Jamaican Curry Goat Recipe
My Jamaican curry goat recipe is an incredibly delicious slow-cooked stew full of fork-tender goat meat and spicy Jamaican flavor, all smothered in a creamy gravy! An absolutely must-make Jamaican recipe that takes out-of-the-ordinary into spicy deliciousness! Incredibly easy with minimal prep makes it even better.
We enjoy goat meat quite regularly in my beloved Cameroon. So when I tried curry goat in a Jamaican restaurant, it was like going home. Adding this recipe to my repertoire was only natural.
Ask anyone who loves Jamaican food to choose their favorite recipe, and curry goat will appear on the list. Although it has become increasingly popular in the States due to the influx of different cultures, it’s not celebrated nearly as it should be. While food choice is a personal matter, my personal opinion is that having an open mind leads to more joy.
Did you know that goat is the most consumed meat throughout the world? Plus, because goats and sheep are more likely to be free-range and pasture-fed, they’re better for us than commercially raised beef and chicken.
However, I love the flavor when properly cooked. I like it thick and creamy but sometimes adjust flavors and textures for the family. It would be a crime to miss out on trying this curry at least once in your life.
Jamaican Curry, the Perfect Spice Mix for Goat
The aromatic blend of garlic, ginger, thyme, onion, and hot pepper added to traditional curry spices takes center stage in Jamaican curry powder. Something about those spices marries well with the unique flavor of goat. For even more amazing results, make your own. You can use less of the homemade version because it doesn’t contain fillers, and fresh spices pack a bigger flavor punch.
How to Make Jamaican Curry Goat
- Season the meat with salt and pepper, and set aside.
- Sear: Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Sear the goat meat, stirring frequently, scraping browned bits off the bottom of the pot. (Photo 1)
- Spice: Add the curry powder and stir for 1-2 minutes to bloom the flavors. Add the garlic, ginger, white pepper, onions, thyme, tomato paste, scallions (green onions), and scotch bonnet pepper and stir for another minute. (Photos 2-3)
- Simmer: Pour in just enough water to cover the meat, bring it to a boil, and simmer until tender. (It takes about 2 hours, depending on the cut and altitude.) Stir occasionally and add more water as needed. (Photo 4)
- Add the potatoes and bouillon powder about 20 minutes before removing the pot from the heat. Continue cooking until the potatoes are tender (for thicker stew, cook them until they start falling apart. (Photo 5)
- Serve: Adjust the stew’s thickness with water or stock. Remove from the heat and enjoy. (Photo 6)
Recipe Tips
- Goat meat is available at most international, halal, and Latin American markets. It’s comparable to beef shanks or briskets, so feel free to swap out beef if you can’t find it.
- Searing is optional but adds flavor. Sometimes, I skip that, assemble everything in a crockpot, and let it take care of itself when I’m short on time.
Batch Cooking and Storage
Making a double batch of stew and freezing it in serving or meal-size portions is a fantastic time-saver. It also helps me stay on a healthy diet without stressing.
Goat stew lasts 3-4 days in the fridge or 3-4 months in the freezer.
What to Serve With Jamaican Curry Goat
Rice and peas or beans and fried plantains are my favorite sides. You’ll be so happy you tried it. Enjoy!
More Mind-Blowing Goat Recipes to Try
Watch How to Make It
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This blog post was originally published in April 2017 and has been updated with additional tips, new photos, and a video
Jamaican Curry Goat
Ingredients
- 3-3½ pounds (1.5-2k) goat meat (cut into chunks)
- ¼ cup (60ml) cooking oil
- 4-5 tablespoons (30-40g) Jamaican curry powder
- 2 teaspoons (10g) minced garlic
- 1-2 teaspoons (5-10g) minced ginger
- 1 medium onion, sliced
- 1 teaspoon (2-3g) white pepper
- 1-2 teaspoons (1-2g) fresh thyme
- 2 green onions, sliced
- 1 tablespoon (15g) tomato paste
- water to cover
- 2-3 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
- 1 whole scotch bonnet pepper (or any hot pepper; adjust to suit tastes)
- 1 tablespoon (10g) bouillon powder (optional)
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Season the goat meat with salt and pepper, and set aside.
- In a large pot, heat oil over medium heat until hot, then add the meat, stirring frequently and scraping browned bits off the bottom.
- When the meat has browned, add the curry powder and stir for 1-2 minutes.
- Then add the garlic, ginger, onion, white pepper, thyme, scallions (green onions), tomato paste, and scotch bonnet pepper, and stir for another minute.
