Quick and Easy Chicken Madras
This Quick and Easy Chicken Madras is a deeply flavored Indian curry that is on the table in about 30 minutes. If you’re a curry fan, this is the dish for you because we all want our curry in a hurry. Traditionally made hot, you can customize the spice level to your liking.
This very tasty classic Indian Curry is a really easy recipe. Serve with a side of naan (or garlic naan) bread for curry sauce mopping.
It is made known that I love Indian food, particularly Indian curries. I mean love! It comes from being British and growing up with a heavy Indian influence in the UK. It is because of this is why I have so many Indian recipes in my arsenal.
When I made my first curry Indian recipe for the blog, back in 2013 it was Chicken Tikka Masala. This was an instant hit and is still one of my most popular dishes to this day (this madras chicken curry a close second).
What is Chicken Madras?
Madras sauce is a traditionally spicy curry. It originates from southern India, named after the city of Madras (modern-day Chennai). Always red or orange in color from the spices and this also depends on how much coconut milk is added. This adds a little sweetness to counteract an acidity from the tomato. It also adds a creamy texture to the madras curry sauce.
Chicken Madras Spice level
In keeping with tradition, this recipe is on the spicier sided thanks to the Indian red kashmiri (hot chilli powder). This can be adjusted to your preferred spice level.
What I love about this easy chicken madras recipe is that it has a rich, depth of flavor that tastes like it cooked for hours. The garam masala is the spice base and main flavor. Along with turmeric powder, black pepper and red chili powder to create madras curry powder blend.
Indian Curry Spice Blend
Garam masala, one of the spices used is complex combination of many spices. They include cardamom, ground coriander, fennel, fenugreek, nutmeg, cinnamon, the list goes on. This is why this is an amazing spice blend and allows you to achieve a wonderfully flavorful curry.
Blending spices is one of the best ways to create a different flavor profile for many dishes. I have an easy Indian Curry Spice Blend that I keep on hand to enhance the flavor of rice and vegetables.
I always have a good collection of Indian spices in my pantry which are easy to find when you have a local Indian grocery store. Buying spices online is also a great place to find them.
Tomatoes for Madras curry
Because I make this year round, I like to use canned/tinned tomatoes. If it is tomato season and you have sweet ones right from the garden, you can use them instead. Tomato paste is also added for richness (this is tomato puree in the U.K).
How to maximize the flavor of spices
Whenever I see an authentic Indian dish being made, the cook always toast the spices in a dry pan as the first step of the recipe. This brings out the flavors and takes away any raw taste that they may bring to the dish.
This leads me to tell you about the colorful acorn squash in the picture above (and a delicious side dish to an Indian curry). This is Roasted Acorn Squash with Indian Spices. That is not pumpkin you are seeing, who knew acorn squash came in orange as well as green?
Best chicken for curry
You can use whatever you like. I like chicken breasts cut into bite-size pieces. You can also use bone-in or boneless chicken thighs.
Naan and Curry
What happens when all the chicken has been eaten? You’ll need something to mop up the curry sauce. I have the easiest Easy Naan Bread. You must always have naan with an Indian curry.
If you’ve made my Quick and Easy Chicken Madras, please leave a star rating in the rate the recipe card. You can also leave a comment or ask a question below.
Quick and Easy Chicken Madras
Video
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoons garam masala
- 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 4 skinless boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into large pieces
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon fresh ginger, grated
- 1 teaspoon turmeric
- 1 teaspoon Indian kashmiri, hot chili powder add 1 more teaspoon for extra heat
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste, puree if you’re in the U.K
- 1 ¾ cups (400 grams) diced/chopped tomatoes
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 ¾ cups (414 ml) unsweetened coconut milk
- Cilantro
Instructions
- To a large sauté pan add garam masala over low heat and toast in a dry pan. Remove and set aside.
- Add 2 tablespoons oil to the pan over medium-high heat. Add the chicken pieces and cook until slightly brown. Remove from the pan and set aside.
