Curry Braised Chicken Legs are rich, tender, and full of flavor. Easy to make, ready in an hour, and better than takeout. Try them tonight!
These Curry Braised Chicken Legs have all the spicy, warm flavors you love in Indian Recipes like Chicken Tikka Masala and Chicken Korma. You’ll love this new dinner recipe that is faster, less expensive, and better than take out!
Why You’ll Love This Curry Chicken?
- An affordable easy dinner that taste better than takeout.
- Made with ingredients you should already have in your pantry.
Sabrina’s Curry Braised Chicken Legs Recipe
Curried chicken is a popular dish in Asian, Indian, and Jamaican cultures. While all of them are delicious in their own way, you will love this easy Indian Curry Braised Chicken for its simplicity. These chicken legs are an inexpensive dinner that tastes like you ordered it from a fancy restaurant.
Recipe Card
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 6 chicken legs
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt , divided
- 1/4 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper , divided
- 1/2 large yellow onion , diced
- 4 cloves garlic , minced
- 1 tablespoon curry powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon turmeric
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 14 ounces diced tomatoes , undrained
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 1 can coconut milk
Instructions
- Add butter to a dutch oven on medium heat.
- Season the chicken legs with half the salt and pepper and sear on both sides, 4-5 minutes on each side.
- Remove chicken from the pan, then add in the onions and garlic.
- Reduce heat to medium and stir, cooking for 2-3 minutes until softened.
- Add in the curry powder, cumin, paprika, turmeric, salt, and ginger, then stir well.
- Add the chicken legs back into the pot, top with diced tomatoes, chicken broth, and coconut milk.
- Bring to a simmer then reduce heat to medium low and cook for 25-30 minutes.
Nutrition
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Sabrina’s Tips
If you want different curry spices in your Braised Chicken Legs, you can always add garam masala, five spice blend, or even spicy Madras Curry Powder. Be careful with the Madras, it packs a lot of heat in a little amount! There are so many different kinds of curry to try, this is only the start!
Table of Contents
About this Recipe
No fancy, expensive, or exotic ingredients to see here. Not even garam masala spice blend. The most “exotic” ingredient is coconut milk, and you can pick that up at any grocery store for less than $5. Get whatever chicken pieces are on sale for this recipe and use pantry ingredients you have on hand to make a fast, affordable meal that is better than takeout! The braising makes the chicken so tender and juicy, you won’t believe it only took an hour to make! Usually, when you braise meat, you sear it at a high heat and then cook it in the oven for a longer time to get it fall-off-the-bone tender. This quicker method for curry chicken gets all the flavor infused in at least half the time as oven braising.
Can this be made ahead of time?
Yes, this recipe can definitely be made ahead of time! In fact, curries like this one often taste even better the next day as the flavors have more time to meld together. Just cook as usual, cool completely and store. I would recommend pulling the chicken pieces out of the pot and let them rest at room temperature while you reheat the sauce. Then add the chicken back in and warm up as usual. This will help keep the chicken from drying out.
Pairing Suggestions
These chicken legs have just the right amount of warmth and spice without being overly hot. It is a family friendly Indian dish that goes great with White Rice or Mashed Potatoes, and anything else to soak up the sauce. Pair them with a side of Garlic Naan Bread and vegetables like Roasted Broccoli for an easy dinner. Be sure to top with some cool Indian Raita!
How to Store
- Serve: You can keep chicken at room temperature for up to 2 hours before it needs to be refrigerated.
- Store: Once cooled, refrigerate leftover in an airtight container for up to 3 days. Reheat in the sauce in a skillet over low-medium heat to keep the chicken from drying out.
- Freeze: Place cooled chicken legs in a sealed container or freezer-safe bag. Freeze for up to 3 months and thaw overnight in the refrigerator before reheating on the stove top.
Ideas to Serve
Make this a one-pot complete dinner by simmering with diced sweet potatoes, chickpeas, or golden potatoes. Dice potatoes small and add them to the sauce ingredients so they cook along with the chicken.
Alternative Cooking Techniques
Oven Braised Method
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a 9×13-inch baking dish with cooking spray.
- Season chicken legs with salt and pepper, and sear in butter for a few minutes on each side. Set aside.
- Sauté onion and garlic 2-3 minutes. Add to the baking dish.
- Add remaining ingredients, except chicken legs, to the baking dish. Stir to combine.
- Nestle the chicken legs in the sauce, spooning a little sauce over the legs.
- Bake for 45-60 minutes, occasionally basting with sauce, until chicken is cooked through.
Slow Cooker Method
- Season chicken legs and sear on both sides in butter in a large skillet for 4-5 minutes on each side.
- Transfer to a slow cooker and add onions and garlic to the skillet.
- Cook until soft, about 2-3 minutes, then add to the slow cooker.
- Add remaining ingredients to the crock pot except the coconut milk.
- Cover with lid and cook on low for 4-5 hours on low, or 2-3 hours on high.
- Uncover, stir in coconut milk, and cook on high for an additional 30 minutes.
