As a lover of spices and herbs, curry is a dish I can never get tired of. I also grew up Japan, where curry is extremely popular and is considered to be a national dish so cooking and eating curry is near and dear to my heart. This spicy curry chicken is a perfect dish to enjoy any day of the week, throughout the year.

Spicy Curry Chicken: No Stress, Easy Recipe
Cooking delicious pot of curry doesn’t have to be a super complicated, long process. Marinate your chicken first, then use good quality marinara or tomato based pasta sauce and you get yourself a restaurant quality curry in 30 minutes!
Yogurt Curry Marinade
For tender, savory pieces of chicken, marinate chicken breast in Greek yogurt with spices and aromatics. Chicken curry won’t have the full flavor if you just throw plain chicken into a pot of curry flavored sauce. This marinade is similar to the one I whipped up for my Swordfish Tandoori Skewers, also easy to make and delicious!

What you need for the marinade:
- Greek yogurt – I used non-fat, but you can use full or 2% milk fat variety.
- Cumin seeds
- Curry powder – My curry powder of choice is made by S&B a Japanese company and it’s available in Japanese grocery stores and on Amazon. I’ve tried lots of curry powders and this is my favorite. It’s spicy with perfect ratio of all the spices.
- Tumeric
- Garam Masala
- Ground Coriander
- 3 Cloves of garlic, grated
- 2 Teaspoons of fresh, grated ginger
- Fresh cilantro – I added to the marinade, but you can also wait to add cilantros when you’re making your curry sauce.
Combine all the ingredients in a sealable plastic bag or plastic container, then add chicken making sure to coat them evenly with the yogurt mixture. After that, just pop it into your fridge anywhere for 3 – 24 hours and it’s ready to go!
Base for the Chicken Curry Sauce
I rely on my go to sauces from Trader Joe’s to use as a base for my curry. I always keep several jars in my pantry and I blend the Tomato Basil Marinara Sauce and Chunky Tomato & Pepper Pasta Sauce. Tomato & pepper sauce has a real peppery kick, but the sweetness from the marinara sauce will keep curry from being too spicy. Use can use Arrabbiata sauce instead if you can’t find this spicy tomato sauce from Trader Joe’s.
When the two sauces are combined, you can stir in your marinated chicken into the pot. Yogurt mixture coating the chicken will thicken the sauce and make it creamy. All the spices and aromatics added to the yogurt will turn a pot of tomato sauce into full flavored curry! As a final touch, I always stir in a bit of organic honey to balance out the flavors.
See my other recipes with Trader Joe’s tomato sauce:


Serving Ideas & Tableware for Chicken Curry
There are lot of side dish options to choose from when serving curry. I went with brown basmati rice and fresh spinach. Curry goes with pretty much anything, try:
- Naan, traditional Indian flatbread
- Lavash bread
- Grilled veggies
- White rice
- Jasmin rice
- Orzo
- Couscous
Featured tableware here is traditional Arita porcelain from Japan. Arita porcelain has extensive history and became popular both in Japan and in Europe beginning in the 17th century. These days, lot of Arita porcelain pieces have sleek, modern look and colors but the pieces I have are very traditional. I love using these classic pieces for all types of dishes, I think they’re too beautiful to use only for traditional Japanese dishes.


Spicy Chicken Curry
Ingredients
Marinated Chicken
- 2 chicken breasts, cut into 1½' chunks.
- 2 cups greek yogurt (I used non-fat)
- 3 tbsp curry powder
- 2 tbsp tumeric
- 1 tbsp garam masala
- 2 tbsp coriander powder
- 2 tbsp cumin
- fresh grated ginger
- grated garlic
- salt to taste
- 2 cups fresh cilantro leaves
Curry Sauce
- 12 oz marinara sauce
- 12 oz spicy tomato sauce or arrabbiata sauce
- 1 tbsp honey
Garnish
- 2-3 tbsp fresh cilantro leaves
Instructions
Marinated Chicken
- Combine yogurt, spices and aromatics in a sealable plastic bag or plastic container.
- Add chicken to the bag/container and coat evenly with yogurt mixture. Chill in the fridge and let chicken marinate for 3-24 hours.
Chicken Curry
- Take out marinated chicken from the fridge and set it aside.
- Heat medium sized pot over medium heat, add spicy tomato sauce and marinara sauce and mix well to combine.
- Add chicken with the yogurt mixture to the pot and mix well. Let the chicken cook for 15-20 minutes then stir in honey.
- Turn pot to low heat and cook for additional 10 minutes. Serve curry with vegetables and or carbs of your choice and add fresh cilantro leaves for garnish.
Great article!