I dare say that this Indian chicken korma coconut milk recipe is my all-time favorite meal I make at my house right now. I love it so much and I really hope you will too.

Indian Chicken Korma Coconut Milk Recipe {Paleo, Keto, Clean Eating, Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Whole30}

If you have been following my blog for even a little while you probably have noticed how much I enjoy Indian food. Today is just another example of why I like Indian food so much. I've been making this meal for so long that I honestly can't even remember how I came up with the recipe because korma isn't even my favorite thing to order at Indian restaurants.

I don't think it has very much flavor at my favorite Indian restaurant. But this recipe has lots of flavors when made at home. This is a great dish to share with family and friends. I really enjoy the flavor that comes with this dish.

It is approved by the picky eaters in my family too. I've made this about a hundred times. It's filling, flavorful and easy. Plus, my whole family loves it and it's a lot healthier and cheaper than eating out.

Here are some of our thoughts about this healthy recipe and the reasons why I chose to prepare it the way I did, along with some tips and tricks:

I've noticed the trick to getting lots of flavor out of this dish is to make sure and let the spices bloom in steps 9-10. This is an important step not to miss.
I decided to soak the coconut and cashews before making a paste out of them so that they would be smoother. Then I blended it with the coconut milk to make a nice smooth sauce that would thicken the dish nicely.
Don't have time to soak the cashews? One reader said, "I put boiling water on the nuts and coconut, soaked them while I prepared the rest, and it worked out great.."
My favorite Indian restaurant serves their coconut korma with golden raisins in it. It adds a little sweetness to the dish as well as a nice texture. The raisins plump up when cooked, so I added it to the dish as well.
It is really delicious served on top of red quinoa *; however, you can put it over jasmine rice, cauliflower rice or another preferred grain of your choice if you would like.
You could use chicken tenders or chicken breasts instead of chicken thighs and it wouldn't take nearly as long to cook, but I really like the depth of flavor you get from the chicken thighs and I really like how tender they get when you cook them for a really long time in the oven.

Versions #2 and #3 - Simplified & Instant Pot Chicken Korma

I took the traditional clean chicken korma recipe above and simplified and American-ized it. I cut out several of the steps and it doesn't taste quite the same but it's so much less work and it doesn't require you to prepare ahead of time, so hopefully, you'll appreciate the time savings. I know I do.

In fact, I've made this clean chicken korma recipe a few hundred times. Yep. You heard that right. When I find a recipe I like, I make it a lot. The fact that my two oldest children love this recipe too, it makes me make it even more often. One of my daughters doesn't like it because it has chicken in it. She won't eat anything with chicken in it so she really doesn't count.

My other daughter is five and doesn't like how spicy I make it. I don't blame her. I like it really spicy. You can totally customize the spice level yourself though by the amount of red pepper and the type of fresh chilies and whether or not you include the seeds (leave out the seeds if you don't like the heat). If you don't like it spicy, don't put any red pepper in. If you like it spicy, pretend it's salt and sprinkle it all over the place.

I must warn you that I've only tried this recipe with Spice Hunter spices. They are so much better than any other spice I've tried. They actually have flavor. So, just beware that you are welcome to use whatever spices you have, but the recipe may turn out very different for you.

One of the ways I simplified the whole process was I don't make a coconut paste to blend with the coconut milk (who has time to soak cashews for 4 hours?). This makes it a thinner sauce, instead of thick like the image, but it still tastes almost as good.

I should also say that the spices are approximate. I never measure mine. I just put how much I feel on that day. If nothing else, it gives it a little variety of flavor.

Now that I have my Instant Pot *, I make this almost exclusively in it. All the ingredients are the same. It's just a different technique. It turns out different from the images too. It'ssoupiery and the chicken is really soft, a lot like it would be in a crockpot.

I hope you and your family and friends like this dairy-free chicken korma recipe as much as I do. I love love love it! Please let me know which version of clean chicken korma you like better and if you like it as much as I do. I would love to know if you try this recipe. Please comment below and let me know how it turns out!

Recipe