Homemade Chip Shop Curry Sauce

There are some foods that just belong together, and chips with curry sauce is definitely one of them. Give me a tray of hot chips with plenty of salt and vinegar and a pot of thick curry sauce for dipping and I’m very happy!

This homemade chip shop curry sauce is mild rather than fiery, with a little sweetness from apple and brown sugar and a tang from malt vinegar. The onion and apple cook right down before the sauce is blended, so you don’t end up with bits of apple floating around in your curry sauce – because I’m fairly sure nobody wants that with their chips.

It’s easy to make on the hob and doesn’t need loads of unusual ingredients, so it’s a good one to make alongside oven or air fryer chips when you fancy that chippy-style combination without actually going to the chip shop. If you prefer the more savoury sauce you’d usually associate with a Chinese takeaway, my Chinese curry sauce is the one to try instead.

What you’ll need to make chip shop curry sauce

Most of the ingredients are things you can pick up in any supermarket, and there’s nothing here that should leave you with a spice cupboard full of jars you’ll never use again.

You’ll need an onion and a small eating apple for the base of the sauce, along with garlic and fresh ginger. The apple might sound slightly odd if you’ve never made this sort of sauce before, but once it’s cooked and blended you don’t taste it as apple. It simply adds some sweetness and helps give the sauce a lovely texture.

Mild curry powder does most of the work when it comes to the curry flavour, with a little turmeric for extra warmth and colour. Plain flour thickens the sauce, while vegetable stock gives us the liquid without making it unsuitable for me as a vegetarian.

I’ve also added malt vinegar and a small amount of soft brown sugar. It’s that combination that gives the finished sauce the slightly sweet and tangy flavour I’m looking for rather than making it taste like an Indian-style curry sauce.

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp cooking oil
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 1 small eating apple, peeled, cored and grated
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 tsp finely grated fresh ginger
• 2 tbsp mild curry powder
• ½ tsp turmeric
• 2 tbsp plain flour
• 500ml vegetable stock
• 1 tbsp malt vinegar
• 2 tsp soft brown sugar
• ¼ tsp ground white pepper
• Salt, to taste

How to make homemade chip shop curry sauce

Heat the oil in a saucepan over a medium-low heat, then add the chopped onion and grated apple. Cook them gently for around 8–10 minutes, stirring every now and again, until the onion is really soft and the apple has started to break down.

There’s no benefit in rushing this part by turning the heat right up. You want the onion softened rather than browned and the apple almost disappearing into it, because both are eventually going to become part of the smooth sauce.

Add the garlic and ginger and cook for another minute, then stir in the mild curry powder and turmeric. Give the spices about 30 seconds in the pan before adding the flour and stirring it thoroughly through the onion mixture.

Gradually add the vegetable stock, stirring as you pour so that the flour combines with the liquid rather than sitting in mysterious lumps at the bottom of the pan. Add the malt vinegar, brown sugar and white pepper, then bring everything to a gentle simmer.

Let the sauce cook for around 12–15 minutes, stirring occasionally. It should gradually thicken as it cooks and the onion and apple should become completely soft.

Once you’re happy with it, blend the sauce until smooth using a stick blender. Give it a taste before adding any salt because your vegetable stock may already contain plenty.

This is also the point where you can make little adjustments to suit you. If the sauce is thicker than you like, add a splash of hot water. If you prefer your chippy curry sauce slightly sweeter or tangier, add a tiny bit more sugar or malt vinegar, but I’d make small changes and taste as you go rather than getting carried away.

Why put apple in curry sauce?

I know apple in curry sauce sounds a little strange if you’ve never come across it before, but we’re not making an apple-flavoured curry sauce. Once it’s cooked with the onion, spices and stock and then blended, the apple disappears into the sauce.

What it brings is a gentle sweetness and a bit of extra body. It means we don’t need loads of added sugar to get that slightly sweet flavour that works so well with salty chips.

There are lots of variations of British chip shop curry sauce, so don’t expect every chippy in the country to serve something that tastes exactly the same. Some versions are sweeter, some are more savoury and some have considerably more spice. This is the balance I like, but there’s plenty of room to adjust it slightly once you’ve tasted it.

How spicy is chip shop curry sauce?

I’ve deliberately kept this one mild because I don’t think of chip shop curry sauce as something that’s supposed to make your eyes water.

