If you like chicken pathia, you’ll love this air fryer chicken pathia!
Air fryers are like mini tandoors and they are the perfect little oven to make a curry like this air fryer chicken pathia! Where there is sufficient heat, you can cook a curry and this air fryer chicken pathia tastes just like it was made at a good curry house.
I have been experimenting a lot lately to see how many of my recipes you can cook in an air fryer. This air fryer chicken pathia recipe calls for the same ingredients as the pathia featured in my book ‘The Curry Guy Bible’. It’s just cooked a little differently but the flavour is still there!
About this air fryer chicken pathia recipe.
Like so many people, you might have purchased your air fryer as a way of frying things that normally need to be deep fried. That’s why I got mine.
I was curious, however how much further I could take things and went to work adapting my British curry house style curries to cook in an air fryer. This air fryer chicken pathia is my latest recipe and you can cook it just as you like.
In the recipe, you can make the curry light or you can go all out and use a bit more oil so that it not only tastes but also looks like a pathia you’d find at an Indian restaurant.
The information you find below will demonstrate how you can use your eco friendly air fryer to make this amazing chicken pathia completely in your air fryer!
Working ahead.
You can prepare this air fryer chicken pathia up to 3 days before serving. In fact, while it sits in the fridge, the flavours will develop and it will be even better.
Feel free also to work in stages. Air fry the onions, bell pepper and garlic and ginger paste and place it in the fridge until you are ready to complete the curry, for example.
Other things you might like to do is blend the sauce or precook air fryer chicken tikka. Air fryers make it easy to work in a way that is convenient for you.
Do you need to precook chicken for this recipe?
No! This air fryer chicken pathia is made from scratch. I like to use air fryer tandoori chicken tikka for this recipe as it adds another layer of flavour.
If you just want to make the curry, use raw chicken and air fry it first as in the recipe below.
Do you have to use chicken?
Not at all! I used chicken as it is a popular choice for pathia curries.
You can use whatever protein you like though. Add paneer, lamb tikka or cooked potatoes. If it sounds good, it probably will be.
What pan do you need to make this curry?
In order to cook a curry in an air fryer, you will need a metal pan that fits into the basket.
Small cake tins are already popular accessories for air frying casseroles and stews. I use this one <– Affiliate link, which comes in several sizes.
For my air fryer I use a 7 inch diameter pan but you will want to measure your basket before placing an order.
You can use any metal pan though as long as it fits into your air fryer basket.
Although silicone pans have their air fryer uses, I don’t recommend them for cooking curries as they don’t get hot enough and it will mean needing to cook the curry much longer.
Can this jalfrezi be made in any air fryer?
Although I have personally tested quite a few, there are some air fryers that may not be large enough to cook a curry. Most can though.
I have a Ninja Foodie FlexDrawer Air Fryer (<– Affiliate Link) which works perfectly for this style of air frying. It has two cooking chambers so you can air fry two different things at once which greatly reduces the cooking time.
I have used smaller air fryers with fantastic success. The cooking time below is for an air fryer with a single cooking chamber so if you have two or more, you will be able to cook these curries faster.
Safety Notice.
Air fryers were not developed to cook curries, soups and stews. You should never heat only water or stock in an air fryer.
As the liquid comes to a simmer, it can splatter and also steam. This can ruin your air fryer and/or make a mess. It can also be a fire hazard.
This air fryer chicken pathia recipe was developed with this in mind. You don’t need a lot of sauce for a curry that serves 1 to 2 people.
Heat the sauce for 10 minutes. It will probably still not be boiling hot and spitting. Keep a close eye on it though as you continue to cook. If the curry begins to steam heavily or spit, cover it tightly with foil or a lid to finish cooking.
How long can you store this air fryer chicken chasni in the fridge?
You should be able to safely store this curry, covered in the fridge for up to 3 days.
If you have a reheat option on your air fryer, you can reheat the curry that way. You could also simply air fry again at about 200°C/400°F until hot. That or throw it in your microwave.
Can you freeze this curry?
Yes and it will freeze well for up to 3 months.
To reheat it, just let it defrost and reheat as you would the refrigerated curry above.
Step by step photographs.
Get all your ingredients together and prepared before you start cooking. It’s a lot easier that way.
If using raw chicken, tandoori style or plain, spray the basket with oil spray and air fry it for 10 minutes at 200°C/400°F, turning once. Transfer to a plate and set aside.