- To the same pan over medium heat, add the remaining 1 tablespoon oil and add the onion and cook until softened.
- Add garlic and ginger, garam masala, turmeric, chili powder, tomato paste, stir. Add diced tomatoes and mix well.
- Add the chicken pieces, salt pepper and coconut milk. Cover with a lid and simmer for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, remove lid and simmer for 10 more minutes until thickened.
- Serve garnished with chopped cilantro.
This is the best madras I’ve made yet. So easy and I love being able to customize the spice level. will make again
Thank you so much.
So good and I like added spice
Thank you, I’m glad you made your own spice level
I am vegan and would love to try this with tofu. I was wondering if you would know if I should pre cook the tofu or just add it to the sauce after I press it. Thank you!
Personally, I would enjoy crisping the tofu in oil after pressing out as much liquid as possible before adding to the curry. You could just follow the recipe as is and treat the tofu as if it was the chicken. I think the crisping will help prevent it from getting soggy and have great texture. I hope this helps and enjoy.
Thank you so much for your help! I really appreciate it! I’ve been searching for a Tofu Madras recipe after having it at a local Indian Restaurant. Yours sounds delicious and can’t wait to make it!
Take care & Happy New Year!
Wonderful, enjoy.
Hi we in the island of trinidad know how to cook curry with scorpion pepper and your mouth watering like that madras curry duck and dhall and gila rice trini food.
Thank you for sharing. I think the scorpion pepper would be much too hot for me 🙂
I followed the recipe exactly. The end product was very runny. What did I do wrong? How can I thicken it up?
I can’t really say what happened. It could have been there was a lot of water in your tomatoes or something else. The easiest way to thicken it, is to simmer with the lid off until the excess liquid evaporates. This should work but if not, you can mix a teaspoon of cornstarch with 1/2 teaspoon water and stir into the sauce. Simmer until thickened, add more if needed. I hope this helps and you can enjoy the end result.
Love this recipe! I typically substitute the spices with a madras style curry blend, then add some cayenne and sambal for extra heat. Also, I like to finish the dish with a cup of Greek yoghurt, adding a small amount at a time after it has cooled a bit. Thank you for the recipe!
These are all great tips and I cannot wait to try them. Thank you for the feedback and I’m glad you enjoyed the recipe.
I have a lot of experiene of eating Indian food but no experience of cooking it. This was my first attempt. Your directions were simple and straight forward, although it took me longer than 30 minutes.
I used the exact meaurements of ingredients and followed the directions almost exactly only I did blitz the sauce in a blender rather than just ‘mix well’ before adding the chicken but thats just my personal preference. My local Indian Restaurant is not going to be happy, my lads now want ‘Home Cooked’ not ‘Take Away’.
Thank you for the great feedback. I love that you made the recipe your own. That’s what it’s all about, making food how we (and your lads) want it. 🙂
I put more than the recommended chili pepper in as I like a lot of spice and was just perfect. I’m always craving Indian food and that was the closest we’ve had at home!
Thank you so much
Can I add red chili pepper for the heat?
Yes. I haven’t tried this, but I recommend add the pepper with seeds instead of the chili powder. If it is not hot enough you can always add more pepper or powder. I hope you enjoy.
I like it hot so I added Madras sauce and red chili pepper and served on Brown basmati rice. Really enjoyed it.
Curry loves unite!
This looks and sounds absolutely delicious, and it’s got a really short ingredients list too – rare for a curry!
I love Indian food and spices! This is the perfect dish! Easy to make, too! Pinning 🙂
Yummy! This looks delicious and I bet it smells just as great too! I love how simple it is to make and I am going to have to try this ASAP!
OOhh, love spicy dishes like this! Your version looks incredible!
Yum! Talk about a perfect comfort meal! Can’t wait to give this a try on a cool fall night!
This looks like such a warm and comforting dish. Perfect dinner for a cool, fall night!