Homemade Chicken Jalfrezi in a deliciously thick, spicy sauce. I love this for a quick weeknight meal when I'm craving a good curry. Serve it with my quick and easy pilau rice – all ready in 40 minutes.
We love a good curry at home, and you'll often find me whipping up a quick Thai curry on a busy weeknight, or making a slow cooker curry when we've got friends round for dinner. It's also the number one food I crave when we come back from holiday.
We have so much fun trying all the local cuisines and basically eating everything in sight (like we did in France recently - still can't believe I put on 5 ½lbs in 4 days), but when I get back home, dinner is a saucy curry with lots of rice.
This jalfrezi is a great one to make when you're craving that spicy-curry kick.
I like to marinate the chicken first. No too long - 10-15 minutes is enough (you can marinate for longer if you like). Then after that, we're talking 30 minutes from start to finish.
Fry the marinated chicken:
Then add onion, garlic, ginger, chillies, spices and peppers:
Once those spices are releasing their fragrance, add in tinned tomatoes and stock, then simmer for 10 minutes or so until thickened.
Lots of spices, a nice kick of heat and plenty of sauce to soak into the rice.
Speaking of rice - did you know how easy it is to make pilau rice at home?
Simply fry up some onion and spices, then add the rice and water and cook as normal. This is how the onions and spices look before adding the rice and water:
The spices give it a lovely fragrance, without overpowering the rice, and the turmeric gives it that gorgeous golden yellow colour.
Dish the Chicken Jalfrezi up with that lovely fragrant Pilau rice, and sprinkle on some red onion and coriander before serving.
What to serve with your curry:
- Homemade Chapati
- Saag Aloo from this recipe
- Boiled Rice or Restaurant Style Pilau Rice
- A Fresh Tomato & Onion Salad
- These spicy Lamb Samosa cups make a great starter
- And these Pistachio and White Chocolate Blondies are a great dessert to finish off the meal.
The Video:
More Delicious Curry Recipes
Love a good curry? Here are some more curry recipes:
- Family Favourite Homemade Chicken Tikka Masala
- My NEW Delicious Vegetarian Curry
- Slow Cooked Beef Massaman Curry
- Chinese Style Curry with Juicy Meatballs
- Persian Style Chicken Curry With Walnuts and Pomegranate
- Slow Cooker Spicy Chicken Curry
- Easy From Scratch Thai Yellow Curry With Fish
- Healthier Slow Cooked Spicy Beef Curry
Chicken Jalfrezi Recipe
Ingredients
Chicken:
- 3 chicken breasts (about 500g) - chopped into bitesized chunks
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp coriander
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp garam masala
Sauce:
- 1 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1 large onion - peeled and sliced
- 1 red chilli - sliced
- 1 green chilli - sliced
- 2 cloves garlic - peeled and minced
- 2 tsp minced ginger
- 1 tsp garam masala
- 2 tsp turmeric
- 1 ½ tsp salt
- 2 tsp cumin
- 2 tsp ground coriander
- 1 red bell pepper - sliced
- 1 green bell pepper - sliced
- 14 oz (400g) tin chopped tomatoes
- 1 cup (240ml) chicken stock - ensure this is a gluten free stock if required
- 1 tbsp tomato puree
- Small bunch chopped fresh coriander (cilantro)
- Fresh coriander and chilli flakes to serve
Pilau Rice:
- 1 tsp vegetable oil
- 2 tsp unsalted butter
- 1 small onion - peeled and finely diced
- ½ tsp cumin seeds
- 6 cardamom pods
- 6 cloves
- 2 tsp turmeric
- 2 bay leaves
- 300 g long grain rice
- 600 ml boiling water
INSTRUCTIONS
- Coat the chicken in the cumin, coriander and turmeric and leave to marinade for 10 minutes, covered in the fridge.
- Meanwhile, make the rice. Heat the oil and butter in a pan until the butter melts. Add the onion and cook on a medium heat for 5 minutes until softened.
- Add in the cumin seeds, cardamom pods, cloves, turmeric and bay leaves. Heat through, whilst stirring for a further minute.
- Add the rice and stir to coat in the spices.
- Add the boiling water, stir once and bring back to the boil, then place a lid on the pan and turn the heat down to very low. Cook for 20 minutes.
- Once cooked, turn the heat off. Leave the lid on and the rice should retain its heat until the curry is ready.
- Once the chicken has marinated (whilst the rice is cooking), heat the oil and butter in a large frying pan and add the chicken. Cook on a high heat for 4-5 minutes until the chicken is sealed.
- Add the onion to the pan, turn the heat down to low-medium and cook for 5 minutes, stirring often, until the onion softens.
- Add the red and green chilli, garlic and ginger and cook for a further 2 minutes.
- Add in the garam masala, turmeric, salt, cumin and ground coriander. Stir to coat the onions, and cook for a further 2 minutes.
- Add in the red and green pepper, tinned tomatoes, chicken stock and tomato puree.
- Bring to the boil, then simmer for 10 minutes until thickened.
- Stir in the fresh coriander and serve with the pilau rice, topped with fresh coriander and a few chilli flakes.
