Easy Crockpot Butter Chicken
The best ever slow cooker chicken curry! This version has 10 ingredients and tastes just like your favorite Indian takeout.
Ingredients
- 2 lbs chicken thighs cut into 2-inch pieces
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 2 teaspoons chili powder
- 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
- 1 teaspoon garam masala
- 1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt 1 teaspoon if using table salt
- 15 ounces tomato sauce 1 can, be sure it’s sauce and not puree
- ¾ cup heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 2 tablespoons butter
- Cilantro leaves and white rice or naan optional, for serving
Instructions
- Place the chicken in the slow cooker with salt, sugar, spices, and tomato sauce. Cover with the lid and cook on HIGH for 3 hours or LOW for 6 hours.
- Whisk together the cornstarch and heavy cream. After the initial cooking time, pour in the heavy cream mixture and stir to combine. Return the lid to the slow cooker and cook for 30 minutes more on HIGH or 45 minutes more on LOW to thicken the sauce.
- After the gravy has thickened, swirl the butter into the, well, butter chicken.
- Taste the butter chicken and add more salt if you would like to – at least a pinch or two at the end of the cooking process can brighten up the dish considerably.
- Serve butter chicken over rice, with naan for dipping, and with cilantro leaves for topping if you’d like. YUM.
Notes
Garam Masala is a spice blend that, frankly, makes Indian food taste Indian. If you don’t have any on hand, it’s a great ingredient to buy for curries or marinades for meat (with some salt and olive oil). I find it at almost every grocery store or online.
I have made this with chicken thighs and chicken breasts, and both are delicious. Cutting the chicken in pieces before it goes into the curry ensures that the chicken stays together while becoming very tender in the slow cooker.
Leftover are really, really good of this butter chicken and reheat nicely in the microwave.
Tried this recipe?Let me know how it was!