Slow Cooker Indian Butter Chicken
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Simple prep with zero fuss! Restaurant-quality butter chicken made so easily in the crockpot. Serve with rice and naan.
I’m sure some of you have already put away your crockpot for the season. Up in one of those high cupboards so you don’t have to see your slow cooker until the Fall hits.
But seeing as to how we moved to Chiberia and it’s still the dead of winter here, my slow cooker has been on full blast, especially with this butter chicken.
I mean, I have seriously made this at least four times in the last 6 weeks.
Mainly because it’s so stinking easy.
Prep work is minimal and you can throw everything right into the crockpot. And while your chicken cooks low and slow to that tender, melt-in-your-mouth goodness, you can cook your basmati rice and warm your garlic naan.
And here’s a big secret I’ll let you in on: be sure to hoard all the sauce you possibly can for naan dipping purposes.
Slow Cooker Indian Butter Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 cup basmati rice
- ½ cup chicken stock
- 1 (6-ounce) can tomato paste
- 2 teaspoons yellow curry powder
- 1 teaspoon garam masala
- 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1-inch chunks
- ½ sweet onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
- 1 ½ teaspoons brown sugar
Equipment
Instructions
- In a large saucepan of 2 cups water, cook rice according to package instructions; set aside.
- In a small bowl, whisk together chicken stock, tomato paste, curry powder, garam masala, turmeric, salt and pepper.
- Place chicken, onion, garlic and ginger into a 4-qt slow cooker. Stir in chicken stock mixture.
- Cover and cook on low heat for 4 hours. Stir in heavy cream, lime juice and brown sugar; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Serve immediately with rice.
Did you make this recipe?
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This came out great! However my question is: Does it freeze well?
This is so good. I took the extra step of sautéing the onions, garlic, ginger and spices in oil before adding them to the slow cooker and added some dried fenugreek, but aside from that I followed the recipe as written and it was restaurant quality.
Great easy recipe. I have made this numerous times now.
I cooked this twice and both times came out great. I used coconut milk instead of heavy cream. I was wondering if anyone used sour cream instead of the coconut milk. I am out of both coconut milk and heavy cream.
Hi there! 😀
I found this website that tells you substitutions for heavy cream. Hope it helps!
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/heavy-cream-substitutes#TOC_TITLE_HDR_6
One of the substitutions is greek yogurt, which should be somewhat similar to sour cream. So I think sour cream might be fine unless someone says otherwise. (If someone else sees this, correct me if I’m wrong!! :P)
Just realized you wanted a substitute for coconut milk! Sorry about that! 😛 Here’s this link which basically tells you the same thing as the substitute for sour cream.
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/coconut-milk-substitute#11.-Silken-tofu
I used chicken breasts as that’s what I had. Very simple to make and great flavors, although mine was a bit dry. I did sauté the onions in butter before adding to the slow cooker.
I would cook the onion and spices first next time. I forgot to buy tumeric, so used mustard and ginger powder. Also lemon juice worked fine.
Is this a dish that you could freeze into portions and reheat without issues?
Delicious recipe!!!
I gave this a three because it was pretty tasty but it is not butter chicken. Also, my onions did not cook soft enough in the four hours so I would recommend sauteing them before adding to the crock pot. Tasted pretty good, though, and my family ate it. 🙂
Love your recipes – especially when I don’t have to spend days preparing the food! Quick and easy means so much (and you still get the adulation from those you are feeding!)
I was so impressed with how well this came out. My husband loved it! For the first time I made more than passable Indian. I will use this recipe over and over again!
Why doesn’t this recipe have red curry paste in it? I kinda got lost in all the slow cooker recipes I found for this but decided upon yours. I have an hour left in the cooking and added the cream, lime extract and brown sugar. Just curious about your thoughts on the red curry paste…thank you! It smells delicious throughout my house!!!!
It doesn’t have red curry paste in it. It has tomato paste.
Wait, this butter chicken recipe doesn’t have any butter??? Or ghee?
Yes! So delicious, definitely double the sauce as other comments suggested.
I substituted bottled lemon juice for lime, thought it was just as good.
Wow, I’m really surprised I liked this so much. Usually when I try to do any Indian food on my own, I don’t like it as much as the restaurants. This is really good.
I doubled the sauce recipe and left the chicken breasts un-cut while cooking. Turned out perfect. Chicken shredded apart and was very tender after 4 hours on low. I did notice the lime-y taste after initially dumping in the last of the ingredients, but I think that goes away if you mix well and leave your crock on warm for an hour after cooking on low. This is one of those dishes that I think will taste even better the next day.
Honestly, I’m going to go to the store tonight for additional ingredients, make more of this tomorrow, then freeze in portions.
Has become one of my favorite meals! So easy and good, thank you for sharing.
Delicious! I doubled the sauce and added a bunch more brown sugar and it was so good!!! My husband was seriously impressed! We ate it with toasted naan. I will be making this again! 🙂
i am about to make this and wanted to find out do I add the cream at the end or when I put the chicken and other ingredients in?
Hey Kelley!
You add the cream, lime juice and brown sugar after the chicken has cooked for 4 hours. 🙂 This recipe is delicious!
Amazing! My whole family of 7 loved it and we have made it multiple times since. I double the sauce because we LOVE lots of sauce. Thank you so much for this simple and delicious recipe!
Such a great recipe! Everyone loves it – has become a staple meal each week 🙂
Is it ok to freeze? And how long does it keep?
Easy and tasty. Added about two tablespoons of butter, the whole sweet onion, and honey to taste in addition to the brown sugar. Cooked on low for about 8 hours.