Kadhai (Kadai) Chicken

Kadhai Chicken is another one of those signature dishes at Indian restaurants. The Kadai Chicken has a very unique flavor. The amazing part is that it is not a dish that is overloaded with spices, yet the few that are there just make this one fantastic dish. The flavor and the aroma of the fresh ground coriander seeds is simple yet amazing. A big thank you to Anita Krishnan for this great recipe.

Prep Time:20 min
Cook Time: 20 min
Serves: 4-6
Ingredients:

Skinless Chicken (with or without bones) – 1 1/2 lbs (680 g)
Whole Coriander Seeds – 2 Tbsp
Fenugreek Seeds (Methi) – 1/4 tsp
Oil – 3 Tbsp
Whole Dry Red Chili – 2 or to taste
Onion – 1 large (approx 3/4 lb or 300 g), sliced
Ginger/Garlic – 2 Tbsp, minced
Tomatoes – 2 large (approx 400 g), chopped
Salt – to taste
Red Chili Powder – to taste
Dry Mango Powder (Amchoor) – 1/2 tsp
Garam Masala – 1 tsp
Turmeric Powder – 1/2 tsp
Pureed Tomatoes – 6 Tbsp (from 1/2 large tomato)
Cilantro (Coriander Leaves) – handful, chopped
Bell Pepper (Capsicum) – 1 large (250 g), sliced
Evaporated Milk – 1 to 1 1/2 cups (depending on desired consistency)
Green Chili – 2 or to taste, slit
Ginger – 1 inch piece, julienne for garnishing

Method:

1. Dry roast Dry Red Chili, Coriander Seeds and Fenugreek Seeds on low heat.
2. Roast till they are light golden and there is an awesome aroma.
3. Once done transfer into another dish to stop the cooking process and to allow it to cool down faster.
4. Once cool, coarse grind.
5. In a pan, heat Oil.
6. Add in the onions and allow them to turn brownish but not burnt.
7. Add Ginger and Garlic. Cook for 1-2 minutes.
8. Add in tomatoes, mix and cook for 5-6 min till the tomatoes soften up.
9. Add in the coarsely ground masala and mix.
10. Add in Chicken. Mix.
11. Add Salt, Amchoor, Turmeric Powder & Garam Masala. Mix, cover and cook 10-15 min.
12. Stir in between.
13. Add Tomato Puree and handful of fresh cilantro. Cook for 2 minutes.
14. Add sliced bell-pepper.
15. Reduce heat and add cream or evaporated milk.
16. Allow it to come to a boil.
17. Garnish with slit Green Chili and Julianne Ginger.
18. Serve hot.

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How to make kadai kadhai chicken, restaurant style chicken karahi, easy indian chicken recipes, murg recipes.

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0 thoughts on “Kadhai (Kadai) Chicken

  1. you guys are amazing!! I made this dish for my hubby and he loved it big time. Thank you thank you thank you 🙂 I marinated the chicken with ginger/garlic paste, turmeric, chilli pwdr and some coriander paste for about 3-4 hours. I stay in Australia so we get Philadelphia cooking cream here, so used that in the end instead of evaporated milk and i used 5 tablespoon of tomato sauce coz i was lazy to puree the tomatoes.

  2. Hi,hetal and anuja.I love ur recipes.I made kadhai chicken on my husband birthday for 15 people and everyone just love it.thank u so much.sometime I just check ur site and find the recipes which i want instead of calling my mum.so thanks again.enjoy ur holiday.

    1. Thanks Jigisa! Glad your kadhai chicken was a hit. Thanks for posting your feedback. Wish your husband a very happy birthday! 🙂

  3. My teenage daughter made this – it turned out very well and we had a great time making it. Thanks a ton for your efforts.

  4. I just had a bunch of folks over to my yard last weekend for a gigantic ivy removal. I tempted the participants by promising an Indian feast. Now this was my first attempt at several dishes at once and several people I knew had Pacific NW palates (translation: chile weenies.) So I wanted interesting complex dishes that could stand with only a bare hint of chile. I chose the Kadhai chicken, the Vegetable Korma, and the Tadka Dal from your site. I started cooking on Thursday with the masala for the korma. Made the dal and the chicken on Friday. Saturday morning did the Korma and made a pot of rice.

