Homemade chip shop curry sauce
An easy homemade version of proper British chip shop curry sauce! Perfect served on fat, British-style chips.
Before anyone feels the need to point it out to me: I’m under no illusions. I know what this stuff looks like.
Anyone who says that chip shop curry sauce is attractive is literally just plain wrong.
However, I also know what this stuff tastes like, i.e. nectar of the gods. I bet Thor is drinking curry sauce as we speak. Which is why I’m posting this recipe despite its somewhat… questionable appearance.
What is chip shop curry sauce?
If you’re not British, I’m not sure whether you’ll have come across this style of curry sauce before. Here in the UK, you’ll find it in near enough every fish and chip shop. And you get a fish and chip shop on just about every third street… so that’s a lot of curry sauce.
Don’t be fooled by the word ‘curry’ – there’s nothing remotely Indian about chip shop curry sauce. Don’t go thinking this is some Indian delight… it’s not exactly meant to be gourmet. This is the sort of thing you might eat while you’re stumbling home after a night at the pub.
Or, you know, on a Friday night in front of the telly.
How to make homemade chip shop curry sauce
If you ever fancy making your own curry sauce, it’s actually really easy.
To make the sauce, start by cooking up some onion, garlic and apple (I know, it’s weird, but it totally works). Then add some flour, stock, and of course your curry powder.
And that’s literally it. We’re not exactly fussy, us Brits.
How to serve British curry sauce
All that’s left to do is pour the sauce over your chips, and dig in.
Of course you’ll need a big batch of fat British-style chips (none of this thin French fry nonsense). I made my own, but you may well decide to go for frozen ones. They kind of fit the theme here so no shame.
You should preferably eat your chips and curry sauce with a plastic fork, or one of those wooden ones with only two prongs (what’s with those, by the way? Utterly useless. It’s like trying to eat with a stick).
Homemade Chip Shop Curry Sauce
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Print Pin Comment(if you suffer from allergies, please double check all ingredients before eating)
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp oil
- 1/2 onion, finely diced
- 1 apple, peeled and finely diced
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1/2 tsp curry powder
- 1 tbsp plain flour
- 150 ml vegetable stock
- Black pepper
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a deep frying pan, and add the onion, apple and garlic. Cook over a low heat for 5-10 minutes, until everything is very soft. Add the curry powder and flour, and mix well. Then pour over the stock and add plenty of black pepper.
- Bring to a gentle simmer, and cook for around 10 minutes, stirring every couple of minutes, until the mixture is thick and the vegetables have cooked right down.
- Your sauce will probably be quite chunky, so if you’d prefer a smoother sauce, just give it a quick blitz with an immersion blender. This will thicken it up a bit too. I half-blended mine, so it was quite thick, but there was still some texture.
- Serve on fat chips.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is approximate, and will depend on your exact ingredients. Please calculate your own nutritional values if you require accuracy for health reasons.
Note: Nutritional information is approximate, and will depend on exactly what ingredients you choose. Information above is for 1/3 of the recipe.
If you’d like to try another British classic, why not go for my vegetarian sausage hotpot:
Oh Becca,
Your good ! ?
Ooh have you tried this?
Great recipe thanks. It’s not just British though, I’m from Ireland and we have a great love of curry chips, curry cheese chip is practically a national delicacy.
Haha good to know! Cheesy chips are my guilty pleasure ;)
Thanks for the recipe Becca. I tried it with home made wedges and fish and it tasted great. Even my daughter, who usually likes bland food, loved it.
The only thing I’d add is that when I get curry sauce from a chip shop it usually contains raisins. I threw a few into the leftover sauce but they made it a little bit too sweet, so I perhaps I over-did it.
Ooh I don’t think I’ve ever had it with raisins – it must vary from place to place. Might try that next time!
Thanks for this recipe. I was serving it over rice so I added twice as much stock and added diced chicken to the sauce and let it stew. it was AMAZING! Definitely not spicy. If I wanted that I would have made a Thai Curry.
Sounds great, really glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for your comment :)
Just used this recipe as a base…craving the taste of my local UK Chinese curry sauce, sadly they don’t deliver to NZ…swapped the apple for ginger and added a bit of cayenne pepper (I’d run out of black pepper). Nearly there…next batch I will try with a pinch of five spice as well.
Still close enough though :-) many thanks.
Thanks Ant, glad you enjoyed it! Your version sounds tasty!
I’m an Irish girl who has just moved to America and am massively craving some chips and curry…I can’t wait to try this recipe :)
Hope it makes you feel at home! :)
Spot on ! easy to make and tastes great, thanks very much for posting this
Yay I’m so glad you liked it, thanks for your comment! :)
Just made this exactly to the recipe (made some chicken fried rice so it needed curry) but this is nothing like traditional chip shop curry sauce, nothing at all.
It’s a fruity gravy with a little curry flavour, and actually tasted more like a korma sauce than chippy curry sauce. It’s nice, but it’s not what it says on the tin.
Sorry Becca, disappointing all round.
It needs less fruit, more curry, more kick and about a third more stock as it’s way too thick.
Hi Lloyd, so sorry that this recipe didn’t meet your expectations :( It’s one of my most popular – in fact just last week I had an email from a 64 year old ex-pat who told me it made him feel at home again – but I guess you can’t please everybody! I hope it doesn’t put you off trying any of my other recipes :)
I am obsessed with all things curry!! I haven’t made authentic british curry with chips, but I might need to try immediately!
LOVE me some curry sauce with my fish, chips and mushy peas! My American boyfriend is definitely perplexed by it because it doesn’t look anything like the “curry” he’s used to. It’s definitely an acquired taste and this is the first recipe for it I’ve ever stumbled across, so thanks!
Haha yes it’s not what a lot of people expect, but it’s soooo good! You should definitely make it for him :)