Easy Chicken Bhuna Recipe with a Rich, Thick Sauce

Chicken bhuna is a lovely curry to make when you fancy something with plenty of flavour but don’t want a huge amount of sauce. Unlike some of the curries I make, where there is enough sauce to practically drown the rice, a bhuna is supposed to be much thicker, with the sauce reducing down around the chicken.

This version uses chicken breast with onion, garlic, ginger, chilli, passata and a mixture of spices. There isn’t any cream or coconut milk in it, and you don’t need a jar of curry sauce either. Most of the ingredients are things you can easily keep in the cupboard, which always makes a recipe more useful in my eyes.

It takes around 45 minutes including the preparation, so this isn’t one I’d put on at lunchtime and forget about, but it is easy enough for an evening when you fancy curry without ordering a takeaway.

If you’re not sure this is the curry you fancy, have a look through my curry recipes because I have everything from mild family curries to slow cooker recipes and vegetarian options

What is chicken bhuna?

If you’ve ordered a bhuna from an Indian restaurant or takeaway before, you’ll probably remember that it isn’t usually swimming in sauce.

Bhuna is actually associated with the way the ingredients are cooked, with spices and the base cooked down to produce a concentrated flavour and a fairly thick sauce. That’s the bit I think matters when making this at home.

My version isn’t intended to recreate one particular restaurant’s bhuna or claim to be the definitive authentic recipe. It’s my straightforward homemade version using ingredients that are easy to buy in a UK supermarket.

The onion, garlic, ginger and chilli are blended together first, then cooked with the spices before the passata and chicken are added. As everything simmers, the sauce reduces and becomes much thicker.

If yours still looks like soup towards the end, don’t panic and assume you’ve done something horribly wrong! Give it a little longer uncovered so that some of that excess liquid can evaporate.

What you’ll need to make chicken bhuna

The exact quantities are in the recipe card below, but there are a few ingredients that are worth talking about before you start.

Chicken breast is what I’ve used here. Cut it into similar-sized bite-sized pieces so that it cooks evenly rather than having tiny pieces drying out while you’re waiting for one enormous chunk to cook through.

Onions, garlic and ginger form the base of the sauce. I blend these rather than leaving the onion chunky, which helps create that thicker sauce around the chicken.

Red chilli gives the curry some heat. I remove the seeds because that’s about right for us, but this is one of the easiest things to adjust if you know you prefer your curry hotter or milder.

Garam masala, turmeric, cumin and ground coriander provide most of the spice flavour. They’re all spices I use in other curries too, so you shouldn’t end up buying four jars that then sit untouched at the back of the cupboard until 2032.

Passata gives you the tomato base without having to blend tomatoes separately. I always find passata useful for recipes like this because you get a smooth sauce straight away.

Lemon or lime juice goes in with the chicken and gives the finished curry a little acidity alongside all those spices.

Do I need a blender?

A small food processor or blender makes the first stage much easier because you want to turn the onions, garlic, chilli and ginger into a fairly smooth paste.

If you don’t have one, that doesn’t mean you can’t make the curry. Chop the onion and chilli as finely as you reasonably can and use grated ginger and crushed garlic.

The finished sauce will have a slightly different texture, but I certainly wouldn’t buy a food processor purely to make one curry!

How to make chicken bhuna

Start by roughly chopping the onions and preparing the garlic, chilli and ginger.

Put them into a blender or food processor with around three tablespoons of water and blend until you have a smooth paste.

Heat a large non-stick frying pan or saucepan over a medium heat, then add the onion mixture. Cook it for around four minutes, stirring regularly. You’re starting to cook out the raw onion, garlic and ginger flavour here, so don’t rush straight on to the next stage.

Add the garam masala, turmeric, cumin and ground coriander and continue cooking for another four minutes. Keep stirring because you don’t want the spices catching on the bottom of the pan.

Pour in the passata and 100ml of water and mix everything together.

Add the chicken and lemon or lime juice, reduce the heat and leave the curry to simmer for around 25–30 minutes, stirring occasionally. The chicken needs to be thoroughly cooked and the sauce should reduce considerably as it cooks.

Bhuna should have a thicker sauce, so if yours is still wetter than you’d like towards the end, let it cook uncovered for a little longer.

If you’ve gone too far in the other direction and it becomes too thick before the chicken is ready, add a small splash of water rather than pouring loads in at once.

The complete quantities and instructions are in the recipe card below.

How spicy is this chicken bhuna?

I’d put this somewhere around mild-to-medium, but chilli is one of those things where my idea of “not particularly hot” could be somebody else’s emergency glass of milk!

The recipe uses one deseeded red chilli. You can leave it out or use less if you’re cooking for someone who doesn’t like heat.

If you like a hotter curry, keeping some of the chilli seeds or adding a little extra chilli is an easy way of increasing the heat without changing the rest of the recipe.

What I wouldn’t do is chuck loads in at the beginning if you aren’t sure. You can always add heat; removing it once everyone is sitting at the table with watering eyes is rather more difficult.

Why isn’t my bhuna sauce thick enough?

The first thing I’d do is give it more time.

This isn’t meant to be a curry with lots of thin sauce, so some reduction at the end is part of making it. Leave the pan uncovered and let it simmer, stirring regularly so that nothing catches.

The size and shape of your pan can make a difference too. A wide frying pan allows liquid to evaporate more quickly than a small deep saucepan, so don’t be surprised if your curry takes a little longer to reduce than mine.