- Pour in just enough water (or broth) to cover the meat, bring to a boil, and simmer until tender. The time will depend on the meat, altitude, and preference, but mine takes 2-3 hours. Stir occasionally and add more liquid as needed.
- Add the potatoes and bouillon powder 15-20 minutes before the stew is done. Continue cooking it until the potatoes are tender. For a thicker stew, cook the potatoes until they start falling apart. You can thin it with water or stock if it gets too thick.
Tips & Notes:
- Feel free to use a slow cooker or a pressure cooker for this recipe. You may want to reduce the water or broth for a thicker stew
- Yuca, true yams, and sweet potatoes make tasty substitutes for potatoes
- Please remember that the nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary significantly based on the products used in the recipe
I was looking for a recipe for goat, an came across your recipe and had to look no further. I’m new to eating goat, as my partner is Congolese and he misses, as he would say, “real food”, so I try my best to find recipes that will seem close to home for him. So I will be preparing your curry goat tomorrow. Your recipes are amazing and looks very very immaculate, you now have another subscriber. Thanks for creating these amazing recipes!!!
Yay ! Thanks for taking the time to let me know kori- it means a lot to me. You are going to love the curry goat it’s one of my favorites .
Have a great weekend!!!
This is awesome. My second time making this Curry Goat. Thank you so much.
Sincerely,
April
My pleasure ! Thanks for taking the time to let me know April.
Have to say this is amazing! I first tried curried goat at my local stall which I travel 30miles to go to and when searching how to make it I came to your recipe….have cooked it several times it is my favourite! Kids love it too so thanks….the rice and pea is delicious also
So happy to hear this . Now you don’t have to add mileage to your car anymore . Yes to that ! Also thrilled that it’s a hit with the family
Hi
Love this dish…. I often wonder how long it will keep in the fridge for, some people I know keep it for a week while others say 3 days,
How long do you keep your curry and rice in the fridge for?
Thanks ! Mine lasts for about 5 days. I try to eat it before the 5th day though. Sometimes, I make , divide in half and freeze the other half.
Im sure you need to season the meat with the curry seasoning from the night before then scrape off what ever seasoning is on it and then brown it then add the seasoning back in after right? so it marinates and brings more flavor.
this looks awesome though. good job.
Really awesome tip! Thanks for sharing Jason.
I really wish I could be invited to eat at your home you have awesome recipes maybe a white girl like me who loves flavor and spice can give a shot at making them if not perfectly will give a foundation to try something great. It is sad tho American cooks can be intimidated by goat meat but I did enjoy curry goat dishes while eating out and some didn’t cook to tenderness but I guess the more Ima and love then tender guaranteed and u definitely will have this on a list of favorites !! Ha
I live the recipe. I add carrots and pretty much the actual recipe give or take amounts of seasonings and love it.
Thank you.
Awesome!Thanks for taking the time to let me know.
Hi so I am American and have a Trinidad husband I tried a goat recipie today and found my goat at the local grocery store surprisingly I tried my own little recipe going off of what my husbands aunt has shown me instead of adding water I used coconut milk and it looks and smells great next time I make this again most likely in the next we weeks I will try this recipe
You are definitely going to enjoy this too! Do let me know how it works out for you. Thanks !
Please stop claiming goat curry as a Jamaican dish. There is nothing Jamaican about it.
It is a dish from the subcontinent or India, made by Indians in Jamaica. It is wrong and inappropriate for Africans to call it their own lol
We are lovers of all things delicious here not fighters, nor haters! And yes, goat curry is widely known as a Caribbean thing. One of those imports that Jamaicans perfected and made it their own. And Africans do have their own curry goat too! Lol
I made this last night for today and it turned out great! I read through some of the comments and opted for the goat shoulder. Seared meat as per the recipe but covered and put in the oven on 265 degrees (F) for 2 hours. Added potatoes and then cooked an additional 45 minutes. The meat was sooooo tender! I grew up in this, but it was my girls first time having goat. We paired with coconut jasmine rice (no beans). They loved it! Next time will do the traditional rice and peas, yam, plantain and dumpling! Arghhhh! I can’t wait. Thanks for posting! Its serving us all well years later!!!!
Fantastic! Oh Boy! You are making me hungry, with those pairings !!!Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts with us.
Hello, I want to try this recipe but don’t have fresh thyme. Can I use dried time instead?
Of course! Start with 1/2 teaspoon and adjust as you go, depending on the potency of the thyme.
