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!
I can’t wait to try this! My mouth is already watering!
Can I swap the potatoes for lentils? Also can it be frozen?
Hi Yasmine. Yes, I think lentils would be nice and I think it would freeze pretty well.
Just found your website and love the recipes. I’m very excited to explore them!
Question about garam masala – isn’t it just a combination of the other spices you already have in the recipe? Or is there more to it than that?
Hi Kathryn and thanks very much :) And yes, there is a bit of overlap between garam masala and a few of the other ingredients, but garam masala has a few extra ones, that adds to the flavour profile in a nice way.
Unlike most reviewers I don’t care for Indian food. I made this for guests — and it was fabulous! Everyone loved it – including me! I cut the cayenne pepper in half (glad I did – it was plenty spicy) and I added the cream at the end. Also- I used the dark meat of the chicken. I am convinced it has more flavor and no one seemed to notice! This is a wonderful dish and I will prepare it often!
So glad you enjoyed it, Darlene :) I agree, dark meat chicken definitely has more flavour!
One of the best successes I’ve had while cooking — and my first time using a dutch oven. So great, I can’t wait to eat the leftovers. Thank you!
So glad! You’ll get lots of use out of your Dutch oven. Thanks for coming back to let me know :)
OMG my mouth is watering! I have to make this! Thanks Jennifer!
Thanks Ana. Enjoy!
Do you have any suggestions for trying to adapt this recipe to make it in the crockpot instead? Thanks!
Hi Diana, I’m not sure this recipe is ideally suited for a crockpot, but if you wanted to use it, I would brown chicken separately first, then do the simmer portion in the crockpot. As indicated in the recipe though, it simmers partially covered, not covered, so the results will be different if you cook it in a covered crockpot.
I just did some research and it should be fine in the stove. Thank you! I’m excited to try it !
Mine says not recommended for the stove top I believe. I’ll double check. It has an enamel finish on the inside
If you put dutch oven in the oven what would you cook it at?
Hi Hallie. I honestly don’t know. Why do you want to put it in the oven instead of simmering it on top of the stove?
I cannot tell you how often I have revisited this recipe since I discovered it. I LOVE THIS DISH. I make it with the chicken, but more recently I made a veggie version using eggplant and chickpeas. Just as good.. that sauce makes it.
Hi Kelly and yes, that sauce!! Love the idea of a veg version. My daughter is a recent vegetarian so I must try while she is home over Christmas. Happy holidays :)
Making this as we speak with bone in lamb! I’m sure it will be fabulous! Thanks for the recipe.
Sounds delicious, Tamera. Enjoy!
Made this tonight In the slow cooker using chicken thighs – loved it! So easy and a crowd pleases. Thank you.
So glad you enjoyed it, Mette :)
I’m looking forward to making this tomorrow. I only have chicken breasts on hand. Do I need to shorten the cooking time?
Hi Ingrid, You don’t mention if they are bone-in, which will affect the cooking time.
This was an absolutely delicious dish! Can’t wait to try it with lamb and add some peas and carrots. Thank you!
This was amazing, thank you very much :)
Just like another commenter, I wondered about the cream. I ended up adding it when I added the potatoes and it was fine, so I’ll just throw it in right at the start in future. I also added some carrots, because I was lazy and didn’t want to cook any other vegetables.
I have a question about Garam Masala. I’ve seen that in certain recipes they advise to add that one at the end and not in the beginning… do you have any knowledge on this issue?
I’ve added it at the beginning like you said and it was amazing. Just wondering.
So glad you enjoyed it, Olivia! As for the Garam Masala, I’ve never heard that. My experience with Indian food is that the spices are often heated (toasted) in the beginning, but that said, maybe Garam Masala is an exception?
Sadly my knowledge of Indian cuisine is merely based on recipes I found online. And I’ve just noticed that some ask for the Garam Masala at the end. And some don’t. I was hoping you might have stumbled upon this as well. Thank you again for the recipe :)