Chicken Pathia is a popular medium hot curry with a sweet and sour sauce, enjoyed in curry houses all over the UK every day.

Find out how to make your Chicken Pathia at home using simple ingredients. Just like you get from an Indian restaurant or takeaway.
How to make Chicken Pathia Curry?
Continue reading below after the recipe card for more tips on making your Chicken Pathia curry from scratch.
๐ Step by Step Recipe

Chicken Pathia Curry - Indian Takeaway Style
Ingredients
Pathia Sauce
- 2 tablespoon Sunflower Oil - substitute with Ghee
- 2 Onions
- 1 flat tbsp Garlic Puree - or 6 garlic cloves crushed
- 2 teaspoon Chilli puree - can use chopped fresh chillies instead (add extra if want hot)
- 1 tablespoon Sundried Tomato Puree - can substitute with normal tomato puree
- 2 tablespoon Curry Powder - substitute for hot or mild curry powder as desired
- 1 tin Chopped Tomatoes
- ยฝ tablespoon Brown Sugar
- ยฝ Lime (juice only)
- 350 ml ( 1 ยฝ cup) Cold Water
- Salt
- 2 Bird's Eye Fresh Chillies - You can use more or less or stronger chillies
- Handful Fresh chopped corriander leaves - substitute with 1 teaspoon dried leaf coriander
Chicken to add to sauce ( see notes if using other meat/ vegetables for cooking time)
- 1 tablespoon Sunflower Oil - substitute with Ghee
- 3 large Chicken Breasts - chopped into chunks
- 1 tablespoon Medium Curry Powder - substitute for hot or mild curry powder as desired
- 1 teaspoon Chilli Puree - can use minced fresh chillies instead
- 1 teaspoon Garlic Puree - or 2 garlic cloves crushed
Instructions
- Fry the onions in oil over medium heat for 5 minutes.
- Add garlic puree, chilli puree and sundried tomato puree, stir through with the onions for 1 minute.
- Add the following stir between each addition, first curry powder.
- Then, chopped tomatoes.
- Add lime juice, sugar and salt.
- Finally, pour in water, and stir the sauce together whilst bringing it to the boil
- If using fresh chillies add now. (See the blog post for more information about chillies.) Leave to simmer for 15-20 minutes. Whilst it simmers cook your chicken.
- Place oil and chicken into a large pan over medium heat. Add curry powder, garlic and chilli puree.
- Stir through and cook for about 15 minutes, check that chicken is cooked through. Take off heat and keep aside until sauce is ready.
- If used, remove whole chillies, keeping them aside for anyone who likes it spicy, to add back to their serving.
- Pour the pathia sauce into a blender or into a jug and use a hand blender
- Blend into a lump-free sauce.
- Return the blended pathia sauce into a pan on medium heat.
- Add your cooked chicken.
- Sprinkle in a small handful of chopped coriander.
- Stir whilst the sauce and chicken warm through for about 5 minutes.
- Serve and add extra chilli, if desired.
Video
Nutrition
This post was originally posted on 28/02/2021. It has been updated with more advice on ingredients and how to make the Chicken Pathia Curry recipe. We moved the recipe card up in the post on 25/06/2024 to make it more user-friendly.
What is a Pathia Curry?
The traditional Pathia (pronounced without the h - Patia) originates from Persia.
Indians have adapted this authentic dish and is now selected as one of the UK's best curry dishes served in all British Indian restaurants.
Ingredients
Pathia sauce is made from scratch using onions, garlic, chillies, curry powder, tomatoes, brown sugar, lime juice and coriander.
Use 1 ยฝ tablespoon of tamarind concentrate instead of light brown sugar and lime juice for the most authentic taste.
However, as tamarind concentrate is not always easy to find. Lime & sugar will give you a similar sweet and sour flavour to the pathia sauce!
Making Pathia Sauce
Follow the recipe instructions making the sauce first and leave it to simmer.
Whilst that is simmering you have the right amount of time to get the chicken cooked.
Is Pathia hot?
