Super easy keto chicken curry (with pumpkin) is the perfect hearty meal to enjoy at the end of a busy day.
You only need 6 simple ingredients and it takes less than 5 minutes to prepare a healthy family dinner.
Generous chunks of chicken are cooked in a delicious rich coconut cream sauce made with store-bought curry paste. It’s the easiest low carb curry recipe you’ll ever make.
This keto chicken curry recipe is cooked in the slow cooker so it’s perfect to throw together in the morning of a busy day.
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I even prepare the cauliflower rice in the morning. That way, when it’s dinner time all I have to do is heat the cauliflower rice on the stovetop, then ladle a generous serving of keto curry sauce over it to serve.
Is curry chicken keto?
Curry can be keto-friendly, depending on how it’s made. While many curry recipes and pre-packaged sauces can be made with added sugar and other high-carb ingredients, keto curry recipes like this one are simple to make and very low in g net carbs.
This keto curry chicken is a rich and tasty ketogenic meal that won’t ruin your keto diet. You get all that lovely rich flavour and warmth without any of the bad bits!
Many takeaway curries contain high-carb vegetables such as potatoes, chickpeas, green beans, and too much sauce.
Nutrition values for keto curry chicken and pumpkin: 6.6 g net carbs,12.7 g protein, 29.9 g fat, 351 calories.
Nutrition
Chicken is a versatile and filling source of complete protein. It is often used in low carb recipes and keto recipes due to its versatility and high protein. For this curry, I use chicken breast or chicken thighs.
The nutritional values of chicken depend on which part of the chicken you are cooking. Some areas of the meat will have higher fat content and contain chicken skin, dark parts will have higher iron and the chicken breast has the least fat.
| Per 100g (3.5oz) | Net Carbs | Protein | Fat | Calories |
| Chicken breast, skinless | 0 | 30.9g | 4.5g | 173 |
| Chicken drumstick, skin eaten | 0 | 27.3g | 10g | 206 |
| Chicken drumstick, skinless | 0 | 24.2g | 5.7g | 155 |
| Chicken skin | 0 | 20.4g | 40.7g | 454 |
| Chicken thigh, skin eaten | 0 | 28.2g | 13.2g | 239 |
| Chicken thigh, skinless | 0 | 27.7g | 6g | 173 |
| Chicken wing, skin eaten | 0 | 23.8g | 16.9g | 354 |
Ingredients
Low carb chicken coconut curry is vibrant, fresh and a healthy low carb family meal. It is extremely low in carbs, high in healthy fats, wheat-free, sugar-free, grain-free, paleo, primal, you name it, and it is absolutely packed with nutrition.
All quantities, ingredients, and instructions are in the recipe card below.
To make this keto chicken curry recipe you’ll need:
- finely chopped or sliced onion – you can reduce this to half an onion to reduce carbs
- curry paste – or you can make your own homemade curry paste using your favourite curry powder and fresh ginger (or ground ginger), fresh garlic (or powdered garlic), and garam masala.
- diced chicken – I prefer chicken thighs but you can also use chicken breast or a combination of the two
- pumpkin – you can reduce this if you wish to reduce carbs
- keto coconut cream – make sure to purchase coconut cream, not coconut milk! It’s the thcik coconur cream that makes your curry sauce rich and creamy. Top tip: There are tips in the recipe card if you can only find full fat coconut milk.
- spinach – fresh chopped spincach leaves adds colour and flavour
- cashews – these are added as a garnish to replicate my favourite Indian restaurant. They are higher in carbs so are completely optional but makes quite a lovely garnish in this keto curry recipe!
I often get asked why pumpkin is added to this curry. The simple answer is that pumpkin is lower in carbs than potatoes or sweet potatoes.
It adds flavour, colour, bulk, and texture to this dish.
If you are wondering about spinach, it’s an amazing leafy green vegetable packed with vitamins, fibre, and antioxidants.
Magnesium, iron, zinc, calcium, Vit A, B, C, E, K, manganese, tryptophan, and copper are just a few!
In terms of curry paste, you can use whichever one you like best. Just make sure to take a look at the ingredients – some that are very heavy in tomato paste or have added sugar may be higher in carbs than you’d imagine.
