Chicken Handi

Name: Chicken Handi
Prep time: 13 min
Cook time: 24 min
Total time: 37 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: India
Ingredients: 1.2 kg Chicken; 5 thinly sliced Onion; 2 finely chopped Tomatoes; 8 cloves chopped Garlic; 1 tbsp Ginger paste; ¼ cup Vegetable oil; 2 tsp Cumin seeds; 3 tsp Coriander seeds; 1 tsp Turmeric powder; 1 tsp Chilli powder; 2 Green chilli; 1 cup Yogurt; ¾ cup Cream; 3 tsp Dried fenugreek; 1 tsp Garam masala; To taste Salt

By The Spice & Simmer Kitchen · Published May 3, 2026

A one-pot Chicken recipe with India flavors, built for busy weeknights when you want real food without a sink full of dishes. Comes together in roughly 70 minutes, serves about 4, and uses ingredients you can find at any normal grocery store. The technique is simple: build a base in your pot, layer in the main ingredients, simmer until everything has had time to talk to each other, and serve straight from the pan. If you're cooking for picky eaters, this one tends to land — the flavors are recognizable, the texture is comforting, and there's nothing weird hiding in the ingredient list. Perfect for the kind of evening where you want dinner on the table by 7pm and the kitchen empty by 7:30.

Ingredients

Makes 4 servings · 37 min total

1.2 kg Chicken
5 thinly sliced Onion
2 finely chopped Tomatoes
8 cloves chopped Garlic
1 tbsp Ginger Paste
¼ cup Vegetable Oil
2 tsp Cumin Seeds
3 tsp Coriander Seeds
1 tsp Turmeric Powder
1 tsp Chilli Powder
2 Green Chilli
1 cup Yogurt
¾ cup Cream
3 tsp Dried Fenugreek
1 tsp Garam Masala
To taste Salt

Step-by-step instructions

Take a large pot or wok, big enough to cook all the chicken, and heat the oil in it. Once the oil is hot, add sliced onion and fry them until deep golden brown. Then take them out on a plate and set aside.
To the same pot, add the chopped garlic and sauté for a minute. Then add the chopped tomatoes and cook until tomatoes turn soft. This would take about 5 minutes.
Then return the fried onion to the pot and stir. Add ginger paste and sauté well.
Now add the cumin seeds, half of the coriander seeds and chopped green chillies. Give them a quick stir.
Next goes in the spices – turmeric powder and red chilli powder. Sauté the spices well for couple of minutes.
Add the chicken pieces to the wok, season it with salt to taste and cook the chicken covered on medium-low heat until the chicken is almost cooked through. This would take about 15 minutes. Slowly sautéing the chicken will enhance the flavor, so do not expedite this step by putting it on high heat.
When the oil separates from the spices, add the beaten yogurt keeping the heat on lowest so that the yogurt doesn’t split. Sprinkle the remaining coriander seeds and add half of the dried fenugreek leaves. Mix well.
Finally add the cream and give a final mix to combine everything well.
Sprinkle the remaining kasuri methi and garam masala and serve the chicken handi hot with naan or rotis. Enjoy!

Why this works on a weeknight

Chicken Handi lands at about 37 minutes total — a little longer than our 30-minute target, but most of that time is hands-off simmering, which is why it earned a spot in our Stir-Fry collection. The technique is forgiving, the ingredient list is grocery-store standard, and the active cooking time is short enough that you can answer a text message in the middle without ruining dinner.

Cleanup notes

This is a single-pan recipe, so the cleanup is exactly one pan, one cutting board, and one knife. While the dish rests, fill the pan with hot soapy water — by the time you are done eating, the residue lifts off with a single pass of a sponge. Skip the steel wool on cast iron; a stiff brush and warm water are all you need to keep the seasoning intact.

Make-ahead and leftovers

Leftovers keep covered in the fridge for up to three days. Reheat in a dry pan over medium-low with a splash of water or stock to loosen the sauce. Chicken Handi actually improves overnight as the flavors keep talking to each other, so doubling the recipe and packing tomorrow's lunch is a high-leverage weeknight move.

Filed under 🥢 Stir-Fry Chicken India