The inspiration for this recipe comes from a West African soup recipe in Nancie McDermott’s The Curry Book. With a little less broth and a lot more chicken you have a great peanut curry dish. Control the level of hotness you want with the amount of chili. We didn’t have serranos when we made this, and we wanted it very spicy so we used 4 fresh large jalapeños instead of the 2 serranos called for in the following recipe. The lime, coriander seed, onion, cilantro, mint, ginger, chili, and peanut combine wonderfully.
Chicken Peanut Curry Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 lbs boneless, skinless chicken pieces (or you can use bone-in for added flavor), cut into 1 1/2 inch wide chunks or strips
- 1/2 cup flour
- 4 Tbsp curry powder
- 2 teaspoons Kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground peppercorns
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 2 Tbsp fresh ginger, minced
- 2 Tbsp garlic, minced
- 2 serrano chili peppers, seeded, de-veined, minced
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 1/2 cup peanut butter (if using freshly ground peanuts, add 2 teaspoons of sugar)
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander seeds
- 8 green onions, chopped, greens included
- 1/3 cup each finely chopped mint and cilantro
- 2 limes cut into wedges
Method
1 Rinse chicken and pat dry. In a small sturdy paper bag, combine the flour, curry powder, salt and pepper. Shake well. Add the chicken pieces and shake to coat well.
2 Heat oil in a large saucepan on medium high heat. Add chicken pieces. Cook 5-10 minutes (depending on size of chicken pieces) tossing occasionally to cook chicken evenly. Add the ginger, garlic, chili pepper and 1/2 cup of the chicken broth to the saucepan. Cook for 3 minutes, scraping the pan with a spatula and stirring to combine everything well.
3 Add the peanut butter, stirring quickly to incorporate it with the chicken. Add the remaining 3 1/2 cups of broth slowly, stirring continuously to maintain an even texture. Let simmer for 10 minutes. Right before serving, add the coriander and green onions. Salt to taste.
4 Serve with rice. Top each serving with fresh cilantro and mint. Squeeze a little lime juice over it as well.
Yield: Serves 6-8.
For very Indian tasting curry powder, lightly fry in 1tsp of oil the following at low flame:
2 inches cinnamon stick, 1 green cardamom (whole but crushed-so that it does not splatter), 4-5 cloves, 1/2 tsp cumin seeds, 5-6 black pepper corns. Fry until your kitchen fills with a pleasant aroma of spices.
Grind the fried spices without water. Use as much as you need and store the rest in air tight container in the fridge for upto 15 days! To make it more hot, add 1-2 Indian red chillies or Thai red pepper (dry) while frying.
Interesting recipe. I’m originally from West Africa and as a youngster remember having groundnut soup (they don’t call it peanut soup), made from fresh groundnuts as stated above. What is interesting to me about this recipe is that the ingredients — like curry , mint, and cilantro — listed above are not used in the African groundnut soup I remember having. I’m going to make this soup for my mom.
Paz
One of my dear friends in high school was from Ivory Coast and she used to bring a Peanut/groundnut chicken stew to lunch on occasion. It was delicious. I had forgotten all about it, so thank you for bringing back memories… This recipe is on my growing ‘to make’ list!
My cousin is Nigerian and he makes an excellent peanut-chicken stew flavored primarily by peanut butter, a scotch bonnet pepper and a whole tomato. It is flavorful and spicy and is great over rice. I will ask for his recipe so I can share it with you.
Besides the wonderful recipes you are so kind in sharing with us, I was wondering about the stunning plates and dishes you use in your pictures! There are so many different ones, and they sure make your recipes look even yummier!
Are they all yours or are they borrowed? Do you buy them specially for the site pictures? Do you keep all of them? Anyway, you have a great taste for dishes too!
Best regards from Brazil…
Hi Gary – I think it would be quite hard to eat this dish without rice, which is why I didn’t categorize it low carb. What do you think, should it be in the low carb category anyway?
Hi Alyssa – please do share the recipe if you are able to get it.