Whether you go with red curry paste or green curry, choose whichever fits best with your tastebuds and keto diet!
Instructions
Making this low-carb curry is simple thanks to the slow cooker!
Add the sliced onion, curry paste, diced chicken breasts (or chicken thigh), cubed pumpkin, and coconut cream to the crockpot.
Stir all the curry ingredients together and cook, either on LOW for 6-10 hours or HIGH for 4-6. If you have the time, now is a good moment to meal prep your cauliflower rice to cook later in the evening!
While the coconut chicken curry is cooking, you can go about your day! Just give it a stir every once in while if you can to help those flavours blend and marinade.
Before you serve, add the fresh spinach to the coconut curry chicken mixture.
To serve, ladle over cauliflower rice. You can garnish with a few cashews (optional), or some sliced green onion. Some people even like a squeeze of fresh lime juice, lime juice, chopped cilantro (fresh coriander) to balance the curry spices!
Storage
This keto-friendly dish makes about six servings. If you don’t finish it all the day you make it, you can place it in an airtight container in the fridge. I have found that it will last for about 3-4 days after cooking.
You can also freeze keto chicken curry in freezer-safe containers for up to 3 months.
When you are ready to enjoy, reheat the coconut chicken curry in a pot over medium heat, or zap in the microwave.
Sides
Indian restaurants will serve high-carb side dishes such as naan bread and rice, but the perfect chicken side dish for a keto curry has to be cauliflower rice and my new keto roti flatbread or keto garlic naan bread.
If you have never tried cauliflower rice, you can try basic cauliflower rice or curried cauliflower rice. It’s an absolute staple in a low-carb diet.
Does cauliflower rice smelly? To prevent any smells I always flavour it with coconut cream and plenty of salt and seasoning. No one likes bland cauliflower rice, but flavour it and add some spices and you’ll win everyone over. See how easy cauliflower rice is to prepare.
FAQs about keto curry chicken
This keto chicken curry recipe calls for coconut cream, not coconut milk. Coconut cream is much higher in fat than canned coconut milk.
It’s thicker than coconut milk with a consistency similar to heavy whipping cream. If you can’t find coconut cream a quick replacement can be made by placing full fat coconut milk in the fridge. Open the can carefully and scoop out this cream and fat that has risen to the surface.
Your keto curry sauce will be rich and thick with a delicious flavor thanks to the coconut cream.
This low carb curry is made with curry paste (or mild curry powder), so it’s not too spicy. If you love spicy food, you can add additional curry paste, curry powder, or extra chili powder for a real kick.
I personally love spicier keto chicken curry, but for the sake of my children, I keep this milder.
You can enjoy a chicken curry with plain cauliflower rice or this fluffy easy curry cauliflower rice.
In the mood for something different? Use fathead dough to whip up a keto naan, or try this delicious buttery keto garlic bread.
Yes, place all the ingredients into the bowl of the slow cooker and place them in the fridge the night before you need it. The next morning, place the slow-cooker bowl in the slow-cooker and turn it on as per recipe.
Yes, just swap out the chicken and use your favourite plant protein, but be careful to calculate your carbs. You might want to use chickpeas, tofu, tempeh, or paneer (Indian cheese). The curry will no longer be keto but a lower carb vegetarian curry.
Keto Chicken Pumpkin Curry Recipe (Slow-Cooker)
Equipment
- slow cooker
- Instant Pot
- Measuring cups and spoons
Ingredients
- 1 onion
- 2 tbsp curry paste/powder
- 500 g chicken breasts cubed
- 400 g pumpkin cut into cubes
- 400 ml coconut cream
- 400 g spinach chopped
- cashews to garnish (optional)
Instructions
- Place the first 5 ingredients in the slow cooker dish. The spinach and cashews are added at the final stage.
- Stir and cook on LOW for 6-10 hours or HIGH for 4-6 hours.
- Stir occasionally to allow the flavours to mix.
- Ten minutes before serving, add the spinach to the chicken coconut curry and stir through. The spinach will wilt and cook. You may not fit all the spinach in one go, but wait for the first handful to wilt then add more and stir again.
