This Indian chicken curry is so rich and creamy that we can’t get enough! We simmer tender chicken with ginger, garlic, and warm spices in an incredible yogurt and cream sauce. It’s pure comfort food, perfect with basmati rice or naan.
One of my earliest food memories is eating out with my Mom and Dad at a local Indian restaurant. Ever since, I’ve been in love with the aromas, flavors, and colors of Indian cuisine. This intensely flavorful chicken curry recipe with yogurt and cream is our attempt to bring some of those flavors and aromas into our kitchen.
This chicken curry is inspired by a traditional Indian curry called Malai wali murghi, or chicken with cream. I absolutely love the creamy sauce, which we make sure you’ll have plenty of to enjoy with rice or flatbread, like naan or my quick and easy homemade flatbread.
Key Ingredients
- Chicken: In our video, we use boneless, skinless chicken thighs, but chicken breasts or bone-in pieces work just as well. If you choose bone-in pieces, the simmer time should still be enough to cook the chicken. You can always add 5 to 10 minutes if it needs longer.
- Spices: We marinate our chicken in a mixture of salt, cumin, coriander, turmeric, black pepper, and cayenne. While 20 minutes is sufficient, you can let the chicken sit with the spices in the fridge for up to 24 hours. We call for ground spices in the recipe since that’s what most of us have available. If you have whole spices, simply grind them using a spice grinder or small coffee grinder before adding them.
- Onion, Garlic, and Ginger: One of our favorite tricks learned from Indian cuisine is to puree fresh garlic, ginger, onion, and water before cooking the puree in oil or ghee. This flavorful base adds so much to our chicken curry. We don’t recommend swapping the fresh garlic and ginger for dried in this recipe. Fresh ginger lasts at least a week in the fridge so don’t worry about wasting it. We love to juice leftover ginger (like in these ginger shots) or use it to make this spicy garlic ginger edamame!
- Oil or Ghee: We prefer the flavor of ghee in this curry, but you can use oil if that’s what you have. Ghee is a clarified butter with a higher smoke point and shelf life, adding a lovely toasted butter flavor.
- Tomato Paste: Tomato paste adds a rich flavor to our curry. We love using the double-concentrated tubes because you can save any leftovers for another recipe.
- Yogurt and Cream: Don’t lighten up this curry with lower-fat options! Plain whole milk yogurt and heavy cream make this sauce rich and mouth-watering. The yogurt helps tenderize the chicken, and the cream balances all the spices.
- Garam Masala: Some of the most delicious curry recipes we’ve tried, stir in Garam Masala in the last few minutes of cooking to preserve its aroma and flavor. We do the same in our chicken curry, adding it with the cream during the final 5 minutes. Garam Masala is a warm, sweet Indian spice blend that differs regionally and from home to home. I have a few in my spice cabinet!
How to Make Chicken Curry
The ingredient list for this chicken curry might seem long, but I bet you have almost everything in your pantry. It’s also pretty simple to make! You’ll start by marinating the chicken with our spices. As mentioned above, 20 minutes is plenty, but you can do this up to 24 hours in advance (keep your chicken covered and in the fridge).
When ready to make the curry, puree the onion, garlic, and ginger in a food processor or blender. This aromatic paste will become the base of our delicious curry and help thicken it.
Brown your chicken in oil or ghee, and add the onion ginger puree. You’ll stir in more spices, tomato paste, and yogurt when the water evaporates. I add my yogurt a tablespoon at a time to prevent it from separating. (Using full-fat yogurt also helps to prevent curdling.)
Simmer for 20 minutes, and then stir in Garam Masala and cream. Give it 5 minutes, then serve over rice or with some naan or homemade flatbread. For more curry recipes, try our coconut ginger vegetable curry.
Our Favorite Chicken Curry
- PREP
- COOK
- TOTAL
This Indian chicken curry recipe is rich, creamy and saucy. Serve it with rice (try coconut rice) or naan bread so that you have something to pick up all of the creamy sauce. We do not recommend substituting the yogurt or cream in this recipe since they add richness and flavor to the sauce.
Watch Us Make the Recipe
You Will Need
1 to 1 ½ pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs or breast
1 ½ teaspoons fine sea salt
1 teaspoon ground cumin
3/4 teaspoons ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, optional for heat, add an extra 1/4 teaspoon for medium-spicy
6 medium cloves garlic, peeled
A 1-inch cube of fresh ginger, peeled
1 medium onion, roughly chopped
1 ½ cups water
3 tablespoons vegetable oil or use ghee
2 tablespoons tomato paste
4 tablespoons full-fat plain unsweetened yogurt
1 teaspoon Garam Masala, see notes
3 tablespoons heavy cream
Handful of cilantro leaves, chopped, optional for serving
Directions
- Marinate the Chicken
1Cut the chicken into 1-inch pieces and add them to a bowl. You can leave the chicken whole if you prefer or if you are using bone-in pieces.
2Scatter 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin, 1/4 teaspoon ground coriander, 1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric, 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, and 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper over the chicken. Toss well and set aside to marinate for at least 20 minutes.
3Make ahead: The chicken can be left to marinate for up to 24 hours; it should be covered and stored in the refrigerator.
