This Chicken and Chickpea Curry with Spinach is perfect for when you want a healthy alternative to a takeaway curry. It’s quick, easy, delicious and packed full of goodness – but only 377 calories! Perfect for those busy weeknights when you have no time, but still want to eat well.
Yes, curry can be healthy!
Curry has a reputation for being unhealthy, but it doesn’t have to be…
This delicious Chicken and Chickpea Curry is packed full of goodness, from the chicken thighs, cauliflower, chickpeas and spinach – and only contains 377 calories!
To make this even healthier, serve with brown rice, which is packed full of vitamins, minerals and fibre.
Perfect for when you want a healthy alternative to a takeaway curry.
Better still it takes less than 30 minutes to make and tastes amazing!
How to make Chicken and Chickpea Curry with Spinach
This healthy chicken curry is super easy to make!
All you need to do is fry the onions, garlic, chilli flakes and spices. Then add diced chicken, coconut milk and cauliflower pieces, plus some salt and pepper.
Simmer for 10 minutes, then add the chickpeas and cook for a further 5 minutes to thicken the sauce. Turn off the heat and add the spinach.
Finally, stir in the fresh lime juice and fresh coriander (cilantro). Easy peasy!
(Full recipe given in the recipe card below.)
What to serve with Chicken and Chickpea Curry
I like to serve this easy chicken and chickpea curry with brown rice to make it extra healthy.
But if you prefer, you can serve this with basmati rice, pilau rice and/or naan bread – either shop bought or homemade. For example:
- Easy Peasy Pilau Rice
- Multicoloured Pilau Rice
- Fruity Pilau Rice
- Easy Homemade Naan Bread
- Easy Homemade Peshwari Naan
What to drink with Chicken and Chickpea Curry
This type of aromatic, coconut-based chicken curry goes really well with aromatic white wines such as Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling, Viognier and Pinot Grigio.
I don’t recommend red wine with this curry, but at a push, a fruity rosé could work.
Love easy chicken curries?
Then you’ll love these:
- Easy Chicken Biryani
- Easy Chicken Balti
- Homemade Chicken Tikka Masala
- Easy Chicken Dhansak
- Slow Cooked Chicken Bhuna
Easy Chicken Dhansak
Make it your own!
This recipe is very flexible, so feel free to adapt it to suit your tastes! Here are a few ideas:
- Use turkey or pork instead of the chicken.
- Use prawns instead of the chicken (add in at the same time as the chickpeas).
- Use tinned tomatoes instead of the coconut milk for a tomatoey curry.
- Add fresh chillies instead of dried chilli flakes.
- Add more chilli if you prefer hotter curries.
- Use different vegetables, such as carrots, mushrooms, potatoes, (bell) peppers or aubergine.
- Use tinned beans or lentils, instead of the chickpeas, beans or lentils. (Add in about 15 minutes before the end of the cooking time.)
- Make this veggie, by using Quorn chicken pieces or diced potato instead of the chicken.
(Did you adapt this recipe? I’d love to hear about it! Let us know in the comment section below.)
What to do with leftover chicken and chickpea curry
This is one of those many, many recipes that actually tastes BETTER the next day, so a great make ahead option!
Put any leftover (or ‘made ahead’) curry in a lidded container and place in the fridge, where it will keep for up to 3 days.
To reheat, simply tip the curry into a saucepan with a splash of water. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 5-10 minutes or until piping hot all the way through.
Alternatively reheat this curry in the microwave until piping hot all the way through.
Can you freeze chicken and chickpea curry
Absolutely! In fact, I recommend you make double the quantity and freeze half for some time in the future when you are super short on time, but still want to eat well!
Simply put the cooked and cooled curry into a lidded container and place it in the freezer, where it will keep for up to 3 months. Defrost overnight in the fridge and reheat as above.