Air fry the onions, bell pepper and garlic and ginger paste for 10 minutes as instructed in the recipe below.
Transfer these veggies to a mixing bowl and add the remaining sauce ingredients.
Blend the sauce ingredients using a stick blender or countertop blender until smooth. Set aside.
Air fry the chopped onions in oil or spray them with oil spray and cook for about 3 minutes to soften.
Pour in your prepared pathia sauce and air fry for 10 minutes at 200°C/400°F.
After 10 minutes, your sauce will be hot if you used oil and warm if not. The top and sides will be darker. Stir it in. This is flavour!
Stir in the cooked chicken and air fry for a further 5 minutes or until hot.
Once hot enough to serve, add the kasoori methi, garam masala, lemon juice and salt to taste.
Your air fryer chicken pathia is ready to serve!
Or you could save it for later! This is a curry house portion of curry.
If you like this air fryer chicken pathia recipe, you might like to try some of these air fryer recipes too.
Air Fryer Whole Tandoori Chicken
Have you tried this Air Fryer Chicken Pathia recipe?
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What do you serve with air fryer chicken pathia?
You should try my new air fryer Basmati rice and/or air fryer naans!
Air Fryer Chicken Pathia
This air fryer chicken pathia recipe will get you amazing results. It really does taste like a traditional pan cooked pathia but without all the oil splatter and mess. This recipe cooks everything from scratch but for more flavour, use my air fryer chicken tikka instead of raw chicken and add it at the end of cooking. You will need a metal pan like this air fryer cake tin <-- Affiliate Link, or another metal pan that fits into your air fryer basket.
Ingredients
- 300g (10.5oz) chicken thighs or breasts cut into bite sized pieces or tandoori chicken tikka
- 2 tbsp rapeseed (canola) oil or ghee (optional) or oil spray
- FOR THE SAUCE
- 2 medium onions (approx. 250g/9oz), thinly sliced
- ½ red bell pepper, thinly sliced
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tbsp garlic and ginger paste
- 1 tbsp tomato puree/paste
- 125ml (1/2 cup) unseasoned passata or tinned (canned) chopped tomatoes
- 1 tbsp curry powder or mixed powder
- ½ tsp Kashmiri chilli powder (more or less to taste)
- 250ml ( ½ cup) chicken stock, stock cube stock is fine
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 2 tsp mango chutney
- ½ tsp tamarind concentrate or tamarind sauce
- TO FINISH
- ½ small red onion, finely chopped
- ½ tsp kasoori methi (dried fenugreek leaves)
- ½ tsp garam masala
- Juice of 1 lemon (more or less to taste)
- Salt to taste
- 2 tbsp coriander (cilantro), finely chopped, plus more to garnish
Instructions
- If using tandoori chicken tikka, put it away for later. If cooking raw chicken, preheat your air fryer to 200°F/400°F. Spray the basket with oil spray and place the chicken in a single layer, directly into the basket.
- Spray the top of the chicken with oil spray and cook for 10 minutes, turning halfway through. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.
- Now, place the sliced onions, bell pepper and salt into a bowl and add one tbsp oil or spray them to coat with cooking oil spray.
- Mix well with your hands or a spoon. Pour it all into the cooking basket to fry for 10 minutes, stirring halfway through. Carefully spread the garlic and ginger paste over it all for the last minute or two of cooking.
- Pour this all back into your mixing bowl and add the remaining pathia sauce ingredients. Blend using a stick blender or countertop blender until smooth and set aside.
- Now place a cake tin or other suitable metal pan inside your air fryer basket and add 2 tbsp of the oil. If you are on a reduced calorie diet, simply spray the chopped red onion with oil to coat. Air fry for 3 minutes or until the onion is turning soft.
- Pour your prepared pathia curry sauce over the onions and air fry for 10 minutes at 200°F/400°F.
- After 10 minutes your sauce should be quite hot if you used the oil and getting warm if you used oil spray. The top and sides of the sauce will be darker in colour. That is flavour so stir it in.
- Add the cooked chicken and stir it in. Continue cooking for another 5 minutes or until the curry is hot enough to serve and the chicken is heated through.
- To finish, stir in the kasoori methi (dried fenugreek leaves), garam masala and add salt and lemon juice to taste. Serve garnished with the chopped coriander.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield:
2Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 612Total Fat: 27gSaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 20gCholesterol: 95mgSodium: 1599mgCarbohydrates: 65gFiber: 8gSugar: 38gProtein: 33g