic) and Penzey's Garam Masala, one tsp of the latter. Plus about a teaspoon of coconut aminos. As the local supermarket was out of chicken (!) I used a pork roast instead. I used a single Spanish onion and would use two the next time. All of us demolished it in a single sitting. I'd probably add more Garam Masala next time to perk up the flavor more.

Added red peppers after the onions had cooked down and slightly browned, cooked the onions with two cloves of garlic. Substituted red Thai curry paste for curry powder, and added way more than called for - probably 2.5 tbsp, could have used more. A little turmeric with it, and lime zest and juice as others have suggested. Served over rice noodles. Delicious.

The best garnish & easy to find is equal parts cilantro, basil & mint. Then top with chopped peanuts!!! Game changer.

Def needs more zing. Added Garam masala and some curry paste at end. Pre cook cut up chicken in pressure cooker Keep coconut milk and small can diced tomato on hand. Del monte petite diced with green chiles ( mild)

I added a little bit of honey and more spice. It rounded well

Grated ginger and garlic, plus spinach, chick peas and paneer cheese for a delightful veggie dinner.

Needs to be spiced up more so definitely add your own spices like a little more curry and maybe even a seven spice mix

This is so good for being so fast and easy. I did add about 1 tbsp each of minced garlic and ginger towards the end of cooking the onions. I added some garbanzo beans and a little cayenne pepper and a little coconut aminos. Yum!

Delicious but did have to increase spice, as others suggested. Sauteed onion and used 1 T curry, 2 tsp cumin, tumeric, ginger, 2 cloves garlic. After adding coconut milk, added red pepper, and jalapeno (no seeds). Ended up quickly toasting cumin and coriander seeds and grinding some more into the mix, and then toasting some black mustard seeds and tossing them in as well. The final result was really good. Looking forward to leftovers.

I would just brown the chicken first. Remove. Do the onions, etc., and add chicken back as instructed.

I use coconut oil instead of corn or vegetable or canola. More intense coconut flavor and better got you.

This is good & easy but like many have said…. Needs more spice. Will try adding ginger and another 1 or 2 tsp of curry powder.

Not enough curry. Pan fry the curry first to release flavors.

I added 5 garlic cloves, fresh chopped ginger, cayenne, turmeric, cumin, Garam masala, and way more curry powder both regular and spicy. Still didn’t seem like enough to take this dish to the next level but was decent enough. The cool time on the chicken was not enough, the key is the size you cut the chicken.

Add japs and a red bell pepper

Must sear chicken advance. Otherwise comes out rubbery from just being boiled in the coconut milk. It was overall kinda bland. Ginger would have been good.

This has become a true staple in my home! I agree with other posters that it's nowhere near spicy enough. But it's the quintessential NYTimes Cooking recipe in that it offers the technique and allows you to play once you know what you're doing. I've added lentils, carrots, chicken, tofu, cauliflower, spinach, ready to try shrimp, beef, and all kinds of other delicious ingredients. We add a lot of garlic, extra curry powder (Hot and Vadouvan), and we use Momofuku Chili Crunch, Weeknight heaven.

Followed some of the comment recs. Added ginger and garlic a few minutes after the onion. Used 2 tbsp Thai green curry paste, about a pound of shrimp (cut in half for kid-friendly bites) and stirred in spinach at the end. Fabulous flavor.

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