Achari Chicken or Indian Chicken Pickle

Achari chicken is oftentimes a street food in Punjab, I use thighs, cook them in pickled spices, it is hot, sour & all sorts of moreish!

It is a thick “curry” that is perfect with paratha or chapati but it also makes for a stunning filling for a sandwich or baguette.

Indian Inspired Chicken in Pickle Spices

This achari chicken recipe has been here for a long old time and it is one of my favourite recipes.

I cook it all of the time and as a result, it gets revisited every couple of years. It is a “sister” recipe to my achar gosht recipe and uses chicken rather than lamb.

All of the marinating goes out the window which means that this almost dry achari murgh curry is quicker to both prepare and cook than the lamb version.

The whole dish takes between half an hour and 45 minutes to cook and prepare.

This version is loosely based on the Punjabi variant of achari chicken, but as with all of my recipes, it is far from “authentic” to anything other than me.

The hot and sour combination is a favourite of mine. It features in other favourite curry recipes like my pork vindaloo and chicken pathia recipes!

The flavour is incredible and the chicken stays almost unbelievably moist and juicy.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is there an alternative to malt vinegar?

There is nothing quite like the flavour of malt vinegar, but you could use either cider vinegar or white wine vinegar.

If I were using these I would increase the jaggery just a little to try and replace some of the almost caramel like malt flavour from the vinegar.

What is jaggery?

Jaggery is unrefined sugar commonly used across the Indian sub continent along with other areas of the world.

It is often sold in a solid block and has a flavour that is part way between treacle and caramel. You could replace with dark brown sugar if you can’t or do not want to fill your cupboard!

Can this be made in advance?

Yes, and it improves with time too! Stick this in the fridge for a day or two then gently reheat and the flavours really intensify.

Do I have to cook this in a wok?

No, you could use a frying pan, but make it a fairly large one.

Can I use chicken breast?

Yes, but it does not pack the same amount of flavour as chicken thighs.

Can I reduce or increase the chilli?

Absolutely, yes! Tolerance to chilli is incredibly personal, you should use whatever chillies fit within your comfort levels. Eating this achari chicken is meant to be a joy, not a challenge!

Serving Suggestions.

As far as I am concerned achari chicken is my dream filling for a wrap. I don’t even care what it is wrapped in, chapati, paratha or a plain old tortilla so long as it has chicken pickle I’m a happy boy.

I like to add some kachumber salad and a mint raitia, although I skip the cucumber in the raita.

However, it is far more than just a filling for a wrap, achari murgh works fantastically as a main course.

Served with something like Bombay potatoes or aloo methi makes this a glorious slap-up dinner.

Of course, you could serve this with rice too, this delicious pilau rice would be perfect.

You could even scale this recipe up and use it to replace the chicken element in my chicken tikka biriyani recipe!