Video
✎ Notes
What about a gluten-free jalfrezi?
Yes, this chicken jalfrezi recipe is already gluten-free - but it's a good idea to check your own brands to be sure.Can I make it vegetarian?
Yes, add in more veggies in place of the chicken, and use vegetable stock. I like to marinate cubes of courgette and mushrooms in place of the chicken.Can I make it ahead?
Yes, you can make the jalfrezi ahead, then cool, cover and refrigerate for up to two days. Reheat in a pan over a medium heat until the chicken is hot throughout.Will it freeze ok?
Yes, you can freeze the jalfrezi and the rice. Freeze separately in freezer-proof containers with lids as soon as the curry and rice is cool. Defrost overnight in the fridge, then reheat in a pan - as per above. Reheat the rice by adding two tablespoons of water and placing the rice in an ovenproof dish, cover with foil and cook in the oven at 150C/300F for approx 20 minutes until the rice is hot throughout.Can I make chicken jalfrezi in the slow cooker?
Yes - bring the curry up to the boil (step 12), then transfer to a slow cooker. Cook for 3-4 hours on high or 5-6 hours on low.Swap out the chicken for lamb:
Lamb jalfrezi is delicious - but it takes longer to cook to become tender. If you want to replace the chicken with lamb, then add a little more liquid (I would add an extra 140z/400g tin of chopped tomatoes) and simmer for 2 hours, stirring occasionally. Add a splash of water or stock if it starts to look too dry. Nutritional Information is per serving including rice.Nutrition
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Posted in Sept 2019 updated July 2020 with new hints and tips and for housekeeping reasons.
Tony says
A very tasty change from my normal Jalfrezi recipe.
Elizabeth says
This recipe was great and very helpful! I really wanted to surprise my husband for our anniversary by making him something special.
Chicken Jalfrezi is his favorite curry, and he used to get it a lot back home in England. He hadn't eaten it at all since moving here to the US over 2 years ago. Curry doesn't seem to be popular where I live and I was hoping to make something he has been missing, but I didn't even know where to start. I had never even eaten this before, and was unsure how it should even smell or taste, so although I love cooking I was a bit intimidated because of all the spices I've never used before. I had never made curry before in my life.
I followed the directions aside from using chicken thighs in place of breast, as recommend by someone online. Next time I am going to make it with chicken breast though. It did take me much longer than expected, partially because the garam masala was lost in the mail and never arrived so I had to attempt to make my own. Both the curry and the rice turned out well though and I will be making it again, as well as trying more of your recipes. Thanks again!!
Chris Corbishley says
Thank you so much Elizabeth for your lovely comment. Nicky and I are so pleased that you enjoyed the curry.
Happy anniversary to you and your husband.
Thanks
Chris & Nicky
Elizabeth says
Wow thank you so much! It was a good anniversary, especially thanks to the dinner 🙂 I just made another one of your recipes tonight! I love your recipes 🙂 I will be making the chicken jalfrezi again soon and then some others next- I’m bookmarking a bunch of them! 😛 Thank you so much again!
Michele says
Great recipe, thanks. Using it on a regular basis for our Saturday night curry fix.
Teresa says
Both the curry and the rice are amazing. So authentic. Will definitely be trying your other curry recipes. Thank you!!
Brian johnson says
Cooked this curry 1st time ever cooking found it really. easy to do and tasted great no more takeaways in my house excellent.
Lisa says
I made this over the weekend and oh my it was gorgeous- my husband is extremely fussy about his curry and this got his approval so we’ll definitely be cooking this again
Cepta Hanley says
Fabulous. Perfect for the home cook. Thank you
Julie says
I only cooked the Pilau Rice part of the recipe, and as I proudly walked to the dining room table, I realized there was no salt added to the rice during the rice recipe steps... Safe to say the rice was not as good as it could / should have been.
Francheska says
Amazing myself and my partner loved it it went down a treat with my family!
Lisa Kelly says
This recipe looks SENSATIONAL - I'm making it asap. My question is what "sides" do you serve with this? I think I spy a bowl in the background of one of the images with tomatoes, onions, coriander and something else. I would love to know what you serve alongside.
Nicky Corbishley says
Thanks Lisa, yes, I think that was a little salad of chopped baby red tomatoes, baby green tomatoes, red onion and fresh coriander. A little bit of natural yogurt on the side with a sprinkling of dried or fresh mint is also lovely 🙂
Rosemary Barnden says
Absolutely fabulous recipe. The only variation that I made was the protein. I used left over roast lamb and just rubbed the dry spices over the meat and left in the fridge for a few hours. Otherwise I did exactly as per recipe which is unusual for me! I made the rice to the letter as well and it was perfect. I've made many curries and paid for and eaten many more and this was right up there with the very best. Well worth the little bit of effort to follow each step. I've put the recipe that I printed out, now covered in splatters, lovingly into my recipe file with a hand written annotation at the top 'The best curry that I've ever made'.
Andy Slate says
Made this last night, excellent instructions combined with the video meant even I couldn't stuff it up. Tasted delicious, will definitely be making again and I'll try some of your side dishes next time too.