Spring Chicken with Yoghurt Sauce, Thermomix®

Yoghurt sauce with chicken sounds simple, but there is a catch: if you pour cold yoghurt into a hot pan with freshly cooked chicken breast, you end up with a split sauce full of small white curds. With this Spring Chicken from the Thermomix®, we get around that problem entirely, because the meat cooks in the Varoma while the yoghurt is prepared in the mixing bowl at a moderate speed 1 with the spices.

We have been making this dish for years, as soon as the days get longer and heavy stews no longer feel right. The 600 g of Greek yoghurt at 10% fat provide the acidity and keep the otherwise dry chicken breast juicy on the plate. Turmeric and cumin give the pale sauce colour and a warm undertone without making it heavy. We pair the dish with a simple side of rice, because the sauce is generous enough to need a neutral starch alongside it.

Why yoghurt and chicken must work separately

Yoghurt is milk protein and reacts badly to heat. Above about 80°C the proteins begin to denature and separate, especially when the yoghurt comes into direct contact with boiling hot meat juices. The result is a watery sauce with small white flakes and no creamy coating left. In a standard saucepan this happens almost every time someone finishes frying the meat and then stirs the yoghurt in.

With the Thermomix®, the process runs in the opposite order. We chop the onion and garlic in the mixing bowl, sweat them briefly with rapeseed oil, add the pepper and mix in the tomato puree, salt, stock powder, pepper, turmeric, cumin and the 600 g of Greek yoghurt directly into the still barely warm bowl. Only then do we place the diced chicken breast fillet in the Varoma dish on top. While the meat cooks for 20 minutes in the steam, the sauce below draws at Varoma temperature and speed 1 with reverse direction. The yoghurt heats up slowly from around 50°C to just under 95°C and is stabilised throughout by the constant gentle movement of the reverse direction. Only at the very end does the cooked chicken go into the finished sauce for 5 minutes at 100°C on the gentle stir setting.

Spring flavour from yoghurt, parsley and lemon

• Sauce and chicken cook in parallel, not one after the other. That is why the dish is ready in 40 minutes total rather than 70. While the 500 g of chicken breast fillet cook in the Varoma, the yoghurt and spices draw below in the mixing bowl at speed 1 into a smooth sauce. We save an entire step and one pan.
• The yoghurt gets a gentle heat build-up instead of a heat shock. After 20 minutes rotating at Varoma temperature with reverse direction, it does not curdle but stays creamy. This is the point where classic frying-pan recipes regularly fail.
• Reverse direction keeps the pepper in pieces. We want a sauce with recognisable chunks of pepper at the end, not a blended mush. Reverse direction moves the ingredients without cutting them, and that makes all the difference here.

Why rice in a saucepan rather than in the mixing bowl

A fair question: why not cook the rice in the Thermomix® as well? We tested this several times and stuck with the classic salted-water saucepan. The mixing bowl is occupied with the sauce and Varoma for the entire cooking time. Cooking the rice beforehand means it is lukewarm by the time you serve. Cooking it afterwards means an extra 15-minute wait. A saucepan of salted water on the hob runs alongside the Thermomix® programme and is ready exactly when you are. Anyone who still wants to avoid the hob will find our guide for rice in the Thermomix® and can cook the rice before starting the sauce programme, then keep it warm.

The most common pitfalls

Curdled sauce despite the Varoma method

If the sauce still looks curdled at the end, the yoghurt was almost certainly too cold. Tipped straight from the fridge into the hot mixing bowl, the protein can still split. Our fix: Take the yoghurt out of the fridge 30 minutes before you start cooking and let it come to room temperature. If you forget, just stir in a splash of hot water until smooth before adding it to the mixing bowl.

Chicken turns rubbery instead of tender

This happens when the pieces are cut too large or when the chicken keeps cooking in the bowl for too long after the Varoma stage. Our fix: Keep to the 2 cm cube size given in the recipe and limit the final step strictly to 5 minutes at 100°C on the gentle stir setting. The meat needs no more than that and cannot take more. Check it early and stop sooner rather than trying to rescue it afterwards.

Sauce tastes flat

Yoghurt absorbs flavours more slowly than a cream sauce. If you think something is missing on the first taste, it is often simply not enough salt or acidity. Our fix: After the 20-minute programme, taste and add half a teaspoon of salt and a squeeze of lemon juice if needed. Cumin only develops fully with heat, which is why it goes into the sauce from the beginning and not at the end.

With spinach, curry or vegetarian with chickpeas

• With spinach instead of pepper. 400 g of fresh leaf spinach replaces the pointed pepper. We add the spinach only in the final 5 minutes with the chicken in the mixing bowl, otherwise it gets too soft. Tastes very fresh and makes the dish even greener.
• With curry paste instead of turmeric. One teaspoon of mild yellow curry paste replaces both the turmeric and the cumin. The sauce gets more depth and a light Asian note. Basmati rice suits it better than long-grain rice.
• With chicken thighs instead of breast. 600 g of boneless chicken thigh meat makes the dish juicier, as dark meat dries out less quickly in the Varoma. The cooking time stays at 20 minutes, then 6 minutes instead of 5 in the bowl.
• Vegetarian with chickpeas. 400 g of drained tinned chickpeas replace the chicken. Instead of the Varoma, they go straight into the mixing bowl after the 20-minute programme and cook for 5 minutes at 100°C on the gentle stir setting. Cumin works especially well with chickpeas.

Rice, couscous and salad with the sauce

We usually serve the spring chicken with rice, because the yoghurt sauce deserves a neutral starch. Couscous works just as well and only needs five minutes to soak, which makes it a good option on busy weekdays. In summer we add a simple tomato and cucumber salad that picks up the cool acidity of the yoghurt. Anyone looking for a second chicken dish for the week will find our oven chicken with squash and orange, our vegetable chicken with ribbon pasta and our fruity vegetable curry with chicken.

2 days in the fridge, reheat gently

The finished sauce keeps in a sealed container in the fridge for two days. Be careful when reheating, because the yoghurt base remains sensitive. We put the dish in a saucepan and warm it over a low heat only until hot, never letting it boil. In the microwave, two minutes at 600 W, stir once, then one more minute. Freezing yoghurt-based sauces is not reliable. On thawing, the sauce separates into a watery phase and a solid phase and cannot be brought back together by stirring. If you want to save leftovers, it is better to cook a smaller portion and make a fresh batch the next day.

Leftover rice from the day before comes back to life with a splash of water over a low heat. Anyone cooking fresh rice can also follow up with Frozen Yoghurt as a sweet finish, which is often our dessert after the spring chicken.

Fresh herbs on the plate, not in the pot

Goes well with: flatbread and couscous.

We bring the spring character with fresh herbs scattered over the finished dish after cooking. We use half a bunch of flat-leaf parsley, half a bunch of chives and, when available, a few sprigs of dill or tarragon, finely chopped and scattered over the chicken and sauce just before serving. Fresh herbs do not belong in the warm sauce, because they wilt within seconds and lose their essential oils. Spring onion rings on top add a light onion bite that suits the creamy yoghurt base and lifts the look of the dish beyond a plain sauce.

Looking for more yoghurt ideas from the Thermomix®? Try our Frozen Yoghurt, which uses the same Greek yoghurt. Anyone wanting to round off the spring chicken with a liqueur will find our 17 best liqueur recipes and our guide to the recipe world with more light main courses for the warmer months.