- Serve with cauliflower rice and garnish with cashews (optional) or a sprinkle of coconut threads.
Notes
Nutrition
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Printed curry recipe to try. Thanks!–Terri
Hi Libby! Ive been trying to find a LCHF diet with food that I actually want to eat and happily stumbled across your site this week. This recipe is the first recipe I have tried and it is absolutely phenomenal. I love cauliflower rice so any way I can dress it up, I am all about it! I made this in the slow cooker and turned it on while my husband and I went to the gym and to run errands and we entered our apartment to such a fantastic aroma, I couldn’t wait to try what I so quickly and easily threw together only 4 hours before!
I appreciate your teachable and welcoming approach to blogging and that you have a multitude of recipes to try. I am recovering from heart surgery and changing my diet has been really tough, but your website has invigorated me. I can’t wait to try more.
Thank you, Libby!!
Hey thanks Paige, this is so lovely. What a kind and wonderful comment to leave. Eating real food should be so simple and far too many people make it complicated using too many ingredients and too many steps. The simpler the better I believe, then the recipe will actually be made, rather than just drooled over. Sending you my best wishes for a speedy recovery from heart surgery, take care. x
Wow! This looks amazing. Is it ok to use dairy cream rather than coconut cream?
I think the dairy cream may curdle? I use coconut cream for the coconut flavour and thickness it adds to the curry. If you want to use dairy cream however, I would stir a little through at the end of cooking so it doesn’t boil away and risk splitting.
Hi Libby
Generally in cooking with cream in a curry will not curdle. Many curry dishes has cream or yoghurt added to it ..you can pre marinate your meat in all the spices and cream/yoghurt/coconut cream.
Fry the onions then add the marinated meat thereafter add the veggies and cook through on low to medium . If wanted to add after meat is browned, its no problem add and stir in ..just make sure cream has no lumps in smooth out first . Hope this helps.
Hi I only had 200 g of creamed coconut so added 200 g of coconut milk….will this work you think?!
This recipe is quite forgiving, so add coconut milk or even desiccated/shredded coconut to adjust the thickness and flavours.
Shredded or dessicated coconut would create a not very pleasant grainy texture. Better not.
Can I make this on a traditional normal pan?
Yes, that would work. You would fry the onions and chicken until browned, add all the spices, pumpkin and coconut cream etc, stir. Allow it to simmer slowly, covered, to stop the coconut cream from burning on the bottom of the pan. Stir occasionally. Cook for 45-60 minutes.
Can you use canned pumpkin?
I would prefer fresh pumpkin because canned pumpkin is generally a puree and the recipe needs pieces/chunks of pumpkin in the curry. If you did want to use it however, the sauce would be a thick smooth sauce which might be nice. If you try, come back and let me know how it turned out.
Sounds delicious, will try this recipe soon.
Hello I’ve bought coconut cream and Pataks Korma paste but couldn’t get any pumpkin in my local supermarket can I substitute sweet potatoes for the pumpkin do you think? Going to try this tomorrow. Tonight we are having your Mexican chicken burgers with avocado salsa which we adore. Yesterday I made my third batch of pepperoni bites which I freeze and add to my husband’s packed lunch with a handle of cherry tomatoes. I’m going to try your Christmas cake next week. Your recipes are very reliable and easy to make. Thank you so much. Anna. X
Wow Anna you are a star pupil. As for the curry, yes you could use sweet potato, just be aware it is much higher in carbs (hence ‘sweet’ being in the name) so if you are wanting to keep it low, why not add more spinach or leafy greens in there to bulk it up too. Serve with cauliflower coconut rice and you will love it. Enjoy x
I have to tell you that the curry was a massive success. My husband is still raving about it and this was the first time we have enjoyed cauliflower rice. You are a genius. Anna. X
This was lovely, but the sauce split. I did use a combination of coconut milk and coconut cream as I didn’t have enough of the cream. Would that be the cause.
I think that may have contributed. Even the coconut cream goes a little runny at times (because the oil melts in a hot dish). I hope it tasted nice however.
Tasted lovely. Wasn’t really concerned about the split. Thanks for the recipe.
