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This Whole30 chicken curry recipe is restaurant-quality and surprisingly easy. Low carb, paleo, and, of course, Whole30, this healthy Indian dinner recipe is a favorite at our home and doesn’t even require any hard-to-find ingredients! You’ll love this chicken curry recipe because it’s super flavorful and versatile.
This weird thing happens when I’m pregnant. I crave Indian food all the time. And I have a theory.
The theory is this: when you’re pregnant, you’re more likely to crave the food the father was raised on. It’s a super scientific theory, because I tested it on my tight-knit local mom group, so it’s basically natural law. And if it wasn’t right for you then… whatever. Outlier. Doesn’t count.
So for me that means Indian and Pakistani food, which isn’t the most convenient thing to crave when you’re pregnant and tend to grow babies with full heads of hair, with the fiery heartburn to match. But it is what it is, and I’ve accepted it now. If I ever get pregnant again, I know what to expect. Send India Palace gift cards.
This Whole30 chicken curry recipe totally did the trick for me during pregnancy, too: it helped me strike a balance between omg give me all the chutney and maybe we should eat sort of a little bit healthy. It’s, after, all, a Whole30 chicken curry recipe, meaning there’s a gorgeous focus on real, whole foods, with no weird extras or ingredients that drag your system down.
Instead, it’s loaded with flavor and is actually pretty simple to make! I whipped it up as a weekend lunch for the first time I ever made it and was surprised at just how easy it was to get a restaurant-quality chicken curry out of a little bit of time and effort. Bonus points: there’s not even any hard-to-find ingredients necessary to make this (Unlike my restaurant style chicken tikka masala which is so much better with dried fenugreek leaves)! You do need garam masala, but even Kroger makes their own blend of that now, so I maintain my stance that this is a pantry-doable recipe that you’ll love to throw into your rotation.
A Note from Cheryl: Years ago, we referred to certain ingredients in this recipe as “weird”, a term we erroneously used to describe harder-to-find ingredients that are generally unfamiliar to the average American reader. In using this term, though, we unintentionally contributed to furthering the stigma that these ingredients are somehow “not normal”. That was never our intent, but it was our impact, and that’s what matters.
The beautiful thing about this Whole30 chicken curry recipe, aside from the fact that it’s, duh, Whole30, low carb, and paleo, is that you can control how spicy it is or isn’t, and it’s takeout-quality without all the styrofoam and rice coma to follow. I’m in love, y’all.
I added mushrooms for extra veggie power and coconut milk for a super creamy texture. I actually prefer coconut cream for most recipes, which you can find canned next to the regular canned coconut milk. Make absolutely sure that you do not get sweetened coconut cream, or you’ll find yourself feeling like you’ve got a Whole30 chicken curry piña colada infusion. Pass.
Whole30 Chicken Curry (Low Carb, Paleo)
Ingredients
- 2 ½ Tbsp. + 1 tsp. ghee divided
- 1 large red onion diced
- 2 Tbsp. ginger thinly sliced
- 6 cloves garlic thinly sliced
- 1 Tbsp. chili powder preferably Indian chili powder but any will do
- 2 Tbsp. curry powder
- ½ tsp. turmeric
- ½ tsp. garam masala
- dash cinnamon
- salt to taste
- water as needed
- 1 cup Roma Tomatoes diced (about 2)
- 2 large boneless skinless chicken breasts about 2 lb., cut into bite-sized pieces
- 4 cups mushrooms quartered (about 8 oz.)
- 1 14- ounce can coconut milk or cream unsweetened
- cayenne pepper to taste
To Serve
- cauliflower rice steamed
- 1 tsp. ghee
- 1 tsp. mustard seeds
- 2 serrano chiles split
- fresh cilantro leaves chopped
Instructions
- Heat 1 1/2 tablespoons ghee in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook onions and ginger until onions are softened. Add garlic and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Add chili powder, curry powder, turmeric, garam masala, cinnamon, and a few big pinches of salt. Stir well to combine and sauté on low heat until a toffee brown but not burned, about 20 minutes. Add a tablespoon or two of water, as needed, to keep from burning. Cook until the curry smell begins to become more prominent.
