Aromatic Dhaniya Chicken Curry flavored with a cilantro yogurt-based marinade. It’s perfect for any occasion.
With Diwali around the corner, and me going on and on about my famous Dhaniya Chicken Curry on Instastories, it was about time I shared the love.
For the longest time, I had no idea how to make Indian chicken. The consistency of my gravy was always off, but after numerous trials and errors over the years, I finally learned the tricks. Now I love experimenting with all sorts of Indian chicken dishes, and I can’t wait to bring you more of my specialties.
This Dhaniya Chicken Curry recipe came about accidentally. Often times we see a bunch of Indian spices tempered in oil followed by green chilies, ginger, and garlic, but instead of making my Chicken Curry “the usual way”, I opted to blend all my aromatic Indian spices with some yogurt. Why? Because I’m lazy.
You’ll be surprised how quick and easy this dish is to make. It’s just 4 steps, literally.
Tips on making Dhaniya Chicken Curry
Blend the spices and yogurt.
Marinate the chicken… 3 hours – 24 hours.
Saute the onions and tomatoes.
Add the chicken to the onions and tomatoes, and simmer.
That’s it. There is no guesswork involved, it’s simple, easy, and straightforward. This Dhaniya Chicken Curry is now a staple in my home since it is hubby approved despite the mild level of spice. As the Diwali festivities begin, hope you give this Chicken Curry a try and make it a staple dish in your home.
Dhaniya Chicken Curry is:
Aromatic
Delicious
Gluten-Free
Healthy
Made with Organic Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
Flavorful
Quick and Easy
Crowd Pleaser
How to make Dhaniya Chicken Curry recipe step by step?
1. Prepare the marinade. Add yogurt and all the spices in a food processor.
Enjoy
Dhaniya Chicken Curry - Coriander Chicken Curry (healthy, gluten-free)
Ingredients
for the chicken marinade
- 10.5 ounces Fage 2% Greek yogurt
- 1/4 tsp peppercorns
- 4 cloves
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 4 green cardamom pods
- 1/2 piece cinnamon stick
- 1 tsp fennel seeds
- 2-3 green chilies*
- 6 cloves garlic
- 2 inch piece ginger
- 1/2 tsp red chili powder
- 1 tbsp coriander powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 bunch fresh cilantro leaves
- 1.5 pounds organic, boneless skinless chicken breasts**
for cooking chicken
- 2 tbsp avocado oil
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 medium onion, finely chopped
- 2 plum tomatoes, chopped
- marinated chicken
- 1/4 - 1/2 cup water, optional for more gravy
- salt, to taste
Instructions
- Prepare the marinade. Add yogurt and all the spices in a food processor.
- Add the fresh cilantro leaves.
- Blend until combined.
- Set marinade aside.
- Chop the chicken into small 1/2 inch pieces.
- Pour the marinade into the chicken.
- Coat the chicken. Cover the chicken and place bowl into the fridge for 3 hours at least and up to 24 hours.
- Chop the onion.
- Heat up a dutch oven on medium heat, once hot, add oil followed by bay leaf and cumin seeds.
- Add onions. Saute for 5 minutes until golden brown.
- While the onions brown, chop the tomatoes.
- Now add the tomatoes to the onions. Stir and season with salt.
- Reduce heat to low-medium heat. Cover and cook the onions and tomatoes until a paste-like consistency is formed, about 5-7 minutes.
- This is what you should have.
- Add the marinated chicken to the onion-tomato mixture.
- Stir. Add the water at this time. Cook the chicken for 5 minutes.
- Cover chicken with a lid and cook for 20 minutes. Keep checking and stirring in between. Notice the water will slowly evaporate.
- Once the chicken curry is at your desired consistency, check to make sure the chicken is cooked through. Also note, once at rest, the chicken gravy will gradually thicken. Turn off the stove.
- Let the chicken curry sit for about 15 minutes so the flavors marry together. Serve with brown rice, white rice, quinoa, or naan.
This is simply lip-smacking. Loved this step-by-step visual guide. I’m a lazy cook as well, so this is definitely sounding all-sorts of amazing to me.
Hi Jheelam, Thanks for appreciating my visuals. Haha..I’m lazy too. It’s a lot of ingredients, but there isn’t much to do except blend, marinate and cook. 🙂
This recipe was so easy and delicious!
Thanks Priya. So glad you enjoyed it.
So yum! And so easy! It’s impossible to get the spices right in a classic chicken curry but this recipe makes it super easy. Didn’t have coriander powder so I substituted curry powder. Definitely plan on making again!
Not sure what I did wrong. When I added the marinated chicken the whole thing completely curdled and it looks like a big pot of vomit!! Help!
HI Paula. I’m sorry to hear that. Did your marinade look like step 4 – green and thick?
Step 15 – you can see the marinated chicken is added to the pot.
Step 16 – initially you may think the yogurt is curdling, it’s not.
Was your yogurt good (not expired)?
I need to know how far you got in the recipe before it went bad.
I recommended Fage 2%, or above, or any thick yogurt.
Thanks.
Hi Nisha,
I’ve been a long time follower of your blog! I think since 2011?
The past two days have been a lineup of your oldies but goodies.
Cilantro Lime Rice (assembled into the Chipotle bowl you suggested in the comments)
Best Guacamole
and today I made the Dhaniya Chicken.
Happy to see you are well, thriving, and in a positive place in your life 🙂
This was so good! I used leftover cooked chicken breast and added potatoes. For some reason, I accidentally read garam masala instead of coriander and added both to the marinade but it ended up being a happy mistake 🙂 loved how easy and flavorful this was!