Achari Chicken Recipe

Achari chicken (achari murgh) is a chicken curry cooked with the spices used in South Asian pickles: fennel, mustard, fenugreek, nigella and cumin seeds, and it is commonly made in Pakistan and North India. In this one-pot version, bone-in chicken is marinated in yogurt and a homemade achar masala, cooked with onion and fresh tomato, and finished with green chillies stuffed with lemon juice and chaat masala. The result is tangy, salty and spicy, with a pickle-like taste and tender chicken, served with rice or naan. The amounts below are for 750 g of bone-in chicken, which serves 5. It takes about 45 minutes, plus at least 1 hour for the chicken to marinate.

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Last updated 9 October 2026

Recipe

Achari Chicken

Cook

35 mins

Total

45 mins

Serves

5

Ingredients

For the achar masala

• Whole dried red chillies (sabut lal mirch), to taste
• Coriander seeds (dhania ke beej), to taste
• 1½ tsp fennel seeds (saunf)
• 1 tsp cumin seeds (zeera)
• Mustard seeds (sarson ke beej), to taste
• Fenugreek seeds (dana methi), to taste
• 1 tsp nigella seeds (kalonji)

For the chicken marinade

• 750 g bone-in chicken, skinless, in pieces
• 1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
• All of the achar masala (from above)
• 1½ tsp salt
• ¾ tsp red chilli powder
• ½ tsp turmeric powder
• 2 tsp coriander powder
• Garam masala, to taste
• 3 tbsp plain yogurt (45 to 50 g)

To cook the chicken

• ¼ cup (60 ml) cooking oil
• Fenugreek seeds, to taste, for the tempering
• Mustard seeds, to taste, for the tempering
• Cumin seeds, to taste, for the tempering
• Nigella seeds, to taste, for the tempering
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 tomatoes (230 to 300 g), blended to a fresh paste
• Water, as needed

For the stuffed green chillies

• Green chillies, as many as you like (thick ones such as jalapeños work well)
• Fresh lemon juice, to taste
• Chaat masala, to taste
• 1 spoonful red chilli powder

To garnish

• Fresh ginger, cut into thin strips
• Fresh coriander, chopped

Method

1. Make the achar masala: put the whole red chillies and the coriander, fennel, cumin, mustard, fenugreek and nigella seeds in a hot, dry pan and toast them over medium heat for 2 minutes, until aromatic.
2. Take the spices off the heat and let them cool to room temperature, then grind them to a fine powder with a mortar and pestle.
3. Clean the chicken and mix it with all of the achar masala and the ginger-garlic paste, salt, red chilli powder, coriander powder, turmeric, garam masala and yogurt. Marinate for about 1 hour, or overnight in the fridge.
4. Prepare the chillies: mix fresh lemon juice with chaat masala and a spoonful of red chilli powder. Microwave the green chillies for about 10 seconds, until they soften, cut off the ends, remove as many seeds as possible and fill them with the lemon and chaat masala mixture.
5. Heat the oil in a pan until it just starts to smoke. Add the fenugreek, cumin and mustard seeds and let them pop for a few seconds, then add the chopped onion and sauté until translucent.
6. Add the nigella seeds, then the marinated chicken and the fresh tomato paste. Cook on high heat until everything comes together into one evenly coloured gravy.
7. When the chicken releases its juices and starts to look wet, add some water. Cook on low to medium heat, covered or uncovered, for 20 to 25 minutes.
8. Lay the stuffed chillies on the chicken and cook for another 5 minutes, until the chillies have steamed.
9. Garnish with strips of fresh ginger or chopped coriander and serve with rice or naan.

Step by step, in pictures

The six main moves, from toasting the whole spices to steaming the stuffed chillies on top.

1. Toast the whole spices in a dry pan
2. Grind them to a fine achar masala
3. Marinate the chicken in yogurt and spices
4. Fry the seeds, then the onion
5. Simmer the chicken in its gravy
6. Steam the stuffed chillies on top

What is achari chicken?

Achari chicken is a curry flavoured like a pickle without containing any pickle. Achar is the word for pickle in Urdu and Hindi, and an achari dish borrows the seeds a pickle is spiced with, so it tastes tangy and pickled (Tea for Turmeric). The defining flavours are fenugreek, mustard seed and nigella. You may also see it called achari murgh.

Achari chicken vs chicken karahi

Both are cooked down with tomatoes. What makes achari chicken different is the pickling seeds, the whole green chillies and the yogurt base (Tea for Turmeric). If you want the plainer tomato, ginger and green chilli version, try our chicken karahi.

How to get the pickle flavour right

• Toast the whole spices only until they smell aromatic, about 2 minutes on medium heat, and let them cool before grinding them.
• Use bone-in chicken. It is meatier, and without the skin it is easy to clean.
• Let the seeds pop in the hot oil for a few seconds before the onion goes in. That is where the tempering flavour comes from.
• Choose thick chillies for stuffing, such as jalapeños, and remove the seeds. Ordinary green chillies work too.

Where the amounts on the card come from

Each amount on the card is one that at least two of three published recipes agree on, scaled to 750 g of bone-in chicken: Tea for Turmeric (2 lb, about 900 g of chicken), Flour & Spice (about 750 g bone-in) and Fatima Cooks (1.7 lb, about 770 g). Where they disagree, the card says “to taste”, and here is what each one uses:

• Mustard seeds: Flour & Spice ½ tsp, Fatima Cooks 1½ tsp, Tea for Turmeric none.
• Fenugreek seeds: Tea for Turmeric 2 tsp, Flour & Spice ¼ tsp, Fatima Cooks none.
• Whole red chillies and coriander seeds: none of the three uses them whole. Flour & Spice puts ¾ tsp chilli flakes in its achar masala.
• Garam masala: none of the three uses it.
• Seeds for the tempering: Tea for Turmeric fries all of its seeds whole in the hot oil (2 tsp fenugreek, 2 tsp fennel, 1 tsp nigella, 1 tsp cumin). Flour & Spice and Fatima Cooks put all of theirs in the masala and fry none separately.
• Green chillies: Tea for Turmeric 2 to 4 whole plus 1 or 2 chopped, Fatima Cooks 8 for stuffing plus 6 ground into the marinade; Flour & Spice gives no number.
• Lemon juice and chaat masala: Tea for Turmeric 2 tsp lemon juice and Flour & Spice the juice of 1 lemon, both stirred in at the end; Fatima Cooks mixes the juice of half a lemon with 3 tsp chaat masala to stuff 8 chillies, and is the only one of the three to use chaat masala.
• Water: Tea for Turmeric ⅓ cup; Flour & Spice adds none for bone-in chicken; Fatima Cooks ½ cup, only when using tomato concentrate.

How long should achari chicken marinate?

At least 1 hour, so the spices get into the chicken, and it can also marinate overnight in the fridge. Some recipes go longer: Fatima Cooks marinates for 4 to 24 hours in the fridge.

Can you make achari chicken with boneless chicken?

Yes. Boneless pieces cook faster, so shorten the simmer and check that the chicken is cooked through. Tea for Turmeric cuts boneless chicken into 1.5-inch pieces, simmers it for 13 to 15 minutes and adds no water.

Can you use store-bought achar masala?

Yes. Flour & Spice uses 3 to 4 tbsp of homemade or store-bought achar masala for about 750 g of bone-in chicken. Homemade is a 2-minute toast and a quick grind; if you make a bigger batch, keep the rest in a glass jar.

More Pakistani chicken recipes

If you like the spice of achari chicken, try Pakistani chicken tikka, chicken seekh kabab or a classic chicken karahi.