Goan Chicken Vindaloo Recipe | Chicken Vindaloo

This Chicken Vindaloo is a flavorful dish, with Portuguese roots, from Goa India. It has a rich, spicy, and tangy flavor with a hint of sweetness and minimal sauce just like Chicken Jalfrezi. Here's how to make this restaurant-style dish easily at home with stepwise pictures. Serve it with Pav, Roti, Naan, or Rice.

Vindaloo (sometimes spelled vindalho) is a seriously spicy Indian dish, even hotter than Chicken Madras. The secret is in the homemade vindaloo masala, a spice blend made with whole spices, vinegar, and lots of garlic. I mean, it's not for the faint of heart.

Traditionally made with pork, it has become a favorite in British curry houses. However, the chicken vindaloo recipe is versatile. You can make this vindaloo with other ingredients like chicken, shrimp, beef, lamb, veggies, or tofu. If you love vindaloo, you might also enjoy other curry house classics like Dishoom Chicken Ruby, Chicken Pathia, and Chicken Balti.

Ingredients Notes

If you are a curry lover, you can make this goan chicken vindaloo easily with the ingredients you probably already have in your kitchen. The main parts of the dish are meat (like pork or chicken), vinegar, and some spicy stuff like peppercorns, chilies, garlic, ginger, and mustard seeds. Check out the recipe card below for a detailed list of ingredients and measurements.

• Chicken - Bone-in chicken (curry-cut) or chicken thighs are preferred for this recipe.
• Dried Red chilies - I have used Kashmiri dry red chilies. They are less spicy and give a bright red color to the vindaloo curry. If you don’t have them then substitute with Kashmiri red chili powder.
• Vinegar - In Goa, toddy vinegar is traditionally used. I opted for rice wine vinegar, but white or red wine vinegar would also work well.
• Whole Spices - This recipe uses a specific blend of whole spices to create its unique flavor profile. If you don't have whole coriander seeds, ground coriander powder can be substituted. This recipe uses basic spices that are easily available in your kitchen.

How To Make Goan Chicken Vindaloo With Step By Step Photos

Prepare Vindaloo masala

1. Deseed the Kashmiri red chilies to reduce the spiciness. Soak Kashmiri dry red chilies in hot water for 15 minutes. This softens them for easier grinding into a fine paste. If using Kashmiri red chili powder, skip this step.

2. In a mixer/grinder jar add Kashmir dry red chilies or red chili powder, garlic, ginger, cumin, cloves, cinnamon, pepper, coriander, mustard, vinegar, turmeric and 2 tablespoon water. Grind the ingredients to a smooth thick paste. You can add more water, if required, to make the paste. Your homemade vindaloo masala is ready.

Marinate the chicken

1. In a mixing bowl, combine the chicken with salt and 4-5 tablespoons of vindaloo masala. Reserve the remaining vindaloo masala for later use. Marinate the chicken for at least 1 hour, or overnight in the refrigerator. Do not marinate for longer than 24 hours. Before cooking, remove the chicken from the refrigerator and let it sit on the kitchen counter to come to room temperature.

Making chicken vindaloo

1. Heat 3 tablespoon oil over medium heat in a steel pan/pot. Add onions and saute them until they're golden brown.

2. Reduce the heat to low. Add the remaining vindaloo masala from the mixer/grinder jar. Stir and cook the masala until it starts to release oil from the sides.

3. Add marinated chicken. Stir and cook on medium heat for 3-4 minutes. Keep stirring to prevent the masala from sticking to the pan. Scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan with a spatula.

4. Then, add ¼ cup of water to the blender jar, swirl to combine any remaining masala, and add the liquid to the pan.

5. Bring to a simmer, cover, and cook until the chicken is cooked through, stirring occasionally.

6. Add 1 teaspoon of sugar. Taste and adjust more salt, sugar, and vinegar (or tamarind pulp) as per taste. I added an additional 1 teaspoon sugar and 3 tablespoon vinegar. Your chicken Vindaloo is ready to serve. Serve it hot with Pav, bread slices, Naan, or Roti.

Tips To Make Best Chicken Vindaloo

1. Spice up your vindaloo (not too much): Fiery or mild? The key is to go slow with the heat in this spicy Goan chicken curry recipe. Start with a few Kashmiri red chilies in your Vindaloo paste. You can always add more later if you're feeling brave. This way, you can adjust the spice level.
2. The same goes for the vinegar: Don't drench your meat in it at first. Marinate with a little, then taste your dish near the end. If it needs a tang, add a splash more then.
3. Use a non-reactive pan for making vindaloo curry from discoloration or potential health concerns. This is because vindaloo contains vinegar, an acidic ingredient that can react with certain pan materials like aluminum or cast iron.

Does Vindaloo have potatoes?

