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 was dead easy and really tasty. It was ready before the 4 hours, but that could be my slow cooker.
Recipe has been bookmarked to make again – will double it next time!
So easy and so delish thank you ! I made it in a large slow cooker and worked out great 🙂
Seems like a good recipe, looking forward to trying it. Just had a question, do we add the brown sugar, lime juice, and whipping cream after it has cooked for 4 hours?
Hello I am going to try and make this but may I ask what a sweet onion is? Is it a brown onion?
Yes, it is a brown or yellow onion. No big deal. Some places call them Spanish onions, but they are just those big onions usually heaped into a big bin at your local grocery store in the produce section.
Sweet onion is Vadelia onion or Walls Walla onions, the usual brown/white are fine to use also.
One of my all time favorite recipes. I swap the heavy cream for full fat coconut milk for a dairy free version.
Amazing! This was my second time making this. I added raisins and almonds to make it more of a korma. So good!
I loved this! I’m dairy free and wanted to add some veggies so I put in a bell pepper and an acorn squash, frozen chicken breasts (they shredded beautifully when done) and used coconut milk instead of cream. I freeze this in individual servings in zip lock bags and it makes for a delicious quick lunch or dinner. Thanks got another great recipe!
Made this with a couple changes… added a 6 oz can of tomato paste to the chicken stock and spice mixture, and I didn’t have any turmeric so we skipped that. Also substituted the heavy cream with coconut cream to make it dairy-free. So delicious!!
Not sure what you meant by change? The recipe calls for 6 oz added to stock/spice mixture??
In my crockpot now. Fingers crossed.
Tastes as good as it smells. Fun to prepare and little effort for scrummy results. Great recipe. Made it twice in first week.
Only question is, why cook the rice first? And how do u re-heat it? Cooked our rice fresh when the curry was almost done.
Hi!! I’m so excited to make this recipe with all these great reviews. However, I would like to add some vegetables such as green beans! At what time out of the 4 hours should I put them in the pot with everything else? Thanks!
Very easy and delicious but this is a VERY MILD butter chicken. We have a large Indian population where I live and I’m used to a lot more kick.
I think I will also saute the onions a bit before adding them to the chicken. After 4 hours they were still bit crunchy and my preference is softer onions.
I agree that it is delicious but mild. What would make it spicer?
Perfect recipe as is! I triple the recipe so we have lots of dipping sauce. For an extra kick my husband adds cayenne to his.
Amazing!!! My entire family love it and is a new family favourite 🙂 thankyou so much for sharing! Even good for fussy eaters!
Excellent! It tasted every bit as good as the best Indian restaurant in town! I did add frozen corn and peas to the rice, as well as used chicken broth for half the liquid content, and a pinch of garam masala. Yummm! The family loved it!
Does it matter if I’m using a slightly bigger slow cooker?
I’m a busy, homeschool momma of seven children. Slow cooker meals are a survival tool. We make this every two weeks and it’s a favorite. Thanks for making such a flavorful recipe to share.
I Love this recipe! My husband, who hasn’t ever liked Indian food or curry requests this at least once a month! lol
I’ve made it a few times, switching up between breasts and thighs.. Im making it again tonight and got a little cocky throwing it together from memory and accidentally added 2 TABLESPOONS of curry powder instead of teaspoons!!!!
Did I just ruin dinner? Can I add more of something else to balance it all out?
Thanks!
Did this in an instant pot – 12 mins on high – and yum! My 3yo didn’t want to eat it at first, and then after she tried it, asked me how did I make it yummy. Will definitely be making this again.
My friend sent me this recipe and she (and her picky 2 year old twins) loved it! I don’t have a slow cooker. What do you suggest for a regular crock?
Yum! Thank you for this recipe.
I made this over the weekend, followed your recipe exactly except I felt wired making butter chicken without adding butter so I ended up adding 2 Tbsp of butter. It turned out so good and it was so easy to make. I tried a couple of your recipes now and I think this one turned out the best. Will definitely make this again.