Dutch Oven Roasted Red Curry Whole Chicken that’s half baked and half simmered in rich homemade curry sauce and coconut milk. The chicken is savory, juicy, and roasted with sweet squash and vegetables. This is the ultimate one-pot comfort food for everyday as well as holiday.
Slow roasted and simmered Dutch oven roasted red curry whole chicken
My love affair with Dutch oven started the first winter I was writing my blog. The first Dutch oven I had was a 6 qt. Lodge which is still my favorite every winter. It’s big enough to roast an entire 4.5 lbs plus bird and with room to add vegetables like carrots and celery.
This winter, I decided to get a smaller one – 4 qt. Cocotte from Staub. It’s a birthday gift I gave to myself and also a much more practical size for just Nate and me.
A perfect everyday as well as holiday dish
Most of my long term readers know that I prefer making my own curry paste – I call it my curry flavor enhancer. It depends on the dish, but sometimes I incorporate my curry enhancer with store bought paste and other times I make whole dish from scratch.
MY LATEST VIDEOSBut none the less, I can never make a pot of Thai-inspired Paleo curry without using my own curry flavor enhancer. It’s easy and quick to blend and transcends ordinary store-bought pasta to delicious wonders.
The cooking method is inspired by what I learnt while traveling in Thailand. Here’s what you do to roast and simmer an entire chicken in a Dutch oven:
- First saute the curry paste in a well-heated Dutch oven. This deepens the curry flavor and be careful not to burn the delicate herbs.
Lightly brown the bird on all sides before adding stock to the pot. Scrape anything underneath the Dutch oven so that nothing is burnt underneath before sending into oven. - Slow bake and simmer the bird with a lid on at 400/410F for 40 mins (3.5 lbs), basting the bird periodically so that the breast side up maintains moist and juicy (see more info in the recipe notes).
- Uncover and turn up the oven to 410/420F for an additional 10-15 mins.to give the bird a nice and lovely golden brown color and use a thermometer to check the internal temperature. The thickest part of the inner thigh should reach 165F.
You can either reduce the stock to make sauce/gravy or let it cool to room temperature and congeal further. It makes the best stockpot for the next day’s curry chicken broth: just add more liquid and shred the leftover chicken. :))
Coconut milk roasted whole chicken: Dutch Oven Roasted Red Curry Chicken @Iheartumami!Click To Tweet
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Looking for more simple comfort food ?
Put your instant pot to good use – Paleo Beef Brisket Pho
This is the original video footage from my Youtube channel – Dutch oven roasted red curry chicken !
Half roasted and half simmered Paleo Dutch Oven Roasted Red Curry Whole Chicken with coconut cream & homemade curry paste. Follow the instruction to make this healthy creamy one pot meal!
- 3 ½ lbs whole chicken - for a 4-6 qt. Dutch oven. remove giblets inside
- 3 tbsp store-bought red curry paste such as Thai kitchen
- 4 heaping tbsp "my homemade red curry flavor booster" see below
- 1 can full-fat coconut milk 14 oz can
- 1 cup chicken stock or chicken broth
- 1 tbsp red boat fish sauce
- 3-4 medium size loose carrots diced to large chunks
- 2-3 zucchinis diced to bite sizes
- ½ tbsp ghee for saute use
- Lime zest before serving
- chopped basil (Thai or Italian basil) before serving
- 5 cloves garlic
- Half shallot
- 1 ½ tbsp sliced ginger
- 1 cup fresh cilantro or parsley
- 2 red fresno chili pepper, seeds removed alt. 1/2 tsp dry red pepper flakes
- Half lime zest
- Half lime juice
- 1 tsp sea salt
- ½ tsp Red boat fish sauce
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- Blend ingredients listed under “My curry flavor booster” until it becomes a fine paste. Rub the paste over an entire chicken (about 2 ½ heaping tbsps for a 3 ½ lbs bird).
Over a stovetop, heat 1 tbsp ghee in a 6 qt. Dutch oven over medium heat. When hot, lower the heat to medium, add 2 heaping tbsp store-bought red curry paste + 4 heaping tbsp “my curry flavor booster”. Saute the paste until fragrant (about 10 seconds). In the meantime, preheat oven to 410 F*.
- Add an entire chicken to the dutch oven - breast side down first. Slightly brown the surface of the chicken then flip the bird to brown the other side (about 3-4 mins total). (*Note: if the dutch oven temperature is too hot, lower the heat. Be careful not to burn the bottom of the pot).
- Add coconut milk, chicken stock, and fish sauce to the pot. Give it a gentle stir. Cover with a lid. Turn off the stovetop.