    I had the satisfaction of folks gasping in appreciation at the smell of my house when they came in. I was showered in compliments and many asked what was in it. One assumed I had used a jarred sauce because, well, us westerners just can’t make Indian food without a jar. (He, he.) The short story is I gave out your website to several people. And some have asked me to do an Indian cooking class next winter. I’ve warned they have to re-tool their spice cabinets and pantries! Thank you so much. I’m having so much fun!

    1. Hi Kristin,

      Lol! Your success is our success so thanks for sharing your wonderful experience with Indian cooking. Thanks also for spreading our word!

    1. Sorry for the late response…

      We have not tried Philly cooking creme so do not know what kind of result you would get. You can definitely use heavy whipping cream.

  5. hie ..
    i m loving the videos , they are awesome n above all so easy to make . i have tried few recipes and to tell ull that i have started learning from u both. please post more pulaos n soups. thank you 🙂
    take care n keep posting !!!!!

  6. Oops, I saw the video carefully again..ok, so the dry ground powder is the same that you roasted initially…Sorry, my bad 🙁
    You gals rock!! Please keep adding new recipies. I am really enjoying cooking at this stage of my life..

  7. I have never cooked anything (except tea) in my entire life. But I found your website very helpful because you give the exact quantity of every ingredient and your instructions are very clear. Thanks for this great web-site. Now I can actually cooked great dishes for my wife!!!
    Regarding this Kadhai chicken, the only thing that surprised me was the “Dry (ground) masala” that was suddenly introduced at 3 min and 17 second into the video.
    Please bear with me as I am very new to cooking, what’s that dry (ground) masala?

  8. made it on Sunday….turned out v tasty and yummy….we loved the taste, aroma and the quick, hassle-free way of preparing this dish..thanks a ton anuja and hetal.

  9. This is a great recipe…I tried it today for dinner and everyone loved it. Thanks for providing such good recipes. I am going to try the fish cutlets one next.

  10. Hi Hetal and Anuja,

    You guys are just great! I just love you both.

    Iam newly married 24 years old. And trust me , I cant thank you enough for all the compliments I get from my husband after I try your recipes 🙂

    A small question regarding this recipe , this dish doesnt need the chicken to be marinated ? Is that so?
    I want to know in what kinda dishes do we need to marinate the chicken and in what type of dihes can one omit it?

    What does one do if one sees some spots of blood oozing out/bone marrow coming out when the slightly cold chciken from the freezer is put in the gravy . I kinda freaked out :-(. The chicken that I was using were 8 leg pieces left froma pack of some 17/18 .

    Thanks ,
    Mona

  11. I made this awesome Kadhai chicken I did not use any cream or evaporated milk however it tasted great. This is the Kadhai chicken recipe I have ever made. Latha from North Bay, Ontario, Canada

  12. Hi Hetal and Anuja,
    i am planing to visit India but i want to cook This chicken there, what I can use instead of evaporated milk.
    thanks
    Ruby

  13. Hi Hetal n Anuja,

    I recently saw your website and tried Kadai chicken.It tasted yummy..
    I am a fan of ur recipes.Can you advise me which grinder/blender you use to grind the garam masala shown in ur video of kadai chicken

    Thanks
    Garima

  14. hello hetal and anuja,

    thankyou so much for this fabulous recipe….i once made for my husband and he practically finished it all leaving little for me.he loved it so much.so i prepared this same dish when his family came over to visit us.they just loved it.i made a lot that day and it got over so fast…
    thankyou so much….your recipes rock!!!

  15. This receipe does not tell me how long I need to cook chicken for. I am vegetarian so I cannnot taste it. i need to make this for my husband.

    1. Hi Mahima,

      The type of pan you use, your stove (gas or electric) and the temperature all affect the cooking time. When cooking chicken, you have to make sure that when you cut into a piece, it is white from the inside. If you see any pink, the chicken is not fully cooked. Try cutting into one of the larger pieces with your spatula.

  16. This does not tell me how long I need to cook chickent for. I am vegetarian and need to cook this for my husband.

  17. Hi,

    This is sunitha from tokyo.Firstly i thank you for such a wonderful website.Am very new to cooking and ur website is really helping my food taste delicious.I tried kadhai chicken today and its really yummm.Please continue ur good work and wish u all de best.

