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Chicken Rendang - amazing Malaysian-Indonesian chicken stew with spices and coconut milk. Deeply flavorful. The best rendang recipe ever!
Recently, there was a huge rendang controversy caused by Master Chef UK judges who said that chicken rendang should have crispy skin, which enraged the entire country of Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia and the incident turned into a social media warfare.
As a Malaysia food blogger, I wanted to tell you that chicken rendang, or any rendang, for example: beef rendang, lamb rendang should never have crispy skin. And the rendang sauce should be on the skin!
Chicken Rendang Recipe
Here I have just the perfect chicken rendang recipe for you. Rendang originated from Indonesia but they are very popular and well loved by many in Malaysia.
Chicken rendang is slow cooked and stewed in the rendang sauce and my chicken rendang recipe yields flavorful and tender chicken, with complex structure of flavors, with the intense aroma of the exotic spices.
I love making chicken rendang at home, and serve it with nasi lemak. While it takes some time to prep and make the dish, the end result is so rewarding.
When I sink my teeth into the chicken, the taste immediately transports me back to Malaysia, my home country. Enjoy!
Ingredients
Ingredients For Chicken Rendang
- Chicken thighs
- Cardamom pods
- Cinnamon stick
- Coconut milk
- Cooking oil
- Kaffir lime leaves
- Lemongrass
- Toasted grated coconut
- Star anise
- Water
- Cloves
- Sugar
- Salt
Ingredients For Spice Paste
- Dried chilies
- Lemongrass
- Galangal
- Ginger
- Garlic
- Shallots
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients.
How To Make This Recipe
Step 1: All all the ingredients of the Spice Paste in a food processor. Blend well.
Step 2: Heat the oil in a skillet, add the Spice Paste, cinnamon, cloves, star anise, and cardamom pods and stir-fry them until aromatic. Add the chicken and lemongrass, stir to combine well with the spices.
Step 3: Add the coconut milk, water, and simmer on medium heat, stirring frequently until the chicken is almost cooked.
Step 4: Add the kaffir lime leaves, toasted coconut, stir to blend well with the chicken. Lower the heat to low, cover the lid, and slowly simmer for 30 minutes or until the chicken is tender and the liquid has dried up. Add more sugar and salt to taste to taste. Serve immediately.
Frequently Asked Questions
This recipe is only 383 calories per serving.
What To Serve With This Recipe
For a wholesome meal and easy weeknight dinner, I recommend the following recipes.
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Chicken Rendang
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 lbs. boneless and skinless chicken breasts or thighs, cut into cubes
- 1/3 cup cooking oil
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 3 cloves
- 3 star anise
- 3 cardamom pods
- 1 lemongrass, white part only, pounded and cut into strips
- 1 cup coconut milk
- 1 cup water
- 5 kaffir lime leaves, bruised
- 5 tablespoons toasted grated coconut (kerisik)
- 1 tablespoon sugar or to taste
- salt to taste
Spice Paste:
- 6 shallots
- 1 inch galangal
- 3 stalks lemongrass, white part only
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1- inch piece ginger, peeled
- 10 dried chilies (chili arbol), seeded
Instructions
- All all the ingredients of the Spice Paste in a food processor. Blend well.
- Heat the oil in a skillet, add the Spice Paste, cinnamon, cloves, star anise, and cardamom pods and stir-fry them until aromatic. Add the chicken and lemongrass, stir to combine well with the spices.
- Add the coconut milk, water, and simmer on medium heat, stirring frequently until the chicken is almost cooked.
- Add the kaffir lime leaves, toasted coconut, stir to blend well with the chicken. Lower the heat to low, cover the lid, and slowly simmer for 30 minutes or until the chicken is tender and the liquid has dried up. Add more sugar and salt to taste to taste. Serve immediately.
Video
Notes
- Check out my recipe to make beef rendang
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
My husband looked everywhere for a great recipe and it looks green? Do you know where we went wrong? What shallots did you use? The spice paste was bright green?
Shallots as in red color shallots. The spice paste shouldn’t be green as there is nothing green in the ingredients. The 10 dried chilies should give you the red color (make sure the seeds are removed).
I just made this and it was delicious! We added 5 more cili kering for extra spiciness. amily loved it’s. Thank you so much for the recipe!
I’m trying this soon! Are cardamom seeds okat to use instead of pods? Thanks!
I would like to try this chicken rendang, but I’m unable to get kaffir lime leaves. Can I substitute with lemon leaves? Besides from the leaves, can I use any kind of dry chilly or is has to be chilly arbol? Thank you!!
m
Skip the kaffir lime if you can’t find. Any kinds of dried chilies should be fine.
Use lime juice and grated lime peel.
hi am very excited to try your chicken rendang recipe. i tasted it once but i have loved it from the first try. am so happy ill be able to make one.
Hi! I made this tonight and it was delicious! However it was really pale, had no way near the depth of colour in your picture. Any advice?
Use more red chilies and more oil.
The key to the colour for rendang is to make sure you cook the paste down until it’s a lovely golden brown before adding the meat etc. Rending is a dish that takes a lot of patience and time to make.
This is a delicious recipe..Thank u! I have made the chicken rendang three times now and my family love it :)
Thanks for trying my chicken rendang recipe. :)
Good recipe I will try to make it in my home
Love making your recipes. Can I buy your recipe book in Srilanka? Where?
Hi Raleena, you can buy my ebook here: https://rasamalaysia.com/easy-asian-takeout/
I lived in Malaysia for 2 1/2 years and Beef Rendang was my favorite dish. This is amazing! Definitely takes me back to Shah Alam days with my students! Thank you.