This Indian chicken and potato curry is authentic and super easy to cook. My kids love having this curry with plain rice or naan. Perfect for quick dinners, family gatherings, or Ramadan iftar parties. The recipe includes Instant Pot cooking instructions.
I grew up eating many different versions of chicken curry in India. Chicken curry with potatoes just wasn't one of them, minus the chicken biryani with potatoes ;). My Ammi always made simple Indian chicken curry recipes with slightly different methods than this recipe.
I tried my first chicken and potato curry at a friend's home in Utah, USA during Ramadan Iftar. I loved the combination of potatoes in chicken curry. Since then I have been making chicken and potato curry.
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Indian Chicken and Potato Curry
I am using my Ammi's recipe with a slightly different method to incorporate the potatoes in the curry. Same onion, tomato, yogurt, ginger-garlic, and Indian spice to create a magically delicious curry.
Ingredients for Indian Chicken and Potato Curry
A handful of fresh ingredients and chicken make a very flavorful curry. I am using chicken drumsticks for this recipe.
Meat & Spices
- Chicken Drumsticks: Indian chicken curry is cooked with bone-in chicken. It creates a deeply flavorful broth(curry). Boneless chicken breasts or thighs work just fine as well. However, the flavors are distinct between bone-in and boneless chicken. (See tips for cooking curry with boneless chicken)
I am using all the standard Indian-powered spices I use for all of my recipes. Like, cumin, coriander, turmeric, and Kashmiri chili powder. I purchase my spices from a local Indian store or online.
- I am using a blend of whole cinnamon sticks, bay leaves, green cardamom, cloves, and black peppercorn. Adding whole spices are optional but I highly recommend them for enhanced flavors.
- Salt: I am using pink Himalayan salt and measurements are based on pink salt. Use the measurement per your taste and the type of salt you may use.
Produce & Condiments
- Potatoes: I have used 6 small red potatoes. Washed, peeled, and cut into halves.
- Tomatoes: I am using two Vine tomatoes for this recipe. Seeds were removed and diced.
- Fried Onion: I am using ½ cup store-bought non-coated fried onions. Indian grocery stores carry all-natural fried onions. It cuts my prep time in half.
- Oil: Indian curry isn't curried if you don't see a thin layer of oil swimming on top ;). I am using ½ cup of the oil in this recipe. Please adjust the amount according to your preference.
- Ginger & Garlic: I like to make and store large batches of ginger-garlic paste. It comes in handy in my kitchen. You may find the GG paste at any major grocery store's produce section or an Indian grocery store.
Dairy and Garam Masala
- Yogurt: creamy full-fat plain yogurt is one of the magical ingredients of this recipe. Yogurt gives that wonderful tang the curry needs.
- Garam Masala: I only use homemade garam masala for all meat curry recipes. It's the most asked recipe by desi aunties.
What to Serve Chicken and Potato Curry with:
I like serving curry with Plain rice or Indian flatbread(roti), naan and Kachumber(salad), or Onion Raita. It can be served with plain quinoa, bulgur, couscous, or your favorite carb.
Our local middle eastern store sells fresh pita and Iraqi flatbread. I like to serve them with curry if we are inviting friends or family over. Makes life a bit easier :).
Tips for Chicken and Potato Curry
- Fry 1 large thinly sliced onion on low-medium heat in 1 cup cooking oil and a pinch of salt for homemade fried onions. Fry the onions until golden brown and crispy.
- Marinate the chicken in spices for 2 to 4 hours before cooking the curry for deep flavors.
- Whisk the yogurt until smooth before adding it to the curry. This will prevent curdling in the curry.
- You may puree the tomato for the fine-textured creamy curry.
- Boneless chicken thigh or breast takes about 12-15 minutes to cook. Bone-in chicken takes about 20 to 30 minutes of cooking time.
How to Clean Chicken Drumsticks
- Remove the skin and trim the excess fat.
- Make small cuts on chicken drumsticks, right around the rubbery tendon, and soak them in salt and vinegar or lemon water to get rid of the gamey smell.
- Wash and clean the kitchen and sink surface with hot water and soap after rinsing the chicken. Wash your hands with soap after handling raw meat.
Instant Pot Cooking Instructions
- Turn the IP setting on to the high sauté setting. Follow the recipe instructions 1-7.
- Add water and cancel the sauté setting and select pressure cook on high for 8 minutes.
- Cover the lid and pressure cook on high pressure for 8 minutes. Cancel the pressure cook setting. Release the pressure after and add fried potato halves.
- Cover the lid and cook on the sauté setting for 2-3 minutes or just until potatoes are tender.
