This easy Paleo chicken curry is a shout out to a friend of mine, Richard, with far more experience with Indian cooking than I have. While I love Asian flavors and am working on expanding my repertoire, Indian has always intimidated me a bit. Last time I tried to make a curry I went with goat and it came out pretty terribly. Richard actually laughed when I told him…apparently goat is a pretty difficult meat to work with starting out.
Richard’s cooking always smelled wonderful. It was fairly simple, but the rich and aromatic spices and the classic combinations with tomatoes, chilies, and toasted coriander always made me envious of his effortless ability to combine these flavors that didn’t come naturally to me.
Graciously, Richard sent me his chicken curry recipe recently with a very detailed set of instructions that took about an hour to go through. The recipe was already fairly aligned with the paleo diet and now that I had the flavors I could experiment to get it to a quick, homemade meal.
This paleo chicken curry recipe should take you about 15 minutes, it’s very quick to cut up the onions and garlic, halve the chicken, and throw it all together. The rich flavors taste like the curry has been cooking all day and it’s simple enough to appeal to kids (or husbands) who may not have fully acquired an appreciation for the complexities of Indian heat and spice. Adam licked his plate clean (literally).
My Paleo chicken curry does call for Indian curry powder which cannot be substituted with curry paste used in Thai dishes. If you don’t have any on hand, it is very easy to make. I put together the combination below based on what I like and what spices I had on hand and it came out beautifully.
Quick, Classic Curry Powder
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons ground coriander
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 1/2 teaspoons ground turmeric
1 teaspoon ground mustard
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
Now that you have your Indian curry powder in hand, on to the recipe!
Richard’s 15 Minute Paleo Chicken Curry
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons coconut oil
1 cup diced red onion
3 cloves of garlic, diced
3oz tomato paste
3/4 cup chicken broth
1 & 1/2 teaspoon of curry powder
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Set a pan over medium heat. Diced the garlic and onions. Split chicken breasts in half length wise (you’ll now have 4 long skinny pieces). When the pan is hot, melt the oil and then add garlic and onions. Stir until the onions are translucent, about a minute, and then add chicken broth, tomato paste, curry powder, ginger, and salt. Stir together chicken broth, tomato paste, and spices and cook down a couple minutes. Add chicken breasts and flip to coat with sauce. Reduce to medium-low heat and cook covered for 5 minutes. Flip the breasts and cook uncovered another 5 minutes then remove from heat.
Optional: Serve over cauliflower rice.
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