Can you make curry paste and how would I do that as I have no curry paste? Love your cauliflower pizza and many other recipes. Thanks so much for your time and for sharing with others.
You could easily use your own favourite combination of spices or use a general “curry powder”. Both would work.
Hi everyone, thanks so much for all of these amazingly tasty recipes Libby! How would this be if i left out the pumpkin and maybe added some other veges or just more spinach/silverbeet. ok i hope? Can you please recommend a good LCHF pre-made curry paste available in NZ? Would love to try making this this week.
Yes you could omit the pumpkin and use spinach or silverbeet. That would be perfect. How about some cauliflower chunks added for the last half hour too? I use Patak’s curry pastes here in NZ. It’s not perfect, but it tastes amazing, makes life simple and I can guarantee my kids will love it. Don’t buy their pre-made sauces, just the paste, then you only need a few tablespoons in the entire curry.
This is the best…I could have it every day…thankfully I have leftovers to last me a couple more nights… I wanted to post it on the Facebook site but don’t know how to do it without my post going out to the wider community and not just the support group. Can you help.
I have a public page and a closed group. Anything posted in the closed group, only group members can see the content.
I just found this recipe for low carb chicken coconut curry. It calls for cubed pumpkin. What is the easies way to get the pumpkin? It seems like so much work to start with a whole pumpkin, cut it, scoop out all the seeds and strings, then start cutting it and removing the skin. What is the easiest technique? Please help, this recipe sounds wonderful and I love the idea of the pumpkin.
I buy my pumpkin as 1/2 or 1/4 so it has already been cut. I still have to scoop out the seeds and peel then chop. It’s worth it in the end 🙂
Hi! Forgive me for the dense question — but assuming red curry paste? Or yellow? I would typically imagine this being a “yellow” colored dish, and I do prefer a korma over a masala. Would yellow be better? Or perhaps a korma paste if I can find?
Really, you can use whichever you prefer. I tend to use a tandoori paste or tikka masala.
Made this with 3 tblspns of Patak’s tandoori paste … substituted pumpkin with frozen spinach and cooked on low on stove top for 1 hour. Had it for dinner with 1 tablespoon of sour cream and 200 grams of baby beans cooked with chilli flakes, garlic and a little fish sauce … what a delicious meal. Thanks.
Wonderful Mary, I use Pataks too. So easy to throw a meal together with such wonderful herbs and spices.
Is there any liquid added to the slow cooker? It says to add first 5 ingredients, but I count only 4.
The first 5 ingredients are onion, curry paste, chicken, pumpkin and coconut cream liquid. Only the spinach and cashews (optional) are added just before serving. This one is soooooo good.
Made this last night. Hubby and kids loved it! Didn’t use a slow cooker, though. Works just as well on the stove. Love that I gave the kids two vegetables they didn’t even notice they were eating 😀
Could I make this in my instant pot? And what settings. And you are talking about coconut cream, the cans I can buy here in Spain are only coconut milk I believe. How can I get coconut cream.
This would take 20 minutes in the Instant Pot. If you can’t find coconut cream, you may need to add a smaller volume and add some desiccated/shredded coconut to give it extra coconut flavour.
Can I use curry powder instead of paste?
Yes, that’s fine. just use your favourite combination of Indian spices or curry powder.
This dish is so yummy and low carb is even better served with caulk rice, really so good, we loved it and will be now a regular.
Love this recipe!! How much is one serving size?
The recipe serves 6 🙂
This recipe, though healthy, screams for flavour.it is boring almost tasteless.I added, 1Tbs grated ginger, 2 crushed cloves of garlic, half tsp salt, added fresh cilantro chopped on top. Improved 100%
Hi Ingrid, I’m sorry this wasn’t as spicy as you like. The flavor really depends on which curry paste you use. You can choose a mild flavored one or a really spicy one. There is also a recipe note “This low carb curry is made with curry paste (or mild curry powder), so it’s not too spicy. If you love spicy food, you can add additional curry paste, curry powder, or extra chili powder for a real kick. I personally love spicier keto chicken curry, but for the sake of my children, I keep this milder.”