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, 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 with cumin, coriander, turmeric and garam masala. No too long - 10-15 minutes is enough. Then after that, we're talking 30 minutes from start to finish.
Fry the marinated chicken in a little oil and butter.
Then add in sliced onions, chillies, garlic and ginger before adding the next layer of spices.
We're using the same spices you used to marinate the chicken (this time to flavour the sauce). We also add in a little salt.
Next in goes chopped peppers, tinned tomatoes, stock and tomato puree. That needs to bubble away for about 10 minutes, then it's ready to serve.
Lots of spices and a nice kick of heat, with plenty of sauce to soak into the rice.
Speaking of rice - did you know how easy it is to make pilau rice at home? I've got the recipe for you here (click on the image to take you to the recipe):
Dish the 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 or Garlic Naan
- 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.
📺 Watch how to make this Chicken Jalfrezi (and the pilau rice too!)
Want to use the Curry Base Gravy Method for this Curry?
Check out the notes section of the recipe card of my Curry Base Gravy to see how I convert this recipe to use a make-ahead curry base.
Stay updated with new recipes!
Subscribe to the newsletter to hear when I post a new recipe. I’m also on YouTube (new videos every week) and Instagram (behind-the-scenes stories & beautiful food photos).
Chicken Jalfrezi Recipe
Ingredients
Chicken:
- 3 chicken breasts (about 500g/1.1lbs) - chopped into bitesized chunks
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp coriander
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp garam masala
Sauce:
- 1 tbsp sunflower oil
- 2 tbsp unsalted 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
- 400 g (14oz) tin chopped tomatoes
- 240 ml (1 cup) chicken stock - ensure this is a gluten-free stock if required
- 1 tbsp tomato puree
- Fresh coriander and chilli flakes to serve
INSTRUCTIONS
- Coat the chicken in the cumin, coriander and turmeric and leave to marinade for 10 minutes, covered in the fridge.
- Once the chicken has marinated, 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 rice, topped with fresh coriander and a few chilli flakes.
Video
✎ Notes
Nutrition
Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links – which means if you buy the product I get a small commission (at no extra cost to you). If you do buy, then thank you! That’s what helps us to keep Kitchen Sanctuary running. The nutritional information provided is approximate and can vary depending on several factors. For more information please see our Terms & Conditions.
Posted in Sept 2019 updated July 2020 and October 2021 with new hints and tips and for housekeeping reasons.
Paul Haigh says
Really good spicey curry.Well worth the effort.
Linda Hutchcroft says
Before I make the recipe can I double or triple the meat and how how do you ajust the spices?
Tom says
Made this curry a couple of time now, really good! Thanks for the recipe 🙂
Angela says
Delicious
Jane Tovey says
So easy to make. We all love it
Mick Horner says
Chicken Jalfrezi
This recipe is the best I have had in a long time. Thank you very much and I can't wait to try some more delicious food recipes from you guys. GREAT WORK ☆☆☆☆☆
Geoffrey Jewkes says
Absolutely BEAUTIFUL 😍
Tony says
Superb! My wife prefers your jalfrazi recipe to our local Indian restaurant version!
Lori says
My favourite go to recipe when my husband wants curry!
Colin Sandall says
Lovely - this is a really nice recipe. Just made it as part of a curry evening with friends on Monday. It can sit in the fridge for a couple of days and will be even tastier by then.
Linda Owen says
Updated Chicken Jalfrezi was absolutely fab! I wasn't expecting it to be that good in such a short space of time and neither was my husband! Thanks Nicky
Jeff Polain says
easy easy recipe, next time I will leave some of the seeds in the chillies, it needed just a bit more heat, this recipe is as we call the better ones "a keeper"
Suzanne says
Please what kind of chilies do you use? There are so many at the store! I'm guessing maybe Jalapeño?
Jane says
Love this recipe. Easy to follow and it's my family favourite 👨👩👦❤️
Samara says
So easy to make and tastes delicious! Finished mine off in the slow cooker. Best curry I ever made.