Chicken and Lentil Curry – Belly Laugh Living

April 5, 2022 Stan

This spicy fragrant chicken and lentil curry is a hearty very tasty dish. It’s a rich, creamy easy to make dinner that highlights the red lentils and chunks of spiced chicken.

We absolutely love curry dishes!!! They usually have basic easy to find ingredients that are transformed into a major flavor bomb of spices. You do have to like spices when you have curry. Plus, for us, we love adding a Habanero to our curry dishes for extra heat. The fruity flavor of the habanero really adds another level of flavor to this Chicken and Lentil Curry dish. It’s the type of spicy that keeps you coming back for more.

Chicken and Lentil Curry - Belly Laugh Living

What is Chicken and Lentil Curry?

We have made several versions of chicken curry dishes. Since we’ve been on a lentil kick lately, this time we decided to add the lentils to the meal, and WOW, it was a perfect addition.

This delicious chicken and lentil curry is made with chicken, broccoli, red lentils (We used dried red lentils but any lentil like red or green would also work in this dish.), curry powder and yogurt along with a few other items like chicken broth, cumin, onion, garlic and ginger. It’s a perfect dish served over rice for a complete dinner..

So Easy to make. . .save some for leftovers!!!

The cool thing about this dish is that it’s made in one pan, takes less than 40 minutes from start to finish, and you get a meal that makes your taste buds sing! We always have leftovers and have found it’s even better the next day, so if you want to make people jealous at work, make sure to save some for your lunch. Heating the curry up in the office microwave will have everyone asking, “What smells so good???”!

Oh, and if anyone steals your chicken and lentil curry lunch you’ll be able to easily find them from that great aroma!!!

Prep the ingredients!!!!

We always like to get everything ready first before starting to cook. So, for this dish prep:

Chop the onion, mince the ginger and garlic. Cut the chicken breast into bite size pieces. Measure the spices (curry, turmeric, cumin, chicken bouillon and sea salt) and place in a small bowl. Cut the broccoli into bite size pieces. Oh, and don’t forget the broccoli stems. Just peel the outside of the stems then cut the stems into bite size pieces. btw – the broccoli stems are the best part . . .so sweet and full of flavor!

How to make Chicken and Lentil Curry???

Once all the prep work is done. Heat the olive oil in a saute pan and add the onions, garlic and ginger. Cook for about 3 to 5 minutes until the onions start to get soft. Stir in the spices and cook for a minute or so until the spices are nice and fragrant. Add the chicken breast and cook. Don’t worry if the spices start to stick just cook until the chicken is opaque and cooked through. Add the chicken broth and bring the chicken and lentil curry to a boil.

Rinse the lentils. Stir the lentils into the curry and add the broccoli. Bring back to a boil and turn down to a simmer. Cook until the sauce is reduced by about half. This will take about 8 to 10 minutes.

Once the broth has cooked down. It’s time to add the yogurt. DO NOT just add the yogurt to the chicken and lentil curry!!!! This will cause it to curdle. Take about 1/2 cup to one cup of the hot broth and mix it into the yogurt. This will gently heat the yogurt and will keep you from curdling.

After this step mix the yogurt into the rest of the chicken and lentil curry.

Only one more step after this

The final step is to serve this yumminess over rice and ENJOY!!!

Tips for Chicken and Lentil Curry:

Make sure to temper the yogurt before adding it to the chicken and lentil curry mixture. This will keep the curry from curdling
Don’t worry about the spices sticking to the pan when cooking the chicken. If it starts to stick to much or getting too browned, just add 1/2 cup of water. Don’t add a ton of olive oil like they do on TV. Yes, the olive oil tastes good but it also has calories.
Use any type of lentil for this recipe (red, yellow or green). They all work great
Use the broccoli stems (they are sooo good!!). The stems are the best part of the broccoli. We often clean the stems and use them for snacking.

Chicken and Lentil Curry

This Chicken and Lentil Curry recipe makes a hearty and healthy meal that is loaded with flavors like curry powder, cumin, & garlic

Print Pin

Course: Dinner, Main Dish

Keyword: Acorn, Broccoli, Chicken, Curry, Lentil, Spicy

Calories: 364kcal

Author: Belly Laugh Living

Ingredients

1 1/2 Tablespoon Olive Oil
1 Medium Onion chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons Garlic Minced
2 Tablespoons Ginger Minced
1 Habanero Pepper Optional
3 1/2 Tablespoons Curry Powder
2 teaspoons Cumin
2 teaspoons Turmeric
1 teaspoon Sea Salt
1/2 Tablespoon Chicken Bouillon
1 1/2 Pounds Chicken Breast
32 Ounces Chicken Broth
1 Juice of Lemon Juice of one lemon
1/2 zest of Lemon Zest of half a lemon
1 Cup Red Lentils
2 1/2 Cups Broccoli Cut into pieces
1 1/2 Cups Plain Non Fat Greek Yogurt

Instructions

Chop Onion, Mince Garlic and Ginger
1 Medium Onion, 1 1/2 teaspoons Garlic, 2 Tablespoons Ginger
Cut chicken breast into bite size pieces
1 1/2 Pounds Chicken Breast
Heat olive oil on a large fry pan. Add Onion, Garlic, and Ginger.
1 1/2 Tablespoon Olive Oil
Sauté onions, garlic and ginger until onion is soft. Mix in the Habanero pepper. (Habanero is optional)
1 Habanero Pepper
Add the spices (curry, cumin, turmeric, Chicken Bouillon and sea salt). Cook for a couple of minutes until the spices are fragrant
3 1/2 Tablespoons Curry Powder, 2 teaspoons Cumin, 2 teaspoons Turmeric, 1 teaspoon Sea Salt, 1/2 Tablespoon Chicken Bouillon
Add chicken breast. Cook chicken over Medium heat for about 5 to 8 minutes. Cook until the chicken is opaque and cooked all the way through
Add the chicken broth.
32 Ounces Chicken Broth
Rinse the lentils in cold water
1 Cup Red Lentils
Add the lentils to the chicken mixture
1 Cup Red Lentils
Add the broccoli pieces
2 1/2 Cups Broccoli
Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Cook down the broth until it has reduced by about half.
Take pan off the heat. Add lemon juice and zest. Temper the yogurt to keep it from curdling: Add about 1/2 cup to 1 cup of the hot (not boiling) chicken mixture to the yogurt. Whisk them together. This will keep the yogurt from curdling and will also make the sauce nice and creamy
1 Juice of Lemon, 1/2 zest of Lemon
Stir the tempered yogurt into the pan with the chicken and broccoli.
1 1/2 Cups Plain Non Fat Greek Yogurt
Serve over rice or cauliflower rice. ENJOY!!!