Pathia curry is usually a medium-spiced curry. But with this recipe, you are making your own version, so you can decide how mild or hot you like it.
It's easy to adjust the heat by adding or removing chillies, chilli puree, or different-strength curry powders.
Mild Curry
To keep it mild use a mild curry powder and only 1 teaspoon of chilli puree with the sauce, none with the chicken.
Omit the fresh chillies if no one wants them on their plate!
Medium Hot Curry
For a medium spiced curry, follow the instructions and ingredients used in the recipe card.
We use 2 teaspoon chilli puree in the sauce and 1 teaspoon of chilli puree with the chicken.
Another good idea is adding chillies kept whole and cooked in the sauce.
Don't blend them into the sauce, instead, add to the plate of whoever wants a little extra kick to their curry!
Hot and Spicy Curry
To spice it up more, use a hot curry powder and throw in some extra chilli puree.
Also, instead of keeping the fresh chilli peppers whole, roughly chop them and blend them into the sauce!
And if some people like it hotter than others, you can always add some freshly chopped chilli to just their plate.
What chilli pepper to use?
We like bird's eye chillies; they are small but have nice heat to them.
To make it hotter, try using a stronger chilli, such as habanero or ghost peppers. These will give a hot spicy kick! Check out this pepper heat scale by pepper joes, to help you decide which chillies to use?
Blending curry sauce
Once the sauce has finished simmering use a blender (a handheld blender can be used instead) to make the pathia sauce smooth and lump-free.
This may seem like a bit of a fuss at the time, but it makes the curry more like a takeaway style.
Now with your pathia curry sauce ready, its time to add your cooked chicken and some coriander.
Have a taste test of the sauce and add more fresh chopped chilli now if wanted more spicy?
Just warm it all through before serving.
Serve chicken pathia curry, with your usual Indian side dishes. Such as, Naan, Coconut Pilau Rice, onion bhaji, tomato, cucumber and onion salad with Cucumber and Mint Raita and Mango Chutney.
Can I use something other than chicken?
The pathia sauce is cooked first so you can add whatever you like to it after the sauce has been blended.
Chicken is a firm favourite for a curry. Lamb, prawns, king prawns, fish, duck, or vegetables will also work well!
Simply cook the chosen meat, fish or vegetables in a separate pan, whilst the sauce is cooking. Then add together after the sauce has been blended and warm through with the sauce.
If you prefer chicken tikka, you will need to plan ahead to marinate and cook the chicken in yoghurt and spice before adding to the pathia curry sauce..
The smooth pathia sauce is perfect for dipping your naan bread in and mixing it into the pilau rice!
Can I make it ahead?
Chicken Pathia Curry can be made and stored in the fridge for 2-3 days.
Reheat in a pan or in the microwave, making sure it is hot throughout.
Now you know how to make a chicken pathia, why not check out our King Prawn Masala Curry, Basa Fish Curry or Homemade Lamb Curry. Or, if you fancy something different try out our Thai Green Beef Curry.
More Takeaway Style Recipes
If you love to create your own takeaway-style recipes, try out some of these.
Stephanie says
Brilliant
Kay says
Thank you for your kind words, Stephanie! We're so glad you enjoyed the Chicken Pathia Curry. It's one of our favorites too. ๐
Jenna says
Made this at the weekend for a party we was having it went so quickly and everyone commented how amazing it wasโฆ. Iโve made pathia for a few years but always followed another recipe with so much more ingredients, I found this recipe which seemed to have a lot less and also the option to make a lot more. Iโm so glad I did it saved me a lot of time and (stress) the only changes I made were lemon instead of lime (in authentic curryโs Iโve always had lemon thatโs why and didnโt want to risk changing) and added a little honey. I also used a whole cooked roast chicken in my recipe that I just added into at the endโฆ and a little cream to take the spice down. But everyone absolutely loved it thank you
Kay says
Thank you for trying our Chicken Pathia Curry Jenna, and for taking the time to write a review. We're so glad you enjoyed it! I'm happy to hear that you found our recipe easy to follow and that you made some modifications of your own that worked well for your party. Thank you again for trying our dish, and we hope you'll give us a try again in the future. ๐
Ian says
Really delicious recipe, was getting fed up with various curry recipe's I kept finding online and them being very underwhelming. My Fiancee really likes Pathia curries so came across yours and thought I'd have one last shot and I'm so glad i did. It's bursting with flavor and just the right amount of spice to set it off. We added one little secret ingredient though when we blended the curry (1tbsp mango chutney) which added just enough extra sweetness and turned down the heat ever so slightly.
