Jamaican Curry Chicken Recipe

This Jamaican Curry Chicken Recipe is a one-pot meal that is full of bold flavours and so hearty that you will feel like you are in the Caribbean. You can either marinate the meat, cook it in a slow cooker or follow the stovetop technique. Either method results in a tasty chicken dish.

Course Main Entree

Cuisine Jamaican

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 30

Total Time 50

Servings servings

Calories 348kcal

Author Charla

Ingredients

2 lbs chicken (907g) chopped into small-medium pieces
3 tablespoon Jamaican curry powder (18g)
1½ tablespoon all purpose seasoning (7.5g)
¼ teaspoon ground ginger (0.5g)
1 teaspoon black pepper (2g)
1 medium onion chopped
2 scallion sliced
4 garlic cloves minced
2 tablespoon olive oil (28g)
1 tablespoon curry powder (8g)
6 sprigs fresh thyme or 1 tablespoon dried
8 pimento berries or ¼ teaspoon allspice
1 cup hot water 250 ml
1 medium sweet potato or 2 small ones, chopped
pink salt to taste

Instructions

Add the washed chicken to a large bowl and use a fork to pierce the flesh of each piece of chicken. This helps the seasoning to better penetrate.
Sprinkle on the Jamaican curry powder, all-purpose seasoning, ginger, black pepper along with the onions, scallions and garlic.
Use your hands to thoroughly work in the seasoning, cover with saran wrap (cling film) and refrigerate overnight or for a few hours.
On medium heat, add the oil to a large pot/dutchpot.
Add the 1tbsp of curry powder to the pan and proceed to cook it for about one minute until fragrant.
Scrape off the excess seasoning (i.e onions, scallions and garlic) and place the chicken pieces into the pot, being carefully to not overcrowd.
Proceed to seal and sear the both sides of the chicken until brown (the chicken will extract its own juices, be sure to cook this off as this will help to enhance the taste by locking in the flavour).
Once the chicken is seared, stir in the onions, scallions and garlic and saute until translucent.
Add the sprigs of fresh thyme, pimento berries and stir the pot.
Pour in the hot water, then bring to a rolling boil.
Reduce the heat to medium/low and simmer with the lid on for 10 minutes.
Add the sweet potato and pink salt, to taste, stir, then simmer for another 20 minutes.
Add a splash of water if the gravy reduces too much and/or becomes too thick.
Remove the thyme stems before serving.

For the slow cooker version

Marinate the chicken with the curry powder, all purpose seasoning, black pepper, ginger, onion, scallion and garlic.
Leave to infuse overnight or a few hours in the refrigerator (wrap the bowl with saran/cling film)
Scrape off the excess seasoning from the chicken.
Add the oil to a pan on medium heat and 1tbsp of curry powder and proceed to "burn the curry" until fragrant.
Sear the chicken until brown then add the garlic/onion/scallion and saute until soft and translucent.
Transfer the chicken etc.. to your crockpot/slow cooker,.
Add the pimento, thyme and 1 ½ cups of hot water.
Cover with lid and cook on HIGH for 4 hours.
Add the potatoes 45 minutes before the finishing time and make a slurry with (1tbsp tapioca starch and 2 tablespoon water) mix together then add that to the unit.
Add pink salt to taste and serve

Notes

This dish isn't incredibly spicy, I don't add scotch bonnet so it's not crucial if you don't have any to hand.
Feel free to add carrots as well as potato if you want to.
You can add the potato at one time (see YouTube video) if you want to instead of adding them after 10 minutes (this is optional)
If you want to try this recipe using coconut milk be sure to check out my most popular recipe called Jamaican Coconut Curry Chicken.
Any leftovers can be stored in a container in the refrigerator (when cool) for up to 3 days.
This is freezer friendly recipe, freeze for up to 3 months.
When searing the meat, don't rush this process, the meat will extract it's own juices, cook this liquid off as it will help to enhance the flavour and colour of your curry.
If you want the gravy to thicken some more then cook for longer than 20 minutes (30-40 minutes) or mix 2tbsp of tapioca starch with 2tbsp water together and stir it in.
For best results, I highly recommend marinating the chicken with the curry and other listed ingredients overnight. This gives the spices plenty of time to penetrate the chicken, making it tastier.
If you are pushed for time, marinate the meat for a few hours instead.
When adding the water, make sure to use hot water to keep the temperate levels consistent.
Scrape off any of the excess seasoning (i.e scallion, onion) before searing the chicken or the little bits will burn.
Don't add the potatoes too early or they will breakdown too quickly. We want them to thicken the gravy, but not completely breakdown.
I used Jamaican sweet potatoes, but you can use any other white potato or even orange sweet potatoes.
Feel free to use any part of the chicken - chopped drumsticks, wings,
As per Caribbean culture, meat is cleaned with lemon/lime/vinegar prior to seasoning.
Use 1 tablespoon dried thyme and ¼ teaspoon allspice if you can't obtain fresh thyme or pimento berries.

Nutrition