Panko Red Curry Chicken

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We’re huge fans of Thai-inspired food here at Dinnertime Somewhere. We’ve got a bunch of delicious Thai recipes on the website so there’s always some kind of leftover ingredients from that region in the house. This recipe came to us after cooking up a delicious Thai Red Curry, yet still having a jar of Curry Paste to use. We decided to try using the Thai Red Curry Paste as a base for a Chicken Marinade and wow, let me tell you, this thing worked so well! This amazing Panko Red Curry Chicken was the result of trialing Red Curry Paste as a marinade. Combining these flavors with a crispy coating of Panko Breadcrumbs produces the most wonderful flavor and texture in this easy to create Chicken dish

This is a great recipe to get creative with Fried Chicken

Look, we love Fried Chicken as much as the next person. Perhaps a little more than that, we’re huge fans! However, sometimes regular old Fried Chicken isn’t enough, and we want something a bit different. This Panko Red Curry Chicken is a great alternative to traditional Fried Chicken, yet keeps all of the hallmark characteristics of Fried Chicken that we all know and love

The dish delivers perfectly moist and tender Chicken

A mandatory in Fried Chicken is ensuring the meat is perfectly cooked, moist, and tender. This recipe uses Chicken Breasts which can sometimes dry out, especially if they are over cooked. The secret to ensuing your Panko Red Curry Chicken stays perfectly cooked and juicy all lies in the marinade. We add a generous amount of Greek Yoghurt to the marinade along with the Red Curry Paste. Yoghurt is a fantastic ingredient to use in marinades as it helps to keep the Chicken wonderful and tender

We recommend leaving the marinade for at least 24 hours before cooking the Chicken. This will allow that Yoghurt to seep right into the Chicken Breasts. The result once cooked will be the juiciest piece of Chicken you’ve ever eaten

An alternative to using Chicken Breasts is to just use the Chicken Tenders. Naturally, the tenders are going to be ridiculously tender when cooked. Adding the Yoghurt marinade to the Chicken will just increase that overall tenderness. For the photos in this recipe we used Chicken Breasts, cutting them into 3 – 4 pieces per Breast, which includes the Tenderloin as one of those pieces. So, up to you if you want to use the whole Chicken Breast or just go with the Tenders

Use a meat thermometer to ensure a perfectly cooked Chicken every time

Finally, and this is always going to be the biggest factor ensuring tender Chicken is the cooking. Make sure you don’t overcook the Chicken! This can sometimes be a little challenging when cooking any kind of protein that has been coated, as you love the ability to visualize the doneness of the Chicken

The best solution is to invest in a kitchen thermometer. For a perfectly cooked Chicken, the internal temperature needs to be at 160F. However, you need to remember that the Chicken needs to rest for about 5 minutes once it’s cooked. Resting is critical as it helps the fibers in the Chicken to relax, resulting in a much more tender bite

The residual heat in the Chicken will continue to cook it even once you’ve pulled it off the heat. Therefore, we recommend taking the Chicken out of the oven once it’s internal temperature has reached 150F. Letting it rest will allow the residual heat to bring the temperature up to 160F. Perfect for eating, but not overcooked where it starts to go a little bit dry

This Chicken dish is not ‘technically’ Fried, but Oven Baked instead!

That’s right! For this recipe we don’t dip the breaded Chicken into a bit pot of hot oil, but instead place it right into the Oven and bake it to perfection. If you are a diehard Fried Chicken fiend and only ever deep fry your Chicken then that method will work fine for this dish. However, we do recommend giving the oven baked method a test for your Panko Red Curry Chicken

Baking the Chicken is a much healthier alternative to Oil and cuts down on costs too as you’re not having to use frying Oil as an additional ingredient. The Chicken comes out beautifully tender when oven baking, as it doesn’t get exposed to the harsh high heat of the Chicken. It is also a lot lighter in flavor and texture. The Panko Breadcrumbs themselves will naturally crisp up and add that much needed crunch to the dish. However, the Chicken doesn’t feel as weighed down and stodgy, as is sometimes the case when eating Chicken fried in Oil