Hi Cinara – I’ve been collecting interesting pieces of ceramics and china for years. Now I finally have a use for my odd indulgence. What, an excuse to buy individual pieces of china? I’m in heaven.
Your Chicken Peanut Curry Recipe sounds delicious. I grew up in the central Africa region, in Zaire (Belguim Congo, now DRC), and frequently enjoyed a similar, but much simpler, recipe…
Central African Curry Chicken:
4-6 chicken breasts, cubed 1″ pieces
4 large tomatoes, diced small
4 large onions, diced small
3-6 Tbsp curry, depending on your taste level
26-28 oz. jar of Chuncky peanut butter
2 oz. roasted peanuts (optional)
While browning the chicken in a frying pan, place the tomatoes and onions in a 5-6 qt. stock pot and simmer for 35-45 minutes. Add the peanut butter and curry and simmer for about 30 minutes until the consistancy is uniformly smooth. Add the chicken and continue to simmer while you prepare the rice. Serve over the rice, sprinkle the roasted peanuts and enjoy.
Just tried this recipe over the weekend and it was SO DELICIOUS! Elise, you’ve done it again. There’s no use referring to epicurious as long as you’re around posting these wonderful recipes. Many thanks!
I made this for dinner, and HOLY COW was it excellent! I tweaked it a little – I used a pound of chicken, but only halved the rest of the recipe. I also used 1/4 of a HUGE red jalapeno. In the end, I decided I wanted it “saucier” so I mixed some cornstarch/cold water and added enough so it was just thickened up enough for what I was in the mood for.
Hi, I have recently found your webpage and love it! I tried this recipe the other night and my boyfriend and I couldn’t get enough! We love the combination of spicy with a hint of sweetness! Thanks for the great recipe! Yummy, yum, yum!!!
You score again. I made this last night and it was so good I had to stop eating it so I’d have leftovers. I had to improve a teensy bit because I didn’t have stuff on hand (no cilantro, just mint; no serranos; one orange pepper and some thai chili peppers) but it was wonderful, it’s def. going in my popular rotation. Thanks!
Visiting our daughters and son-in-law in Colorado-hungry for peanut chicken curry-did
a search, this recipe came up-Excellent!! We didn’t use the coriander seeds, mint or cilantro-and put the chili peppers on the side
for those who wanted more spice. The meal
was served with brown rice and mixed Asian
Vegies-we had great reviews from the family.
Thanks so much!!
This was fantastic! I served mine with couscous instead of rice.
I originally learned this recipe from some family from the Ivory Coast. I then found this recipe and used it to tweak what already had.
It’s so delicious I’m making it again for a dinner party tonight…
Hi, I just tried a really similar recipe for Groundnut Stew that sounds like the same thing, from an African woman’s family recipe. It’s super-economical (from a blog on $5 family meals), and if you start with a whole roasting chicken you can end up with many servings to freeze. 1 chicken. 1 onion. 6-8 c water. (you can add stock stuff: celery, carrots, salt & pepper). Boil chicken, remove meat from bones, shred/ split into manageable pieces. Put chicken back in strained broth, and add:1 can diced/crushed tomatoes or a few of the real thing. 1 onion, diced. Red pepper to taste. 1 jar natural peanut butter (separated into chunks to help dissolve). Boil until oil rises to the top. Feel free to add more water. Serve over rice (can make into balls first). Feeds 8.
This was so easy and delicious. I used boneless skinless thighs and they worked really well. It was even more delicious the next day. Don’t skip the garnishes- they really make the dish!
Just wondering what kind of peanut butter to use. I usually eat the Real brand of peanut butter which has no added sugar. Would this work for the recipe or would you recommend something like Jif or Skippy which has added sugar?
Wow! Absolutely delicious recipe. I’m definitely going to make this for my family! Thanks for sharing it. :D
This has become a new “old favorite” of mine; as a matter of fact I am making it tonight!
Even my 88 year old Grannny (who’s never had curry before) loves it! Thanks for this great recipe.
I didn’t have a few of the ingredients for this recipe but made it anyway with what I had and it was delicious.
