Creamy Ethiopian Berbere Chicken Curry

This Creamy Ethiopian Berbere Chicken Curry is super easy, and takes just a few minutes of prep work! It’s deeply flavored with the chili spice mix that makes it taste like you spent hours in the kitchen, but there’s only a few simple ingredients. It’s naturally gluten free and dairy free, and perfect served with freshly steamed rice or cauliflower rice.

Have you tried Ethiopian Berbere spice mix yet? If not it’s more than worth a few minutes to track some down because it’s incredibly flavorful! You can also put together curries and stir fries in just minutes because all the spices are conveniently mixed together, and ready to go for you.

You can check out below where I get my spice mix, but first let’s talk about this curry shall we? It’s perfectly creamy as you might expect from a coconut curry. But what I love about Ethiopian curries is the combination of coconut and tomato together. Any other curries I’ve tried before are one or the other. But I think you’ll find you love the combination of both tomato and coconut too.

It’s perfectly flavored with a mix of onions, garlic, and ginger that compliments the berbere spice mix. And for a veggie I added in loads of roughly chopped fresh spinach right at the end for an easy way to add more greens to your diet.

Also I have so many packages of frozen greens in my freezer I put up from our Farmer’s Market last year I need to use. So I’ve been creating curry recipes to make good use of all those frozen greens!

Let’s get started making this Creamy Ethiopian Berbere Chicken Curry

The first step is to prep all of your ingredients. This recipe comes together pretty quickly, then just simmers for a bit. So it’s best to have everything ready to go!

Next we’re going to sauté the chicken, then remove it from the pan, and set it aside in a bowl. Then after the chicken has been sautéed, we’re going to cook the onion together with the garlic and ginger over medium-low heat until softened.

Tip: Use ground chicken, turkey, or pork in place of the chicken thighs to speed things up. When you use ground meat you get to skip cutting up raw meat!

From there it’s time to add the spice mix, tomato sauce, and coconut milk. Bring the curry to a boil, then lower the heat to a simmer and cook until the flavors meld, about 10-15 minutes.

This step helps the onion, garlic, and ginger flavors to infuse the curry and make sure there’s no crunch of partially cooked ginger.

Then we’ll add the chicken back to the pan, and cook for a couple of minutes, or until just done.

And finally, it’s time to add the chopped fresh spinach, (or frozen chopped greens that you like). It’s definitely a lot to add to the pan. So spread it out and allow it to slightly wilt before you mix it in!

After the spinach has just wilted, taste and adjust the sea salt and serve! We love this with freshly steamed rice, but you can use cauliflower rice, or even roasted spaghetti squash as well.

A few FAQ’s about berbere spice

1. How spicy is it? This varies greatly from spice mix to spice mix. So what I do is taste it first to see. Mine is warm to the taste but not instantly burning your tongue. I also can’t recommend the one I use enough just because it tastes so good. This isn’t sponsored, but you can find it at The Silk Road Catering under Berbere Spice Mix. I actually have every single one of their spice mixes, and use them constantly! They’re made without additives, sugar, salt, and are gluten-free and sold on Amazon. So you should be able to get your hands on some too if you want.
2. What is Ethiopian Berbere Spice, and what is made of? It’s a mix of spices usually including chili, paprika, fenugreek, ginger, coriander, black pepper, cumin, cardamom, allspice, turmeric, and a few others as well. It’s hard to describe exactly what it tastes like. But here are a few flavors: earthy, light fruitiness from the chili, and ends on a spicy note.

Coconut Curry Recipe inspiration

• Easy Chicken Coconut Curry (Indian-inspired)
• Thai Chicken Green Coconut Curry
• Thai Coconut Curry Noodle Soup
• Thai Pumpkin Coconut Curry
• Ethiopian Berbere Chicken Coconut Curry
• Mango Chicken Coconut Curry

And lastly if you’re looking for something else to do with berbere spice, check out my Ethiopian Berbere Chicken and Veggie Stir Fry!

I sure hope you get a chance to make this curry soon. And if you do, I hope you’ll leave me a comment/rating below. I always love hearing from you here in the comments. And also over on Instagram where you can tag me at #getinspiredeveryday with your photos!

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