This Air Fryer Curry Chicken recipe is a modern twist on the traditional Jamaican dish. It is flavorful, hearty and ready in 30 minutes! Pair it with rice and your favorite veggies and you've got the perfect meal.
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What is curry?
I LOVE curry in all forms: tikka masala, Thai curry, peanut curry, all of it. However, "curry" is a very general term that can be used to describe many different dishes from various countries and cultures.
Curry originated in India and made its way across the world from there, resulting in different versions of the dish. Regardless of the dish, curry is typically a combination of meat and vegetables in a gravy-like sauce.
Curry powder is a mixture of spices that typically takes on a yellow hue due to the main ingredient, turmeric. You can read all about curry powder on The Spruce Eats.
Jamaican Curry Chicken
Traditional Jamaican curry chicken is cooked slowly over low heat to allow the bold spices and flavors to develop. It's said to have been brought to Jamaica by workers from East India in the 17th or 18th century. In this recipe, I use those same flavors to marinate the chicken but cook it quickly in the air fryer for a more modern take on the dish.
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Chicken- boneless, skinless chicken thighs are ideal for this recipe because they are more flavorful and tender than chicken breasts. However, you can use chicken breasts if you already have them at home.
- Curry powder- I use this one from Blue Mountain that you can get off Amazon, at Walmart and also possibly at your local Costco. You can also make your own, Recipes from a Pantry has a great homemade curry recipe.
- Adobo seasoning- this can usually be found at any traditional grocery store. Brands to look for: Goya and Badia
Instructions
- Start by marinating the chicken in the spices, diced yellow onion, garlic and olive oil in a large bowl. Next, stir or massage the mixture until all sides of the chicken are coated in the spices.
- Ideally, you should allow the chicken to marinate for a few hours in the fridge, but at least 30 minutes will work if you are short on time.
- Preheat your air fryer to 375 degrees F, I find this temperature works best for chicken. Then once preheated, add the chicken thighs to the basket and cook for 25-30 minutes. Chicken should be at least 165 degrees F internally.
Recipe FAQs
Chicken should be cooked until it reaches 165 degrees F to be safe to eat. The cooking time will vary depending on the cut (breast, thigh, wing, etc.) and your air fryer model.
This curry chicken takes just 25 minutes to cook.
Ideally yes. Larger cuts of meat should be flipped halfway through the cooking process to ensure and even cook.
You can easily adjust the amount of cayenne pepper in this recipe to reduce or increase the spiciness.
Serving
This chicken pairs great with Jasmine rice or coconut rice and roasted or sautéd veggies such as broccoli or zucchini. You can also serve the chicken in naan bread or roti as a sandwich. To make it a full Jamaican meal, serve Instant Pot Jamaican Rice and Peas and Jamaican punch alongside the chicken.
More Chicken Recipes
Did you make this recipe? Please leave a 5-star ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating & comment below to let me know how it came out. Thanks for visiting!
🍳Recipe
Air Fryer Jamaican Style Curry Chicken
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs
- 2 tablespoons Jamaican curry powder
- 2 teaspoons paprika
- ½-1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 teaspoon adobo seasoning
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
Instructions
- Add the chicken thighs to a large bowl with all of the spices (curry powder, paprika, cayenne pepper, adobo seasoning and salt). Add diced yellow onion, minced garlic cloves and olive oil to the bowl.
- Mix everything together with a spoon or massage with your hands until all sides of the chicken are coated with the seasonings. Cover the bowl and marinate the chicken for at least 30 minutes, but ideally for a few hours.
- Preheat the air fryer to 375 degrees F. Once preheated, spray the basket with cooking spray, add the chicken thighs to basket and cook for 15 minutes.
- Flip the chicken and cook for another 8-10 minutes or until the chicken has reached 165 degrees F internally.
- Serve and enjoy!
Video
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered estimates. Actual nutritional content will vary with brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes and more.
Susan says
WOW!! This is the PERFECT spicy Jamaican curried thighs! I only marinated mine for 4 hours and the flavours had penetrated each piece! I had bone in and skin on thighs so I cooked them on 380 for 12 mins per side. Thanks for a wonderful recipe!
Sarah Holt says
Hi Susan, I have to try it with bone-in chicken next time! So happy you enjoyed the recipe🙂
Jonathan Leibowitz says
Thank you so much for this recipe. Finally, I found a curry chicken air-fryer recipe. It reminds me of my vacation to Jamaica with my husband. Normally, I’m horrible in the kitchen, which is why I love your air fryer recipe. With all the steps listed, it’s easy and simple to prepare this meal. I even made a dipping sauce and coconut rice to go along with it. I high recommend this recipe to anyone out there. One small recommendation, I cut the amount of cayenne pepper in half and it was still a little spicy for me.
Sarah Holt says
Thanks for the kind words, Jonathan! I'm so happy you both enjoyed it 🙂
Megan says
Tried this recipe for dinner and it was a success! So easy to make and delicious. The chicken pairs well with rice. Thank you for sharing this 🙂
Sarah Holt says
So glad you liked it Megan! One of my favs