I used potatoes instead of chicken, and left out the chili peppers, garlic, corriander, mint, cilatro and lime, and used a white onion instead of green onions. (I know that’s half of the ingredients, hehe)
It’s even good cold from the fridge. Will definitely have to try the full recipe.
Yum :) Thanks
I recently found your site and this recipe….I am eating it right now and it is fantastic. Cannot wait to try out your other recipes…I am eyeing that rhubarb drink right now.
This was excellent. Really suited me since it is dairy free and curries usually have dairy. Thanks for the recipe. Will make this again!
This recipe was delicious. It was my first curry ever and my roommate loved it. I did leave out one of the chilies, because I don’t handle spicy very well. However, I think it would have been okay. There was just the barest hint of spicy, it actually could have used a bit more kick.
My roommate commented that it smelled more like peanut than it tasted and she would have liked if that flavor were stronger.
The mint, cilantro, and lime juice were the perfect contrast to finish up this dish. Thanks Elise for such a wonderful recipe.
This was wonderful! Thank you Elise.
This recipe was absolutely spectacular! Easy to prepare, we ate until there was no more! We sat at the dining room table and wondered aloud if it would be over the top to make another batch! Thanks for this!
I love this recipe. It is our new household favorite. I have a toddler who doesn’t like anything spicy, so I hold the peppers and my hubby and I use hot sauce to our taste.
I experimented with the rice by adding some of the mint leaves in the water while it cooked. It gave the rice a wonderful mint scent and a little added mint flavor.
I’ve made so many recipes from your blog, and they are always reliably delicious! This was amazing and more than what I was hoping it would be. Although it was tasty on its own, the garnishes elevated this delicious curry!
I made some relatively minor changes: used only 1 lb of chicken thighs (that’s all I had), made the same amount of sauce (b/c i’m ALL about the sauce), added some carrots, chick peas, and green peas, and served over quinoa.
This was amazing. I licked the pan clean after I transferred the leftovers.
Thank you so much! I love your site.
Absolutely fabulous! Added cubed potato & very thin sliced carrots and 1/2 cup sugar. Restaurant quality!
We had this for dinner last night, with white rice, okra, and orange juice. Amazing, delicious, out-of-this-world! Thank you.
Krissypants, I used TraderJoe’s natural peanut butter. I used salted, but I think the unsalted would have worked better, as there’s plenty of salt in the chicken stock. My husband doesn’t like spicy food, so I replaced the chili peppers with a red bell pepper. My cilantro had gone to slime, so I substituted dill weed. Next time, I’m going to add some chick peas and carrots to the sauce.
And, yeah, I’m with nyush. I didn’t let a drop of this goodness go to waste.
I’m a cooking newbie, and I’m always hesitant to experiment on my own. I’m wondering if this recipe could be made in a slow cooker, maybe simmered for a couple of hours? I work at home and it would be nice to start dinner cooking at lunch, so its ready when I “leave” the office at 5. Plus, seems like the chicken would only get better the longer it simmers in the curry?
Sounds like a worthy experiment. If you try to make it in a slow cooker, please let us know how it turns out for you. ~Elise
I made this recipe to a T and it was amazing. It was very flavorful and filling.
Good but would have liked more peanut taste. If I made it again I’d at least double the peanut butter. Used 2 green chilies instead of the serranos. Takes about 1hr to make with ingredients on hand. I like the idea of adding chickpeas, with carrots, peas or green beans.
I printed this recipe this morning and made the dish earlier this evening. My husband and I thought it was beyond AMAZING! Absolutely fabulous!
I used 525 grams of chicken and halved all the rest of the ingredients. The sauce was really thick — like we like it — probably because when I dumped the chicken into the wok, I dumped all the left over flour in as well (purely by accident).
While doing the dishes, my husband said that I can add this recipe to our collection of A+ recipes.
I made the dish last friday.Today as the new recipe came I remmebered it was so tasty.
My husband and my children thought it was Absolutely delicious!
I used chicken breast and cooked it for 5 minutes.