If you like this recipe…
…you might also like:
- Easy Chicken, Red Lentil and Coconut Curry
- Chicken Tikka Biryani
- Quick Chicken and Spinach Curry (Chicken Saag)
- Easy Chicken, Chorizo and Chickpea Stew
- Easy Yellow Split Pea and Spinach Dhal (Vegan)
Chicken Tikka Biryani
Chicken and Chickpea Curry with Spinach
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 onion sliced
- 2 cloves garlic crushed or grated
- ½ teaspoon dried chilli flakes (or to taste, see Note 1)
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
- 2 teaspoons garam masala
- 400 g boneless, skinless chicken thighs cut into bitesize pieces
- 400 ml coconut milk (see Note 2)
- 1 small cauliflower (roughly 500g/1lb, chopped into bitesize pieces)
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 400 g tin chickpeas drained
- 150 g spinach (ideally baby spinach)
- Juice of ½ a lime plus lime quarters for serving (optional)
- 2 tablespoons fresh coriander (AKA cilantro) roughly chopped – plus extra for garnish
Instructions
- Place the oil and sliced onion in a wide and fairly deep saucepan or frying pan. Cover and fry over a low heat, for 3-5 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until the onion is softened but not browned.
- Add the garlic, chilli flakes, cumin, turmeric and garam masala, and gently fry, stirring frequently, for 1 minute. (If it starts to look too dry, add a small splash of water.)
- Add the diced chicken and fry for 1 minute in the spices, then add the coconut milk and cauliflower pieces, plus some salt and pepper.
- Turn the heat up high and bring to the boil uncovered. Then cover, turn the heat right down and simmer for 10 minutes.
- After 10 minutes, add the chickpeas and cook uncovered on high for a further 5 minutes to thicken the sauce (see Note 3) checking occasionally to make sure it’s not getting too dry. (If it gets too dry, simply add a splash more water and stir.)
- Finally, turn off the heat and add the spinach to the top of the pan. Cover and wait 1 minute to allow the spinach to wilt, then stir the spinach into the curry. (See Notes 4 & 5.)
- Finally, stir in the fresh lime juice and fresh coriander (cilantro), then garnish with extra fresh coriander leaves and serve with basmati rice, brown rice or pilau rice and lime quarters and naan bread.
Notes
- For my tastes, I find that ½ teaspoon of chilli flakes is about right for a ‘medium’ curry, but it does depend a lot on your brand of chilli flakes and your own spice tolerance! If in doubt, try ¼ teaspoon to start with – you can always add more chilli later! Alternatively, if you know you can take the heat, you might like to start with 1 teaspoon chilli flakes.
- You can use either regular or light coconut milk – regular will give you a creamier curry, but light will be fewer calories! I have used light coconut milk in the calorie calculations.
- The sauce in this curry is quite thin, and if you boil it down you’ll end up with quite a dry curry. If you prefer a thicker / saucier curry, I recommend you add a little more liquid and then some ground almonds to thicken the sauce.
- Spinach is notoriously difficult to stir into a dish, so I recommend you use my little trick, which is to place the spinach on top of the curry and pop the lid back on the curry. Wait 1 minute and the spinach will have wilted in the steam, making it super easy to stir into the curry!
- I like spinach to be very lightly cooked and bright green, as I prefer the fresh taste and texture of spinach that has been only very lightly cooked. If you prefer well cooked spinach, add the spinach into the curry with the chickpeas instead and you will get that dark green colour and more ‘cooked’ taste.
- Suitable for freezing.
- Nutrition information is approximate and meant as a guideline only.
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Donna Mattila says
Really wonderful recipe generally but could be spiced up a bit for the Canadian taste buds….or mine . Thank you to the lovely young woman who provides these super recipes. I continue to read and often use them. Bravo!!!
Eb Gargano says
Aw – yay, that is so wonderful to hear! Thank you so much for your kind words – that means a lot. Ah yes – chilli heat is such a personal thing. I try to give suggestions for mild/medium/hot – but, alas, even those are subjective! Thank you for this lovely review and especially the 5* rating 😀
Isabel Mccue says
Made this tonight for family coming over it was delicious . I am going to make a different recipe each Tuesday when the family all come for dinner. I meant to take a picture but forgot. Thank you
Eb Gargano says
Aw – yay, that is so wonderful to hear! Thank you for this lovely review and especially the 5* rating 😀