This will be a staple for our weekly menu for a while I reckon.
Plus the curried chicken is really nice on it's own for adding to a wrap or in a salad so we discovered two things in one.
Kay says
This is Luke's favourite curry too! The addition of mango chutney sounds fantastic, so glad to hear you enjoyed it. We have a few fantastic curry recipes now, our latest is our chilli paneer an Indo-Chinese curry, which has a great combination of sweet and spicy that you may like? Oh and check out our Cumin Rice and our aubergine bhaji for fantastic side dishes to the pathia.
Kay & Luke
Laura says
Fantastic! We used the lime and brown sugar, as we could not get Tamarind. Please can we have an Aloo Gobi recipe? You made this really easy to do and the family loved it. I only made one mistake. I didn't read it properly and chopped the chillies so I had to fish them out, as it would have been far too hot. Cannot wait to make it again! Thank you so much
Kay says
Thank you so much, Laura, for that great comment and rating ๐
It's always a big bonus to hear that your family loved our chicken pathia curry; we will try and look into making an Aloo Gobi for you, and we will let you know when it comes out on the blog ๐
If you like making homemade curries try out our Chicken Bhuna Curry its delicious!!
Tara says
Hi, Is there supposed to be tamarind in this recipe as I canโt see it in the list? Thanks
Stewart says
Easy and does the job!
Luke says
Thank you, Stewart ๐
Pleased you like the chicken pathia curry recipe!!
Very easy to make at home and delicious ๐
Chef Dennis says
This is making me super hungry!
Kay says
Thanks, Dennis
So pleased you liked the recipe ๐
Toni says
This was really good and delicious!! Everyone at my house enjoyed this meal!
Kay says
Thank you so much Toni for the nice comment ๐
Really pleased to hear your family enjoyed the chicken pathia recipe!!
Amy Roskelley says
I got my first tomatoes from my garden today! This meal is totally happening tonight.
Thanks.
Kay says
Thanks, Amy
Hope you enjoyed the Pathia, let us know how it went?
Enjoy!!
Richard says
Great easy recipe with amazing taste. Can the Pathia sauce be frozen?
Kay says
Hi Richard,
Yes, this Pathia sauce can be frozen and kept in the freezer for 3 months. Defrost for at least 8 hours in the refrigerator before reheating.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Kay
Neil Hawkins says
Amazing no need to say anything else. Follow this recipe to the letter for an awesome meal
Kay says
Thanks, Neil, for that great comment and rating ๐
Really glad you enjoyed the chicken pathia recipe; this is one of our favourites!!
We have a few other curries on our blog you might like; let us know if you try them? enjoy
Sara says
Amazing! Just like a takeaway!
Kay says
Thanks, Sara
Really glad you like the pathia recipe ๐
Jessica Formicola says
I've never actually tried pathia but it looks so flavorful and delicious! We will be trying this for dinner one day this week!
Kay says
Thank you Jessica, I hope you enjoy this Indian Chicken Pathia recipe as much as we do!
Raquel says
So flavorful and delicious!
Angela says
Definitely one of my next curry I will cook
Kaern says
The flavor profile in this curry is really intriguing me - sweet, sour and hot plus that creamy texture!
Kay says
Hi Kaern
Thank you for the comment ๐
Hope you enjoy this curry recipe, let us know what you think?
Enjoy!!
Gillian Ratford says
I am definitely going to give this one ago it looks fabulous Indian is my husbandโs absolute favourite
Kay says
Hi Gillian
Thank you so much for the rating, it really is appreciated ๐
Hope you and your husband love the curry!!
Enjoy