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August 13, 2017 By rachnaskitchen 15 Comments

Chicken Vindaloo Recipe, Authentic Chicken Vindaloo Recipe

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Chicken Vindaloo Recipe

 

Chicken vindaloo recipe is tangy, sweet and hot curry with gravy. Vindaloo curry recipe is from Goan cuisine and also very popular in Maharastra state of India. Vindaloo recipe was originally created by the Portuguese. The word vindaloo itself comes from popular Portuguese recipe for “carne de vinha d’alhos” which means meat, wine and garlic.

The dish was brought to India in the 15th century, when Portuguese explorers came to India. Then it was customised to suit local customs. Wine was not available in India so it was replaced by palm wine which local people fermented on their own. People adjusted the curry to their local taste and added ingredients such as vinegar, sugar, fresh ginger, tamarind, black pepper, cinnamon, cardamom and significantly, fiery chillies.

Recipe was further influenced by British during British Empire in India, they took added variations to the dish such as adding beef etc.

Today I am sharing authentic chicken vindaloo recipe. It is simple to prepare at home. The one reason to prepare it at home can be that you can adjust the pungency level according to your taste.

You do not need any store-bought spices. I have prepared it from scratch and so can you.
Preparation of Chicken vindaloo is divided into four main steps.

1.  Marinating chicken in spices and vinegar
2. Preparing (vindaloo curry powder) dry spice mix
3. Preparing spice paste
4. Cooking chicken

Let’s jump to the recipe

Meanwhile check other chicken recipes –

Indian Butter Chicken Curry, Murgh Makhani

Chicken kurma recipe

Chicken malai kebab

Ingredients

1 pound (450 grams) boneless chicken thighs cut into cubes
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1 teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon turmeric powder
½ teaspoon salt

7 whole black peppercorns
1 bay leaf
2 cardamom pods
7 dried red finger chilies
7 whole cloves
2 fresh hot green chiles, roughly chopped
7 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 (1/2 inch) piece of fresh ginger, roughly chopped
1 Tablespoon tamarind paste
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil or clarified butter
2 red or white onions, finely diced
1 tablespoon brown sugar
Salt to taste

Step by step on chicken vindaloo recipe

Step 1. Marination

Marinate chicken by adding above six ingredients chicken cubes, rice vinegar, ground cumin, turmeric powder and salt in a mixing bowl and mix thoroughly. Marinate chicken for at least 30 minutes. If you are not in hurry, marinate for longer as it will add more taste.

marination

 

Step 2. Prepare vindaloo curry powder

Place a pan over medium flame. Add next 5 ingredients whole black peppercorns, bay leaf, cardamom pods, dried red finger chilies, whole cloves and dry roast them for about 1 minute.

chicken vindaloo step 1

 

chicken vindaloo step 2

 

Now put all the roasted ingredients in a grinder and grind to a fine powder.

Step 3. Prepare spice paste

In a grinder or blender add garlic, green chilies, ginger, tamarind and cinnamon powder. Blend mixture to a smooth paste.

chicken vindaloo step 3

 

Step 4. Cooking chicken 

Place a pan over medium heat. Add two tablespoon of oil (I prefer ghee). Add the chopped onions. I like to use chopped onion instead of onion paste because sometime paste turns vindaloo gravy taste bitter.

chicken vindaloo step 4
Saute till onion caramalize or changes colour to golden brown.

chicken vindaloo step 5
Add spice paste prepared in step 3. Saute for 1 minute.

chicken vindaloo step 6
Add dry vindaloo curry powder prepared from step 2. Saute again for 20 seconds.

chicken vindaloo step 7
Add chicken cubes and saute.

chicken vindaloo step 8
Add salt to taste. Remember that we added salt previously while marinating so adjust salt quantity.
chicken-vindaloo-step-9
Add 1/4 cup water, sprinkle brown sugar and cover the lid. Let the chicken simmer on low heat until it’s cooked. It will take 8 to 10 minutes.

chicken vindaloo step 11
Chicken vindaloo is ready to serve. You can serve it with naan, chapati or plain basmati rice.

chicken-vindaloo-recipe image

 

Recipe card – Chicken Vindaloo recipe

4.86 from 7 votes
Print
Chicken Vindaloo, Authentic Chicken Vindaloo Recipe
Prep Time
15 mins
Cook Time
20 mins
Total Time
35 mins
 

Vindaloo recipe is tangy, sweet and hot curry with gravy. Vindaloo curry recipe is from Goan cuisine and also very popular in Maharastra state of India.

Course: Main
Cuisine: Goan, Indian
Servings: 2 Servings
Author: Rachna's Kitchen
Ingredients
  • 1 pound 450 grams boneless chicken thighs cut into cubes
  • 1/4 cup rice vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • ½ teaspoon turmeric powder
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 7 whole black peppercorns
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 2 cardamom pods
  • 7 dried red finger chilies
  • 7 whole cloves
  • 2 fresh hot green chiles roughly chopped
  • 7 garlic cloves roughly chopped
  • ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1.5 inch piece of fresh ginger, roughly chopped
  • 1 Tablespoon tamarind paste
  • 2 Tablespoons vegetable oil or clarified butter
  • 2 white or red onions finely diced
  • 1 tablespoon brown sugar
  • Salt to taste
Instructions
Marinating
  1. Marinate chicken by adding above six ingredients chicken cubes, rice vinegar, ground cumin, turmeric powder and salt in a mixing bowl and mix thoroughly. Marinate chicken for at least 30 minutes. If you are not in hurry, marinate for longer as it will add more taste.
Prepare vindaloo curry powder
  1. Gather  ingredients whole black peppercorns, bay leaf, cardamom pods, dried red finger chilies, whole cloves.

