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Home » Indian Recipes

Published: Dec 12, 2022 · Modified: Apr 8, 2025 by chhavi

South Indian Style Pepper Chicken Curry Gravy

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Pepper Chicken Gravy - The best South indian style black pepper curry made with choice spices, chicken with bone in, and aromatics. ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS!

Pepper Chicken Curry inside a white shallow bowl on top of a wooden cutting board along with dosas and chilies

I have made this exact curry about a zillion times at home..Fine..I exaggerate...But I have made it at least 200 times in the last 10 years. It's so delicious that I keep coming back to it!

The chicken is simmered in a base made of onions, tomatoes and spices.There are three steps to this- make the spice blend, onion tomato gravy base and simmer the chicken.

Yes, you may not have all the spices with you, but that's okay. Start with what you have. If you have powdered versions of the spices like cinnamon, then use that. Now that I have moved to the US, I don't always make the spice mix, instead substitute garam masala and black pepper powder.

Though I have to say that if you follow this recipe exactly as it is, then you will be rewarded with a rich, comforting chicken curry that you will be making for the years to come.

It's typically dark brown in color with thick gravy which comes from roasting the spices along with the onions till they release their delicious magic!

We love this homemade pepper chicken gravy!

  • It goes with Rice, Dosas, Khichdi and parathas. It's so easy to serve this with ready made parathas that you just have to heat and serve.
  • It's rich and the gravy is thick.
  • It keep well in the refrigerator and the freezer
  • I can make the spice mix in bulk and make this exact curry again and again.

At times when I was in a hurry, I used already ground spices - pepper, red chili powder, cinnamon, coriander and honest to god, skipped the rest. Though full disclosure, nothing can come close to the curry when cooked as per the recipe.

If you love south indian curries, do give a try to Egg Roast Masala & Nadan Kozhi Curry- Kerala Chicken Curry and Gongura Chicken curry too!

Ingredients

Here is what you need to make this chicken curry.

Chicken

You can use chicken that's been cut into small pieces along with the skin and bones. In India, it's called "curry cut" chicken with skin. If you don't like the extra fat from the chicken skin, you can use boneless chicken too.

Outside India, you can use chicken drumsticks. Bone in thighs will work too.

Onions & Tomatoes

In india , regular red colored onions will work well. Outside India, you can use White or yellow onions.

I have used fresh tomatoes here but if you can't get fresh ripe tomatoes, you can use canned versions in the same quantity.

Curry Leaves

This herb is quintessential south indian herb. You can use fresh or dried with almost not a big change in flavor.

In a lot of dishes, the presence of curry leaves distinguishes the food from north and south india.

You get it easily in indian groceries. I buy it in bulk and freeze it for 4-5 months.The texture and taste stay the same.

Pepper Chicken Curry inside earthen pot

Whole Spices

These are the whole spices you need to make the pepper Chicken spice mix.The coriander and poppy seeds will give the gravy thickness and heft.Make sure you do not skip on it.

Fennel seeds are spice used in a lot of tamil preparations. It is the secret spice that makes this dish just irresistible!

If you cant find different spices, mix two tablespoons to garama masala with 1 tablespoon of pepper to make a similar gravy.

How to make Pepper Chicken Gravy

If you love the taste of pepper and chicken together, you must try this Asian version of black pepper chicken , too. Another great chicken and pepper recipe is my new lemon pepper chicken drumsticks. It's been a big hit with my son.

Step 1: Making the Spice Blend

Add everything listed under the spice section.Blend it into a coarse powder.You can use your coffee beans grinder for this too.

You could dry roast the spices for 5-10 minutes on very low flame. This will make the spices sing more. But it's completely optional .I only do this when I am serving guests.

Spices needed to make pepper chicken in a blender
Powdered Spices needed to make pepper chicken in a blender

Step 2: Making the Curry Base

This is the most essential part of making the curry- Making the base sauce.

Start with some oil in the pan. Add curry leaves, onions, green chili(if using).

Sauté it till the edges of onions are brown.

To this add the spice blend and saute the mixture for about 30 seconds. This will not only give a better color to the curry but also give it a great aroma.

