This creamy coconut chicken curry and vegetables is quick and easy to make in one pan and in under 30 minutes. The curry has a thick creamy sauce that coats the chicken, plus its loaded with colourful veges.
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Savoury, sweet and earthy, this coconut chicken curry is sure to be a hit and a weeknight favourite. Check out this Chicken Pumpkin Curry with an Indian twist for something different!
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 favorite white rice or brown rice
- Make it dinner under 500 calories with cauliflower Rice
- Its fast, flavourful and healthier than takeout
- Use your favorite veggies and can be made with Chicken Breast or Chicken Thighs
- Great for busy weeknights or meal prep and it freezes well
- Spice level can be easily adjusted up or down to suit your preferences
- The sauce is thick and creamy and perfectly coats the chicken
Making dinners under 500 calories is my specialty, with many of my most popular being low calorie chicken recipes, low calorie meal prepping recipes and low calorie slow cooker recipes.
Ingredients
The coconut curry flavor comes from using garlic, ginger, lemongrass and onion as a base, with a combination of curry powder, curry paste, for flavor, lime juice and fish sauce for seasoning, a hint of sweetener, plus creamy coconut milk to bring it all together.
Totally optional but, I highly recommend adding Kaffir lime leaves to the curry sauce whilst cooking. It adds that something extra and special that elevates the dish, and I almost always use it in my Thai curries, like this Slow Cooker Thai Beef Curry, Yellow Fish Curry, and Pineapple Chicken Curry.
Ingredient Notes
- Chicken: Use skinless chicken breasts or chicken thighs cut into same size pieces for even cooking
- 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. Thai red curry paste or Thai green curry paste could be used instead
- Lemongrass: Lemongrass paste is my secret ingredient in this recipe. The paste is really concentrated and adds a massive about of flavour.
- Garlic and Ginger: Fresh garlic cloves and fresh ginger make a difference, but pastes and bottled varieties will work just fine.
- 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.
- Veggies: I like to use pumpkin, zucchini, red onion, however you can also use sweet potatoes, snap peas and red bell pepper. Whatever you choose its fun to use an variety of colorful vegetables
How To Make
- 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
Expert Tips
- 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.
- Coconut Milk or Coconut Cream: Swap coconut milk for coconut cream-it's a smooth substitution. Skip the thickening step, as the cream is likely thick enough.
- Adjusting Spice Level: to make it spicier add a an extra half teaspoon of curry powder or cayenne pepper, to make it less spicy, omit curry paste, or reduce by half
- Low carb option: Serve with cauliflower rice. Omit potatoes and use parsnip or swede root vegetables instead.
Storage
For optimal freshness, store leftover coconut chicken curry in an airtight container in the refrigerator. It'll stay flavorsome for up to 3 days. To freeze, portion the curry into individual servings, making sure to cool it completely before sealing. When the curry cravings hit, simply thaw and reheat for a quick and satisfying meal.
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
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.
Thai curry chicken with delicious flavors, jasmine rice is one of my go-to-meals. Its a spicy curry of about medium heat. If wont blow your head off, but it does have a nice buzz.
I have made this yellow Thai curry so many times for my family and its always a hit with its bite-sized pieces of juicy chicken wrapped up in creamy spicy curry sauce!
More Curry Recipes
Creamy Coconut Curry Chicken and Vegetables
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
- 400 ml/14 oz Coconut Milk
- 1 tablespoon Fish Sauce
- 1 teaspoon Monkfruit sweetener
- 3 kaffir lime leaves
Vegetables
- 1 medium Capsicum/Bell Pepper, diced
- 1 large Zucchini, diced
- 1 medium Onion, sliced
- 1 cup Pumpkin, diced
To Thicken (optional)
- 2 tablespoons Cornflour/Cornstarch
- 2 tablespoons tap water
Garnish (optional)
- Lime wedge
Instructions
- Prepare Chicken Pieces: Add diced chicken, 1 tablespoon each of lemongrass paste, crushed garlic, grated ginger and curry powder to a large bowl. Mix together until chicken is thoroughly coated.
- Cook Chicken and set Aside: Heat a non stick wok or skillet on medium to high heat. Cook chicken pieces for a few minutes until cooked through and then remove from wok, cover and set aside.
- Add Aromatics: In the same skillet, add the 2 tablespoons Vegetable oil, diced onion, 1 tablespoon crushed garlic, 1 teaspoon grated ginger, 1 teaspoon lemongrass paste, 1 tablespoon curry powder, and 1 tablespoon yellow curry paste and stir through until it becomes fragrant.
- Add Vegetables: Add diced bell peppers/capsicums, zucchini, and pumpkin (or any other vegetable you're using) and stir through the curry paste until coated.
- Add Remaining Ingredients: Add Coconut milk, fish sauce, lime juice, sweetener and lime leaves and stir through, letting it come to a gentle bubble on medium to high heat (about 3 - 4 minutes)
- Return Chicken to Pan: Add chicken pieces back into the curry, stirring though to combine everything together. Reduce heat to medium for 1 minute.
- Optional Thickening of Sauce: Mix together cornflour/cornstarch with water in a small jug. Pour into curry and stir through whilst still on the heat. It should thicken quickly in under 1 minute.
- Serving: Divide amongst bowls, adding rice first, and curry on top. Garnish with 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 flavor. 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 favorite rice, peanut, sprig of coriander and lime wedge.
- Heat Level: This is a medium curry. Adding the cornflour/cornstarch to thicken will diminish the intensity of heat and some of the flavors, but it creates a deliciously thick, creamy and luscious curry that coats the chicken perfectly.
- 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. Calories have been calculated for your convenience using My Fitness Pal and are based on the ingredients listed in the recipe card.
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