This creamy coconut chicken curry is quick and easy to make in one pan and in under 30 minutes. Using both a curry powder and curry paste gives paired with garlic, ginger and lemongrass give this curry a bold and flavourful base. The curry has a thick creamy sauce that coats the chicken, plus its loaded with colourful veges.
Savoury, sweet and earthy, this coconut chicken curry is sure to be a hit and a weeknight favourite.
What Makes This Curry Special
- It tastes like its been cooking for hours, but its on the table in under 30 minutes
- Scoop up the sauce with your favourite rice or bread
- Make it low carb by heating up frozen cauliflower Rice
- Its fast, flavourful and healthier than takeout
- It works with whatever vegetables you have on hand
- Great for meal prepping and it freezes well
- Easy to adjust the spiciness of the curry sauce to suit your preferences
- Lime leaves add a zing and freshness to the sauce that wakes up your tastebuds
- The sauce is thick and creamy and perfectly coats the chicken
Ingredients
The coconut curry flavour comes from using garlic, ginger, lemongrass and onion as a base, with a combination of curry powder, curry paste, for flavour, lime juice and fish sauce for seasoning, a hint of granulated sweetener or honey to balance, plus creamy coconut milk to bring it all together.
The final touch which I highly recommend is Kaffir lime leaves which provide a fresh citrus note to the curry that brings it alive. But if you can’t find them its not a deal breaker as you can always grate a little lime zest into the sauce for some added freshness.
Ingredient Notes
- Chicken: I like to use chicken breast in this recipe but there is a risk that it can become dry if overcooked. Pre-cook chicken at the beginning of recipe until its just done. If overcooked it could become dry when it goes back into the wok at the end of the cooking process.
- Marinating the Chicken: if you have the time you can let the chicken marinate (30 mins or even overnight) buts its not necessary to get the full flavour of this curry. The marinade ingredients quickly coat the chicken and the gentle cooking at the beginning will infuse all that lovely flavour into the meat.
- Curry Powder: I use a simple yellow curry powder called Clives of India.
- Yellow Curry Paste: This adds a nice richness, depth and complexity to the curry. It can be left out if you don’t have it, but I definitely recommend adding it if you can.
- Lemongrass: Lemongrass paste is my secret ingredient in this recipe. The paste is really concentrated and adds a massive about of flavour. This dish is all about the lemongrass and the paste certainly delivers. Find it in the fresh fruit and vegetable section of the supermarket at Coles and Woolworths. Alternatively you can use fresh lemongrass, but make sure to slice in very finely, and use the white part only – discard the rest.
- Coconut Milk: Full fat coconut milk is best for that creamy curry sauce. You could use a low fat coconut milk but the curry sauce may be a littler thinner.
- Granulated sweetener: I like to use monkfruit sweetener, but you can also use stevia or any other granulated sweetener that measures like sugar. Alternatively you could also use Honey.
How To Make
Marinate Chicken
- Add diced chicken, lemongrass paste, garlic, ginger and curry powder to a bowl, mix together.
- Heat a non stick wok on medium to high heat. Cook chicken pieces for a few minutes until cooked through and then remove from wok, cover and set aside.
Make Curry Sauce
- Add the oil, vegetables, garlic, ginger, lemongrass paste, curry powder, and yellow curry paste and stir through until it becomes fragrant.
- Add Coconut milk, fish sauce, sweetener and lime leaves and stir through, letting it come to a gentle bubble (about 3 – 4 minutes)
- Add chicken pieces into curry and mix in
Thicken (optional)
- Mix together cornflour/cornstarch and water in a small jug. Pour into curry and stir through to thicken, then remove from heat and serve
Serving
- Divide amongst bowls, adding rice first, and curry on top
- Garnish with unsalted and roasted peanuts, lime wedge and sprigs or coriander/cilantro
Expert Tips
- Heat Level: This is a medium curry. Adding the cornflour/cornstarch to thicken will dimmish the intensity of heat and some of the flavours, but it creates a deliciously thick, creamy and luscious curry that coats the chicken perfectly.
- Thickening: this is a personal preference. I like thick curry sauces, so I like to add a thickening agent. It tastes just as good without thickening and there’s still plenty of sauce to soak up all that rice!
- Low carb option: Serve with cauliflower rice. Omit potatoes and use parsnip or swede root vegetables instead.
- Storage: Store in an air tight container in the fridge and eat within 3 days
- Freeze: Freeze for upto 3 months. Let defrost in fridge overnight ad reheat I the microwave.
Common Questions
You could use chopped potato, sweet potato, baby spinach leaves,snow peas, and diced carrots. Even frozen peas (or other veges) would work
Instead of 1 tablespoon each of curry powder and curry paste which makes for a medium curry, change this to be one teaspoon of each, for a milder curry.
Yes you can substitute the coconut milk for coconut cream. If doing this you probably won’t to do the step to thicken the sauce as it may already be thick enough. The cream will also make for a much richer and heavier curry.