The curry powder is doing most of the work, so the brand you use will make a difference. I’ve specified mild curry powder because I want plenty of curry flavour without loads of heat, particularly if you’re making it for the whole family.

If you know everyone eating it likes a bit more spice, there’s nothing stopping you using a hotter curry powder or adding a pinch of chilli. Personally, I’d make the basic sauce mild and let people add heat to their own portion rather than discovering after dinner is ready that you’ve made it too hot for half the family.

What to serve with chip shop curry sauce

Chips are the obvious answer, aren’t they? Proper chip-shop chips would be lovely, but at home I’m far more likely to make oven chips or use the air fryer because I don’t particularly fancy dealing with a pan of hot oil just because I wanted curry sauce.

It works with skinny fries, chunky chips or wedges, so use whatever you normally make. If you’ve got potatoes that need using rather than a bag of frozen chips, my air fryer chips are a good excuse to get them out of the cupboard before they start sprouting.

You don’t have to restrict it to chips either. It’s good spooned over a baked potato, served alongside sausages or used as a dipping sauce for other fakeaway bits.

For an actual curry with rice, though, I’d choose one of my curry recipes instead. This is very definitely a sauce designed with chips in mind rather than something I’d make as the base of a chicken or vegetable curry.

Chip shop curry sauce vs Chinese curry sauce

They’re similar enough that it’s easy to think of them as essentially the same thing, especially when both usually end up somewhere near a portion of chips, but I’ve deliberately made my two recipes quite different.

This one has apple, malt vinegar and brown sugar, which gives it that slightly sweeter and tangier flavour I associate with chip shop curry sauce. My Chinese curry sauce is more savoury, with ginger, soy sauce, white pepper and Chinese five spice giving it a different flavour altogether.

I’m not going to tell you which one is better because that mostly depends on which curry sauce you’re craving. If in doubt, you’ll just have to make both at some point. There are worse hardships than having chips twice!

Can I make chip shop curry sauce ahead?

Yes, and if you’ve gone to the trouble of chopping an onion, grating an apple and getting the blender out, you might decide it’s worth making enough for another meal while you’re there.

Once the sauce has cooked, cool any leftovers promptly before transferring them to a covered container in the fridge. It will become noticeably thicker as it cools, which doesn’t mean anything has gone wrong.

When you’re ready to use it, reheat the sauce thoroughly in a saucepan, stirring regularly. A splash of water should bring it back to the consistency you want if it has thickened too much in the fridge.

You can freeze it too. I’d freeze smaller portions rather than one enormous tub, especially if you usually only need enough for one or two portions of chips.

Is this chip shop curry sauce vegetarian?

Yes. I’ve used vegetable stock deliberately because I’m vegetarian and there’s absolutely no reason for me to make a curry sauce I can’t eat when vegetable stock works perfectly well.

The basic recipe doesn’t contain dairy either, so it can also be vegan as long as the individual packaged ingredients you use are suitable. As always, check your stock, curry powder and other labels if you’re cooking for someone who needs to avoid particular ingredients.

Can I change the recipe?

I’d make it as written the first time before changing too much because otherwise you don’t really know which bit you liked or disliked. Once you’ve tasted it, though, it’s easy to make small adjustments.

A little more malt vinegar will make it tangier, while a touch more brown sugar will take it in a sweeter direction. You could also use a hotter curry powder if mild curry sauce isn’t your thing.

The consistency is probably the easiest part to change. If it’s too thick, add a little hot water; if it’s thinner than you’d like, give it a few more minutes simmering gently without the lid.

Just remember that it will thicken slightly as it cools, so don’t reduce it until it’s practically wallpaper paste and then wonder what happened!

More homemade fakeaway ideas

If you’re making this because you fancy takeaway-style food without actually ordering a takeaway, have a look through my fakeaway recipes for more ideas.

My Chinese curry sauce is the obvious recipe to try if you’re curious about the difference between the two sauces, while air fryer onion bhajis are a completely different sort of curry-night extra.

For a proper meal rather than something to pour all over your chips, my main curry recipes collection has chicken curries, vegetarian curries, slow cooker recipes and plenty of other ideas.

And if you’re vegetarian like me, I’ve now got all my vegetarian curry recipes together too, which makes finding something I can actually eat considerably easier!

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