Panko Breadcrumbs bring the critical ‘crunch factor’ to the Chicken

There are many ways you can add breading to Chicken to make it wonderful and crispy. From a flour-based breading to an assortment of breadcrumbs, there’s loads of viable options to get a beautiful, crispy coating to Chicken

For this dish we are relying on one of our favorite types of breadcrumbs, the famous Panko Breadcrumbs from Japan! Panko Breadcrumbs are wildly popular in cooking these days, notably due to their great flavor, beautiful appearance and crispy texture. Panko Breadcrumbs are much larger than regular breadcrumbs, which produce fun, irregular coating which gives the Chicken its unique texture

Panko can sometimes be a little more challenging to apply an even coating due to their larger, irregular size. Therefore, we recommend using quite a bit of Panko when coating your Chicken. Make sure you give the Chicken a thorough coating before it gets placed in the Oven. The goal is to have no exposed parts of the Chicken, the entire thing should be covered in Breadcrumbs

All the flavor is in the Thai Red Curry Paste. Just use store bought stuff, it’s more than fine!

Thai Red Curry Paste has a phenomenally rich flavor, and completely transforms this dish into something truly unique. The flavors in the paste are unapologetically Thai, with huge, robust flavors of sweet, spicy, salty, and sour

The main ingredients in Red Curry Paste are Lemongrass, Red Chili, Palm Sugar, and Galangal. And combined, give the paste a rich and bold flavor that is totally unique. You can absolutely make your own Red Curry Paste at home, but we’ve found that there are loads of great quality off the shelf curry pastes available at the grocery store. It’ll save a load of time just using something off the shelf instead of making your own from scratch too!

Panko Red Curry Chicken Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 lbs. Chicken Breasts or Chicken Tenders
• 2 tbsp. Red Thai Curry Paste
• 4 tbsp. Greek Yoghurt
• Juice of 1 Lemon
• 1 ½ cups of Panko Breadcrumbs
• 1 tsp. Salt
  
  

Instructions

1. Cut your Chicken Breast into strips. First cut off the Tenderloin and then try and cut the remainder of the Breast into similar sized pieces to the Tenderloin. This will ensure the Chicken all cooks at the same time
2. Combine the Red Thai Curry Paste, Greek Yoghurt, and Lemon Juice in a Ziploc bag and mix well to combine. Add the Chicken, seal the bag and then massage the marinade well through the Chicken. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours, preferably overnight
3. When ready to cook, remove the Chicken from the refrigerator and allow it to come up to room temperature (about 1 hour)
4. Combine the Panko Breadcrumbs and Salt into a large bowl and mix through. Add the Chicken, 1 piece at a time, to the Panko and thoroughly coat with breadcrumbs. Try to keep most of the marinade on the Chicken, as this will help the breadcrumbs to stick to it
5. Once all the pieces are coated, place them on a large sheet pan and bake in the oven at 375F for 12 minutes, turning once
6. Once the Chickens internal temperature reaches 150F, remove from the oven and set aside. Allow to rest for 5 minutes so the internal temperature increases to 160F and then enjoy!
   
   

Recipe Notes

• You can shallow fry or deep fry this dish if you prefer. To do so, heat the Oil to 350F and fry until golden-brown and the Chicken is completely cooked through
• An optional addition is to spray the Panko Chicken with Canola Spray right before baking. This will give the Chicken more of a golden coating
  
  

That’s our simple and delicious recipe for Panko Red Curry Chicken. The flavors and textures this simple Chicken dish produces are out of this world, and we just know you’ll love it!

Try making a simple Yoghurt Sauce side to pair with the Chicken. It’s great for dipping, and the flavors complement the dish well. Here’s a link to one of our favorite Yoghurt Sauces. For some fun, try adding about ½ a tsp. of Red Curry Paste into the Yoghurt Sauce for a bit of extra flavor and spice!

We enjoyed this dish with a simple side salad and found that the pairing was great for producing a light and refreshing dinner. Here are a few Salad Recipes that we recommend to pair with your Panko Red Curry Chicken

• Tomato and Lentil Salad with Basil and Goats Cheese
• Easy Asian Cucumber Salad
• Strawberry Romaine Salad with Green Apple
• Thai Mango Salad with Peanut Dressing
  
  

Happy Cooking!