Palak Chicken, i.e. spinach and chicken curry (or in its proper Urdu form, Palak Murgh), is a dish I hold quite close to my heart (there are very many of those, mind you).
No, but for real, this is a special one.
The reason for this is it's actually the first curry I cooked for my husband after we got married.
If only you could have seen the look on his face when I served a dish in a pool of half melted butter, with stringy pieces of spinach I hadn't though to have chop. Oh, the look on his face when he broke into a piece of chicken to find it still half raw, or the surprise when upon his first bite he bit into TWO whole cardamom pods.
Yeah, I wasn't always food blogger material.
I've come a long way from that incident! I am so so happy to share this recipe with you today - it comes from a much more knowledgeable, experienced and confident Fatima who knows what she is doing. This recipe is a Pakistani-style dish with a beautiful fragrance and flavour thanks to the combination of whole spices that we will be blending. It's a total must-try!
How Do You Make Palak Chicken?
Palak Chicken is actually an incredibly easy curry to prepare. We start by frying onions until brown, then adding chicken to fry alongside. We then proceed to add the spices and spinach leaves, and then cook until it's done. It's super simple!
The only fancy addition in this recipe is the grinding of the whole spices in the beginning. If you don't have a spice grinder, fear not. Just add the spices in whole - and keep on the look out for any rogue cardamom pods!
Choosing The Right Kind of Ingredients
If you're living outside of Pakistan and have access to bags of baby spinach, definitely use those. Those are significantly easier to clean, cut and generally handle. The less hassle, the better, right? I like getting those bags and putting them directly into the freezer - when it's time to add them to your cooking you can pull the bag out and crush the leaves by repeatedly banging the bag onto the kitchen counter. Lol, yes I said it. That's what I really do. And it WORKS, so it's OK 🙂
In terms of the chicken, if you don't have any issues with bone-in chicken, then that is definitely the way to go for the best flavour profile. Ask your butcher for curry-cut chicken. If you have issues with bone-in, then you can replace the amount of chicken stated in the recipe with boneless without any changes. But please, think about making the switch to bone-in! You're missing out on SO MUCH FLAVOUR!
What Can I Serve with Palak Chicken?
Palak Murgh goes great with both roti and rice. I find that roti is the most popular option amongst Pakistanis - not to say rice isn't ok either. I am very partial to rice 🙂
Also - this curry is absolutely beautiful served with a dollop of butter added to the top just before serving. Alternatively, you can serve this alongside a heavily buttered roti (choprri roti, if you know, you know ;-))
On to the recipe!
Enjoy, with love x
📋 Recipe
Ingredients
- 8 tablespoon (120 ml) ghee
- 1 (110 g) medium onion finely sliced
- 2 tablespoon freshly minced garlic
- 1 tablespoon freshly minced ginger
- 1.5 lb (700 g) chicken bone in
- 14 cups (420 g) fresh spinach, chopped finely
- 1 black cardamom
- 3 green cardamom pods
- 1 teaspoon coriander seeds
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1 inch long piece cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon salt or to taste
- 0.5 teaspoon red chilli powder or to taste
- 0.5 teaspoon turmeric
- 1 tablespoon dried fenugreek leaves kasoori methi
- 2 teaspoon (10 g) butter
Instructions
- In a pot, heat the ghee and once hot, add the onions, garlic and ginger and fry till brown
- Whilst the onions are frying, take the black and green cardamoms, coriander seeds, cumin seeds and cinnamon and grind this to a fine powder
- Once the onions have browned, add the chicken. Fry till the chicken is no longer pink
- Add in the spinach, the spice powder we ground, the salt, red chilli powder, dried fenugreek and turmeric. Mix in and then turn the flame to low, cover and cook for 20 minutes.
- Uncover and turn the flame to a medium heat (or high, if you have a lot of water left). Dry out the curry, stirring often to make sure it doesn't burn. Continue to dry out the curry, sauteing it till most of the water has dried out and the spinach begins to cling onto the chicken pieces.
- When plating the curry out, drizzle 2tsp of melted butter over, or place a small dollop of it in the middle. Serve with warm chapatti or rice. Enjoy!
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Cherry Aisha
Absolutely love this recipe! Tried it a few weeks ago and tasted lovely. I used boneless chicken and was still really tasty. I also added potato, to bulk it out a bit. Super tasty!
Shahzad Ghaffar
Hello,
I tried this recipe and worked out well. My only concern is that while trying to dry out the water the chicken was overcooked. I guess the lesson for next time is to take out the chicken and add it back once the reduction is done.
Rutu
Tried today and loved it …..thanks for sharing such a tasty recipe
Nick
I made this for lunch just now with frozen spinach, it turned out great! Another great recipe from you Fatima. I grew up in the UK and moved to the US about 15 years ago, not too much curry available here, so I rely on your recipes when I'm craving the good stuff and they always deliver!
