When Matthew and I made this recipe, we had been dabbling quite a bit in using coconut milk, and it’s grown to become a staple in our pantry! What we love about this Coconut Curry Chicken is the intense flavor of the curry mixed with the subtle sweetness of the coconut milk. The chicken absorbs all the flavors, so you get hints of coconut and curry in each bite! How amazing does that sound?!
Curry Recipe
The coconut curry is what makes this recipe incredible. The curry powder, coconut milk and hint of cinnamon are the perfect trio. The longer it all reduces down in the same pan, the more intense the flavors become! Not only does the chicken absorb all the flavors, but so will cauliflower rice. It’s the perfect bed for this Chicken Curry recipe!
Coconut Curry Chicken
This recipe has become a KetoConnect household favorite, especially on days we are craving something with spice. We always used to get thai and indian take-out, but with that out of the question (you never really know what goes into the dishes) we’ve resorted to perfecting the Coconut Curry recipe at home! We’ve perfected it to a tee! We prefer to keep it simple with big chunks of chicken, but feel free to add onions, carrots, peas, you name it! Anything coated in this coconut curry sauce will be too good to resist.
Coconut Milk Recipes
We highly recommend having a couple cans of coconut milk in your cupboard. However, be sure to check the labels before you buy them. While many are low in carbs, some can have added sugars! Additionally, once you purchase the coconut milk, be sure to use it to make our Keto Oatmeal and our Three-ingredient Coconut Fat Bombs. Just to sell you on this dish a little more, Matt’s sister had never had any sort of curry before trying this recipe and after her first bite, she instantly fell in love with Coconut Curry Chicken.
Nutrition
Search “KetoConnect –Coconut Curry Chicken” on MyFitnessPal
Coconut Curry Chicken
Ingredients:
- 5 raw Boneless/Skinless Chicken Thighs
- 1 can Coconut Milk
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 2 1/2 tbsp coconut oil
- 1 tbsp curry powder
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 tsp grated ginger
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp Pink Himalayan Salt
- 1/4 medium Red Onion
Instructions:
- Finely chop onion and garlic and grate ginger root. Chop chicken into 1 inch cubes.
- Add coconut oil to medium-high heat skillet or pot. (You will be simmering this for 30-60 minutes so you want a pot that can hold a good amount of liquid.)
- Add chicken and cook partially.
- Add onion, ginger, garlic, curry powder, and cinnamon to the pan with the chicken and cook for 2-3 minutes, careful not to burn the spices.
- Add coconut milk and broth and stir. Reduce for 40-60 minutes until desired consistency is achieved. The sauce should be thick as shown in the pictures. If your sauce is not thick enough, let it cook longer to reduce.
- Tip: If you refrigerate your coconut milk overnight you can easily separate the cream from the water before adding it to the skillet.
Notes
Written by
Megha Barot
Megha has always been a passionate cook, but she took this to a new level after starting her keo journey in 2015. She loves creating new recipes and producing educational content for KetoConnect, which she co-founded in 2016 with Matt. Her passion for healthy eating and personal development continues to thrive. She's the proud mom of two awesome kids.
Ged says
Will this freeze and reheat ok, do you think?
I’d like to make a big batch of it, but my wife is a veggie, so I’ll eat one portion and freeze the other 4 if it’s possible to do so?
Thanks for sharing 🙂
Matt Gaedke says
Ya, that should work perfectly fine.
Sunaina Kumar-Ram says
Hi! I just started keto this week and this recipe looks delicious. Just a quick question, in normal indian recepies, onions & garlic are sauteed before adding the meat etc, any particular reason for adding the onions later on? Just curious if it affects the taste much?
Thanks!
Sandi says
It’s on the stove now and smells delish!!!! Thx so much for sharing!
Mischa says
I wonder if this can be made in the crockpot?
Matt Gaedke says
Yes, definitely.
Virginia says
I made this tonight and it is fabulous. The sauce didn’t thicken a whole lot but the flavor and aroma were definitely spot on. The only change was I used skinless bone-in drumsticks. I served it in a bowl over chopped steamed (well drained) spinach because I had no cauli rice. This receipt is a keeper for sure. And, I will have a few days of leftovers too!
Linda T says
Thanks for this, guys! So delicious! I used a Jamaican style curry powder in mine, and added a TBS of gochujang for extra kick. Glorious. 😀
Matt Gaedke says
Yum!
Rachel H says
This was one of the best meals I have ever eaten. I don’t think I can make it too often cause I will eat too much of it!! Thank you for providing such a delicious and easy recipe!
Marcy says
I’m a newbie too! I found your site just by doing a search for Keto Curry Chicken. I love the site! Lots of great information.
I made the curry chicken last night and it was more than I expected. It was so satisfying. Tasted and smelled wonderful. My husband commented about five times while eating it how good it was. He said I wouldn’t mind if we had this 2 times a month. It’s a keeper!
This morning the house smelled like dinner! Ahhhhh!!!! So I’ll be fixing this again and again and …….
I just have one question my sauce seemed to separate. Did I use too high a heat? It was on medium and simmering nicely, but didn’t seem to be reducing, so I increased the heat a tad. Too hot, you think?
