Mango Curry Chicken
Mango curry is an aromatic Indian dish of tender chicken in spicy-sweet mango sauce. Make this chicken curry recipe for dinner tonight!
I think Indian curries are wrongly accused of being overly spicy. Sure, there are some spicy curries in Indian cuisine, like vindaloo.
Honestly though, if the curry is seasoned correctly, it highlights the flavors of the ingredients, not the spicy heat.
Besides, there are plenty of Indian curry recipes that have sweet elements to balance out the spicy ones. Butter chicken and black dal makhani are great examples of this.
Mango curry is another good example. The sweet fruit balances out the spiciness of garam masala seasoning and cayenne, creating a fantastic and irresistible sweet and spicy flavor.
Mango Curry Chicken
Cuisine: Asian / Indian
When you travel to central Asia, be sure to visit India for at least one meal. Dishes like pudina chutney are fantastic with idli, and when you’re ready for a hearty meal, you can’t go wrong with dishes like chicken korma, or try this sweet and spicy mango chicken!
Course: Main dish
Recipe difficulty: Easy 🥄
Description:
Tender pieces of chicken breast or thigh meat, marinated in warm spices then simmered in a sweet and spicy mango sauce.
Ingredient Notes + Substitutions
- Chicken– Any type of boneless skinless meat will work. I prefer a combination of tenders and thighs.
- Mango fruit– If fresh fruit isn’t available, frozen chunks will work, but you’ll need to thaw them first.
- Coconut milk– Full fat coconut milk will give your stew the creamiest consistency, but coconut cream will also work. If you need a substitute for coconut milk, heavy dairy cream works well.
- Greek yogurt– This is the base ingredient for the marinade. I use plain flavor Greek yogurt because I prefer its thicker consistency, but any type of plain flavored yogurt or non-dairy yogurt will work.
- Garam masala seasoning– This spice blend can be found in the spice aisle of most grocery stores, or you can make your own garam masala recipe.
Video: Making Mango Chicken Curry
To see the process of making the chicken curry recipe from start to finish, watch the video located in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
Instructions
- Marinate the chicken.
The mango chicken marinade is very simple to make; just whisk the ingredients together in a bowl that’s large enough to fit the chicken into. Or, after you combine everything, you can pour it into a zip top storage bag.
It’s a yogurt-based marinade, so it doesn’t give the meat an oily consistency like some marinades do. If you have the time, marinate it for a full hour in the fridge. Otherwise, give it at least 30 minutes.
- Puree the fruit and prepare the sauce.
While the poultry is marinating, puree the mango. I use an immersion blender for this but if you don’t have one, you could use a traditional blender or even a small food processor.
- Cook the chicken.
Heat some oil in a large frying pan and saute the meat for a few minutes, just until it’s no longer pink.
TIP:
Don’t worry about browning the meat; the sauce gives it a yellow color, so you won’t notice the lack of browning.
- Simmer the stew.
Add the cooked meat to the pan with the curry sauce and simmer for 15 minutes so the flavors can marry together.
What to Serve with Mango Curry
Treat your Indian curry like you would a hearty stew. It’s fantastic over jasmine or basmati rice, or with a side of aloo masala.
Although chutney and Indian Crepes are traditionally for breakfast, I think they would be great with this meal!
Subscribe to my Newsletter, follow me on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram and YouTube for all my latest recipes and videos.
Mango Curry Chicken + Video
Ingredients
- 2 lbs chicken breast cut into bite size pieces (See Note 1)
- 2 cups mango chunks thawed if frozen
Marinade
- 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 1 tbsp ginger paste
- 2 tsp garam masala seasoning (See Note 2)
- 1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp cayenne pepper See Note 3
- 1 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
Cooking
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 cup full fat coconut milk or cream
Garnish
- cilantro
- 1/2 cup chopped cashews or almonds optional
Instructions
- Whisk marinade ingredients to combine, then add to a bowl with chicken. Cover and refrigerate for an hour.
- Using an immersion blender or stick blender, puree the mango and set aside.
- Heat vegetable oil over high heat in large fry pan. Add marinated chicken and cook for 3-5 minutes, or until the chicken is white all over – it doesn't really brown due to the marinade.
- Add mango puree and coconut milk or cream, stirring to combine. Turn heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes uncovered. Sauce will thicken.
- Season with salt if needed. Remove from heat. Serve over steamed rice of choice. Garnish with cilantro leaves and chopped nuts if desired.
Video
Notes
- Feel free to substitute 2 pounds chicken tenders or boneless, skinless thigh meat.
- Use more or less garam masala seasoning depending on your taste for spicy heat. This is not a very hot dish, the spice blend is more flavorful than spicy. I think sometimes people confuse spices with heat, and there is a difference! 🙂
- Use more or less cayenne, depending on the level of heat you like.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Hi Kevin! Love your Tex Mex And International dishes. Do I take the chicken out of the marinade or dump the marinade and all into the skillet? Can’t wait to try this, saw some great looking fresh mango at the market. Thanks in advance! Keep cooking!
All of it goes in the skillet Dawn! There’s a video to step you through it all in the recipe card, too! Thanks so much for following along. 🙂
Hands down the EASIEST and best tasting I’ve ever had. Kudos to you Kevin! Thanks for a keeper. 🙂
Really appreciate the comments and couldn’t agree more. So easy to prepare and delivers BIG flavor! Thanks Cheryl.
Cooked this over the weekend, the best Mango chicken ever. I used chili flakes instead of Cayenne (didn t have any) …..YUM.
So glad to read this. Thanks so much for giving this a try and for taking the time to come back and let me know Greg!