14 Spicy & Flavorful Paleo Chicken Curries
Good news when it comes to chicken curry: most traditional recipes are pretty close to being Paleo. You just have to do a scan of the ingredients to see if anything falls on the Do Not Eat list, and make modifications from there. Luckily there are hundreds of Paleo cooks out there experimenting in their kitchens, and sharing their successes with the rest of us so we don’t have to do as much trial and error. We’ve assembled some of the best chicken curries out there, in an assortment of styles and flavors for you to enjoy.
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Photo: Pencils and Pancakes
1. Butternut Squash and Chicken Curry over Coconut Cauliflower Rice
Here they’re showing you how to repurpose leftover chicken into a brand new meal. Buying a whole roasted chicken is often a good value when you consider that you don’t have to wait for it to cook. Take that leftover chicken and now you’re able to make a chicken curry by adding an assortment of new ingredients and seasonings to make it taste totally different. There is even instructions on how to make cauliflower rice so you can re-create the chicken curry experience right down to the small details.
2. Paleo Curry Chicken
If you never thought you’d be able to make a chicken curry with just 6 ingredients, this recipe may just blow your mind. Curry powder is a fast track to making curry chicken, and the other 5 ingredients they have are simple, yet necessary to produce the finished product. Cumin, coriander, garlic, and onion go well together. Be sure to buy organic chicken breast to avoid the antibiotics and growth hormones that are pumped into conventional chickens to make them grow bigger breasts. Use an organic onion and this will be a very clean meal that is easy to whip up whenever the curry cravings hit.
3. Chicken Curry
This chicken curry is getting back to basics, and has pretty much been Paleo-ified by leaving out things like yogurt and replacing them with Paleo approved items. This includes using high quality chicken, and making sure your ghee is organic and comes from grass-fed cows. Garam masala will make this taste like an Indian curry, and turmeric will make this healthy and can help speed up your metabolism. Tomatoes are used so you’re going to have a nice dose of lycopene which has been proven to help you fight off cancer and protect your heart, making this a healthy dish all around.
4. Coconut Chicken Curry
If you like the taste of curry made with coconut milk, this is the recipe to choose. It has a strong focus on coconut, with the use of coconut oil, and coconut cream. The coconut cream comes from skimming it off the top of coconut milk once it’s settled. Carrots, celery, and tomatoes make sure that you’re getting a nice portion of vegetables along with your chicken, and you’ll get healthy fat from the coconut cream. Curry powder gets the call to give this a curry taste, but it’s the coconut that will steal the show here, and balance things out so it’s not too strongly seasoned.
Photo: The Saffron Girl
5. Spanish Style Chicken Curry
Here’s a Spanish style chicken curry that was borrowed from a Spanish chef, Karlos Arguiñano. The great part about it is that they show you how to mix up your own curry powder using other spices, so you can make up a big batch if you want so you’ve always got it handy. It’s nice to see all of the ingredients that go into curry powder, and it allows you to tinker with it and add more of the flavors that you enjoy the most, and go easy on the ones you don’t really like. The first time out just follow it exactly so you can get the full experience of this recipe.
6. Pumpkin and Chicken Curry
Pumpkin goes great in curry, lending it’s awesome texture and heartiness, as well as a pretty solid nutritional profile. When you add in the chicken you now have a pretty good balance between meat and vegetables, which is key to eating Paleo. They don’t use curry powder here, but instead break down the individual ingredients to come up with the final taste. If you’ve never had a pumpkin curry you’re in for a real treat, and this may just become one of your new favorite styles.
7. Ground Chicken Curry
Here is a super easy curry recipe that you’ll definitely make more than once. Be sure to use organic ground chicken, and you’re all set. The bonus to this recipe is that it only uses 6 ingredients, with one of those being curry powder, so if you don’t feel like making your own curry powder from scratch, and have curry powder on hand, you can have this done in no time. It’s not often that you see ground chicken used in curries, but it does make this easier to chew up, which helps with digestion. Overall, a really great chicken curry recipe, Paleo style.
8. Mango Chicken Curry
Mangos and chicken just go together, there’s no ifs ands or buts about it. So when you make a mango chicken curry you’re playing to their strengths because the sweetness of the mango helps balance out the taste of the curry. You can tell they’re keeping this Paleo because they’re having you use full fat versions of coconut milk, and there’s no added sugars or dairy products used. They point out that this is a simple recipe, which is nice if you’re just learning how to make chicken curry.
Photo: Ang Sarap
9. Thai Green Chicken Curry
There are two main curries that dominate in Thailand, red and green. Different regions are famous for different styles, this green chicken curry does a good job of capturing that taste and bringing it to your kitchen. Coconut milk is a must, and they’re combining that with coconut cream to give it even more flavor. You’re also getting mushrooms and onions along with your chicken, so it’s balanced nicely and also gives you your healthy fat from the coconut milk. You can also add additional vegetables as you see fit, to give yourself even more nutrition and to improve your digestion.
10. Chicken Panang Curry
This is a red style of Thai curry that is great if you don’t like your curry very spicy. They include instructions on how to make your own Panang paste, which is great if you end up liking this recipe and want to keep a supply of it on hand. It’s all made with Paleo friendly ingredients, and will allso you to make Panang curry whenever you want. You can also buy it premade if you want to save a few steps and just try it out the first time. Anytime you can make your own ingredients at home, you have quality control, which is a big aspect of eating Paleo.
11. Trinidad-Style Curry Chicken
This curry may be in the style of Trinidad, but it’s a pretty basic recipe that incorporates many of the same ingredients as curries from other parts of the world. You’ve got your curry powder, cilantro, and ginger, none of which are too out of the ordinary. Perhaps it’s the use of drumsticks that gives it is Trinidadian flair. Perhaps it is the method of cooking them, but they come out tasting really good and anytime you have a supply of chicken drumsticks on hands, you’ll probably think of making this one.
12. Quickie Chicken Curry
When you want your chicken curry and you want it like yesterday, this is the recipe to choose. They say you’re looking at a total turnaround time of 15 minutes from start to finish, and they’ve condensed the ingredients down to the bare essentials, relying on curry powder as a shortcut to making it taste the way it should. As long as you’ve got a device in your kitchen for mincing up the garlic and shallots you should be able to break the land speed record for making chicken curry.
Photo: The Fit Daffy
13. Southeast Asian Chicken Curry with “Noodles”
This recipe is nice because they give you a visual walkthrough of everything you’ll need, and then outline each step of the process so you’ll know it’s right. If you like the caveman lifestyle it’s as if they’ve left cave drawings behind for you to follow. These act like before and after pictures, showing you what the tomatoes look like before you cut them up, and after. They use enoki mushrooms as noodles, so you can serve your chicken curry atop a bed of “noodles” for a full curry experience that is Paleo and gives you a nice helping of vegetables.
14. Slow Cooker Chicken Curry with Collard Greens
We like easy, and this recipe says it’s ridiculously easy. Perhaps because the slow cooker does most of the heavy lifting. We like that they’ve decided to add a nice helping of collard greens, so you’ll be getting some good fiber and nutrients along with the other ingredients used. They recommend using a pre-made curry paste if you want to keep this as easy as can be. They say you can add coconut cream to the mix, and we’d say that’s a great idea, since it gives it such a nice flavor, and adds some healthy fat to the meal.
Thanks so much for taking the time to put this list together. At curry focus we love curries but are also trying to stay healthy and not eat too much rice and naan bread! We will definitely share some of these.