
This Chicken Dopiaza Recipe will get you restaurant quality results!
You are going to love this chicken dopiaza because it is the same if not much better than any takeaway.
Chicken dopiaza is one of the most requested curries at Indian restaurants. It is so good. Equally as popular is lamb dopiaza and I have a recipe for it too right here.
What makes these curries so good is the slow cooked onion sauce.
You will want to check out my recipe. Get that easy preparation recipe right and your chicken dopiaza will be better than any takeaway.
The onion sauce is slowly cooked in a low oven for up to ten hours. The longer the better. This slow and low cooking makes the onions sweet and very tasty.
In this chicken dopiaza recipe I added the onion sauce just as it was when I took it out of the oven. In the lamb do piazza curry version, I blended the onion sauce. Both are good but the texture and even the flavour is quite different.
I recommend trying both, especially if you are serving lamb and chicken do piazza curries at the same time. They will taste quite different but will have that unmistakable dopiaza flavour.
Do I actually have to cook the onions for 10 hours?
No. There is a 'second best' which is almost as good and still much better than you will get at most restaurant. Simply fry some sliced onions in a little butter or oil over low heat for about half an hour.
When the onion is soft and golden brown in colour, it's ready to use.
Preparing Ahead
Curry Sauce
I have written a large and small version of my curry sauce recipe which you will to make before cooking this recipe. The large version is made just like they do in the best curry houses. Make a large batch for best results. It keeps in the fridge for three days and freezes well. The small batch version works well too though it's not as authentic.
PRE-COOKED CHICKEN
I pre-cook chicken in two ways. Most restaurants use this method to prepare their chicken for this curry.
It's slowly stewed in a spiced broth. The liquid from the resulting stock can be added to your chicken madras for extra flavour. You could also add tandoori style chicken tikka to this recipe if you'd like to create tandoori tandoori chicken dopiaza. For this recipe I used the slowly stewed version.








Here are more curry house curry favourites you might like to try!
Chicken Korma
Chicken Madras
Chicken Dhansak
Lamb Rogan Josh
Lamb Vindaloo
Chicken Chilli Garlic
Chicken Patia
Lamb Bhuna
International & UK Orders
How To Make Restaurant Style Chicken Dopiaza

Ingredients
- 800g - pre cooked chicken
- 4 tablespoons ghee
- 3 tablespoons garlic and ginger paste
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 tablespoons curry powder
- 1 tablespoons garam masala
- 1 tablespoons cumin powder
- 1 teaspoon coriander powder
- 1 - 2 teaspoons mild red chilli powder
- 500ml onion sauce
- 500ml base curry sauce
- 1 tablespoon dried fenugreek leaves
- 2 handfuls of fried onion (make it yourself of purchase at Asian shops)
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 small bunch fresh coriander - chopped
Instructions
- Melt the ghee over medium high heat.
- Pour in the spices and fry for about 60 seconds.
- Now add the garlic and ginger paste along with the tomato paste and stir it all up to combine.
- Add the onion sauce followed by the curry sauce and chicken. Add a little of the cooking stock from the chicken for more depth.
- Simmer for a couple of minutes and then add the dried fenugreek leaves and fried onions.
- Stir it all up and add the coriander and salt and pepper to taste.
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Mike says
Absolutely bloody fantastic,mine and the wifes favorite so far, thanks Dan, will try to remember to leave comments (good or bad) on all recipes we use
Dan Toombs says
Thank you Mike.
I really appreciate the feedback. Really glad you like the recipe. 🙂
Sean Duncan says
Thanks Dan, I made this today. It was quite easy and really lovely. Great flavours. Just right.
Dan Toombs says
Thank you Sean. I'm really happy you liked the recipe.
Cheers
Dan
Myniceinfo says
Must try, very delicious..thanks for this recipe
Jill says
Once I have made up curry sauce and onion sauce and Frozen them can I then make a curry using both of the sauce then re freeze it
Dan Toombs says
Hi Jill
Yes you can. You might lose a little flavour but not much. Go for it.
Dan
Jamie Young says
Cooking time says 4 hours. Is this a mistake?
Dan Toombs says
Thanks for noticing that Jamie. Not sure what went on there. Once you make all the base ingredients, you should be able to throw this curry together in about ten minutes.
Thanks,
Dan
Simon says
What curry powder do you use for this recipe? As it’s only a mix of cumin, coriander, turmeric, and chilli powder why don’t you list out the individual spices?
Dan Toombs says
Hi Simon
I usually use my own curry powder which is here https://greatcurryrecipes.net/2015/02/25/homemade-hot-madras-curry-powder/. You're right, you could leave it out and if you know your spices just add more of what you want. You could also use more curry powder for additional flavour.
Thanks,
Dan
Kate says
Could you make this without the chicken for vegetarians with say paneer?
Dan Toombs says
Yes, that would work well.
Thanks
Dan
Deke Weild says
Odd how you use cumin & coriander seeds and cardamon pods in the video but not the receipe. Think I'll go down the video approach. Thanks for the recipes
Dan Toombs says
Hi
Thank you for noticing. It looks like I have missed those ingredients out of the recipe so I will amend.
Dan
Anne says
What would you suggest serving with this please?
Means or rice or both?
Dan Toombs says
I like to serve it with Basmati rice.
Thanks
Dan
Polly says
@Dan Toombs,
Can the onion sauce be made in a slow cooker rather than the oven to save time and with the price of electricity nowadays
Caroline Toombs says
I have never made it in the slow cooker but I don't see why not, you would need to experiment a bit.
Thanks
Dan