  2. Place a pan over medium flame. Add 5 ingredients (whole black peppercorns, bay leaf, cardamom pods, dried red finger chilies, whole cloves) and dry roast them for about 1 minute.

  3. Now put all the roasted ingredients in a grinder and grind to a fine powder.
Prepare spice paste
  1. In a grinder or blender add garlic, green chilies, ginger, tamarind and cinnamon powder. Blend mixture to a smooth paste.
Cooking chicken
  1. Place a pan over medium heat. Add two tablespoon of oil (I prefer ghee). Add the chopped onions. I like to use chopped onion instead of onion paste because sometime paste turns curry taste bitter.
  2. Saute till onion caramalize or changes colour to golden brown.
  3. Add spice paste prepared in step 3. Saute for 1 minute.
  4. Add dry vindaloo curry powder prepared from step 2. Saute again for 20 seconds.
  5. Add chicken cubes and saute.
  6. Add salt to taste. Remember that we added salt previously while marinating so adjust salt quantity.
  7. Add 1/4 cup water , sprinkle brown sugar and cover the lid. Let the chicken simmer on low heat until it's cooked. It will take 8 to 10 minutes.

  8. Chicken vindaloo is ready to serve. You can serve it with naan ,chapati or plain basmati rice.

Filed Under: Chicken Recipes, Maharashtra, Recipes By Regions

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Oliver Hutton says

    November 25, 2016 at 4:10 pm

    Wicked recipe, very tasty, will be making again for sure.

    One small niggle; you state the locals added chillies to this dish, I would imagine it was rather the opposite as it was the Portuguese who introduced the chilli pepper to the Indian sub-continent bringing it from South America.

    Reply
  2. Edward says

    December 5, 2016 at 2:55 pm

    Do you add the marinade to the pan when sauteeing the chicken, or would that be too much liquid? Thanks.

    Reply
  3. Sheila says

    March 25, 2017 at 11:05 am

    This was delicious… nice hot, spicy and tangy… the breakdown of the process really helped ?

    Reply
  4. Oliver Medla says

    April 30, 2017 at 6:27 pm

    Absolutely loved it. Just adjusted it slightly and added more chilies. Highly recommend this recipe.

    Reply
  5. Natalie Vaswani says

    March 11, 2018 at 11:34 pm

    I see brown sugar mentioned in the list of ingredients but it doesn’t show up anywhere else. Is this a mistake? If not, at which step is it added?

    Reply
    • rachnaskitchen says

      March 14, 2018 at 11:46 am

      Hi Natalie,
      Thanks for letting me know. It would be added in last step no. 7 where water is added to cook chicken. Hope his helps you.

      Reply
  6. Stephen W Collins says

    April 25, 2018 at 3:50 pm

    Is the spicy paste really tamarind paste? Can store bought tamarind paste be substituted for the spicy paste?

    Reply
    • rachnaskitchen says

      May 11, 2018 at 10:03 pm

      Hi Stephen,
      Apologies for late reply. Spicy paste is made up of garlic, green chilies, ginger, tamarind and cinnamon powder grinding together. But if you want to make it mild just don’t add chilli and use rest of it. Spicy paste is not available in groceries. Have to be prepared from scratch at home. Thanks

      Reply
  7. Sarah Lang says

    September 12, 2018 at 1:19 am

    This looks good! Can’t wait to make it! Are jalapeno peppers the same as “hot green chilies?” Also, what are “dried red finger chilies?” I always have a hard time figureing out the different chili peppers.

    Reply
  8. Sunam Ellis says

    September 25, 2018 at 10:51 pm

    If I want to add potatoes to the recipe, would I double the powder and paste to allow for it? What are your suggestions? Thank you!

    Reply
  9. Kellee Cropley says

    April 1, 2019 at 1:52 am

    This recipe is delicious! I followed the recipe exactly as written and it came out perfect, but, too hot for my husband. Will leave out the chilies next go round to ease the heat. This is a new favorite for me. Will be making it a lot!!!

    Reply
  10. Helen Jack says

    April 24, 2020 at 1:01 pm

    This was amazing! I had 1 kg of chicken that I wanted to cook, so of course I doubled the recipe. As much as I like hot, it was super super hot!. Double all the other ingredients of course, but not the chilies! I used red dried Thai ones… 14 of them and 3 fresh green ones. Absolutely gorgeous flavour though. Will definitely make it again!! Thank you for this lovely recipe.

    Reply
  11. Helen Jack says

    April 25, 2020 at 2:22 am

    This was super delicious! I doubled the recipe as I needed to use up a kilo of chicken. Take a top tip from me- don’t double the chilli! I like super spicy, but we used dried red Thai chillies and they are super hot. Apart from the added heat, the flavour itself is awesome and will defiantly use again. I am assuming that this will be ok for beef and pork also?

    Reply
  12. Larry Singer says

    October 31, 2021 at 3:01 pm

    I grew up with vindaloo in London. Where is the potato? I have never been served vindaloo without potato and London has the best vindaloo on earth.

    Reply
    • rachnaskitchen says

      March 14, 2022 at 6:15 pm

      Thanks for commenting and your question. Apparently potatoes are optional.
      I did a quick search and this summarise it pretty well.

      Should vindaloo have potatoes?
      Even though the word aloo (आलू) means potato in Hindi, traditional Goan vindalho does not include any potatoes, as the name is a corruption of a Portuguese phrase with no Hindi etymology.

      Reply

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