Now add the tomatoes with the juice and all. If the pot is getting too dry and starting to burn, add a splash of water.

Let this cook for 10-15 minutes till its all mushy and bubbly.

HOT TIP- Pierce the chili instead of cutting it so that you get all the flavor and none of the heat from it!

Curry leaves inside a pot with oil
Onions being browned inside a white pot

Step 3: Simmering with Chicken

Now add the chicken and give it a mix.Add about ¼ cup water and cover the pot.

Let this simmer for about 30 minutes so that the spices can do their magic.

The chicken is cooked if the meat near the leg starts to tear up.

Base curry to make the pepper chicken curry

Step 4: Garnish

Garnish the curry with chopped coriander leaves and serve.

HOT Tip- For extra special occasions, I fry up a few curry leaves, thinly sliced shallots, green chili and some cashews to add over the curry.

Serving

Usually South Indian Chicken curries work best with dosas or the white lachhe parathas also called parotta in South india.

We are obsessed with this chicken curry.I always make a giant batch of this and eat it over 2-3 days with all sorts of things.

First day I usually serve this over steaming hot rice with some vegetable side like ladies finger fry. The second day, I serve it with dosas. And the last day, if I have any left, i serve it as a side along with rice and dal.

Chicken Curry in Pressure Cooker

The Pepper Chicken can be cooked in pressure cooker too though the gravy tends to be thinner and less intense.

Follow the same steps till the step number 10 in the cooking method and pressure cook on high for 3 whistles.

If the gravy is thin, let the chicken cook without the lid on high.

Storing & Freezing

During the pandemic when I was cooking all the time, I used to make this in bulk and freeze it. All you have to do is freeze it in an air tight freezer friendly container or in a zip lock bag.

The curry should be good for 2-3 months easily!To heat it, microwave it with a little water till it's hot.

The curry can also stay good in the refrigerator for up to 5-6 days.

Tips & Tricks

I make curries all the time. Some weeks, I make it twice a day.Being Indian and all...

So I have gathered some tips and tricks along the way to make my curries flavorsome and almost better than what you get in restaurants.

  1. Always spend most time in making the base- the onion, tomato sauce that we start making the curry with. The more you brown the onions, stew the tomatoes, the better the curry will be.
  2. Use a heavy bottomed Pot- I almost always use a heavy bottomed, high walled steel pot. This makes sure my curry doesn't burn too easily.
  3. Deglaze - The flavor is in the bits that get stuck to the bottom of the pan. The caramelized, dark brown bits. This is true for any recipe. Just add a splash of water and using a wooden or silicon spatula, rub the brown bits out of the pan, into your curry.
Pepper chicken curry on top of dosas with curry leaves.

Favorite chicken curries

We make Indian chicken curries all the time.Here are our top favourites!

Nadan Kozhi Curry- Kerala Chicken Curry - with coconut milk and shallots
Indian Chicken Keema Curry - Minced Chicken curry
Mughlai Chicken Korma Recipe - Rich Curry with cashews
Mangalorean Chicken Ghee Roast - Famous spicy chicken roast from Mangalore.
Butter Chicken - Stove Top & Instant Pot - Super Easy & better than ANY restaurant!

If you make this delicious chicken curry, do leave me a comment and a rating.I would love to hear from you!

Tried it? I’d love to know! Tag me or drop a comment below — your feedback totally makes my day.

Mention #yellowthyme or tag @yellowthyme on Instagram or follow me on Pinterest.


South Indian Pepper Chicken Curry

South Indian Pepper Chicken Curry
5 from 7 votes
Pin Recipe Rate Recipe Print Recipe
Prep Time: 20 minutes minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes minutes
Total Time: 1 hour hour
Servings: 8 servings
Calories: 322kcal
Author: Chhavi

Ingredients 

  • 2 lbs Whole Chicken About 1 kg of Chicken, Bone in, small pieces. Check notes
  • 1 tablespoon Ginger Grated, Pounded or in a Paste
  • 1 tablespoon Garlic Grated, Pounded or in a Paste
  • 1.5 teaspoon Turmeric
  • 2 tablespoon Oil Coconut or Gingelly Oil
  • 10-15 Curry Leaves
  • 1 Green Chilli Optional; whole.
  • 2 Cups Onions 2-3 Medium sized-Chopped ; 200 gms
  • 2 Cups Tomatoes 2-3 medium sized -Chopped ; 300 gms
  • Salt to Taste about 1.5 tsp