- Add tomatoes and cook until the mixture is shiny and soupier than the spice-onion mixture. Remove from pan and transfer to food processor or blender; process until a smooth paste. Set aside.
- Return skillet to stove and add 1 tablespoon ghee. Add chicken pieces and cook, stirring frequently, until just opaque. Add mushrooms and sauté until browned and softened.
- Add curry paste from step 3 and stir well to combine. Sauté for 2-3 minutes, then add 1/2 cup water and can of coconut milk. Stir well. Simmer 10 minutes or until sauce is thickened and chicken is cooked through. Remove from heat.
- In a small skillet, heat 1 tsp. ghee over medium heat. Add mustard seeds and green chiles. Sauté until mustard seeds start to pop and green chile is softened.
- Spoon cauliflower rice into serving bowls, top with chicken curry, then with mustard seed-chile mixture. Garnish with fresh cilantro leaves.
Approximate Information for One Serving
Nutrition Disclaimers
Number of total servings shown is approximate. Actual number of servings will depend on your preferred portion sizes.
Nutritional values shown are general guidelines and reflect information for 1 serving using the ingredients listed, not including any optional ingredients. Actual macros may vary slightly depending on specific brands and types of ingredients used.
To determine the weight of one serving, prepare the recipe as instructed. Weigh the finished recipe, then divide the weight of the finished recipe (not including the weight of the container the food is in) by the desired number of servings. Result will be the weight of one serving.
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Absolutely delicious!! I was never big on curry before, but this is like a glorified healthy version of chicken Top ramen! ? thank you!
This is a wonderful, flavorful recipe. It’s my easy dinner go-to meal. I love to add whatever vegetables I have on hand that need to be eaten – red peppers, asparagus, etc.
Thanks, Jenn!
The chicken portion calls for curry paste, but I don’t see how much I am supposed to add…
The curry paste is made in step 3.
I finally got all the ingredients to make this delicious sounding dish. As I was reading the directions, I noticed something that is not clear enough for me. ” Return skillet to stove and add 1 tablespoon ghee. Add chicken pieces and cook, stirring frequently, until just opaque. Add mushrooms and sauté until browned.
Remove from pan and transfer to food processor. Blitz til paste.” So you already make a paste out of tomatoes, spices, onions and now the recipe says add chicken pieces, mushroom and make it into a paste. That just doesn’t make sense and your pictures show pieces of chicken, not a paste. Is something missing in your instructions? Am I missing something? I’d guess the line ” REMOVE FROM PAN AND TRANSFER TO FOOD PROCESSOR. BLITZ TO PASTE” is in error. Am I way off?
The pictures and the ingredients are fantastic and I am sure the end result will be also, but I’d like to know how to proceed.
“Add tomatoes and cook until the mixture is shiny and soupier than the spice-onion mixture. Remove from pan and transfer to food processor or blender; process until a smooth paste. Set aside.” – this is only in reference to the spice, onion, and tomatoes mixture. You then set that aside as stated and add it later when the recipe calls for the curry paste.
The recipe doesn’t state how much curry paste?
The paste is made in step 3.
There appears to be some confusing instructions. #4,5 and 6 indicate to puré chicken/mushroom mixture and then #6 instructs to brown chicken/mushrooms again which have now been puréd???
“Add tomatoes and cook until the mixture is shiny and soupier than the spice-onion mixture. Remove from pan and transfer to food processor or blender; process until a smooth paste. Set aside.” – This is all that should be pureed. It is then added to the chicken/mushrooms as the curry paste in a later step.
Love your recipes !
Thank you!!
Hi Cheryl!
I love your recipes!
Need a little clarificatIon on Step 4/5/6.
I’m not foodprocessing the chicken or mushrooms, correct?
Just the sauce?
Thanks!
Correct – “Add tomatoes and cook until the mixture is shiny and soupier than the spice-onion mixture. Remove from pan and transfer to food processor or blender; process until a smooth paste. Set aside.” Just the spice-onion-tomatoes mixture!
Omg so good
Hi, Can you confirm if step 5 is to “blitz” the cooked chicken and mushrooms too? Step 3 puréed the spice onion mixture so I am. It sure why the second food processor step is necessary.
I love this dish! Can I use minced lamb instead of chicken?
Sure!