White Creamy Chicken Recipe Without Cream

I made this White Chocolate Creamy Chicken with no cream, and I achieved the creaminess from cashews, curd, and a cooked onion paste.

It has a pale, golden-white gravy which coats the Chicken like a sauce; the curd gives it a little tanginess, and the cashews add body.

I made this when guests were arriving and wanted something that looked generous.

What separates this from other white chicken recipes?

You will have to fry the onions, cashews, garlic, ginger, and green chilies together before using a grinder; it’ll caramelize the onions and cook the raw edge out of everything.

The paste you’ll get using this process is completely different from raw-ground paste, and you’ll notice that in the final flavor.

After marinating the chicken, you have to wait 30 minutes before you cook. I did it on a low flame, and it took me 20 minutes before the paste went back in, and 20 more minutes after.

Everything together takes about an hour, and the recipe serves 3 to 4 people.

Ingredients

For the Paste Base

• 3 large onions, sliced
• 8 garlic cloves
• 1 piece of ginger, around 3 inches
• 20 cashews
• 8 green chilies
• 70g oil
• 100ml water (added to the pan before grinding)

For the Chicken Marinade

• 800g bone-in chicken pieces
• All of the paste from above
• 160g homemade curd (not sour)
• Juice of half a lemon
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp coriander seeds, crushed in a mortar
• 20 black peppercorns, crushed in a mortar

Whole Spices for the Pot

• 100g oil
• 3 Indian bay leaves
• 20 black peppercorns
• 1 tbsp coriander seeds
• 7 green chilies
• 1 star anise
• 1 piece of cinnamon, around 3 inches

Fry the Paste Ingredients Before You Grind Them

Heat 70g of oil in a pan on medium flame and then add sliced onions.

Let them fry alone for about 5 minutes, and don’t add anything yet.

You have to start with onions because if you add garlic or cashews too early, they’ll brown before the onions have softened properly, and the paste will taste unevenly cooked.

Add all five paste ingredients in a plate first so you don’t miss anything when you’re in the middle of cooking.

The cashews are what give the final gravy its body, so don’t reduce the amount, because 20 for 800g of Chicken is the right balance (and they don’t taste like cashews once cooked and ground; they just add thickness).

After the onions have had about 5 minutes, add the garlic cloves, ginger, green chilies, and cashews all at once.

Fry everything together for around 3 minutes; keep stirring it.

Do it until the cashews pick up some color at the edges and the whole mixture becomes a little deeper gold. And make sure the cashews don’t become dark; they just need to be fully cooked through.

Keep the flame at medium, and if it starts catching on the bottom, lower the flame and add a small splash of water.

Once the mixture is properly golden (the onions should be well past pale and sitting closer to amber by this point), add 100ml of water into the pan.

It will sizzle hard when it hits the oil, then cover and cook for 4 minutes on medium flame.

Let everything cool a little before grinding, then transfer the whole pan contents into a blender and blend into a thick paste.

You shouldn’t need to add extra water because the 100ml from cooking carries through into the grinder, but if your blender is struggling, you can add a tablespoon at a time.

You’ll want a thick paste. Enough to coat the back of a spoon.

Marinate the Chicken for 30 Minutes

Put the chicken pieces into a bowl and add all of the ground paste, the curd, lemon juice, salt, and the crushed coriander seeds and peppercorns.

You can crush them in a mortar rather than grinding them to powder; it’ll give rough pieces that settle into the Chicken and give occasional bursts of flavor as you eat.

Mix everything together by hand until all the chicken pieces are coated. Because the paste is thick and the curd makes it cling, it takes a bit of work to get the marinade properly distributed.

Let it sit at room temperature for 30 minutes. You don’t need to refrigerate the Chicken during this time, because cold Chicken added to hot oil takes longer to start cooking and won’t pick up the same surface color in the early stage.

While the Chicken marinates, gather the whole spices for the pot.

Coriander seeds and black peppercorns go in again here, this time whole and directly into the hot oil, where they work differently from the crushed versions in the marinade.

Get the Chicken Into the Pot

Add the bay leaves to the spice plate, then heat 100g of oil in a pot on medium flame and add all the whole spices: bay leaves, black peppercorns, coriander seeds, green chilies, star anise, and cinnamon.

