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Home » Recipe Index » Pakistani Recipes
4.88 from 8 votes

Weeknight Easy Hara Masala Chicken Recipe

Modified: May 20, 2025 · Published: Sep 23, 2014 by Sarah Mir

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This Haray Masalay ki Murghi is a bold, flavorful green chicken curry made with cilantro, green chilies & spices - ready in under 45 minutes. Bonus: your blender does most of the work!

Hara Masala Chicken in a dish with onions and a sliced chili

We all love a good Karahi Chicken, but sometimes you want a change from the usual or maybe you are out of tomatoes and need to figure something out. Whatever the reason, this Haryali Chicken made with a blender green masala, hits the spot. I love it with some fresh roti but it is also so good in a wrap with some crunchy onions!

Haryali Chicken Ingredients and a note on Heat

top down view of ingredients for Hara Masala Chicken or green masala chicken

The ingredients for this herby chicken are straightforward, but I want to take a minute to highlight one and the lack of one.

Chilies: Everyone's personal preference varies, for Pakistani chilies (in the picture) that tend to be milder I am happy to use ⅘, but for thai 4 is my max. As the chilies cook they tend to lose their assertiveness so if you want a milder curry you can use 2 to good effect!

Mint: Many hara masala chicken recipes use mint. While it's freshness is lovely, I don't feel like it's needed here or missed when I don't use it.

hara masala chicken with roti and onions, serving dish of haryali chicken in background

Must Know Tips for the BEST Green Chicken

This is an incredibly easy dish to make, but here are three things that'll make sure yours is a total winner!

1.) Wash your cilantro WELL: no grit left behind!

2.) If you have fresh ginger and garlic throw that in the blender for the best flavour

3.) Always adjust the consistency BEFORE adjusting seasoning!

Quick visuals below, detailed recipe in the recipe card!

blending the green paste for hara masala chicken
marinating the chicken for hara masala chicken
onions being sauteed in a wok for hara masala chicken
sauteing hara masala chicken till it changes colour
Hara masala chickne simmering
hara masala chicken on a plate onions and roti, person making a bite

What to Serve with Hara Masala Chicken

Menu Idea 1

  • Hara Masala Chicken
  • Chana Pulao
  • Shami Kabab

Menu Idea 2

  • Hara Masala Chicken
  • Bhindi Masala
  • Aloo Palak

Made this chicken? Would love to hear what you think in the comments section!

Hara Masala Chicken in a dish with onions and a sliced chili
Print Recipe
4.88 from 8 votes

Weeknight Easy Hara Masala Chicken or Haryali Chicken

This Haray Masalay ki Murghi is a bold, flavorful green chicken curry made with cilantro, green chilies & spices - ready in under 45 minutes. Bonus: your blender does most of the work!
Prep Time5 minutes mins
Cook Time30 minutes mins
Total Time33 minutes mins
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Pakistani
Servings: 4
Author: Sarah Mir

Ingredients

  • 1 lb boneless chicken cubed (450g) use 1.5 lb (680g) if using bone in
  • 1 medium onion 75-90 g
  • neutral oil for cooking

Marinade

  • 1  bunch of cilantro 65-70 g
  • 4 green chillies
  • 1 inch ginger ¾ tbsp ginger paste
  • 6-8 cloves garlic 1 tbsp garlic paste
  • 4 tbsp plain yogurt approx 55g
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp coriander powder
  • ½ tsp cumin powder
  • ½ tsp red chilli powder

Instructions

  • Combine all the marinade ingredients in a blender and puree until smooth
    blending the green paste for hara masala chicken
  • Pour over your chicken, you can marinate it for 30 minutes up to overnight or just combine and continue with next steps
    marinating the chicken for hara masala chicken
  • Put a wok or large bottomed pan (quicker to cook than in a small one) on medium heat and add in a few tbsp of oil. 
  • While that's heating dice your onions and add saute till the onions edges turn golden.
    onions being sauteed in a wok for hara masala chicken
  • Stir in your chicken, sautéing on medium high heat till it changes colour.
    sauteing hara masala chicken till it changes colour
  • Cover, simmer till tender - 25 minutes.
    Hara masala chickne simmering
  • Adjust consistency, check for seasoning, garnish with some fresh ginger or fresh chillies - or nothing at all - grab some roti or rice and dig in.

Notes

  • This recipe has seen an update on Jan 6th 2025:  I doubled the yoghurt to create more of a masala and added the green masala directly to the chicken instead of adding it to the pan after sauteing the chicken. 
Tried this Recipe? Tag me Today!Mention @flourandspiceblog or tag #flourandspiceblog!

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    Easy Boneless Chicken Shami Kabab - Instant Pot & Stove Top

Comments

    4.88 from 8 votes (7 ratings without comment)

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    Recipe Rating




  1. Feryal says

    January 13, 2025 at 4:35 am

    Sarah this looks like another one of yours that I will be making on repeat, simple enough but yummy. I love love love how in this day and age where recipes have to be fusion and/or have a bunch of complicated ingredients and steps to get people making them, your recipes are really weeknight recipes in the true sense. You’ve done all the research in terms of quantities and flavors and given us the perfect simplifies recipe 🙂 giving it a try soon for sure

    Reply
    • Sarah Mir says

      January 27, 2025 at 5:10 pm

      feryal! this comment of yours made me feel SEEN! I really feel like I want to keep our flavours alive and part of them is making them as accessible as possible without compromising the originals, thank YOU for leaving this note!

      Reply
  2. Umar Khan says

    January 08, 2025 at 6:33 am

    Hi Sarah,

    I noticed that you post all your meat weights in Lbs., while all the other ingredients in grams. Would it be possible to convert the recipe from Imperial to Metric and vice versa to save the Americans vs the rest of the World from getting their calculators and weight converters out. Thanks and sorry for the bother.

    Reply
    • Sarah Mir says

      January 08, 2025 at 8:42 am

      No bother at all,in fact thank you very much for flagging this! I am based in Canada and have started weighing and adding grams on ingredients relatively recently and it had entirely escaped my notice that I wasn't doing it for meat weights! Appreciate you taking the time to point it out

      Reply
  3. Maariya says

    June 19, 2024 at 4:32 pm

    Hi Sarah, I’m hosting and making quite a few dishes. Do you think the green paste here can be made 2 days ahead? Thanks x

    Reply
    • Sarah Mir says

      June 25, 2024 at 2:46 pm

      Oops! Sorry if I am late on this one but yes it will!

      Reply
  4. Henna says

    December 28, 2021 at 4:36 pm

    Hi Sarah the recipe is very delicious but mine turns out very dry… no idea what I did wrong.

    Reply
    • Sarah Mir says

      January 26, 2022 at 2:11 pm

      Hi Henna! Thanks for sharing that - the masala is more a karhai than a salan for sure but if you're finding it's too dry then you have two options - one is to simply add a splash of water to your desired consistency and the other is to add in some whipped yoghurt at the end. Let me know if you try these fixes and if they work for you!

      Reply
« Older Comments

Hi, I'm Sarah! Welcome to Flour & Spice, the foodie world of a Pakistani origin Canadian mama of two whose busy life and love for food means practicality reigns supreme! I love baking (duh!), my readers (extra duh!), reading, coffee, singing loudly slightly off key, and aprons.

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