- Bake at 410F* . Breast side up and with a lid on for 40 mins. After 40 mins, add diced carrots and squash. Scoop a few tablespoon of the broth over the chicken breast to keep it moist. Send the pot back to the oven to bake for another 20 mins (with a lid on)
- After 20 mins., remove the lid. Turn the oven to 420F, bake for 10 additional mins or until the thickest part of the internal temperature of the chicken reaches 165F.
- While the chicken is baked in the oven, heat 1 tbsp coconut oil in a large saute pan. When hot, add diced zucchini. Season with salt to taste. Saute until the zucchinis turn softer but still have some crunchy texture. Set aside.
When the chicken is completely cooked through, remove dutch oven from the oven and add sauted zucchini squash to the pot. Serve with chopped basil leaves and lime zest before serving.
*Oven temperature vary, if your oven tends to get heated very quickly roast the bird at 400F and turn up the heat to 410F for the last 10-15 minutes.
*The safe internal temperature for cooked chicken is 165° Fahrenheit(75° Celsius). A meat or instant-read thermometer is your best bet for determining the temperature of your chicken, and if you're cooking a whole bird, it should be inserted into the thickest part of the thigh but not touching bone.
this recipe looks so amazing…i cannot wait to try…i love your videos to teach me these beautiful dishes and techniques I otherwise may not have attempted…thank you for your wonderful teaching!! i have made the curry booster and i tell my kitchen smells like the most amazing restaurant!! haha i have learned to sort of make things up by using this booster for simple dishes to create something so much more outstanding….
Lisa
Thank you so much, Lisa! And thank you for taking the time here to share your experience with me. I truly appreciate it ! Can’t wait to see how you utilize the curry flavor booster for other dishes. It sounds so delicious and very exciting ! :))
This looks absolutely amazing. I would love to do this in my Instant Pot. Do you have any suggestions on what the new conversion time would be?
Hi Elizabeth! I haven’t tried it with instant pot but I think if you follow the first 4 steps and set instant pot on High for 40 minutes with a little more than half cup chicken stock (as opposed to 1 cup in the recipe), the flavorful should work. Dutch oven method makes the chicken half baked and half simmered in coconut milk broth so it creates different texture. Instant pot will preserve all the liquid so the result might be more like chicken coconut milk soup/broth. Let me know how it goes. I’m curious to know too ! :))
wonderful blog – just discovered it – want to try every single recipe!
Thank you so much Magdalena ! Nice meeting you here !
I love how you’ve used red curry here, sooo yummy and different than I would have known to do! Thank you for this!
This is so beautiful, and I love love love your new dutch oven! It is gorgeous!
This looks so good! My husband loves curry, I’m sure he would devour this. Love the Dutch Oven too, it’s so pretty!
Thanks so much, Emily !
That Staub dish is so gorgeous! What a great recipe!!!
You really know how to work a Dutch oven! This recipe sounds absolutely incredible. I love the idea of doing curry whole chicken style.
Dang! The skin on your chicken looks amazing. I still don’t have a Dutch oven but now I know what is going on my Christmas list.
Look soo delicious, also I’m so jealous of your Staub. I need to put it on my wishlist for the holidays!
I never would’ve thought to add fish sauce! What a perfect touch! This looks amazing and I can’t wait to try it 🙂
This looks fantastic and you’ve inspired me to get out of my comfort zone of always roasting a chicken the same way!
This looks so delicious! I haven’t busted out my Dutch oven yet this winter but now I know I need to!
That dutch oven is stunning. Love staub! What a beautiful recipe my dear!
This looks amazing! You have have such a way with chicken! Drooling!
This is a great alternative to regular roast chicken. The hubs and I both LOVE red curry. YUM!
I made this tonight for my family of 6. It’s hard to find something everyone loves. This hit the mark. I can not believe how even my 9 year old gobbled it up! I ended up making a bigger bird because we are a large family and adjusted accordingly. So light and delicious. The meat was infused with the flavor. Well done! Will be making this frequently for my large crew. Thanks so much. Would love to have some light dessert ideas that would go along.
Came out amazing! My fear was that the chicken would be dry, but it came out juicy. And the top was crispy like rotisserie!
I didn’t cook the extra 10 mins at the end.
I used bell peppers, onions, celery, carrots, and escarole greens. I also added grated tumeric. I left the whole lemon in the pot while it cooked too.
I took the cut offs from the veggies and the chicken packet with the gizzard etc to create a broth to cook the rice.
I’ve seen other recipes with peanut butter, I might try to add that next time.
That sounds fabulous. Adding nut butter will make it extra creamy smooth!