Let them fry until the sizzling slows and the oil smells of the spices, about 30 to 45 seconds.

Now take each piece of marinated Chicken and shake off as much of the paste as you can with your hand before dropping it into the pot.

And you want to add the pieces one by one.

This reserved paste will go back in later anyway, so nothing is wasted.

Lower the flame to low as soon as all the pieces are in.

Cook on the low flame for the next 20 minutes, so the chicken properly absorbs the flavor from the whole spices in the oil, rather than just cooking fast on the outside.

Turn the pieces occasionally so they get some color on all sides.

After 10 minutes, you can see that the chicken has started showing some golden color on the underside and the skin should look properly cooked.

By the time 20 minutes are up, you want some browning on at least two sides of each piece.

Add the Paste Back and Give It 20 More Minutes

Once the Chicken has had its 20 minutes on low, pour all the reserved paste from the marinade bowl into the pot.

Add 50g of water along with it to help the paste coat everything and prevent it from sticking to the bottom right away.

Continue to stir it and bring the paste and cooking juices together.

Cook for another 20 minutes on low flame with the lid on.

By the end, the paste will have thickened and reduced around the chicken, and you’ll see small pools of oil collecting at the surface and edges of the pot.

Oil separating out like that is the sign that the paste is fully cooked.

If the gravy gets too thick and starts sticking before the time is up, you should add another few tablespoons of water and keep the flame low.

Finally, it’ll be ready to serve from the pot.

Why I Like Home-Made Curd for this White Chicken Recipe?

Home-made curd has a milder, rounder tang compared to store-bought versions, and that mildness gets absorbed into the paste during marination.

Store-bought curd (especially sour) can make the gravy taste sharper than it should, and that sharpness won’t fully mellow during the cooking time.

If you can’t make homemade curd, then you can use a fresh full-fat plain yogurt and taste it before adding the full 160g.

If it’s quite sour, use 120g instead and add a little more lemon to compensate.

I used Lemon juice because it brings brightness and keeps the richness from the cashews from sitting too heavy on the palate.

Curd and lemon both stay in the marinade, but they’re working on separate things, so don’t swap one for the other if you’re adjusting the flavor.

Frequently Asked Questions

What makes this chicken gravy pale and white without any cream?

The color comes from the cooked onion and cashew paste combined with curd.

Because you fry the onions and cashews to a golden color before grinding, you get an off-white to pale color.

Plus, I didn’t use tomatoes or dried red chilies in the gravy base, so nothing pulls the color toward red or orange.

And the curd adds another layer of white, and the low flame keeps everything from darkening further during the cook.

Can I use boneless Chicken instead of bone-in pieces?

Yes, boneless Chicken is fine to use, but the cooking times are shorter.

Bone-in pieces take about 40 minutes total on low flame, and the bones add depth to the gravy as they cook.

With boneless, the Chicken will be done closer to 10 to 12 minutes per phase, so you’ll want to check the texture early and don’t let it overcook.

Boneless pieces can get dry in a paste-based dish if they go too long, even on a low flame.

Can I use store-bought yogurt instead of home-made curd?

Store-bought plain full-fat yogurt works as a substitute.

You can taste it before using the full amount, and if it’s quite sour, reduce to 120g and adjust the lemon accordingly.

Very sour yogurt makes the gravy tangier than intended, and that sharpness stays in the final dish.

How do I know when the paste is fully cooked in the final stage?

Two things happen at once: the paste reduces and thickens around the Chicken, and small pools of oil start collecting separately at the surface and edges of the pot.

What should I serve this with?

Plain rice works well because the gravy is rich enough that it needs something neutral alongside it.

Plus bread or paratha also pairs well.

But you should avoid serving this with spiced sides, because the gravy has its own layered flavor.

Can I make this ahead for guests?

Yes, and it works; I made ours for my guests. You can make the base paste a day ahead and keep it in the fridge.

You can marinate Chicken up to 4 hours before cooking.

For the best texture, cook the dish the same day and let it sit off the heat for 20 to 30 minutes before serving, because it thickens as it rests and the flavors settle.

If you’ve made it fully ahead and are reheating, you should add 4 to 5 tablespoons of water, cover the pot, and heat on a low flame.