A delicious Indian chicken stew with potatoes, tomatoes and a blend of Indian spices slow cooked for a complete and comforting meal.
If you’re a fan of dishes like Tikka Masala or Butter chicken, you will love this one! It’s flavourful, hearty, warming and spicy and a great “throw everything in a pot and let it cook all afternoon” kind of dish.
The spicy tomato and cream sauce was delicious and plentiful, great for sopping up with the naan bread. I love the addition of potatoes to this dish, too!
This stew has a great combination of spices that work beautifully together. Don’t be intimidated by the long list. They are pretty common spices, so if your spice rack is fairly well-stocked, you’ll be good. The cayenne pepper provides some nice warming heat in this dish. You may want to use the lesser amount of cayenne or leave out altogether if you’re not a fan of heat or if you’re feeding small kids.
Ingredients and substitutions
A few notes about the key ingredients …
Chicken – For best flavour, opt for the bone-in chicken breasts. The bones give great flavour to the stew! You could use boneless chicken breasts however, if you prefer.
Potatoes – Yukon Gold or other yellow-fleshed potatoes are the best choice, as they will hold their shape during cooking.
Recipe tips!
- Serve this stew with a big dollop of plain yogurt, some naan bread and a generous sprinkling of fresh mint (most traditional), cilantro or parsley. Alternately, this would be lovely spooned over warm basmati rice.
- I made this dish on the stove-top in my Dutch oven, but you could very easily do it in your slow-cooker. I used a couple of bone-in/skin on chicken breasts and thighs and took the chicken off the bone before adding the potatoes.
- Boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs would also work. You’d save the step of taking the chicken off the bone, but I do think the bone and skin probably add nice flavour to this one.
- I served this stew up in my cast iron fajita pans. It’s just a fun way to enjoy a meal and they’re also great for fajitas, too :)
Making ahead, storing and freezing
This chicken stew could be made ahead and reheated. Refrigerate and rewarm on the stovetop.
Refrigerate leftovers for up to 3 days.
You could freeze this stew for up to 3 months.
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Get the Recipe: Indian Chicken Stew with Potatoes
Ingredients
- 3 Tablespoons vegetable oil
- 3 large skin-on/bone-in chicken breasts, (or can use boneless)
- Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
- 1 small onion, finely chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 Tablespoons finely grated ginger
- 2 Tablespoons tomato paste
- 2 teaspoons garam masala
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 2 teaspoons ground turmeric
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground coriander
- 1/2 – 3/4 teaspoons cayennne pepper, (depending on how spicy like it or you can omit)
- 3 cups low-sodium chicken broth, (plus a bit more thinning, if necessary)
- 3/4 cup tomato purée
- 1/2 cup heavy cream, (can use a lighter cream)
- 1/2 pound small Yukon Gold potatoes,sliced 1/4″ thick, (or small fingerlings, sliced in half lengthwise)
Instructions
- Heat vegetable oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Season chicken with salt and pepper and place skin side down in to the pan. Cook until golden brown without turning, about 8–10 minutes. Transfer chicken to a plate.
- To the same pot, add onion, garlic, and ginger to pot and cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is very soft and golden brown, about 8–10 minutes. Add tomato paste, garam masala, cumin, turmeric, coriander, cayenne and cook, stirring often, until tomato paste is beginning to darken, about 4 minutes.
- Add chicken pieces, chicken broth, tomato purée, and cream to pot. Season with salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, partially covered, until chicken is almost falling off the bone and liquid is slightly thickened, about 1 1/2 hours. If using bone-in chicken, remove chicken to a plate and carefully remove chicken from the bone and discard skin and bones. Cut or pull chicken into bite-sized pieces. Return chicken pieces to the pot.
- Add potatoes to the pot and cook, partially covered, until potatoes are fork-tender and sauce is thickened, 30-45 minutes. *Check and stir every so often to ensure the sauce hasn’t thickened to much and potatoes aren’t sticking to the bottom of the pot. If sauce is too thick, thin with a bit more chicken stock.
- To serve, spoon stew into a shallow bowl and place a large dollop of yogurt on one side. Sprinkle with some fresh chopped mint, cilantro or parsley and serve with naan bread on the side. Alternately, spoon stew over some warm basmati rice.
Notes
More Indian-inspired recipes to love!
Hi! I’m Jennifer, a home cook schooled by trial and error and almost 40 years of getting dinner on the table! I love to share my favourite recipes, both old and new, together with lots of tips and tricks to hopefully help make your home cooking enjoyable, stress free, rewarding and of course, delicious!
Nom Nom Nom . . . I love Indian food and spices. I can’t wait to try this!! :)
Thanks Brooke. Enjoy!
Hi Jennifer, the best Indian food I ever cooked & ate! It was soooo delicious, that I add it to my favourite recipe book now :)
Thank you for sharing!
