This Chicken Kofta Recipe features the juiciest chicken meatballs or koftas in a spicy tomato based sauce. Once the koftas are ready, it takes just 15 minutes to cook! Because we believe in maximizing our time in the kitchen here at Eat.Drink.Pure, we are going to talk about how to meal prep this recipe too!
Table of Contents
- Why you should make these koftas
- What’s in chicken koftas?
- How to make Pakistani Chicken Kofta Curry
- Some helpful tips
- Serving suggestions
- Variations
- More Pakistani recipes to try
Why you should make these koftas
- Traditionally koftas are made with a yogurt base. To keep it dairy free, I added tomato sauce (affiliate link)
- You can prep these ahead of time and use them to make several different weeknight meals. I share some ideas below.
- It is freezable. You can freeze the whole curry portioned out or freeze the meatballs and then make the curry base before adding the thawed meatballs.
- The koftas of my childhood were made out of ground beef, never chicken but here I am using chicken because it is quicker to cook and turns out juicier than beef and lamb in my opinion. Plus there is no need for egg or flour to bind or soften the koftas.
- This also helps keep red meat consumption low.
What’s in chicken koftas?
You can, of course use ground beef, lamb or even turkey if you wish.
- ground chicken – I make it with thigh meat because it adds to the juiciness in the koftas and although you can use breast meat, I would highly recommend you use thigh meat.
- onions, green chili and cilantro – Although not authentic, I do feel that that the addition of these ingredients gives the chicken more flavor.
- tomato sauce or puree – Again, not traditionally used but I wanted to omit dairy and so in came the tomato thanks to its sauciness.
- spices – We’re keeping it simple with red chili powder, turmeric, cumin and coriander powder. Garam masala on top is optional.
How to make Pakistani Chicken Kofta Curry
Chop the onion in a food processor till just chopped. Don’t chop it too fine as it will become mushy and release water in the koftas. Empty out the onions into a medium sized bowl. Next chop the green chili, cilantro and garlic and ginger if needed. I usually have my garlic and ginger minced and prepped ahead of time so add those in after chopping the chili and cilantro. Empty out into the bowl with the onion. Now add to the bowl the ground chicken and mix everything together till well combined.
Keep a small bowl of water handy and start making the koftas. This is to prevent the mixture from sticking to your hands as you shape the koftas. Take a handful of the ground chicken mixture and form into a ball the size of a golf ball. Place on a plate and repeat till all the mixture is finished. Set it aside.
Next, heat a pan on medium high heat and oil and then the diced onions. Fry till golden brown. Add the minced garlic, saute for a minute and then add the spices. Saute and then add the tomato sauce. Saute again and lower the heat to medium low. Once the tomato sauce starts to bubble, add the koftas. Toss to coat the meatballs with the sauce and then cover to let cook about fifteen minutes.
After fifteen minutes, uncover the pan and raise the heat to medium. Dry out the water and let the oil rise to the top. Garnish with cilantro and garam masala if desired.
Some helpful tips
The key to juicy koftas is to ensure the cut of chicken is minced thigh meat. I have tried it with minced breast meat and it’s just not as juicy as the ones made with thigh meat. I picked up the meat at my local South Asian grocery store but I figure you can ask most butchers to grind the thigh meat instead of the breast.
Use water to coat your hands before handling the koftas as the fat in the meat makes it super sticky!
When tossing or flipping the koftas in the sauce, use a spoon or fork to help you. This ensures that they will not break. You can also jerk the pan back and forth to coat the koftas.
Serving suggestions
- Although you can serve koftas with either rice or naan (flat bread), my family prefers to eat gravy based dishes with rice.
- Make it grain free/paleo/Whole30 approved by serving it with cauliflower rice.
- Add daal and make it a complete South Asian meal.
- Serve the koftas with a side salad or Kachumbar.
Variations
- Make this already fabulous dish fancier by adding boiled eggs sliced in half and call them lazy man’s nargisi kofte!
- These chicken koftas can be used to make a kabab roll or wrap.
- Bake or pan fry the meatballs and serve them as appetizers with my Imli ki Chutney and or Sweet Pea Chutney as dips.
More Pakistani recipes to try
If you try this recipe I’d really appreciate you rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ it below! And let me know in the comments how it worked out for you. If you take a pic, tag me on Instagram @eatdrinkure, I love seeing your creations!
Chicken Kofta Curry
Ingredients
For the koftas
- 1.5 pound ground chicken thigh meat
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon minced ginger
- 1/2 onion
- 1 green chile
- 1/4 cup cilantro
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon red chilli powder
For the curry
- 3 tablespoons oil
- 1/4 onion chopped
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon red chilli powder
- 1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
- 1 cup tomato sauce
- cilantro for garnish
- 1/4 tsp garam masala for garnish
Instructions
- In a food processor mince the onion and then the green chillies.
- In a medium sized bowl mix all ingredients and form into meatballs the size of golf balls.
- Keep aside.
- In a medium sized saute pan, over medium high heat, heat the oil and fry the onions.
- Once the onions are golden brown, add the garlic and all the spices.
- Saute for a minute and then add the tomato sauce.
- Fry some more till the oil rises to the top.
- Add the meatballs and gently stir to coat them in the sauce.
- Cover the pan and lower the heat to medium low. Let cook about 15 minutes.
- Once the meatballs are cooked through, increase the heat to high and stir fry the curry to let some of the water released by the koftas cook off and the oil separate.
- Switch off the heat, garnish with cilantro and garam masala and serve with white or cauliflower rice.
Meryl D Hunte says
This recipe looks delicious! I will have to try it!
Zeeshan says
Please do Meryl and come back and tell me how you liked it!