Thanks for all the recipes!
Matt Gaedke says
Hmm, how thick would you say the sauce was? There can be a good amount of water in the coconut milk, so it could just be that your sauce didn’t fully reduce. I think it may have just needed some more time on the stove. You think that could have been it?
Gina says
I have made this about 5 times now. We LOVE it. It’s so simple but it tastes like it took all day to cook. Makes the whole house smell great. It turns out good even when you don’t have chicken broth available. Thanks for posting
Matt Gaedke says
This is one of our favorites as well! Glad you liked it.
Deborah B. says
Hello, getting ready to make this, but what are you serving it with? Is that rice or cauliflower and do you have a recipe if its cauliflower?
Thanks much, Love your recipes!
Deb
Rebekah says
Hi, this sounds lovely. For those of us allergic to coconut, can something like cream be substituted?
Megha Barot says
Yes, absolutely!
Yvette says
I made this last week and was delicious. But didn’t really simmer down. Is it 2 and a quarter cups coconut milk and 1 cup chicken stock.. so 3.25 cups of fluid altogether?
Did you have it on low-medium for the 40mins?
Cheers
Yvette
Matt Gaedke says
Yvette, the time is less important as the liquid content is. Just continue to cook it on medium/high until the liquid reduces to a point you’re happy with. Yes, your measurements are correct. I’ve updated the recipe to just call for 1 full can of coconut milk to be less confusing.
Tammy says
Hi love your pod casts… I caught this one on Sunday (very rare)
I was wondering about putting the coconut milk in the freezer to be able to remove the water and suger and just use the cream… I do this a lot but I don’t know how to count the macros… should I just count the macros for the whole can?
Thanks love you two!!
Cass (KetoConnect) says
We make an educated guess – probably 1-2 grams left over of carbs
tammy says
I am wondering the same! What are the macros for the coconut cream & what are the macros for the water after cream solidifies.
Shellie says
So many extra steps to get the same results. I suggest to you all to buy a can or carton of coconut cream. A little goes a long way and it taste great! 1/3 cup has 2 grams of carbs. Good luck everyone.
Sara says
I made this recipe and it was AMAZING! It totally helped any cravings I was having after starting Keto a month prior. Thanks!
Matt Gaedke says
We’re glad you liked the recipe Sara!
Karen warren says
Hi I’m a keto newbie but doing well and enjoying it. It suits my likes you know. I’m trying to build up the amount of fat I eat a day so why skinless chicken? I just had chicken with skin on and green beans for lunch today and thinking should I have now? Thanks so much. Karen 50yrs UK. X
Matt Gaedke says
The skin just doesn’t hold up well in this recipe. It doesn’t stay crispy and tasty. In general we get chicken with the skin on unless it doesn’t make sense for the dish, like this on.
Alicia Cashaw says
Hi all!
I made this recipe with red curry for more heat. It was so tasty! I grated some cauliflower for rice and it turned out so good! This was a very easy recipe and I wiill be making this again. Thank you guys for being here. I would be lost in boredom with my meals. Keep up the good work!??
Megha Barot says
That’s a great variation!! We will have to try that – thanks for sharing!
Jeff says
Made this tonight and it was freaking awesome! You should make this into a video too!
Megha Barot says
Thank you!! It’s one of our favs 🙂
Lillian says
Hello Matt & Megha,
I just started KETO last week & Will try this recipe this week & can’t wait to Snap you both my results. Thank you both for your awesome YouTube channel & helpful information.
Megha Barot says
Hi Lillian! Welcome to keto 🙂 Please send us snaps – we love to see recipes being made!
Callie says
If I dont have coconut oil can I sub for something else? We don’t usually have coconut oil on hand but this sounds delish.
Matt Gaedke says
Ya, you can use any fat you’d like. Butter/ghee would probably be best.
Caren says
This sounds amazing! In the first step is says to cook down the onion. Is that just yellow onion or green (scallions) and about how much should I use? Thanks!
Matt Gaedke says
Hey, we just updated the ingredients and instructions again to better clarify things. I think you should be able to figure it out now! Let me know if you still have questions though.
Kristin says
Thank you for all of your yummy recipes! I am a newbie and want to be sure that my macros are on point. How do I determine serving size with this recipe (or your others)? I am pretty confident that I’ll pile too much on my plate!
Matt Gaedke says
The nutrition we have listed is for 4oz of chicken and 1/5 of the total sauce. The easiest way to do it would be to make the same size portion as we have listed and 1/5 of that would be 1 serving.
Andrew says
Hi Kristin,
We’ve been on keto using these amazing recipes for almost a year now and we also use the MyNetDiary app to track and weigh our food. When I use this app and input these recipes as custom usually what I do is take their serving nutrition calculations, input them into app, and then weigh the entire dish so we get a gross weight. Then when we weigh out our food and the app will calculate the nutrition facts for what is actually on our plate. Hope this is helpful! =)
Vanessa says
I weigh the whole thing then divide it by the number of servings. I usually use grams cause its easier.