Transform your leftover chicken into a delicious curry with our easy recipe that’s packed with flavour and perfect for an easy family meal.
**Recipe edited 20/01/25 with a slight change to ingredients and cooking times. It’s shorter, and it tastes better!**
I love a Sunday roast, but they can get a little repetitive. We don’t have them every week.
The good news is, how you use your leftovers can be anything but boring.
While for the main event, there are 4 main types of meat and a few different vegetables to rotate between, when it comes to using up leftovers, there are plenty of different recipes to choose from!
An easy leftover chicken curry is always a hit in my house. A homemade curry always feels like a bit of a treat, and this recipe is so tasty I use the same curry sauce for chicken, pork and even vegetables.
Disclaimer: While I aim to be as accurate as possible, any advice in this post, including but not limited to, cooking times, quantities, nutritional information and storage and freezing guidance is based on my own experience. Please use your own skills, knowledge and judgement, and get up to date food safety information.
Why You’ll Love This Simple Leftover Chicken Curry
This recipe for leftover chicken curry is honestly one of my favourites. You’ll love it because:
- It’s super easy, without a huge list of spices.
- It’s creamy and mild, without being heavy or unhealthy.
- Easy leftover chicken curry is a family friendly chicken curry recipe.
- Curry is ideal for leftovers, if you don’t have much meat, there’s plenty of sauce to dip bread in, and simmering in a sauce is ideal if your meat is a little dry.
- It’s a delicious chicken curry that always tastes amazing.
- You can use the same recipe for a leftover turkey curry at Christmas!
Ingredients for Leftover Roast Chicken Curry
When I make this kids’ curry recipe, I use:
Leftover Roast Chicken
Olive Oil – Swap for whatever cooking oil you’ve got.
Salt and Pepper
Turmeric
Ghee – You can use butter or just more cooking oil, but if you make curries often, I do recommend ghee. It gives a lovely flavour.
Onion – I typically use a yellow/brown onion, but red would be okay too.
Garlic Puree
Ginger Puree – I’m such a cheat with ginger and chilli but if you prefer use 1-inch peeled and grated root ginger.
Red Chilli Puree – 1 finely chopped red chilli is fine too, or a teaspoon of jarred ready-chopped red chilli.
Tinned Tomatoes
Coconut Milk
Tomato Puree
Curry Powder – Use garam masala if you don’t have curry powder.
Paprika
Can You Make This with Fresh Chicken?
Yes, this is a fantastic easy chicken curry recipe that you can make with fresh chicken as well as cooked chicken.
Just marinade the raw, chopped chicken for a few hours (longer is great, but at least hours), and then brown it in a pan, before removing, and following this recipe as it is.
Can You Use Reduced Fat Coconut Milk?
I don’t recommend it.
Lower-fat options often curdle when you add them to hot things.
You could remove it from the heat, and add slowly, or slowly warm the coconut milk first, to reduce the risks of this.
But I made leftover chicken curry with coconut milk with reduced fat coconut milk once, and while I kept the texture smooth, I found the flavour to be a little bitter.
It’s smoother, and creamier with full fat.
How to Make Leftover Chicken Curry
This recipe for leftover chicken curry is really simple.
It’s largely a case of marinading your leftover chicken, softening the onions, adding everything else and simmering it all together so that the chicken is soft and tender, and the flavours get time to develop.
You can get the full recipe in the card at the bottom of this post.
What to Serve with Curry
I always serve my chicken curry with leftover chicken with naan bread. I love bread, and frankly, any excuse!
Rice, poppadoms and dips like mango chutney are fab too, and if you wanted a big family feast, add some bhajis!
What to do with Leftover Potatoes and Vegetables
If you’ve got leftover chicken, you might also have leftover veg and potatoes!
You can add them to your curry, with 5-10 mins left to simmer, so they get time to warm up, without going mushy.
Or you could make a bubble and squeak, or patatas bravas.
Other Recipes with Leftover Chicken
If your kids enjoy roast chicken as much as mine do, you might need a few more recipes to use up your chicken leftovers. My favourites include:
Leftover Chicken Curry
Ingredients
For the Marinade:
- 400 g Leftover Roast Chicken (Cooled and diced into 1-2cm chunks)
- 2 Tablespoons Cooking Oil
- 2 Tablespoons Turmeric
- Pinch Salt and pepper
For the Curry:
- 1 Tablespoon Ghee (Switch to butter or cooking oil if you prefer)
- 1 Yellow Onion (Finely diced)
- 1 Teaspoon Garlic Puree (or 3 cloves crushed garlic)
- 1 Teaspoon Ginger Puree (Or 1-inch grated root ginger)
- 1 Teaspoon Red Chilli Puree (Or 1 finely diced fresh red chilli)
- 400 g Tinned Chopped Tomatoes
- 400 ml Coconut Milk
- 1 Tablespoon Tomato Puree
- 2 Tablespoons Curry Powder
- 1 Tablespoon Paprika
Instructions
- Place the diced cooked chicken in a lidded tub.
- Add the oil, turmeric and salt and pepper.
- Stir well, place the lid on the tub and refrigerate for 2 hours.
- When you are ready to make the curry, melt the ghee in a large flameproof dish or frying pan over medium heat on the hob.
- Add the onions and fry for 5 minutes, until starting to soften, stirring often.
- Add the garlic and continue to fry, stirring often for 2 minutes.
- Stir in the ginger and chilli.
- Add the chicken and stir well.
- Pour in the chopped tomatoes and coconut milk.
- Add the tomato puree, curry powder and paprika.
- Stir well and bring to a boil.
- Reduce to a simmer over a low heat.
- Cook for 20-25 minutes until the sauce has thickened, stirring occasionally.
Notes
- If your curry is too thin, simmer for a little longer, checking regularly.
- If it is too thick, stir through a little water.
- Coconut milk settles and separates in the tin, make sure you shake well before using. If it’s still separated, spoon the thick white coconut flesh into your curry, tip in the remaining water and stir through thoroughly until the white bits have melted into the sauce.
Any nutritional information is given as a general guide only and may not be accurate. The information is provided using an online calculator and is specific to my ingredients. Please make your own calculations if you want precise information.
