Chicken & lentil traybake curry

Chicken & lentil traybake curry

Red pepper and red onion are sprinkled with cumin and nigella seeds and roasted, then joined by juicy chicken thigh chunks, a quick curry sauce, filling chickpeas and red split lentils. It’s a hearty trayful with barely room to swing a serving spoon – even fresh coriander squeezes on at the end like it’s the last train home. Hey, the more the merrier!

SWK: High protein Plants 6 SWK: High fibre one tray

Serving size

Cook time: 35 mins
Cuisine: Indian
Food group: Poultry

Cooking Instructions

The protein cooking time listed in this recipe has been updated.

As of December 2025, we’ve revised cooking times for all our proteins to reflect improved food safety guidance.

Check out the latest recommended times in our Cooking Guidelines.

Before you start

  • 1x medium baking dish
  • 1x medium bowl.

Get the veg in the oven

  • Heat your oven to 240ºC/fan 220ºC/gas 9.
  • Peel the onions and cut each into 6 wedges, then deseed and thinly slice the peppers.
  • Put the onions and peppers into an ovenproof dish (a large one for 4 portions), scatter over the cumin and nigella seeds and spritz with cooking spray. Roast for 10 mins.

Mix up a spicy stock

  • Meanwhile, boil a half-full kettle. Tip the lentils into a mixing bowl, crumble in the stock and pour in 300ml boiled water (500ml for 4 portions).
  • Stir in the passata, curry powder and the chickpeas and their water.

In goes the chicken

  • On a separate board, trim any visible fat from the chicken then cut into bite-size chunks.
  • Add the chicken to the ovenproof dish and pour in the spicy stock, lentils and chickpeas. Stir well and return to the oven for 20-25 mins, until the lentils are very soft and the chicken is cooked through.

Dish up

  • Finely chop half the coriander and stir it through the curry.
  • Scatter over the remaining coriander and serve.

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