    Best wishes
    Sunitha

  18. I am a 14 yr old and surprised my parents with making your pedas and burfis and also with the easiest reciepe mango ice cream, and I would say this website is amazing, which give me an intrest in cooking..thank you soooo much..and all the reciepes are really good tooo…
    now trying to make your non veg…but is cool whip and heavy wipping cream the same…what if I use cool whip for butter chicken….

    for puffs we get pastry sheets, likewise is there any readymade sheets available for making samosas, If so what is the name and where can I get it?

    1. Hi Jennifer,

      We love to hear about young people learning how to cook.

      Cool whip is different from whipping cream and cannot be used as a substitution for it. You can find heavy whipping cream in the dairy case next to milk, sour cream, etc. Cool whip is non-dairy, already whipped and sweet…it is used for desserts. Heavy whipping cream is in liquid form, unsweetened and can be used for cooking as well as desserts.

      Some people use spring roll wrappers or tortillas as the crust for samosas. It is not exactly like samosa crust but it is a good and quick alternative. Spring roll wrappers can be found at Asian grocery stores or sometimes in regular stores in the refrigerated section.

  19. Hi
    Where can I get Pureed Tomatoes? Is it necessary to use that. Or is it possible to make it? I went to the stores but I couldn’t find that in a can.

    Thank You

    1. Hi Annie,

      Pureed tomatoes are usually found in the same grocery store aisle as other tomato products. You can puree fresh tomatoes if you can’t find the can but the canned ones have a nice bright red color to them and slightly more concentrated flavor.

  20. Hi,
    I tried this recipe yesterday and it turned out great. We loved it! Your recipes have never failed me and posting the videos makes it so easy for me. Thanks for posting it.

  21. Hi Hetal & Anuja,
    Today I prepared Kadhai Chicken and it tasted delicious. I sprinkled “Kasuri Methi” to it after fully cooked.
    Thanks for putting it on your website.
    Haresh

  22. Dear Hetal & Anuja,

    I buy pure cream brand “Bulla” made in australia. but i wonder why is the pure cream is in a way like butter thick like butter and not in liquid? pls let me know did i buy the wrong cream? and what is the purpose of this kind of cream..

    1. Hi Rekha,

      The heavy whipping cream we buy has between 36 to 40 percent fat. It is in liquid form, but if you whip it, it will thicken. I have not seen the pure cream you have there in Australia but maybe it has already been whipped and therefore is thicker. I do know that if you whip heavy cream enough, you will eventually get butter. If the package says that it is cream, you should be able to use it. The difference between butter and cream is the consistency and texture you will get in the gravy. Butter will give you a greasy gravy whereas the cream will give you a thick and white “creamy” feel.

      1. Hi Rekha,

        You need to use Thickened Cream that we get in Coles or Woolworths and it comes in 300ml or 600ml plastic bottles. Pure Cream is normally used for dessert topping.

  23. Hi Anuja and Hetal,
    Yet again you have created an easy way to make a fabulous dish. As a vegetarian, I used soy protein “chicken” and this dish turned out delish! I didn’t have evaporated milk and so I used cream. Tasty but fattening and it turns out a bit lighter colour than the dish you made. I served it to two friend for dinner and they loved it!! Keep up the good work.

  24. hi gurls!
    wonderful recipies and so easy to understand with you vedios!!
    one question
    im from Goa and was wondering if i could use coconut milk(or coconut milk powder) instead or evaporated milk just for some extra richness to the dish?

    1. Hi Geisella,

      We’ve not tried this particular recipe with coconut milk, but it should work just fine. We’d love to hear your feedback if you try it. Thanks!

      1. Hi Hetal and Geisella,

        I tried this recipe yesterday with coconut milk instead of evaporated milk. It turned out very nice and it tasted excellent. I liked it very much and my family members too. Thank you for the recipe.

  25. hey guys,

    love your website and recipes.

    one quick question – how do i get rid of the “chickeny” smell of out of chicken before cooking it? the smell is still there even after cooking it and i cant stand it and it is the reason why i dont cook or eat chicken at all. please advise. thanks much

    1. Hi Nazneen,

      One thing i do to remove the chicken smell (which i also don’t like!) is that i soak the chicken in some vinegar for a couple of minutes and then rinse it out with water and pat dry.

      Give it a try!

    2. Hi Nazneen,

      U can also try rubbing it with fresh lemon.just squeeze the juice of half a lemon unto the chicken after cleaning it and rinse it out with water.This works for fish too.Good luck!!!

