So, it's Indian tonight? While you might have a favourite chicken curry, you might not know what you will accompany it with. What goes with chicken curry? Well, you are going to get 19 fabulous answers.
What Goes with Chicken Curry? The Quick Answer…
Your best bet is to go for something simple. If you are making chicken curry at home, a nice pile of boiled white rice works really well. It is mild in flavour, filling, and is great for soaking up any extra curry sauce.
Naan bread is another fantastic option. This pillowy, fluffy flatbread can be used as a little 'mop' to wipe around your plate. If you want to know how to whip up a tasty naan bread at home, I've got a fab recipe right here.
What is Indian Curry Served with?
There are lots of dishes you can serve with Indian Curry. Some regular favorites are naan, rice, or papadums. That said, if you want something slightly more 'interesting', I've got plenty of suggestions for you! Check out this list, and then scroll straight to your favorite side dish for chicken curry.
What Do You Serve with Curry? 19 Amazing Chicken Curry Sides
Ok, let's get down to it! If you wondering what goes with chicken curry, you'll find plenty of ideas below!
Plain Rice
Ah, good old rice!
Whether you are having a chicken curry, or in fact any curry, this is a really good choice! I've got some great tips to give you a perfect result every time you prepare it at home. Be sure to check out my simple white rice recipe!
The beauty of white rice is that you can leave it 'as is' and just serve it in a pile. Or, if you prefer, you can 'pimp it up' a bit. Once you know how to make white rice, you open a world of possibilities. You could make Onion fried rice, egg fried rice, lemon rice, garlic, and chilli rice… The list goes on and on!
Onion Bhajis
Onion bhajis are absolute heaven when served with chicken curry. If you haven't tried one before, you are in for a treat. An onion bhaji is essentially thin slices of onion pressed into a sort of fritter with a little chickpea flour and a few herbs and spices, such as cumin. It is then deep-fried in hot oil until it is crispy on the outside and soft and fluffy on the inside.
If you are making these at home, I've got a top tip for you. Be sure to save the oil that you've fried the bhajis in. This seasoned oil is great for using in your curries and gives a really authentic Indian taste.
They are actually really filling, so you won't need to serve many alongside your chicken curry!
Naan Bread
Naan bread is one of our all-time favourite chicken curry side dishes. If in doubt, go for nice fluffy naan bread. This is a flatbread cooked on the walls of a hot tandoor. The underside goes a little bit crispy, and the top side bubbles and puffs up.
There are loads of variations on naan bread. Most places serve them brushed with melted ghee, but you can also add garlic butter, raisins, coriander, or even stuff them with minced lamb!
If you want to make one at home and haven't got a tandoor, don't worry. A pizza stone does the trick!
Lassi
Right, let's be upfront. Lassi isn't a 'food'. It is, in fact, a drink. Think of it a little like a yogurt smoothie. It is normally made with mangoes, so if you wonder what goes with chicken curry, mango is always a nice choice.
Lassi works great to cool down a hot curry, it also helps to settle your stomach, so if you have overdone it on spice, the dairy element works wonders to take heat away. The great thing about lassi is you'll only need about 4 ingredients. It is also nice to serve as a light dessert if everyone is too stuffed full of chicken curry!
You'll need a blender. Check out my article here for the best blenders for Indian cooking.
A Nice Cool Beer
Ok, I might have said that naan bread or rice is the ideal solution for what to serve with chicken curry…
But.
There is nothing, and I mean nothing, that goes as well with a chicken vindaloo as a nice cool glass of beer. My favourite Indian beers are either Tiger or Kingfisher.
Want a top tip? Stick your glass in the freezer for half an hour before pouring your beer. It will frost up, cool your beer, and you could always stick your tongue on it if you have overdone it with chilli!
Chips
I was once accused of being 'too English' when I ordered chips with a curry. But trust me, this one works so well as a side for chicken curry.
Curry sauce makes a great dip for chips. They are also really easy to prepare, meaning you can focus on what really matters. Getting that curry spot on!
Chapati
If you find a naan bread a little too large for your tastes, then a nice chapati could be a better option. Just like naan, chapati is an unleavened flatbread served with curry. It is smaller and slightly less filling than naan bread, but it is still great for mopping up stray bits of sauce.
Often in India, you'll find curry isn't served with cutlery at all! Instead, you'll get a pile of hot and fresh chapatis. You use them as a sort of scoop.
An edible spoon for chicken curry? Sounds perfect to me!
Roti
Another Indian flatbread to add to your list. Think of roti as more of a wrap than a bread. The difference between a roti and a chapati? Well, it is all about the flour. Roti is made from different types of flour. In contrast, traditionally, chapati is only ever made from atta flour (a sort of wholemeal).
Strictly speaking, a Roti is a form of chapati. If you can't decide between the two when deciding what goes with chicken curry, order both as neither is too heavy!