The name "chicken vindaloo" can be confusing. Many people, including my husband, mistakenly believe it's a chicken curry with potato because of the word "aloo." This confusion comes from the Portuguese word "alhos," which means "garlic" and morphed into "aloo" in Hindi, the word for potato. As a result, some vindaloo recipes incorporate potatoes into vindaloo. However, the authentic Goan vindalho recipe does not include potatoes.

The Vindaloo Curry Variations

Goan vindaloo is traditionally prepared with pork, while other regions of India favor variations like chicken, lamb, and prawn vindaloo. Try this easy chicken vindaloo recipe.

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Chicken Vindaloo Recipe

Chicken vindaloo is a tangy and spicy chicken curry from Goa that you can enjoy with Pav, Roti, Naan or steamed rice. Make this restaurant-style vindaloo at home with this easy recipe.

Course Main

Cuisine Goan, Indian

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes minutes

Total Time 35 minutes minutes

Servings 4 servings

Author Preeti

Equipment

• 1 stainless steel pan or pot
• 1 Mixing bowl

Ingredients

For Vindaloo masala

• 15 Kashmir dry red chilies soaked in hot water for 15 minutes. or 2 tablespoon Kashmiri red chili powder
• 15-20 garlic cloves (small size, if using bigger ones 6-7 is enough)
• 1- inch ginger
• 2 teaspoon cumin
• 8 cloves
• 1- inch cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon black peppercorns (Reduce to ½ teaspoon for a milder flavor)
• 1 tablespoon coriander seeds or coriander powder
• ¼ teaspoon mustard seeds skip if not available
• ¼ cup rice wine vinegar (or use white wine vinegar, or red wine vinegar)
• ½ teaspoon turmeric
• 2-4 tablespoon water (add more as required)

To marinate the chicken

• 800 grams chicken bone-in preferred
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4-5 tablespoon vindaloo masala

Other ingredients

• 3-4 tablespoon oil
• 2 cups of chopped onions 2 big onions, chopped
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 2-3 tablespoon rice wine vinegar (add as per taste) or tamarind pulp

Instructions

Prepare Vindaloo masala

• Deseed the Kashmiri red chilies to reduce the spiciness. Soak Kashmiri dry red chilies in hot water for 15 minutes. This softens them for easier grinding into a fine paste. If using Kashmiri red chili powder, skip this step.
• In a mixer/grinder jar add Kashmir dry red chilies or red chili powder, garlic, ginger, cumin, cloves, cinnamon, pepper, coriander, mustard, vinegar, turmeric and 2 tablespoon water. Grind the ingredients to a smooth thick paste. You can add more water, if required, to make the paste. Your homemade vindaloo masala is ready.

Marinate the chicken

• In a mixing bowl, combine the chicken with salt and 4-5 tablespoons of vindaloo masala. Reserve the remaining vindaloo masala for later use. Marinate the chicken for at least 1 hour, or overnight in the refrigerator. Do not marinate for longer than 24 hours. Before cooking, remove the chicken from the refrigerator and let it sit on the kitchen counter to come to room temperature.

Making chicken vindaloo

• Heat 3 tablespoon oil over medium heat in a steel pan/pot.
• Add onions and sauté them until they're golden brown. Reduce the heat to low.
• Add the remaining vindaloo masala from the mixer/grinder jar. Stir and cook the masala until it starts to release oil from the sides.
• Add marinated chicken. Stir and cook on medium heat for 3-4 minutes. Keep stirring to prevent masala sticking to the pan. Scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan with a spatula.
• Then, add ¼ cup of water to the blender jar, swirl to combine any remaining masala, and add the liquid to the pan. Bring to a simmer, cover, and cook until the chicken is cooked through, stirring occasionally.
• Add 1 teaspoon or sugar. Taste and adjust more salt, sugar, and vinegar (or tamarind pulp) as per taste. I added additional 1 teaspoon sugar and 3 tablespoon vinegar. Your chicken Vindaloo is ready to serve. Serve it hot with Pav, bread slices, Naan, or Roti.

Video

Notes

1. Spice up your vindaloo (not too much): Making a vindaloo? Fiery or mild? The key is to go slow with the heat in this Vindaloo recipe. Start with a few Kashmiri red chilies in your Vindaloo paste. You can always add more later if you're feeling brave. This way, you can adjust the spice level.
2. The same goes for the vinegar: Don't drench your meat in it at first. Marinate with a little, then taste your dish near the end. If it needs a tang, add a splash more then.
3. Marinate the chicken for more succulent and flavorful meat.
4. Use a non-reactive pan for making vindaloo curry from discoloration or potential health concerns. This is because vindaloo contains vinegar, an acidic ingredient that can react with certain pan materials like aluminum or cast iron.
5. Be careful while adding water to the recipe. This is a semi-thick chicken curry; you should not add too much water at any cooking stage.
6. For an even distribution of flavor and to prevent scorching, stir occasionally while the vindaloo simmers are covered.