If the sauce becomes too thick, do the opposite and add a splash of water.

I mentioned cornflour in the original version of this recipe, but I’d try reducing the sauce naturally first. It keeps things simple and gives you the consistency I’d expect from a bhuna.

Can I make a vegetarian bhuna?

You can certainly use the flavours as the basis for a vegetarian curry, although I wouldn’t pretend that every chicken substitute behaves exactly like chicken.

As I’m vegetarian myself, Quorn pieces would be the obvious option for me. Just adjust the cooking time according to the product you’re using rather than automatically giving it the same 25–30 minutes as chicken.

Cauliflower, mushrooms and peppers would also work well with these flavours, but again I’d add them according to how long they need to cook rather than throwing everything in at the same time.

If you specifically want a meat-free curry rather than adapting this one, have a look at my vegetarian curry recipes or my Quorn recipes for recipes I’ve designed around those ingredients.

How To Make This Chicken Bhuna Recipe

Here’s a straightforward way to prepare this chicken bhuna recipe. No special gadgets needed – just a blender and a frying pan will do the trick. If you don’t have a blender, I would recommend chopping everything as finely as possible and using crushed garlic and ginger if possible.

Chicken Bhuna Recipe Ingredients:

• 500g chicken breast (cut into bite-sized pieces)
• 1 red chilli (deseeded and chopped)
• 2 onions (roughly chopped)
• 4 garlic cloves (peeled and roughly chopped)
• 1 tsp fresh ginger (grated)
• 2 tsp garam masala
• 2 tsp turmeric
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 2 tsp ground coriander
• 500g passata
• 100ml water
• 1 tbsp lime or lemon juice

Chicken Bhuna Recipe Method:

1. Make the base paste.

Put the chopped onions, garlic, chilli, and ginger into a blender or food processor. Add about three tablespoons of water. Blend until it forms a smooth paste.

2. Cook the paste.

Heat a large non-stick frying pan (or a saucepan) over medium heat. Add the onion paste and cook for about four minutes, stirring now and then so it doesn’t stick. The raw smell will go and you’ll see it start to change colour.

3. Add the spices.

Stir in the garam masala, turmeric, cumin, and coriander. Keep cooking for another four minutes, stirring often so the spices don’t burn.

4. Add the tomatoes.

Pour in the passata and 100ml water. Stir to combine everything. You’ll notice the sauce gets a bright, attractive colour from the spices.

5. Cook the chicken.

Add the chicken pieces and the juice of a lime or lemon. Stir, then turn the heat down and simmer for 25 to 30 minutes. Stir occasionally. The chicken should be cooked through and the sauce thickened.

If the sauce gets too thick, just add a splash more water. If it’s too thin at the end, cook for a bit longer with the lid off, or add a teaspoon of cornflour mixed with a little water.

What should I serve with chicken bhuna?

Basmati rice is probably my first choice. Because the bhuna sauce is quite thick, rice works really well alongside it without the whole plate becoming overly saucy.

For more ideas, have a browse through my rice recipes.

If you’re having more of a homemade curry night rather than just getting dinner on the table, my air fryer onion bhajis are an easy side to add. You could also make my Indian potatoes, carrots and peas or aloo gobi.

I wouldn’t feel that you have to make three side dishes, though. Bhuna and rice is absolutely fine for an ordinary dinner. Sometimes dinner just needs to be dinner rather than an Indian restaurant tasting menu in your kitchen!

Can I make chicken bhuna ahead?

Yes. Curries are useful for making ahead because you can cook them when you have time and reheat them later.

Once cooked, cool any leftovers and get them into the fridge promptly in a covered container. When reheating chicken curry, make sure it is heated thoroughly all the way through before serving.

It can also be frozen if you want to make extra portions for another day. I would portion it before freezing rather than putting one enormous tub in the freezer unless you know you’ll want all of it at once.

And label it. I say this from experience of looking at unidentified containers in the freezer and convincing myself I’ll definitely remember what they are. I never do.

Is chicken bhuna healthy?

When I first wrote this recipe, I concentrated heavily on it being low in calories and suitable for weight loss, because that was how I wrote about food on Just Average Jen for a long time.

My feelings around food and weight have changed quite a lot over the years.

I still like this recipe because it uses chicken, tomatoes, onion and spices and doesn’t need cream or lots of extra ingredients to make a tasty dinner. If those things fit what you’re looking for, great.

What I don’t think is particularly helpful anymore is pretending that one curry is automatically “good” while another is “bad”, or that everything we eat needs to be made as low-calorie as possible.

If you’re following Slimming World, Weight Watchers or another specific plan, I’d check the ingredients against the current information for your plan. Rules and values change, and I don’t want an old Syn value hanging around on the internet pretending it’s still gospel years later.

More chicken curry recipes to try

If chicken bhuna is your sort of dinner, there are quite a few other curries on Just Average Jen worth trying.

My mild chicken curry is a good option if you want something gentler for the whole family, while my Chinese chicken and mushroom curry is much more of a quick fakeaway-style curry.

For something with a little more heat and plenty of peppers, try my chicken jalfrezi. If you’d rather get dinner organised earlier in the day, my slow cooker chicken tikka masala lets the slow cooker do most of the work.

You can find all of those, along with my vegetarian, beef, lamb and slow cooker curries, in my curry recipes collection.

Easy Chicken Bhuna Recipe

The recipe card below has the exact quantities and method for my chicken bhuna. It makes four portions and takes around 45 minutes from start to finish.

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