Dry Masala

  • 2 tablespoon Coriander Seeds or Powder
  • 3 teaspoon Black Peppercorns
  • 1 teaspoon Cumin Seeds
  • 1 inch Cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon Fennel Seeds saunf
  • ½ tablespoon White poppy seeds Khas Khas
  • 3 Cloves
  • 2 Dried red Chillies

Instructions

  • In a spice blender, blend all the whole spices - coriander seeds, black peppercorns, cumin, cinnamon, fennel Seeds, cloves, poppy seeds & red chili into a coarse powder and keep aside. If not, then substitute with two tablespoons of garam masala and 1 teaspoon of ground black pepper.
  • In a heavy-bottomed pot, heat the oil.
  • Add the onions , curry leaves, and green chili to the hot oil. Sauté till they start turning translucent.Add the garlic and ginger. Saute for 30 seconds.
  • Now add the ground spice blend. To make the curry less spicy, add only half the spice blend. Sauté for about 30 seconds. Add a splash of water if it starts to burn.
  • Add the tomatoes and cook until they start disintegrating. About 10 minutes. You can squash the tomatoes to speed up the process.
  • Add the chicken next and mix well. Let the chicken cook in the spices for 1 minute.
  • Add about 1 cup water, salt to taste(around 1 tsbp), and let it simmer for 30 minutes or so.
  • Mix it up. Garnish with coriander and serve hot.

Video

Notes

Notes Spice Mix

If you do not want to make the spice blend, swap out the spice mix with one tablespoon of garam masala and 1 teaspoon of ground pepper.

To Adjust the spice level of the curry

You can do the following 
  • Leave out the Green Chili
  • Leave out the red chili
  • Reduce the Black pepper to ½ the quantity
  • Or use half the spice powder and save  the rest for next time.

Chicken

I use skin on, bone in whole chicken, cut into medium size peices.In India, it's called curry cut.In the US, I just get an organic chicken cut up at whole foods.
Chicken drumsticks are a great replacement for whole chicken and are much more easily available everywhere.

Serve

Serve this curry over rice or with naan or our favorite- with dosas and kerala parottas.
 
 

Nutrition

Calories: 322kcal | Carbohydrates: 9g | Protein: 20g | Fat: 23g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 111mg | Sodium: 112mg | Potassium: 442mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 457IU | Vitamin C: 35mg | Calcium: 67mg | Iron: 2mg

Some Past photos of the same curry

I have so many photos of this from over the years. Here are some of the first pictures I took.

More Indian Recipes

  • Methi Malai Matar Paneer
  • Curry leaves and flax seeds podi
  • Tofu Burji -Curried Scrambled Tofu
  • Indian baby potato masala fry

Reader Interactions

Comments

    5 from 7 votes (5 ratings without comment)

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    Recipe Rating




  1. karanjoshi9 says

    September 30, 2020 at 10:32 pm

    5 stars
    Hello, Awesome Article, and Your information about the pepper chicken curry is very amazing and so much useful for me. Keep it up and thank you very much.:)

    Reply
  2. Prabhu V says

    December 07, 2020 at 5:38 pm

    you dont have any mutton recipies? if so please post it

    Reply
    • chhavi says

      December 08, 2020 at 2:14 am

      I do have several though mostly instant pot or north indian recipes.Do search "mutton" in the search bar to find them.Hope this helps.

      Reply
  3. Samn says

    February 14, 2025 at 8:52 pm

    5 stars
    If I'm unable to use poppy seeds (khas khas) and want to substitute in cashews instead, then do I just add the cashews into the grinder along with other whole spices when making the masala mix?

    Reply
    • chhavi says

      February 24, 2025 at 11:38 am

      Hey Samn,
      Poppy seeds add volume to the gravy.Ig you cant find it, you can omit it. If you do want to add cashews, i would suggest you add it after the chicken is cooked.To do so, soak the cashews, make a paste and add it to the gravy.

      Reply

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