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Garlic-Curry Chicken Thighs with Yogurt Sauce

Image may contain Dish Food Meal and Platter
Photo by Chelsea Kyle, food and prop styling by Ali Nardi
  • Active Time

    30 minutes

  • Total Time

    3 hours 30 minutes

Yogurt gets used in two ways in this simple dinner party-worthy chicken dish: as a tenderizing marinade and mixed with the pan juices to create a rich sauce for serving.

Ingredients

6 servings

1 head of garlic (about 12 cloves), peeled, finely chopped
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons curry powder
2 cups plain Greek yogurt, divided
2 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt, divided
12 skin-on bone-in chicken thighs (about 6 pounds)
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
  1. Step 1

    Mix garlic, oil, curry powder, 1 cup yogurt, 2 tsp. salt, and 1/4 cup water in a large bowl. Working in batches, add chicken thighs and turn to coat, using your hands to rub marinade under skin of each thigh. Transfer to a resealable plastic bag and chill at least 3 hours or up to overnight.

    Step 2

    Position a rack in upper third of oven and preheat to 425°F. Transfer marinated chicken, skin side up, to a 13x9" baking dish. Roast chicken until skin is browned and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of chicken registers 165°F, about 35 minutes. If chicken skin starts to burn, move pan to a lower rack to finish cooking.

    Step 3

    Transfer chicken to a serving platter, reserving pan juices. Whisk lemon juice, 1/4 cup pan juices, remaining 1 cup yogurt, and remaining 1/2 tsp. salt in a medium bowl. If sauce is too thick, add more pan juices. Serve sauce alongside chicken.

  2. Do Ahead

    Step 4

    Chicken can marinate up to 1 day before cooking. Keep chilled.

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Reviews (59)

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  • We love this dish! Wouldn't change a thing other than the fact that we double the yogurt sauce because we love it so much. Great with brown rice and charred broccoli

    • Amy

    • Huntington, NY

    • 10/24/2021

  • Pretty good! Made both the marinade and the sauce ahead and froze them (without the pan sauce, of course) to good effect. Used about 4lbs of chicken thighs (7 thighs) and definitely had no more room in my 9x13 pan--how in the world could anyone fit 12 thighs into a 9x13 baking dish? Anyway, I will make this again, but may play with baking on a rack on a sheet, as someone else mentioned, as they were a bit soggy on the bottom. Tasty, all in all, though!

    • cate.acer4348

    • Cincinnati, OH

    • 4/27/2021

  • Added salt & pepper before cooking, and it was much better on the grill!

    • cscharlotte

    • Charlotte, NC

    • 12/22/2020

  • Outstanding! My fussy British husband loved it! Served with spring asparagus and rice. Highly recommend.

    • redgraves

    • UNITED KINGDOM

    • 5/15/2020

  • Easy and a real crowd pleaser. I don't bother with the additional sauce. I always prep the night before and add a little extra curry.

    • allisonpharis

    • Sebastopol, CA

    • 1/2/2020

  • Pretty easy to make. The skin got a bit overdone in my opinion as I had to cook it for 50 minutes to get the chicken done inside. A decent dish, but I felt the flavor was not as strong as it should be. Still, everyone loved it and I'll put this in my recipe box and make it again. I served it with a side of pad thai noodles and pineapple chunks.

    • Francus

    • Charlotte, NC

    • 4/4/2019

  • This was a huge hit with my family. I served it with roasted baby potatoes. I should have strained the sauce (I used all of it not just the 1/4 cup)

    • gstallings

    • Denver, CO

    • 3/11/2019

  • 这是一个很棒的菜。我腌了24小时ours. The flavours were so very subtle and magical. A total success and will be repeated many times.

    • richard_frizell

    • Gabriola, BC

    • 3/11/2019

  • Easy and delicious family dinner. I used skinless, boneless thighs because that's all the supermarket had. Not sure how I would have fit 12 bone-in thighs into that 13x9 dish, so I'm glad. Added medium-dry sherry to the marinade in addition to water. Otherwise followed recipe exactly. Recommend!

    • mrssammy

    • vermont

    • 2/13/2019

  • We are crazy about this dish! We love it, guests love it, and our 15 year-old grandson, just introduced to it tonight, love it, too.

    • cathykirk

    • Orcas, WA

    • 10/11/2018

  • 优秀的菜!我腌制鸡肉24侯rs, and baked them on a rack on a cookie sheet as opposed to the 9x13 pan called for in the recipe. (I think the soggy bottoms mentioned by a reviewer was caused by the chicken pieces being squeezed together in the pan.) After 35 minutes, they weren't done, so I lowered the heat to 375 and baked for 15 more minutes. I poured a little water into the pan the last few minutes, so I was able to get more pan drippings. My guests loved this dish.

    • kathiwojo

    • Monterey

    • 4/16/2018

  • Simplified this recipe a bit and it was a hit with whole family (ages 4+). Made the marinade in a food processor and used boneless skinless chicken breasts. Skipped the pan juices in the sauce and added some black pepper.

    • Anonymous

    • Laguna Niguel, CA

    • 4/16/2018

  • Delish- made with boneless skinless thighs because that was on hand- can’t wait to use skin on for the crispiness

    • margamar1

    • Dallas

    • 3/26/2018

  • This was a real hit! I followed this exactly as directed. It is good cold too! I will definetly make this one again.

    • milliestovel6843

    • Canada

    • 3/20/2018

  • Great, simple recipe. Tastier than what I had imagined. Definitely use all of the garlic as that is the key. It is not to garlicky when you cook it due to the curry. Will definitely make this again.

    • Anonymous

    • New Jersey

    • 3/19/2018

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