More Indian Curries You'll Love:
- Chicken Curry
- Fish Curry
- Gujarati Kadhi
- Palak Paneer-Spinach and Indian Cheese Curry
- Meatball Curry
- Dal Tadka
- Bhindi Kadhi-Okra Curry
Kitchen Tools You’ll Need:
- A Large Pan
- Good Kitchen Knife
- Cooking Utensil
Easy Indian Chicken and Potato Curry | Chicken Aloo Salan
Ingredients
For Chicken Marinade
- 8 small drumsticks , or one whole chicken cut into small pieces
- ½ cup fried onion
- ½ cup plain yogurt , preferably full fat
- ½ cup cooking oil
- 3 tablespoons ginger garlic paste , or an equal amount of grated ginger and garlic
- 1 teaspoon cumin powder
- 1 ½ teaspoons coriander powder
- 2 teaspoons Kashmiri chili powder , 1 teaspoon for less spicy
- 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
- 1 teaspoon garam masala , ½ teaspoon for less spicy
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt , or to taste
For Curry
- 2 tomatoes , seeds removed and diced
- 6 small red potatoes , washed, peeled and cut into halves
- 4 green cardamom pods
- 2 small cinnamon sticks
- 6-8 peppercorns
- 3-4 cloves
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 cup water , 2 cups for thinner gravy
To Garnish
- 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
- 1 teaspoon diced green chili , optional
Instructions
- Remove the skin of chicken drumsticks and trim the extra fat. (see the cleaning instructions)
- Combine chicken drumsticks, ginger-garlic paste, cumin & coriander powder, turmeric, red chili powder, garam masala, fried onion, yogurt, and salt in a large prep bowl.
- Mix everything well until the chicken is nicely coated with all the spices. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate until done cooking potatoes. (See tips)
- Heat a large heavy-bottomed pot or a skillet on medium-high heat. Add oil to the hot pan.
- Fry potato halves in the hot oil for 1-2 minutes on each side then remove them from the pan and set them aside.
- Turn the heat up to high and add all the whole spices and marinated chicken. Cook on high heat until most of the water dissolves. It takes about 6-8 minutes.
- Add diced tomatoes and stir well. Cook for an additional 4 to 5 minutes or just until tomatoes soften and most of the liquid is dissolved.
- Turn the heat down to medium. Add water and fried potato halves to the curry. Stir well to combine. Cover the pot and cook chicken for about 20 to 25 minutes. (see tips for boneless chicken cooking and Instructions in the blog for Instant pot curry).
- Uncover the pot and taste test. If needed, add salt. If the gravy is too thick, add more water to thin it. Cook a bit longer if there is too much liquid for your preference.
- Turn the heat off. Garnish with chopped cilantro and diced green chili. Serve the chicken and potato curry over plain rice, Naan, and kachumber(salad).
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information is sourced from a third-party application and should be considered as approximate figures for reference purposes only.
Marguerite says
I am amazed how great this dish was! Like something I ordered from a restaurant. Thank you so much! I didn’t use fried onions before but fried the onion slices and small bit of fresh garlic and ginger, after that added the cloves, cinnamon, cardamom and bay leaf and rest I did as recipe described. The only tricky part was not knowing the weight of the bone-in, skin-on chicken drumsticks—it would’ve helped to have that. Definitely adding this one to my go-to recipes!
FeastwithSafiya says
Thanks for trying my recipe. Glad you liked it! 🙂
Savita U says
Dear Safiya,
I made this recipe tonight and it was just delicious! I actually made it for my mother-in-law who is ailing/sickly but my husband tasted it and ended up eating half of it with a naan (I had rice cooking but he couldn't even wait!). So now I have to make it again tomorrow! Thank you for such a simple but amazing recipe! I am looking forward to trying more of your recipes. I cut the potatoes into smaller pieces bc my mother-in-law has some issues with chewing and I used boneless skinless chicken breast. Thank you again!!
Sincerely,
Savita
Bay Area, CA
FeastwithSafiya says
Hi Savita, your feedback makes my heart happy! I wish good health to your mother-in-law. Thank you very much for trying my recipe. 🙂
Nikki says
Could I use chicken breast in place of drumsticks?
FeastwithSafiya says
Hi Nikki, yes, you can. Please read the "Tips" :).
Chelsea says
This is absolutely delicious. It took a lot longer to cook though but that could be my pot. Will be making this many times
FeastwithSafiya says
Chelsea, thank you for trying my recipe. I am so happy that you liked it. May I know what type of pot you used? I would be happy to test this recipe with a similar pot and add the additional cooking instructions.