This quick and easy Chicken Saag (palak chicken) is the fastest curry you'll ever make from scratch. It's healthy and delicious with a flavor bomb of spices. You'll never need to order Indian takeout again with this recipe in your arsenal.
Prep time: PT10M
Cook time: PT20M
Total time: PT30M
Rating
4.8 stars (375 reviews)
Keywords
curry recipes, healthy recipes, weeknight meals
Ingredients
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 large onion (finely chopped (about 1 cup))
2 cloves garlic (minced (about 1 tablespoon))
2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger
1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt
1 ½ teaspoons ground coriander
1 ½ teaspoons garam masala
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon ground cardamom
¼ teaspoon Indian chili powder or cayenne pepper (or to taste)
1 tablespoon tomato paste
½ cup water
8 ounces baby spinach or trimmed regular spinach, (washed and dried)
1 pound chicken breast or tenders (cut into 1-inch pieces)
¼ cup plain yogurt (preferably thick Greek-style yogurt)
Categories
Main Course
Cuisine
Indian
Steps
Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat (if you plan to double the recipe, definitely use a pot instead of a skillet so you have room for all the spinach!). Add the onion, garlic, and ginger and saute until softened, about 4 to 5 minutes, stirring regularly, and lowering heat to medium-low if it starts to brown too quickly.
Over medium heat, add the salt (SEE NOTES), coriander, garam masala, turmeric, cumin, cardamom, and chili powder, and stir on medium-low heat until fragrant, about 30 seconds or so. Dissolve the tomato paste in the water by stirring vigorously together in a measuring cup or bowl. Then stir into the spices in the pan, creating a thick spiced sauce, about 1 minute.
Add the spinach and gently stir to combine, as the skillet will be very full. Cover and raise the heat to medium-high, allowing the spinach to start to wilt. Occasionally remove the lid, stir, and then cover again until most the spinach has begun to wilt, about 3 to 5 minutes (can depend on the size of your spinach leaves). Remove the lid and finish stirring the spinach until it is completely wilted but still bright green, another minute.
Transfer spinach mixture to a blender or food processor and puree until relatively smooth but still a bit chunky (you don’t want it to be super smooth, a bit of texture is good). Taste and adjust salt and spice if necessary.
Meanwhile, wipe the skillet clean with a paper towel (or don't--leave the residue to flavor the chicken), return it to medium-high heat, and add 1 tablespoon of oil. When the oil is hot, add the cubed chicken pieces, sprinkle salt over the top to season, and cook until almost completely cooked through, about 5 to 7 minutes.
Pour the spinach mixture back over the chicken, using a rubber spatula to get every last bit out of the blender (you can also "rinse" the inside of the blender with a little water and then pour that into the skillet too), and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes to allow the flavors to meld and the chicken to finish cooking. Stir in the yogurt, and serve immediately with basmati rice and/or naan.
Nutitrion
Serving Size: 1 serving
Calories: 315 kcal
Carbohydrates: 10 g
Protein: 38 g
Fat: 13 g
Saturated Fat: 2 g
Cholesterol: 136 mg
Sodium: 665 mg
Sugar: 4 g
Unsaturated Fat: 8 g
Reviews
Nancy on 2026-06-13 (5 stars): Replicates my favorite restaurant dish at home. I didn’t have some of the spices but it was still good.
Allison Howell on 2026-06-03 (5 stars): can I cook this saagwala with lamb?
MO on 2026-05-18 (3 stars): It’s good but not amazing. 3 stars for flavor. I use table salt and doubled the recipe except the salt (using 3/4tsp table salt per doubled recipe instead). I think that adjustment is fine, or even starting at 1/2tsp table salt and salting the chicken more instead would be good.
Richard Simpson on 2026-04-18 (5 stars): Great recipe
Maria on 2026-04-12 (5 stars): Easy and so yummy!
Maria on 2026-04-12 (5 stars): Easy and so so good!
Megan on 2026-03-24 (5 stars): This has become a family staple!
The kids love it and I love thay they're eating spinach (I exclude the chili)
Darshna Gardner on 2026-02-15 (5 stars): So tasty and so easy to make this recipe has become a household favorite
Katherine on 2026-02-14 (5 stars): I've made this three times now it's an absolute favourite! so healthy with simple ingredients. I regularly make various authentic curry recipes and this is definitely one of the best!
Jules on 2026-02-10 (5 stars): Omg, just had this tonight, it was delicious and we all agreed it was so much better than a restaurant we recently visit.
will be definitely making this again. thank you for sharing the recipe
David on 2026-02-05 (5 stars): just made this, and it's delicious. really authentic texture and taste. I added a diced potato with the chicken as I wasn't serving with rice, and it worked perfectly.
thank you for sharing
Jo D on 2026-01-15 (5 stars): made this last night as found a bag of spinach I forgot I had and what an amazing fresh tasting curry, very easy to make too, we used chicken thighs, thank you for a new regular tea I will be making!
Chaz Merrell on 2026-01-01 (5 stars): what a great recipe for saag chicken, simple to make and gives the takeaway taste without all the additional calories of ghee. I like to add some fresh green chillies to mine, just to spice it up a bit. many thanks.