Suzane Coelho
I loved making this dish. Everything is easy to follow as all ingredients are ready in the spices cabinet. Will surely make it often.
Lib
So well written
Sabah
Hello,
If you were to substitute for tinned spinach - how much would you need?
Amna
Love this so simple yet delicious.
Fatima Cooks
Thank you so much!
Soniya Javis
Hello there
Upon doubling the quantity of the recipe it says 28 cups of chopped spinach. As im not familiar with cup as a measurement i looked up how much one cup of spinach is in grams it says that one cup is 225grams. 28 cups equate to 6,3kg of spinach…is this correct???
Kind regards
Soniya
Fatima Cooks
Hi Sonya - that doesn't sound quite right. 1 cup of raw spinach is pretty light. Thanks for pointing that out, I'll amend the recipe and add the grams. But to answer your question, 28 cups of chopped spinach would be 840g spinach.
Israar Ahmed
Hey, amazing recipes. I have been using your recipes to help me cook proper Pakistani food for a while now. I thought I would mention in section 5 I think there is a mistake. It says turn to low but I think it should say turn to high (it is already on low).
Other than that amazing recipe!!
Fatima Cooks
Thank you so much for pointing that out! I've fixed it. So glad my recipes have been helping you!
Sally
Hi. This looks so delicious & going to try it! Can I just check, does the liquid that you need to cook off come from the spinach? I can’t see any water or liquid added in the recipe? Thanks
Fatima
Hi Sally! Thank you so much! Yes, the spinach and the chicken both have A LOT of moisture in it so you don't need any additional water. If you do, the curry will get more soupy/runny than it's supposed to be.
Bushra
Dear Fatima
This recipe is absolutely amazing!!! JazakAllah for sharing!!!
Fatima
Thank you so much!
Beena
This recipe came out so good. Simple and delicious. Thank you so much
Aisha
Been using this recipe for probably about a year now. My go to for chicken and spinach. A hit with my toddlers too who don’t normally eat chicken. Thank you 🙂
Fatima
I'm soo thrilled to hear that, especially the toddler bit! I know the struggle, lol
Waqas
Trying this for the first time today, thanks for the pointers! bookmarking your page! =D
Fatima
Thank you! I hope it went well!
LaNesia
Hi! I see garlic listed twice but the recipe also calls for ginger and I didn’t see any measurements for it. Could you clarify how much ginger and how much garlic is needed?
Thank you ☺️
Fatima
Hi! I'm so sorry, I just realised this error and have amended it. It's 2 tbsp garlic and 1 tbsp ginger xx
Mandy longshaw
Hello, Can you freeze leftovers? Looking forward to making the today.
Fatima
Hi Mandy! Definitely, freezing will work!
Maria
Hi, I froze some fresh baby spinach and want to use it in this recipe. Should I add it in frozen towards the end? Or should I leave it on my countertop to defrost in the morning, and then add it when it's thawed out?
Thanks
M
Fatima
Hi Maria! I would add it in frozen as long as it's already chopped. If it isn't chopped, you can use a rolling pin to break up the leaves whilst it's still frozen xx
Saumya
Hi Fatima, I made this and it turned out so well ,even my fussy eater son loved it.Thanks for this recepie
Amara
Hi Fatima, love your blog! Just wanted to ask, if you wanted to make a quick version of this, can you substitute the whole spices for garam masala?
Thanks! X
Fatima
Thank you so much!
No, I wouldn’t recommend substituting the whole spices for garam masala. The ratio of spices in garam masala is different and it just wouldn’t taste how it’s supposed to
Mahalia France-Mir
Dear Fatima,
Thank you for sharing this recipe and enjoy reading your narrative around it too.
The recipe was delicious and I hope you continue to share more wonderful dishes with us.
Love and peace
Mahalia
Fatima
Thank you so much, Mahalia. I am so happy you enjoyed the recipe and the write up! <3
Shahjahan Ali
Just tried this recipe, absolutely delicious. One of the best palak murgh I've tasted. Thank you so much for sharing the recipe.
Fatima
Wow, I'm so thrilled you liked it!! Thank you
Dlora
Tried this last night it was beautiful! and I'm not even the biggest fan of spinach all ur recipes are really good and easy to follow I'm also a clueless Pakistani (English) cook but my husband has been impressed:D can I ask will you put up some bread recipes chappati paratha etc and what dishes they go best with?
Jazak Allah Khair x
Fatima
Hi Dlora! So glad you've been enjoying my recipes, and glad you've been impressing your husband! I have been absent from my blog for a long while now, but do plan to come back very soon. I will definitely consider writing up this post you have suggested. Take care x
selina sen
Hi I am writing in from New Delhi, My grandfather's family were shikaris before Partition and they had a Maharaj for vegetarian cuisine and a khansama for gosht. Just made your kofta curry and everyone in the family went on a nostalgia trip. Thank you Selina
Fatima
Thank you so much for taking the time to leave this comment. It means a lot, really. God bless xx