Daal Tadka
Daal has to be one of my favourite Indian dishes. You can serve it as a side dish for chicken curry, or alternatively, you could have it as a meal all on its own.
Daal tadka is stewed red lentils that are cooked until they go all soupy. Once it reaches this stage, spices are added, and the entire thing is topped off with a layer of melted ghee, packed full of tasty things like toasted cumin seeds, dried chillis, and garlic!
Lentils can be really filling, so be fairly conservative if you are thinking of serving this with chicken curry.
If there is any daal leftover, be sure to save it as it can be used the next day in a chicken dhansak or pathia.
Salad
Yawn. Boring, but if you are watching your waistline, you could always serve your chicken curry with salad. Let's be honest, curry isn't always the most waistline-friendly food, but you can offset this by keeping it light. That said, there are some healthy curries out there!
A leafy salad takes a minute to prepare, and you'll be left with a meal that is mostly protein!
Mango Chutney
Remember how we said that mango goes so well with chicken curry?
Mango chutney paired with a nice chicken curry is the food of the Gods! A good dollop on the side of your plate works wonders. You can alternate between the savory and the sweet.
Want to know the secret to the best mango chutney?
Ripe mango. If you've got a few that are past their best, use them in a chutney. It will keep for ages! Alternatively, if you can't be bothered, why not go for a jar instead? (It's what the Indian restaurants do).
Samosas
Samosas are great. Here's what they are about.
Imagine a thin pastry folded into a triangle, stuffed with a delicious meat or vegetable filling, and then deep-fried until golden brown and crispy. They are super tasty (and actually surprisingly light).
If chicken curry is getting a little bit samey, adding a bit of contrast can be great. My favorite filling is keema, a sort of minced spicy lamb. Still, you'll also find them stuffed with tender potatoes and other vegetables.
Oh, and take a little advice from me, homemade samosas are far superior to store-bought.
Bombay Aloo
Want to know what goes with chicken curry? Give Bombay aloo a try. This is the Indian equivalent of patatas bravas. Cubes of roasted potatoes are topped with a spicy sauce before being baked. The end result is potatoes that are slightly crispy but infused full of Indian goodness.
You'd think nothing of having chicken and potatoes for your Sunday dinner. Apply the same principle to your chicken curry. This is a side dish that is really filling, so you might want to limit the other sides you order with your chicken curry.
Aloo Gobi
While I'd never say there is any such thing as too many potatoes, perhaps you are trying to keep the calories down? This curry side dish replaces half of the potatoes for something just a little lighter.
We are talking cauliflower.
Aloo gobi fuses potatoes and cauliflower into a kind of vegetable curry packed full of aromatic spices.
Raita
Is your chicken curry too hot?
Dairy is the answer. Raita is cool, creamy, sweet, and delicious. It is a mixture of cool yoghurt, a little mint, and some added cucumber. I also like to add just a pinch of sugar. Raita is the name given to a cool Indian yogurt dip. This works really well with poppadoms but can also be used to bring the heat levels down in a hot chicken curry.
It has a vaguely similar effect to lassi, except you wouldn't want to have this as a drink!
Pakoras
Pakoras are quite similar to onion bhajis in that they are deep-fried fritters. The difference is that pakoras are battered in something that is roughly similar to tempura. The main difference is that the batter is made from chickpea flour.
There are lots of different types of pakora. You can have mushroom pakora, onion pakora, vegetable pakora. And if you want a real chicken overload, then there are even chicken pakora!
Poppadoms
Ah the humble popadom! These crispy discs are light and are another great example of what to have with chicken curry! I normally about 2-3 per person are more than enough. While they are quite tasty on their own, and they can get a little dry.
The answer?
Serve them alongside a chicken curry! Some Pakistani restaurants will actually serve their chicken curry with broken-up papadums sprinkled over the top.
If you haven't tried them before, here's everything you could possibly need to know about papadums.
A Glass of Milk
Simple right?
Milk contains fats that attach to the hot part of chilli oil and drag it away.
What does that mean for you?
More taste and less heat! There have been many times when I've overdone it on the chilli.
And trust me…
A glass of water is just going to spread that heat around. A nice cool glass of milk is the ideal balm to a burning mouth!
Cauliflower Rice
For those who are really counting calories, cauliflower rice is a great suggestion. It is really easy to make too! Just blend or finely chop cauliflower and throw it into a frying pan. Add a teaspoon of turmeric and a teaspoon of cumin, along with a pinch of salt and toss and turn it in all those lovely spices!
Cauliflower rice is about 20% of the calories of regular white rice. By the time you've smothered it in curry sauce, it actually tastes pretty similar.
Final Thoughts…
There's plenty on the above list to keep you going. Whether you are making a curry at home or ordering something at the takeaway, you'll find all of the above work really well. When deciding what goes with chicken curry, pick something great for soaking up the sauce, acts as a contrast in either flavor or texture, or just a big old plate of chips! What are your favorites? Let me know in the comments below!