- Make Curry
1Add garlic, ginger, onion, and 1/2 cup of water to a blender or food processor. Blend until mostly smooth. You can also use an immersion blender with a cup attachment.
2Heat the oil or ghee in a wide skillet (with a lid) over medium-high heat. Arrange the marinated chicken in the pan in one layer and brown on both sides, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Remove the chicken from the pan and place the skillet back on the heat.
3Add the onion-ginger mixture and cook, stirring often, until all the water evaporates, about 5 minutes.
4Stir in the remaining 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin, 1/2 teaspoon coriander, and 1/4 teaspoon turmeric over the onion-ginger mixture and cook for about 20 seconds. Stir in the tomato paste, turn the heat down to medium-low, and cook another minute.
5Add the yogurt, a tablespoon at a time, stirring it into the sauce before adding any more. Adding the cream slowly prevents it from curdling.
6Return the chicken pieces and any accumulated juices to the pan, along with the remaining 1 cup of water and 3/4 teaspoon of salt. Bring to a boil, turn the heat down to a simmer, and cover with a lid. Simmer, covered, for 20 minutes.
7Remove the lid and stir in the Garam Masala and cream. Taste the sauce and add the final 1/4 teaspoon of salt if you feel that it is needed (we almost always add it).
8Turn the heat back to medium-high and cook, stirring occasionally, until the sauce has reduced and thickened, 3 to 5 minutes. Serve with fresh cilantro scattered on top.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- Storing: Leftover curry can be stored in the fridge for up to 4 days.
- Make-ahead tips: The chicken can be left to marinate in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours.
- Bone-in chicken: Use about 3 pounds. There is no need to de-bone or cut the chicken. You can make the chicken with whole chicken pieces and should not need to adjust the recipe since the simmer time should still be enough to cook the chicken until tender.
- Garam Masala: A warm, sweet spice blend that differs regionally and from home to home. The mix typically includes cardamon, cumin, cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg. The Garam Masala is added towards the end of cooking so that the spices perfume every bite. You can buy or make the blend. We especially enjoy this one from The Spice House.
- Ghee: A type of clarified butter popular in Indian cuisine. Butter is cooked until the milk solids separate and turn toasty brown. The butter is then strained. Ghee has a higher smoke point and longer shelf life than regular butter. You can make ghee at home or buy it.
- Recipe inspired by Madhur Jaffrey’s recipe for Malai wali murghi (Chicken with cream)
- The nutrition facts provided below are estimates.
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First time I have visited your site and absolutel love this recipe. Works well as is, and I also tried a different version using the onion, garlic & ginger pastes that added some more heat with chilli’. That also worked well. I am a fan of cooking from scratch so appreciate the time taken to put this blog together to others to share. Thank you.
I actually had more chicken than what the recipe called for so I had to double it. I also forgot to pick up some cayenne so I left it out and thought maybe I could add it in afterwards if I really wanted to. But, it came out AMAZING without it so I left out. I will definitely make this recipe again so there’s always a next time for the cayenne. Thank you! Definitely a recipe to keep.
I love this recipe it’s so easy to follow instructions and is satisfying for my family. I serve it with rice and peas and we all think the flavours are delicious. I still have to source the Garam masala spice. I cook this dish once a week and recommend it to friends.
Wonderful! Love your addition of peas 🙂
My Indian son-in-law gave this the thumbs up. He does like his starches so I added some red potatoes, which also helped thicken the sauce. There was a slight bitterness when I first tasted it so I sprinkled in a little sugar to cut the acid of the tomato paste. With the smaller measure of cayenne, it was mild enough for my 4-year-old grandson to enjoy too. Definitely a winning recipe for our family.
came out beautifully, cayenne a little too much for others but can easily adjust. Loved the texture and great with roti. Will def make again.
Hi Marianne, I’m so happy you tried the recipe! I’ll add a note about cayenne in the recipe tips area to warn future readers that the cayenne may be too spicy for some eaters. Thanks for your feedback!!
I have cooked your recipe for today’s dinner. It was amazingly good! I served it on jasmine rice for my family and they all liked. Thank you.
Used this recipe a couple of times now and it’s now my go to recipe for a tasty chicken curry, simple to make with everything been fresh ingredients but sooo tasty it’s unreal
Yay! So happy that you loved it 🙂
Can I use turkey breast instead of chicken?
Hi Pam, Turkey would be great!
Super easy and very tasty!
forgot to rate it.
Thank you. Very nice, although I used a cooked chook and just fried up the spices with the onion and garlic, also added mushroom, at the same time boiled up some carrot and cauliflower, which I added in along with the shredded cooked chicken. Also added in some spinach, just before ready and a squirt of lemon juice. Otherwise all the spices were the same and still added in the Greek yogurt and some whipping cream as didn’t have heavy cream.
The ingredients list says 1 1/2 cups water but only says 1/2 cup added to the onion mixture- what is the other 1 cup for?
Hi Lauren, The remaining 1 cup of water is added in step 6: “Return the chicken pieces and any accumulated juices to the pan along with the remaining cup of water and 3/4 teaspoon of salt. Bring to a boil, turn the heat down to a simmer, and then cover with a lid. Simmer, covered, for 20 minutes.”
after going to several websites to determine best chicken curry recipe – thank goodness I came back to your site – as always I can depend on you all for what I need. Thank you! DELISH!