Chicken Curry Puffs

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Chicken Curry Puffs are a delicious and savory snack that family and friends will love! We use store bought puff pastry to make this recipe extra easy. The chicken and potato curry filling is simple to make with pantry ingredients. Assemble the pastries, bake, and eat ^_^

A plate of chicken curry puffs. — *Chicken Curry Puffs, ready to eat!*

Why This Recipe Works

Have you had a chicken curry puff before? They are wonderful.

There are many variations on curry puffs. There are the ones you get in Singapore and Malaysia. There are the ones you find at Chinese dim sum and Chinese bakeries. There are Indian ones. The list goes on!

This recipe is the one that we make at home. It is a comforting and easy to prepare curry puff that really satisfies any craving. The puff pastry is flaky and golden (and store bought!) The curry filling comes together quickly and is simply made with chicken and potatoes, seasoned with onions, curry powder, coconut milk (totally optional), and salt.

Biting into a fresh, warm curry puff is bliss. The buttery pastry. The savory and super flavorful filling. Ahh! So good. I hope you make this recipe and enjoy.

This recipe is pretty flexible. Use more/less chicken or potato. Increase the seasoning for more spice. Decrease it for milder tastes. Change up the meat. Do without the meat. Add other vegetables. Once you nail down the foundation, it's easy to tailor to your tastes.

Bonus: You can assemble a bunch of these puffs and keep them unbaked in the freezer. Hot and fresh curry puffs on demand!

Ingredients

Here's what you'll need:

Onion
Potatoes, peeled and diced
Boneless skinless chicken thighs
Curry powder - We usually use Japanese S&B Curry Powder because that's what we have at home. But when my parents make curry puffs, they use the D&D Gold Madras Curry Powder. The D&D is more "traditional" for curry puffs, but it is less easy to find. If you grew up eating curry puffs, you may be more familiar with the D&D flavor for this dish. Both curry powders are delicious!
Cornstarch
Coconut cream/milk (optional) - Make sure to use canned, full fat coconut milk (not the coconut milk you use for coffee, lattes, etc).
Salt
Egg
Puff pastry - I've always dreamed of making homemade puff pastry from scratch, but until then, I'm grateful for all the good frozen versions. Pepperidge Farm is the most common brand at the supermarket. If you spot the Dufour Pastry Kitchen brand, definitely get it! It's worth paying a little more. Or you can try both brands and compare, it's neat to see the difference.

Now let's get cooking!

Cooking potatoes and onions in a pan to make chicken curry puffs. — *Cooking the potatoes and onions.*

Step by Step Directions

Here are the directions:

Preheat.
Preheat oven to 400F.

Cook onions and potatoes.
Saute the onions till golden brown. Add potatoes and cook for 5 minutes. Keep cooking till the potatoes are soft.

Cook chicken.
Add the chicken and cook.

Season and thicken.
Add the curry powder, cornstarch. and coconut milk (optional). Cook until everything is evenly mixed and the mixture is thickened (make sure there is no liquid left in the pan or else you'll have a watery filling). Season with salt.

Let cool.
Remove pan from heat and let the mixture cool.

Cut pastry.
Cut the puff pastry into 9 or 12 rectangle or square pieces (depending on how big you want each pastry to be). If you cut rectangle pieces, you'll fold rectangle puffs. If you cut square pieces, then you fold triangle puffs.

Protip: Store bought puff pastry comes frozen. Defrost it in the refrigerator in advance. Or just remove it from the freezer and let it defrost on the counter for about 30 minutes at room temperature.

Fill and seal pastry.
Place a spoonful of the filling in the center. Fold the puff pastry over and gently seal. Use a fork to press and make indents along the edges. You can make rectangle or triangle shapes. Or do a mix of both!

Score.
Make 2 small scores along the top of the sealed pastry. Scoring the pastry will help the steam escape while cooking (otherwise they will puff open).

Egg wash.
Lightly brush an egg wash over the surface of the sealed pastry. The egg wash will give the top a glossy and golden color.

Bake and eat.
Bake. Remove from oven, let cool for 5 minutes (or more). Eat and enjoy!

FAQs and Tips

How long does this dish keep?

Curry puffs are best fresh from the oven! Leftovers will keep the refrigerator for 2-3 days.

How to reheat leftovers?

The best way to reheat curry puffs is in both the microwave and toaster oven. First microwave it for 30 seconds (to get the pastry and filling warm). Then put it in the toaster oven for 5 minutes at 400F (to get the pastry all hot and flaky).

Let cool before you eat!

It's temping to eat these curry puffs the minute the come out of the oven. But let them cook for at least 5 minutes (or a bit more) or else the filling will be way too hot when you bite into the pastry.

The other bonus of letting it cool a little is that the curry flavor blends and mellows out. Curry puffs are actually best when slightly warm (as opposed to piping hot).

What to do with leftover filling?

Make more curry puffs!

Can you freeze the pastries?

Yes! Freeze the assembled pastries before you bake them. Keep a bunch in the freezer then you can bake them as desired.

When baking straight from the freezer you'll need to add about 5 minutes extra cooking time. Put foil on top of the pastries if they are getting too browned in the oven.

Phyllo instead of puff pastry?

Yes! You can definitely do this with phyllo dough. Just make sure to use multiple layers since phyllo is much thinner.

Additions?

Sprinkle toasted white (or black, or both!) sesame seeds over the top before baking.

Subsutitions?

The filling is flexible. You can replace some of the chicken with more potatoes. Or replace all the chicken with potatoes to make this vegetarian.

You can add mushrooms, peas, or carrots. Make sure to adjust the curry powder and salt seasoning amounts as needed. Taste the filling before forming the pastries.