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National Curried Chicken Day

Food · January 12

A food day for curried chicken, the warmly spiced dish of chicken simmered in a sauce built from onions, garlic, ginger and spices.

National Curried Chicken Day falls on Tuesday, January 12, 2027. That is 77 days away.

Curried chicken is chicken cooked slowly in a spiced sauce until the meat turns tender and the sauce turns rich. The word curry covers a huge family of dishes, so the version on one table can look nothing like the one next door.

Most start the same way. Onions soften in oil, then garlic and ginger go in, followed by ground spices such as cumin, coriander and turmeric. Turmeric is what gives many curries their golden color. From there, cooks add tomatoes, yogurt or coconut milk, and the chicken simmers until it soaks up the flavor.

The dish travels well. Versions appear in South Asian, Southeast Asian and Caribbean cooking, and Jamaican curry chicken often leans on allspice and Scotch bonnet peppers. Many American kitchens keep a jar of curry powder, a ready blend of spices, for nights when there is no time to toast and grind each one.

People mark the day by cooking a pot at home, ordering from a favorite local spot, or comparing two styles side by side. Rice is the usual partner, though flatbread does an excellent job of chasing the last of the sauce around the plate.

Curried chicken also has a habit of tasting better the next day, once the spices have had a night to settle in.

Ways to celebrate

• Try cooking curried chicken from a style you have never made.
• Share a family curry recipe with a friend or neighbor.
• Look for a local restaurant serving Caribbean or South Asian curry.
• Toast whole spices in a dry pan and notice the aroma change.
• Save some leftovers and taste how the flavor shifts overnight.

Dates

All national days on January 12

Also on January 12

• National Hot Tea Day
• National Marzipan Day

Categories: Food days