  26. Hi Hetal&Anuja
    I am very thankful to for such a great service.I have tried all the chicken recipes succesfully.My request is please show us how to make chicken pakoras, I have tried many ways of it but invein.
    I am sure u can teach us how to do it.
    Many thanks
    Sadia

  27. Thanks for the recipe. I tried it today. It tured out good. I used heavy cream instead of evapurated milk. So it is very rich and heavy. I think i should use evapurated milk next time or reduce amount of heavy cream.

    Thanks

  28. Hi,

    Great recipe!Can you please tell me if I can omit the ground masal (coriander seeds, methi dana and red chillies) as I do not have whole coriander seeds.

    Thanks.

    1. Hi Tina,

      The fresh ground masala really adds the signature flavor to this dish but if you don’t have one of the ingredients, you can dry roast the other two and grind them and add the powdered version of the coriander seeds.

  29. Thanks Anita for this wonderful recipe and thankyou Hetal and Anuja for presenting it. I made it for dinner … it was EXCELLENT …. a real treat for chicken lovers. Just that instead of adding only green peppers I used all the four coloured peppers and you can imagine how it must have looked and tasted … It was just WOW !!! And now its time for the ragda patties. Waiting everyday for some new recipe. Thanks so much ..

  30. Hey Guys, Loving the website! Im going to try this recipe but i wanted to ask if it would work using a tin of already chopped tomatoes instead of freshly chopped tomatoes. Also i cannot find mango powder anywhere would it be okay missing this ingredient out?

    1. Canned chopped tomatoes will work just as well.
      As far as the mango powder is concerned, you can leave it out. It is basically for tartness and if you plan on using canned tomatoes, it will have that tart… 🙂

  31. Hi Hetal,

    Thanks for your reply. I am not sure i can get it in Bangalore. Which is the alternative i can try instead of that evaporated milk.

    Regards,
    K7

  32. Madam,

    Can you please advice what is “Evaporated Milk”, as i am unable to get this from any shops. Also will be great if you can explain how to prepare this “Evaporated Milk” at home.

    Looking forward your earliest reply on this query.

    Thanks,

    Regards,
    Kesavan

    1. Hi Kesavan,

      Evaporated milk comes in a can and is available in the baking aisle of your local grocery store (if you are in the US). They make it by removing part of the moisture out of regular milk, but we’ve never tried making it at home.

  33. hey Hetal,
    thanks for the reply! a video on garam masala will be very helpful!
    i had another question: when i grind ginger, the paste has ginger strands which are very annoying when they appear in the food cooked; any tip on this, please?

  34. I was wondering how do u make garam masala powder at home. do u buy the whole garam masala (packaged together and ready to be ground) or just use the whole garam masala that u have at home and grind it? will u please specify what whole garam masala do u grind?
    Thanks!

    1. Hi Asma,

      I use the packaged whole masala that is ready to be ground and grind it at home. Anuja gets her garam masala made by her mom…lucky duck! The combination of spices is different in each store and even within a store, there are many different mixtures. Looks like we need to do a video on garam masala…We’ll put it on our list to do.

  35. hi Anuja & Hetal
    In Chocolate Burfi recipe u used Heavy Whipping Cream
    in stores i have seen heavy cream and whipped topping too is this two same as heavy whipping cream.shall we use any one of this instead of heavy whipping cream just doubt can u clear me.

    Thanx..

    1. Hi Usha,

      Heavy whipping cream and whipping cream are probably the same, but whipped topping is not. The whipped topping is a non-dairy, already whipped item that comes in a tub and is in the freezer section. Heavy whipping cream comes in a cardboard box, is in liquid form and can be found in the dairy case.

  36. krss

    For kadai paneer fry some onions(slit lengthwise
    then add capsicum(u can use red and orange bell peppers coz the dish turns out colourful) saute for a while so that it retains its crunch ,then add cubed paneer &saute add salt,paprika .(NO HALDI)then add the onion&tomato masala we use to make curry and mixand then let it simmer for a minute.garnish &serve.Its a quick &no mess recipe and tasty too

    1. hi,i have read on orkut chicken wings are not good for health beacuse they give steroid injections to chicken on wings part.so most concentration of steroids is on wings part so avoid eating wings.

  37. Hi hetal&anuja,
    Thanx for posting great recipes!u guys rock.Now can u
    pls show us how to make pie crust and pie filling at home,gulab jamun,moong dal halwa(its not available in stores) since winter season is almost here,how to use chives(since different types of chives r available &r really healthy)

    Thanx

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