Slow Cooker Butter Chicken
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Skip the take-out and try this super easy, lightened-up creamy butter chicken right in the crockpot – it’s less calories and tastes a million times better!
I would always pick up two tikka masala bowls on my way home from work. But ever since I relocated out to the Bay Area, I haven’t had our Indian take-out fix in so long.
My cravings have taken over for weeks so I finally made this butter chicken right at home, and boy, am I glad I did because the homemade version is so much better, and healthier, than take-out!
If you’ve never had butter chicken, it’s a very popular Indian dish, and can be made mild or spicy to taste. I kept the recipe very mild but the heat seekers can certainly add more chili powder, to taste.
Now this is a super simple crockpot dish. There is a little bit of sauteeing but you’re pretty much throwing all the ingredients into a saucepan before throwing it into the slow cooker. Easy peasy, right?
From there, you can let that cook low and slow for 5 hours, leaving you to come home to the most fragrant, most flavorful and creamy butter chicken.
Best of all, it’s lightened up with coconut milk and whole wheat flour, saving you on a ton of calories this spring season!
Slow Cooker Butter Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 4 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1 onion, diced
- 1 (14-ounce) can light coconut milk
- 1 (6-ounce) can tomato paste
- 2 tablespoons whole wheat flour
- 2 teaspoons garam masala
- 1 teaspoon curry powder
- ½ teaspoon chili powder, or more, to taste
- ½ teaspoon ginger powder
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 3 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 2-inch pieces
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a large cast iron skillet over medium high heat. Add garlic and onion, and cook, stirring frequently, until onions have become translucent, about 2-3 minutes.
- Stir in coconut milk, tomato paste, flour, garam masala, curry powder, chili powder and ginger powder until well combined and slightly thickened, about 1-2 minutes; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Place chicken into a 6-qt slow cooker. Add sauce mixture and gently toss to combine. Cover and cook on low heat for 5 hours.
- Serve immediately, garnished with cilantro, if desired.
Did you make this recipe?
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Made this tonight, Smelt amazing, but was a little on the bland side when eaten. Was it really only teaspoons of garam masala and curry powder?
Yes, the measurements are correct but as always, you can increase or decrease the amounts as needed to suit your preferences. Isn’t that the beauty of home cooking?
This is so being made this week!! Can’t wait and love love love this is made in the slow cooker! 🙂
AMAZING! I tried this today and it was delicious. I was skeptical of the lightened version but did not miss the butter or cream at all. Would definitely make again.
Our family is paleo – and this recipe is almost there minus the Whole Wheat Flour. Is there a good substitute flour I could use? Coconut or almond maybe? Thank you!
Katie, here is a great resource on possible flour substitutes. Hope that helps!
I have some chicken already cooked, could I just make the sauce and skip the slow cooker part? Or does it have to simmer for 5hrs for those spices and sauce to really be good?
J Braun, this sauce is specifically made to be cooked low and slow in a slow cooker to really help the flavors come together.
Chungah, this is the third recipe of yours I tried and the third I loved! I’ve never made any Indian-inspired dishes before, so I was a bit nervous. I did add about 1/4 tsp of red pepper flake, but otherwise thought the seasoning was spot-on. Thanks for all the great recipes!
What is the caloric and other nutritional information?
Nutritional information is provided only for select and new recipes at this time. However, if it is not available for a specific recipe, it is best that you use free online resources at your discretion (you can Google “nutritional calculator”) to obtain such information.
I made this but as I didn’t have any chili or ginger I left it out, it does need a kick of some sort but without it It was a bit too much tomatoey (if that’s a real word) Although 3 out of 6 of us really enjoyed the not so spicy affect.
Thank you for sharing.
Oh my GOD! This recipe was absolutely perfect. Boyfriend told me that I absolutely have to make it again, and I definitely agree!!! My hand slipped when I was making the sauce and I poured quite a bit of salt in but honestly, it didn’t even ruin it. This was one of the best slow cooker recipes I’ve had in a while.
This is probably a silly question but about how many breasts is 3 lbs? I only cook for 2 right now, and I need to know by how much to cut the recipe down so that we’re not eating leftovers for two weeks.
Ellie, it really varies by size but 3-4 chicken breasts is typically equivalent to one pound.
I was excited to try this recipe, but the resulting dish was bland. I followed the recipe exactly and it smelled delicious, but we were disappointed by the lack of flavor in the sauce and the dry chicken.
Kellsey, I’m sorry that this recipe did not turn out the way you had imagined. I only post recipes that have been successfully tested in my own kitchen, and as you can see from the comments here, many of these readers have had great outcomes in the final dish as well. I really hope you get to try this dish again, adjusting the spices as needed to suit your taste preferences.
The sauce was excellent for this dish, but I found the chicken very dry. I cooked this just as the recipe stated in a cuisinart slow cooker. Does the chicken typically turn out dry for you? I would make this again, but on the stove top.
Corey, I worry that your chicken may have been diced too small, which may have resulted in a dry texture.
This recipe was a real winner at my house. I made it for my family tonight and my kids loved it. They all wanted the leftover butter chicken in their lunches the next day.
Can’t wait to try other recipes from your site!
I’ve had this recipe pinned for a while and found it when I ran into a bit of a dinner emergency tonight- I had nothing planned and no protein defrosted. I followed your recipe exactly, sauteing the onion and garlic and mixing the other ingredients, but left out the four and used whole, frozen boneless/ skinless chicken breast in my PRESSURE COOKER! I cooked at pressure for 12 minutes, then released the pressure right away. It was AMAZING. You totally saved dinner and I went from no clue to serving the meal in less than an hour. Really, really good- thanks so much for the idea!
I tried this dish last night with my newly bought slow cooker and everything worked out great!!! The taste was very good and I even threw some tofu in there so that there was a mix of chicken and tofu. I am very satisfied! Thanks for posting this one!
I love authentic Indian food. I have a friend who makes this for me. So I have been looking for a great recipe. When I started this recipe it smelled exactly like butter chicken. But when I tasted it, it was bland. Sorry! But I reheated it, I put the chicken which already had the sauce on it and put the left over rice and I added the seasoning again. It was great. I will make this again but double all the seasoning. Maybe I like it really strong but wow it tasted great with lots of seasoning.
Hi, thanks for the recipe! I made it last night because it looks SO incredible! It turned out looking just as amazing as your photos, but unfortunately it was rather tasteless :(. As far as I can tell I followed your recipe exactly… To me it seems like there should have been double the spices. Any suggestions for my second attempt?
I’m sorry that this recipe did not turn out the way you had imagined. I only post recipes that have been successfully tested in my own kitchen, and as you can see from the comments here, many of these readers have had great outcomes in the final dish as well. But I understand that we all have different taste preferences. That being said, please feel free to add or double the spices as needed to suit your preferences.
I just popped this recipe into the crockpot! It smells amazing…I’m excited about dinner time, Thank you!
How long would this take to cook on high?
It may be best to cook on the high setting for 2-3 hrs.
Hello from Canada! I made this recipe today, and my apartment is smelling wonderful! The consistency of the sauce really is butter chicken! Thank you for this easy recipe, great for students like me. 🙂 Can’t wait to try out your other recipes!
– A