I adore flavorful baked chicken recipes, especially when they are easy, and it hardly gets easier or more flavorful than this baked curry chicken. I adapted this from a recipe in Ten, by Sheila Lukins. Her version mimics tandoori chicken with only a little sauce and feeds a crowd, but my family likes sauce, the more the better, so I made extra sauce and cut back on the chicken, plus I made a cilantro raita to go along with it, which was a big hit. The chicken takes an hour in the oven, but prep only takes about 10 minutes, so it’s very little hands on work and perfect for a weeknight meal.
Recipe Notes
Because the chicken stays in the oven for a while, I recommend leaving the skin on to keep it moist, but you can remove the skin before eating if you prefer, then spoon some of the sauce over it and the rice for extra flavor.
Baked Curry Chicken with Tomatoes and Cilantro Raita
Equipment
- small saucepan
- large baking dish
- medium serving bowl
Ingredients
CHICKEN
- 1 whole chicken (cut into 8 pieces)
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 3 tablespoons sunflower oil
- 1 tablespoon curry powder
- 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 2 medium yellow onions (diced)
- 14 ounces canned diced tomatoes (with juice)
- 1 cup homemade chicken stock (or low-sodium chicken broth)
- cilantro leaves (for garnish)
RAITA
- 1 cup plain low-fat yogurt
- ¼ cup chopped cilantro
- 1 clove garlic (minced)
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
SERVE WITH
- brown jasmine rice
- mango chutney
Preparation
- Preheat the oven to 350° F/175° C.
- Trim any excess fat from the chicken and pat it dry. Clip off the wing tips and arrange the chicken pieces in the pan skin side up.
- Melt the butter and oil in the small saucepan over low heat. Add the curry powder, turmeric, cinnamon, salt, and pepper, and cook until the spices release their fragrance, about 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from heat and drizzle over the chicken. Brush the spicy butter of the chicken pieces to make sure they are well-coated.
- Sprinkle the chopped onions over the chicken and pour the tomatoes and the juice over and around the chicken. Pour ½ cup of the chicken broth into the bottom of the baking dish. Bake the chicken in the preheated oven, basting with the remaining chicken broth and the pan juices every 15 minutes until the chicken is browned, about 1 hour.
- RAITA – While the chicken bakes, stir together the yogurt, cilantro, garlic, and sea salt in the small bowl. Keep in the refrigerator until time to serve.
- Serve pieces of chicken with baking sauce spooned on top and raita, chutney, and rice on the side.
Kim L says
Sounds delicious. I love easy chicken recipes, too. I have some cilantro about to bolt in the garden, so this would be a great use for it.
Lydia (The Perfect Pantry) says
I'd love to adapt this recipe for the slow cooker, because I love the aroma of these spices filling the kitchen for the day!
the wicked noodle says
What a flavorful recipe! And so easy! You're right, it doesn't get better than that.
SharleneT says
Slow, cooker, solar oven, conventional -- this is a goto recipe. Love the combination of spices. Thanks for sharing. Come visit when you can.
kellypea says
This sounds like a great recipe, Andrea, and I like your idea of using more sauce. Easy, too!
meaghan says
Just made this last night, and it was phenomenal! So easy and delicious. I actually only used 6T of Kerrygold butter and no additional oil, and it was plenty to cover all my pieces and then some. I served it up with a tray of roasted broccoli and some steamed cauliflower rice. Thank you!