Kind regards from Hamburg, Germany
Nadine
So glad you enjoyed it, Nadine! :)
This looks sooo good, I really need to invest in a dutch oven :/
Thanks Ruosi and yes, it’s a great investment :)
This was awesome! I didn’t follow directions, I just tossed it all into the crockpot for the day. This is by far the best Indian recipe I’ve tried to make. So yummy! Thank you!
Glad you enjoyed it! :)
I’m planning on making this, but I was wondering how many pototatoes equal 1/2 pounds?
Hi Chigo. A 1/2 pound of potatoes would be about 1 1/2 medium potatoes. Enjoy!
Made this last night, and oh my gosh it was SOOO good! It made the entire house smell absolutely mouth-watering while it was simmering and when it was done I practically inhaled my portion. I recently moved to a new area and there is a staggering lack of good Indian food around here, so this really hit the spot for me in a big way. Thank you SOOO much for sharing, it was absolutely delicious and I will definitely be making it again.
So glad you enjoyed it, Alice. I am in love with this combination of spices, too and yes, the aroma when it’s cooking :)
This recipe is amazing. I look for Indian recipes that remind me of home, and none has ever quite hit the mark until this one. I have shared it with anyone who will care to listen and they have in turn made it and found it to be a smashing success. I don’t know what the magical twist is, because I’ve made a half dozen other curry recipes with the same basic list of ingredients, but somehow, this just sings. It is phenomenal.
Thank you!
So glad you enjoyed it, M. One of my favourites!
Hi Jennifer,
Can you use thighs instead of breasts (and without skin) or is it better to use with skin on and how many thighs would you use to replace breasts or same for same, many thanks going to cook this for 20 this weekend loving the reviews from everyone. Many thanks
Hi Karen, a couple of things to consider. First, the skin (and bones) does add some flavour to this stew, so skinless and/or boneless will mean less flavour in the end. As for thighs vs breasts, the only concern I would have is removing the chicken from the bones. It’s quite easy with breasts, but not so much with thighs. More bones :) It’s also dark meat, which can sometimes be nice as it is more moist, but it’s not so much a factor in a stew like this. Is there a reason you don’t want to use chicken breasts? Breasts would still be my first choice here, for the reasons mentioned.
This was dinner tonight, and will be again very soon. I had plenty of sauce left over, so will make a veggie version for lunch. We like cardamom, so added just a pinch. Perfect antidote to a single-digit winter night! Thanks for sharing.
So glad you enjoyed it, Moni and yes, perfect for this cold weather!
Delicious! The spice combination was perfect. Using skin-on, bone-in chicken is a must for providing that special depth of flavor. Thanks for the recipe!
Glad you enjoyed it, Claire. I think skin-on/bone-in is definitely the way to go with this one, too. A bit more work, but worth it.
My husband loved this recipe. Said it was better than our local Indian restaurant. There was a lot of sauce so I added extra chicken. I had food in the panty that I thought would go nicely with the stew so I added that as well.
I used 4 frozen skinless chicken breasts. (Was planning to use 2 potatoes but one was bad so only used one. It was right amount of potato.). I added slivered carrots at same time as potatoes. Added drained can of chickpeas and green peas at end along with some leftover cubed tofu. The sauce was spicy enough so I didn’t need to add extra spices even though I added a lot of extra ingredients. Thanks so much for posting.
Glad you enjoyed it, Tracy :)
Trying to avoid cream (dairy) in this house. Do you think coconut milk would work instead?
Hi Jocelyn. Definitely coconut milk would work (though I would use the coconut cream for thickness)
I originally made this dish back in March and had almost forgotten how much I enjoyed it. I was looking for something to prepare with drumsticks and thighs yesterday and this was a perfect choice for a chilly day and to welcome the new year.
Such a delicious, fragrant dish and so easy to put together – this will definitely make another appearance or two over the winter months.
Happy New Year, Jennifer.
Happy New Year to you as well, FoodElf! I love this dish for the exact reasons you do. Perfect comfort food for these winter months.
My husband just about fainted when I told him I was going to make this soon! This looks incredible! :)
Thanks Natalie. We all loved this one. Enjoy!
This looks amazing – going to try it tonight! Just a quick question- do you have any tips for how to convert the recipe for a slow cooker? Thanks!
Hi Tristan, I’ve never tried it, but I would brown the chicken and veg separately and then put it all in to the slow cooker and allow to simmer away in there. Hope that helps!
Hi Jennifer
How long do you simmer in the slow cooker for?
Hi Bozena. I have never actually cooked this recipe in the slow cooker, but if I had to guess, I would suggest whatever setting maintains a steady simmer and then cook it for 2-3 hours. I’m afraid I’m not really slow-cooker savvy. To my way of thinking, it’s just as easy to simmer it on the stovetop :)
Thank you for sharing this recipe. The flavors were so rich and wonderful. I added fresh green beans from my garden to get a bit of veg in the mix. My friends loved this. Thank you again!
Thanks for coming back and letting me know, Danielle. We really enjoy it, too. Love the addition of green beans, especially garden fresh ones!