I don’t recommend using lite coconut milk as the curry sauce won’t thick very much and the curry will lack richness and depth. Full fat coconut milk is preferable over light coconut milk.
TO achieve the same creamy coconut curry, you could use a red curry paste, penang curry paste, or even a korma paste. If you only have green curry paste, use that and omit the curry powder.
Using natural yoghurt or plain unflavoured Greek yoghurt works to thicken curry sauce. This should be done at the end while the curry is off the heat, starting with a small amount and adding more to reach the desired consistency.
More Curry Recipes
Creamy Coconut Chicken Curry
Ingredients
Chicken
- 500 grams /1 pound Skinless chicken breast (chopped into ½ inch pieces)
- 1 tablespoon Lemongrass Paste
- 1 teaspoon Crushed Garlic
- 1 teaspoon Curry Powder
- 1 teaspoon Minced Ginger
Curry
- 1 medium Brown or white onion - finely diced
- 2 tablespoons Vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon Crushed Garlic
- 1 teaspoon Minced Ginger
- 1 teaspoon Lemongrass Paste
- 1 tablespoon Curry Powder
- 1 tablespoon Lime juice
- 1 tablespoon Yellow Curry Paste
- 1 can - 400 ml/14 oz Coconut Milk
- 1 tablespoon Fish Sauce
- 1 teaspoon Granulated sweetener that measures like sweetener
- 3 kaffir lime leaves - optional
Vegetables
- 1 medium Capsicum/Bell Pepper - chopped into chunks
- 1 large Zucchini - chopped into small chunks
- 1 medium Onion - thickly sliced
- 1 cup Pumpkin - diced
To Thicken (optional)
- 2 tablespoons Cornflour/Cornstarch
- 2 tablespoons tap water
Garnish (optional)
- Lime wedge
Instructions
Marinate Chicken
- Add diced chicken, lemongrass paste, garlic, ginger and curry powder to a bowl, mix together.
- Heat a non stick wok on medium to high heat. Cook chicken pieces for a few minutes until cooked through and then remove from wok, cover and set aside.
Make Curry Sauce
- Add the oil, vegetables, garlic, ginger, lemongrass paste, curry powder, and yellow curry paste and stir through until it becomes fragrant.
- Add Coconut milk, fish sauce, sweetener and lime leaves and stir through, letting it come to a gentle bubble (about 3 – 4 minutes)
- Add chicken pieces into curry and mix in
Thicken (optional)
- Mix together cornflour/cornstarch and water in a small jug. Pour into curry and stir through to thicken, then remove from heat and serve
Serving
- Divide amongst bowls, adding rice first, and curry on top
- Garnish with unsalted and roasted peanuts, lime wedge and sprigs or coriander/cilantro.
Notes
- Chicken: I like to use chicken breast in this recipe but there is a risk that it can become dry if overcooked. Pre-cook chicken at the beginning of recipe until its just done. If overcooked it could become dry when it goes back into the wok at the end of the cooking process.
- Marinating the Chicken: if you have the time you can let the chicken marinate (30 mins or even overnight) buts its not necessary to get the full flavour of this curry. The marinade ingredients quickly coat the chicken and the gentle cooking at the beginning will infuse all that lovely flavour into the meat.
- Curry Powder: I use a simple yellow curry powder called Clives of India.
- Yellow Curry Paste: This adds a nice richness, depth and complexity to the curry. It can be left out if you don’t have it, but I definitely recommend adding it if you can.
- Lemongrass: Lemongrass paste is my secret ingredient in this recipe. The paste is really concentrated and adds a massive about of flavour. This dish is all about the lemongrass and the paste certainly delivers. Find it in the fresh fruit and vegetable section of the supermarket at Coles and Woolworths. Alternatively you can use fresh lemongrass, but make sure to slice in very finely, and use the white part only – discard the rest.
- Coconut Milk: Full fat coconut milk is best for that creamy curry sauce. You could use a low fat coconut milk but the curry sauce may be a littler thinner.
- Granulated sweetener: I like to use monkfruit sweetener, but you can also use stevia or any other granulated sweetener that measures like sugar. Alternatively you could also use Honey.
- Serving: Serve with your favourite rice, peanut, sprig of coriander and lime wedge.
- Heat Level: This is a medium curry. Adding the cornflour/cornstarch to thicken will dimmish the intensity of heat and some of the flavours, but it creates a deliciously thick, creamy and luscious curry that coats the chicken perfectly.
- Thickening: this is a personal preference. I like thick curry sauces, so I like to add a thickening agent. It tastes just as good without thickening and there’s still plenty of sauce to soak up all that rice!
- Low carb option: Serve with cauliflower rice. Omit potatoes and use parsnip or swede root vegetables instead.
- Storage: Store in an air tight container in the fridge and eat within 3 days
- Freeze: Freeze for upto 3 months. Let defrost in fridge overnight ad reheat I the microwave.
Nutrition
Note: Sugars contained in this recipe are from naturally occurring sugars in fruits, vegetables or other natural sweeteners.
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