Chicken bhuna recipe

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You can't beat a classic chicken bhuna recipe and this one is exactly that. Plenty of flavour, a kick of spice and tender chicken pieces - yum.

Chicken bhuna recipe
(Image credit: imageBROKER/REX/Shutterstock)
  • healthy
Serves4
SkillEasy
Preparation Time15 mins
Cooking Time40 mins
Total Time55 mins
Nutrition Per PortionRDA
Calories329 Kcal16%
Sugar8.9 g10%
Fat19.2 g27%
Saturated Fat3.7 g19%
Salt0.41 gRow 4 - Cell 2
Protein25.3 g51%
Carbohydrates12.9 g5%
Salt0.41 gRow 7 - Cell 2

Our chicken bhuna recipe packs plenty of flavour, with a kick of spice and tender pieces of chicken. 

This homemade chicken bhuna recipe is easy to make and cheaper than your typical takeaway. It’s thick medium-hot sauce is made from a tasty blend of spices that generously coats the vegetables and chicken thighs, leaving you with a mouthwatering meal.  Rustle this up in under an hour for a mid-week supper or weekend treat, and serve with traditional Indian sides like saag aloo, bombay potatoes and pilau rice. The classic dish gets it’s name from the Urdu word ‘bhunna’ - to be fried - which is how we’ve cooked the chicken here.

Ingredients

  • 2 onions, peeled and roughly chopped
  • 4 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
  • 2 green chillies, de-seeded and roughly chopped
  • 25g root ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
  • 2tbsp vegetable oil
  • 2tsp ground cumin
  • 2tsp ground coriander
  • 2tsp ground turmeric
  • 2tsp garam masala
  • 6 tomatoes, roughly chopped
  • 6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into bite-size pieces
  • Juice of ½ lemon
  • Fresh flat leaf parsley or coriander and lemon slices to garnish
  • Steamed basmati rice to serve

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Method

  1. To make your chicken curry, place the onions, garlic, chillies and ginger in a food processor or blender. Add 3tbsp water and whizz until you have a textured paste.
  2. Heat the oil in a large saucepan and add the onion paste. Cook over a medium heat, stirring for 3-4 mins then add the cumin, coriander, turmeric and garam masala. Cook, stirring frequently for 3 minutes until the paste begins to turn golden.
  3. Add the chopped tomatoes and 300ml water. Season well with salt and freshly ground black pepper, cover and bring up to the boil. Stir in the chicken and lemon juice and re-cover.
  4. Cook over a medium heat, stirring occasionally for 25-30 minutes or until the chicken is tender and the paste and tomatoes have combined to make a thick sauce (add a little more water if necessary during cooking).
  5. Serve straight away garnished with parsley or coriander with lemon slices and serve with steamed pilau rice.

Top tip for making chicken bhuna:

If you don’t have a food processor or blender chop the onions, garlic, chillies and ginger as finely as possible. For extra ease replace the ground spices with 2tbsp medium curry paste.

Jessica Dady
Food Editor

Jessica Dady is Food Editor at GoodtoKnow and has over 11 years of experience as a digital editor, specialising in all things food, recipes, and SEO. From the must-buy seasonal food hampers and advent calendars for Christmas to the family-friendly air fryers that’ll make dinner time a breeze, Jessica loves trying and testing various food products to find the best of the best for the busy parents among us. Over the years of working with GoodtoKnow, Jessica has had the privilege of working alongside Future’s Test Kitchen to create exclusive videos - as well as writing, testing, and shooting her own recipes. When she’s not embracing the great outdoors with her family at the weekends, Jessica enjoys baking up a storm in the kitchen with her favourite bakes being chocolate chip cookies, cupcakes, and a tray of gooey chocolate brownies