Frequent Questions
Curried chicken is a popular dish in Asian, Indian, and Jamaican cultures. While all of them are delicious in their own way, you will love this easy Indian Curry Braised Chicken for its simplicity.
No, these chicken legs are not very spicy. They have just the right amount of warmth and spice without being overly hot.
Variations
- Chicken: You can use either bone-in or boneless chicken thighs, chicken breast, or chicken quarters in this recipe, as well as pork cutlets or boneless pork chops.
- Thai Curry: To turn this into Thai Curry Chicken Legs, replace the dried spices with Thai green or red curry paste, lemongrass, and fresh ginger. Garnish with finely chopped cilantro or Thai basil.
- Jamaican Curry: Make Jamaican Curry Chicken Legs by replacing the spices with Jamaican curry powder. You can also leave the spices and add cayenne pepper, ground anise, mustard seed, and a splash of Worcestershire sauce.
- Veggies: Stir in cooked or steamed vegetables during the last 10 minutes of cooking. Try veggies like cauliflower, broccoli, spinach, carrots, or peas.
Related Recipes
More Curry Recipes to Try!
Photos were used in a previous version of this post
This was delicious. I took the skin of the legs and slow cook it was great. Thanks for a wonderful dish serve with mashed potatoes and naan bread as suggested.
Good ideas! You’re welcome Max and thanks for the five star review.
This may be a crazy question but do you take the skin off the chicken?
No question is crazy. No, I don’t remove the skin.
It was delicious ? I added a bit more salt! I also added chickpeas, carrots and diced potatoes!! It was amazing! Thank you
I added shredded carrots, red and yellow peppers and spinach, and served it over rice. I also agree needed more salt,
It needed more salt for me. I used unsalted butter to braise the chicken. Maybe should have added more salt to the chicken before cooking.
I also added some cornstarch to thicken it a little as it was quite soupy.
Salt seems to be the ingredient people vary on the most. Thank you for trying the recipe.
I had whole chicken legs and needed to find the best way to cook them in a curry. Your recipe was perfect to guide the chicken cooking (when you were vegetarian for so long, there is a lot of learning like do I need to cook chicken first etc..!! Lol). I didn’t need chicken broth as the tomatoes and the coconut milk covered the chicken well. I adjusted flavours per see and it was an excellent dinner.
Can this be done stovetop? Looks delicious
I have tested this recipe in the oven and a slow cooker (Instructions are in the blog). I’ll have to put this recipe on the list to try stove top sometime!
The sauce was thin which diluted the spices. Should have been cooked down more.
I add potatoes and squish a few of them to thicken the curry sauce.
I followed the recipe expect I added 1 tablespoon of freshly ground ginger vs 1 teaspoon of ground gingery . And I 2-4 tablespoons of flour. For thicker broth
Fantastic flavour and very straightforward to prepare. My family loved it! The sauce was abundant, which allowed for sopping it up with pieces of naan bread. The second day I added more chicken and some chickpeas… the leftovers were even better than the first sitting. I’m assuming the sauce could be prepared ahead of time, frozen, then thawed out, and add some chicken for a quick supper on those crazy ‘gotta go’ somewhere kind of nights.
Such a tasty dish and seriously took zero time to get everything ready while the chicken seared! Will make this again for as it was a hit with everyone, the picky teenager included haha!
I love curry & this chicken looks so good! It’s loaded with so much flavor!
I’m glad to know it was such a hit, Kristyn.
I loved this dinner! The chicken is favorful and turned out do so juicy! Totally fabulous!
Thanks, Wilhelmina.
These were absolutely fantastic and had the perfect amount of curry in it!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Stephanie.
Do you cook this uncovered?
Hi Melonie, yes it would be uncovered.
I have made this recipe and it was fantastic I will make this many more times a is. I have someone in my family that will only eat chicken breasts could I also make this recipe using chicken breasts?
Of course 🙂
This is amazing! My hubs is not an adventurous eater. He works nights so I make things like this when he’s gone for myself and our kids. They love curry! So I came across this recipe and knew I was trying it. Tonight was the night! I made it exactly like your recipe except I added more chicken legs for a total of about 15 which worked out perfectly. Kids were a little turned off by chicken legs but only cuz we usually only have them roasted or fried but they were delicious! They prefer no bones and fat on their chicken. I told them next time I’ll use boneless skinless chicken thighs and add a lil cayenne for heat. I love when I make curry and everyone comes into kitchen to see what smells so good and if it’s done yet ?? Thanks for a great recipe!!
I’m so glad you had the chance to give this recipe a try and that it was a hit, Dawn. Thanks for the 5 star rating.
Alternatives to a dutch oven? Would a cast iron skillet or regular soup pot be fine?
Thanks.
Yes, those would work as well. Enjoy!
Could I use chicken thighs instead of chicken legs?
Sure 🙂
If you don’t have a Dutch oven can you use just a regular pot or pan?
A classic heavy duty pot or stock pot will work.