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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Question: For a particular diet I’m on, I want to swap in a legume (bean, lentil etc.) for the rice. Any suggestions? A web search of legumes commonly used in Indian cooking pulls up a very large list. Ideally I’d just add this ingredient into the pot.
Would love your thoughts. Thanks!
Hi Amanda! The cooking time would probably vary as rice and legumes have very different cook times. As far as which one to choose, you can pick the one you like the best. But as always, please use your best judgment when making substitutions and modifications. Good luck!
I’m going to make your Indian Butter Chicken recipe. Looks very good. My question is, do you have a recipe for naan or do you purchase naan at a store?
Thank you
Not at this time. 🙂
Love this recipe! Best homemade Indian that I have tried. Get the garlic naan from Trader Joe’s and it is perfect with it!
Could you use Greek yoghurt instead of heavy cream??
The consistency of Greek yogurt may be a little too thick here.
Bella, I’ve mixed milk and Greek yogurt in equal proportions for recipes that call for cream and it’s worked just fine! Last time I made Indian butter chicken in a crock pot it was a different recipe that called for scooping out the liquid from the crock pot and mixing it into the dairy slowly then stirring – perhaps to keep the yogurt from cuddling?? Looking forward to trying this recipe!
I haven’t yet tried this recipe but I bet you could sub coconut milk for the heavy cream?
Gurrrrl…this was so good!!! Even my British curry snob husband liked it. Winner, winner. Curry chicken dinner! Thank you!!!!
Is the cream heavy whipping cream ?
Heavy cream and heavy whipping cream are essentially the same thing with small differences in fat. But both types of cream are interchangeable for the most part. 🙂
My boyfriend is from Pakistan and I surprised him with this dinner (his favorite Indian dish) and he gave it a 10! Thanks for sharing – this was so easy and so delicious!
RE: Cooking chicken longer in slow cooker and not drying out: Use frozen chicken breast, or even chicken thighs, but don’t cut them up. Leave them whole. Then, you can cook chicken in a slow cooker for 6-8 hours without drying it out. You may even need to cook it a bit longer depending on your slow cooker. I do this a for a lot of my chicken recipes. I want to set it and forget it while I’m at work. You end up shredding the chicken because cutting it into chunks is hard at that point, but it’s not dried out.
I quadrupled the recipe and used Thai yellow curry paste (by accident) and added butter. Still turned out delicious.
Hi I notice you have another slow cooker version from 2014 and the ingredients is more and different than this version. Is this a more simpler way but will get the same taste or is the other one more for calorie purpose?
Hi Keya! This is a completely different recipe from 2014. 🙂
At the 2 hour mark I checked the pot and saw that the chicken was completely cooked, so I added the cream etc.. to finish the dish. I was afraid to keep cooking the chicken and risk it getting too overdone. This recipe turned out great!
Fantastic recipe! I used what I had on hand so I actually used madras curry instead of regular yellow curry and full fat coconut milk instead of heavy cream. I have no doubts that your recipe as written is delicious…but I’m certainly not mad at the substitutions I had to make!!! Thank you for your recipe!!!!
One word- Ah-mazing!!!! My 2 year doesn’t eat a thing, but cleaned her plate on this one. Easy and delicious! One for the recipe book….
Hello! This looks delicious and I can’t wait to make it. Im hosting a dinner party for 12 people and I was wondering, if I double the recipe do I keep the cook time the same or would I need to change it? Thank you!
What a great idea! But unfortunately, without having tried this myself, I cannot answer with certainty. But if you get a chance to try it, please let me know how it turns out! 🙂
Hello, I am just wondering is it possible to cook this recipe in a slow cooker for 6-8 hours on low heat? I am wondering if this would be ok while I am away at work during the day.
Thanks for all the lovely recipes Chungah….I love that they are easy, quick and tasty 🙂
I worry that the chicken will be overcooked if cooked for 6-8 hours. 🙁
Oh my goodness, this is delicious! I’ve made it three times in about two weeks for my family and for guests, and everyone, young and old, loves it. I have shared the recipe with so many friends as well. I’ve tried making Indian dishes before and was never totally pleased with how they came out. This one is perfect just as is. Love that it’s done in a crock pot! Thanks for the great recipe!
Wow, 3 times in two weeks is awesome! So glad you and your family enjoy this recipe so much! 🙂
Delicious! I did not have heavy cream, so I used half and half instead. Thank you for the tasty crock pot recipe!!
We’re so glad you enjoyed this, Billie!
This is in my crock pot right now, and I have been taste testing! It is sooooo yummy! It is my first try at an Indian dish, and it is delicious! It was very easy to prepare, and I know my family is going to love it!
We hope you and your family enjoy this one, Michele!
I am always so happy with your recipes. Everything I have ever made from you has been damn delicious. This recipe was delicious and I hate it when people manipulate the original. The only thing I did differently from you was I added a couple tablespoons of butter – a suggestion from a commenter. I will be making this over and over. Thank you!!
I’m always impressed by the simplicity and flavour of your recipes, and I’m impressed as ever with this one (who knew it was so simple???) but for me it did lack a step – or, more specifically, an ingredient! When I tasted it after following the directions as written, thr seasoning was excellent, but it lacked the richness of butter chicken that I love so much. I wound up adding 3 tbsp unsalted butter incrimentally, as well as a splash of extra cream and a couple tbsp yogurt (you know, since it was in the fridge and I was already altering…). I didn’t quite find it spicy enough after all the additions, so I popped in some harissa paste and I’m delighted by the end result now!
Still love the recipe, it’s just the first I’ve felt the need to alter to my tastes.
I do wonder, do you make your own garam masala, or buy it? I make mine, and it already has turmeric and ginger in it. Not that extra turmeric or ginger ever hurt anyone! And the flavour of this recipe speaks to that, even if it didn’t have quite the texture and, I guess fattiness, that I wanted.
Absolutely! I use store-bought garam masala but I’m all about adding more butter and cream, Alex! 🙂
What brand of yellow curry powder do you use? Thanks!
I used an organic one from Whole Foods, but any brand should work just fine, Judy! 🙂