Indian-Spiced Chicken and Spinach

Name: Indian-Spiced Chicken and Spinach
Total time: 35 min
Yield: 4
Ingredients: 2 tablespoons cooking oil; 1 onion, chopped; 3 cloves garlic, chopped; 1 tablespoon chopped fresh ginger; 1 tablespoon ground cumin; 1 tablespoon ground coriander; 1/2 teaspoon turmeric; 1/2 teaspoon paprika; 1 1/2 teaspoons salt; 2 jalapeño peppers, seeds and ribs removed, minced; 1/2 cup canned crushed tomatoes, drained; 1/2 cup heavy cream; 1 cinnamon stick; 1 1/2 cups water; 2 10-ounce packages frozen chopped spinach, thawed; 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 1 1/3 pounds in all), cut into 3 pieces each

1,793 Ratings
3 Reviews

The flavor of this dish is rich, fragrant, and mellow—not hot. You can make the sauce ahead of time and simmer the chicken in it just before serving.Plus: More Chicken Recipes and Tips

By Food & Wine

May 2012

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Credit: © Nicole Franzen

Recipe Summary

active:

10 mins

total:

35 mins

Yield:

Directions

Step 1
In a large frying pan, heat the oil over moderately low heat. Add the onion and cook until starting to soften, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and ginger and cook, stirring occasionally, for 2 minutes longer. Stir in the cumin, coriander, turmeric, paprika, and 1 teaspoon of the salt. Cook until the spices are fragrant, about 1 minute, and then stir in the jalapeños and tomatoes. Add the cream, cinnamon stick, and water. Squeeze the spinach to remove excess liquid and add the spinach to the pan. Bring to a simmer. Cover the pan, reduce the heat, and simmer for 5 minutes.

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Step 2
Stir in the chicken and the remaining 12 teaspoon salt, cover, and simmer the stew until just done, about 10 minutes. Remove the cinnamon stick before serving.

Serve With

Indian basmati rice would be an ideal accompaniment here, but plain white rice will work well, too.

Suggested Pairing

An off-dry Chenin Blanc from California or a Chenin-Blanc-based French Vouvray (look for a demi-sec) will be lovely with the aromatic cream sauce. The acidity of these wines and their melon and apricot notes are perfect foils for the exotic stew.

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Food & Wine Member

10/03/2021

Disappointingly mild dish -- even with all the spices in it. Strongest flavour was 'spinach' -- and only used 1 package of frozen spinach which was way more than enough. If were going to make it again would dial back the spinach and really up the spices.

RedHairedMama

08/06/2019

Typos, wasteful quantities, and unnecessarily complicated directions aside, this is a great recipe that I have been making for years. Use diced (not crushed) tomatoes, and use the whole 14 or 16-oz. can, drained. Omit the water, and skip the step of thawing and squeezing the spinach dry--just add the frozen spinach directly to the dish (the bagged frozen kind is easier to work with than the solid 10-oz. blocks; I often use 2 (16-oz.) bags of frozen chopped spinach). Omit the chicken, and this is a great side dish, or use browned paneer for a vegetarian (but not vegan) meal. And, of course, use 1/2 tsp. NOT 12 tsp. salt in step 2!!

Libby Dodd

05/05/2019

There is a terrible typo in this recipe. Step 2 says to use 12 teaspoons of salt, instead of 1/2!

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Indian-Spiced Chicken and Spinach

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Recipe Summary

Ingredients

Directions

Serve With

Suggested Pairing

Reviews (3)

All Reviews for Indian-Spiced Chicken and Spinach

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Indian-Spiced Chicken and Spinach

Gallery

Recipe Summary

Ingredients

Directions

Serve With

Suggested Pairing

Reviews (3)

All Reviews for Indian-Spiced Chicken and Spinach