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!
Hi, I’m Kerstin from Germany. We are on vacation in France right now with our caravan … found your recipe browsing on pinterest today and just finished dinner with my husband. This dish is absolutely gorgeous! It’s really worth travelling around the world thanks to the internet. Thank you for sharing it!!
I wish I was in a caravan in France! So glad you found this and enjoyed it on your travels :) Thanks!
Do have to use cream. Is there a substitute?
Hi Kim, You don’t say why you don’t want to use cream, which would be helpful. If you are avoiding dairy, you could use stirred coconut milk. If you are asking because you want to use a lower-fat dairy product, I would tell you that cream is specified over other dairy, since the high fat content prevents it from “breaking” when it contacts acids, like tomatoes. So lower fat dairy isn’t recommended. You could also just skip and have a non-creamy version, if you prefer.
This was so delicious! My fiance and I both thoroughly enjoyed this stew. The only thing I had trouble with was my potatoes were a little under-cooked at the end & were stick to the pot. I should have added a bit more chicken stock toward the end & let it cook a little longer….very easy fix. We will definitely be adding this recipe to our regular rotation. Thank you!
So glad you enjoyed this! Thanks :) And yes, a little more stock will fix that for sure. I’ve found some potatoes just absorb more of the liquid than others.
I made this tonight and it was simply DELICIOUS. The family loved it too, so double win. I added a couple pinches of fenugreek at the end, but otherwise made exactly as written. This recipe is going into my favorites for sure.
Thanks Teri and so glad everyone enjoyed it :)
I made this exactly as written and it was absolutely delicious! My husband stumbled upon this recipe when he was searching for an Indian chicken curry recipe, and boy am I glad he did. Love your website and your pictures do a wonderful job of showcasing the food.
Thanks so much, Anna :) I love the warm flavours in this one and am always surprised at how well the potatoes work here!
This was seriously one of the best things I have ever made. The yogurt is a must. I bought Greek gods plain. I also added fresh mint. This is an amazing recipe. Thank you for sharing
I also served over rice
Thanks Candy and so glad you enjoyed this. One of my favourite dishes!
Hi Jennifer! I love Indian food!!! I can’t wait to try this. The photos from the recipe – is that what you cooked it in or what you served it in? (the oval-shaped pan). I love the pan!!!
Thanks,
Denise Fairley
Hi Denise :) I actually cooked this in my Dutch oven, then spooned it out on to these pans. They are Lodge, I think. Cast iron. Intended for fajitas, I think. I just find them a nice way to serve other things, too. Makes dinner more fun!
Jennifer … fabulous mixture of spices. I am making it in the crockpot with frozen boneless skinless chicken thighs and adding coconut milk and greens at the end. Delicious!! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks Susan and sounds great! Let me know how it works out in the slow cooker!
This is hands down one of my favorite recipes. I return to this post over and over again. So good, thank you!!
So glad you are enjoying it Kelly :) It’s a favourite of mine, too!
Thanks so much for sharing this recipe! So warm and comforting. I made it for the first time when I was 40 weeks pregnant (and some change!) and those spices REALLY hit the spot. I had leftovers to put in the freezer too! This is definitely a keeper for me.
So glad you enjoyed it, Kelly and I agree, it is a wonderfully comforting dish. So glad you had left-overs for the freezer, too. That will come in handy in the coming days :)
Can I use a sub for the cream? Maybe a can of coconut milk or cream?
Hi Patty and sure. Just stir the coconut milk first if using that, and note that you only need 1/2 cup of it.
Hello, I was wondering if I could freeze this after I’ve made it? It sounds delicious but it’s only me and my husband and he’s not huge on leftovers after one day.
Hi Ashley and yes, it should freeze. The only question mark would be the potatoes. The texture might change slightly with freezing, but wouldn’t compromise the enjoyment of the dish.
Made this recently & it was delicious. Used two sweet potatoes & added some spinach. Did cut back on the cayenne pepper as I ended up with multiple sneezes from the fresh turmeric! Wasn’t sure how spicy the dish would be so was cautious. Lovely flavour!
Wasn’t sure what you meant by tomato puree. Had some leftover diced tomatoes so ended up using the immersion blender.
Going into my regular rotation – along with many of your receipes!
Hi Irene and so glad you enjoyed this. It’s a wonderful dish :) As for the tomato puree, I usually use either crushed (canned) tomatoes or jarred Passata, but blending diced works too.
This looks amazing! I was browsing Pinterest looking for dinner ideas and this had to be it! I couldn’t commit to standing by the oven for hours so I’m using a slow cooker. Prepped according to instructions, dumped it into the slow cooker (minus the cream) I love the idea of adding spinach and will add the cream and spinach at the end. We eat a lot of Indian inspired dishes mostly because many are vegitarian. Hubby will enjoy his non-veg meal tonight :)
Thanks Julie. Let me know how it turns out in the slow cooker!
Thank you for delicious recipe! Your pictures looks incredible! We tried this out just this past week and used sweet potatoes instead of potatoes – IT WAS SO GOOD. I’ve had curries all my life and this is seriously top-notch. I loved how tender the chicken was! Our guests from singapore loved it!!!! Will be making this again!!
This is how it turned out (you can check out our blog):
https://sprinkleofvanillasugar.wordpress.com/2016/04/11/indian-spiced-stew-with-chicken-and-sweet-potato-gf-dairy-free-oil-free/
So glad you enjoyed it, Zoe! Looks great and I love your addition of sweet potatoes :)
Hi Jennifer I love your website and this recipe sounds delish! I can’t wait to try it! Do you photograph your own dishes? The photo is gorgeous.
Hi Jane and thanks very much :) And yes, I do all my own photography. It’s always a challenge, but I like a challenge!