I made this dish with dried thyme and the taste was wow… me and my son are not fans of goat meat, I got a gift of fresh goat meat and couldn’t just give it away cos of how cleAn it looked. I made this and we are everything, didn’t tell my son it was goat meat till after we finished eating. And he couldn’t believe it was goat meat cos of how good it was. We are ours with plain white basmati rice, and it was just perfect. Thanks for the recipe. Am going to your chicken recipe section now to see if I can find something for Sunday lunch
I made your curry today and have some goat marinating in the fridge to cook in a little while in my cast iron dutch oven. So excited!! Thanks for this fantastic recipe inspiration!
My pleasure! Glad it worked out well for you
Oh la la…. Definitely on my next goat project. Will report after I make this! 😀
Which Flavor bouillion powder do I buy, the ones I see are either chicken or beef.
either will do just fine.
Hi Imma. Wow, random find, thank you! Slightly adjusted. Not sure if my changes quite fit with the Jamaican style. Really struggle to get goat here in the UK, I use Chestnut Meats in Cheshire when I can, brilliant goat supplier. I made your curry powder (brilliant, I add 3 jasmine dried chillies de-seeded), I marinate the meat overnight with a good sprinkle of your curry powder, fresh garlic paste, chopped scotch bonnet, chopped coriander, parsley and thyme (Verna’s Pepper Shack suggestion in Brixham. Best place in the world). I crush 10 garlic cloves and 4cm of fresh ginger in the pestle and mortar and add the tomato paste and green onions, white pepper and more parsley. During cooking; around the 1 hour stage I add 3 x chopped sticks of celery. The rest is followed by your recipe guidelines. We have a great Umami supplier here in the UK (www.snowdoniamushrooms.co.uk) and I feel this makes a great difference. I also add sea herbs seaweed and salt mix. Also, Knorr Chicken Powder makes a hell of a difference to the taste. Works for us. Thank you
WOW! You sure know how to take this to the next level.. Oh My! The aroma coming from your kitchen must be INSANE! Everything sounds Delicious. You’ve have got me salivating OVER HERE.
Woh
I am so freaking excited to try this recipe. I have been craving goat for weeks now and have scoured the internet for the best one. Will be cooking tomorrow. Thank you so much for sharing. All love!
Awesome! Can’t wait to hear how it works out for you. Thanks!
Thank you Imma for this recipe. I’ve been eating goat since I was a young girl, my grandmother raised & cooked them in Georgia. It wasn’t until I a visit to the Caribbean that I had it curried and fell in love with it. You mentioned ginger in your story but not as an ingredient. I added 1 Tbsp of ginger and 1 tsp of allspice to the recipe as well. I also like my gravy thick, but even after letting the potatoes cook down, it wasn’t thick to my liking. I mixed some corn starch with about a cup of the liquid and added it back to the pot to thicken it up. The whole family enjoyed it with the Caribbean Rice & Beans and the Jamaican Cabbage, minus the shrimp.
Me too! One of my favorite meat.
What works for me is to slowly cook the goat until tender , and that does it for me. Glad it worked out well for you.
Im so excited to try this recipe. Husband and I raise goats so we eat goat every week. I went online this morning to find something new to try and found this recipe. I would never have thought to make curry. Anyway, I have all the ingredients and my supper game is on! Thank you. Off to look around here for more recipes.
Ginger
Yay! Do let me know how it works out for you. Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts with us.
What type of boullion do you use? And i noticed a comment about coconut milk as a thickener. When would this be added?
I usually go with what I have on hand. 9 out of 10 times it’s chicken. You can add the coconut milk when you add the water .
Hello! I’m from the UK and I’d really love to try making this for my family at my daughters first birthday party. How many days in advance would you say I could make this? And would i store it in the fridge?
Also, I’ve no idea what Bouillon powder is would you know if there is an alternative in the uk?
Thanks in advance!
Hi Lori! You may cook it a day in advance and store in the fridge. In the U.k you might find chicken bouillon powder as chicken granules-knorr carries it .
Hi Imma!
I’m a long time curry goat fan and this recipe gives me the courage to try cooking it on my own! We can only get frozen goat meat here in Alaska. My question is, what is the best way to thaw it? Its not in conventional packaging. Literally frozen chunks just in a plastic grocery bag from the halal market that I bought yesterday. I just want to make sure its thawed safely and dont want to ruin it by unthawing in the microwave as this is my first time cooking goat.
Hi Deandra! I usually thaw it over-night in the fridge. But when am press for time I soak it in ice cold water. Unthawing in the microwave wouldn’t make that much of a difference. Cause you still need to brown and cook for about 2 hours .
Hope this helps.
I was just wondering at what stage would you put the coconut milk?
After you finish sautéing the aromatics and onions. Add it then give it a few minutes before pouring in water.