If you want a fix it and forget it meal with a little kick then you have to whip up this Slow Cooker Indian Butter Chicken, tasty, easy and absolutely delicious.
I love chicken in all forms, it is one of the meats that I eat the most and that we serve our family. We mix it up now and then with others but chicken is our go to.
This Slow Cooker Indian Butter Chicken is one of our favorite dinner recipes. We learned to cook it a few years ago from a friend of ours and we haven’g looked back.
It is super easy to whip up and has a little kick which we like, it’s not too spicy where our kids won’t eat it so that is one of the best things about this dish.
Some of our favorite chicken recipes we have on our site include Baked Caprese Chicken, Baked Cheesy Chicken and Chicken Fried Chicken.
WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
- Making this in the slow cooker really save time and energy.
- It goes great with rice or naan bread depending on your favorite way of eating it.
- It has a little spice but not too much to overpower anything.
WHAT IS INDIAN BUTTER CHICKEN?
Butter Chicken originates from India and is also known as Murg Makhani. It is renascent of Chicken Tikki Masala but Tikki Masala has more forms of spice where as Butter Chicken is milder and sweeter and has a butter flavored sauce.
There are still spices in the Butter Chicken they are just toned down a bit from other Indian recipes where it makes it a nice smooth dish that is absolutely irresistible.
This is one of those recipes that we really like to whip up, we keep a lot of different spice in our cabinet because we do like to cook a lot of different ethnic dishes.
So if you are that person who likes to experiment in your kitchen it is always good to keep a variety of spices on hand so you know you have it when you come across a recipe like this.
Once you make this recipe, I can almost guarantee you that you will be making it over and over again. I mean you hear the words butter and chicken how can you resist?
I know that this recipe is one that we cannot resist and I’m so happy that we have been able to experiment cooking from different cultures in our house.
It is really important to me that my kids can experience different food from around the world from home.
HOW TO MAKE INDIAN BUTTER CHICKEN, STEP BY STEP:
- Place the cubed chicken into the bottom of your slow cooker.
- Spread the diced onion and garlic.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the broth, tomato sauce, curry, sugar, garam masala, turmeric, salt, pepper and ginger until well combined. Set aside.
- Pour your mixed sauce over the chicken and onions.
- Cover and cook on low heat for 4-5 hours, or until the internal temperature of the chicken reaches 165 degrees. (High heat cook time is 2-3 hours).
- Once the butter chicken has finished cooking, stir in the yogurt or cream and mix well. Adjust salt and pepper to taste and serve over jasmine rice or with a side of warm naan bread. Top with fresh cilantro or parsley.
HOW TO STORE:
As you all know chicken is one food that does need to be refrigerated. To store this recipe for later consumption place in an airtight container or ziptop bag and place in the refrigerator, this should last 3-4 days.
Butter Chicken can also be frozen. Cook and cool all the way and place in a freezer bag and it should store for find for up to 3 months.
To reheat from frozen, take out of the freezer and let defrost in the refrigerator, we like to reheat on the stove so we just place it in a pan and cook until warmed through.
WHAT TO SERVE THIS WITH:
Normally Indian Butter Chicken is served with rice or naan bread, that is usually what we serve it with, one or both.
Some other things you can do is noodles, we have used egg nodules or even asian noddles for this recipe since the sauce is there.
We don’t serve it often over noodles, but my kids prefer noodles to rice so it is just something that we do sometimes.
In all honesty this is such a simple dish, we like to make it in the slow cooker because we prefer meals, especially during school time that are ready when dinner time rolls around.
This one especially, it feeds our whole family and we never have any leftovers which is nice, even know I do love me some leftovers.
TIPS AND TRICKS:
- We used a 6qt slow cooker for this recipe.
- You can easily double this to feed a larger crowd for dinner parties, it still should all fit in the same size slow cooker.
- Leave the lid off for the last 30 minutes of cooking time to get a thicker sauce if you’d like.
- This can be frozen, see my storage tips above.
- We use jasmine rice to serve with this but you can serve it with any rice that you like.
- Top with parsley or cilantro, we like both.
If you want a different but absolutely tasty recipe that you can just throw together in the slow cooker then you need to whip up this Slow Cooker Indian Butter Chicken!
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Slow Cooker Indian Butter Chicken
Ingredients
- 2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts cubed
- 1 medium onion diced
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 1/2 cup chicken or vegetable broth
- 1 cup tomato sauce
- 2 tsp curry powder
- 1 tsp brown sugar
- 1 tsp garam masala
- 1 tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tsp coarse salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1/4 tsp ground ginger
- 3/4 cup plain yogurt or 1⁄2 cup heavy cream
- Freshly chopped cilantro or parsley for garnish
- Cooked jasmine rice or naan bread for serving
Instructions
- Place the cubed chicken into the bottom of your slow cooker.
- Spread the diced onion and garlic.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the broth, tomato sauce, curry, sugar, garam masala, turmeric, salt, pepper and ginger until well combined. Set aside.
- Pour your mixed sauce over the chicken and onions.
- Cover and cook on low heat for 4-5 hours, or until the internal temperature of the chicken reaches 165 degrees. (High heat cook time is 2-3 hours).
- Once the butter chicken has finished cooking, stir in the yogurt or cream and mix well. Adjust
- salt and pepper to taste and serve over jasmine rice or with a side of warm naan bread. Top
- with fresh cilantro or parsley.
Notes
- Nutritional value is calculated without the rice or naan bread.
- We used a 6qt slow cooker for this recipe.
- You can easily double this to feed a larger crowd for dinner parties, it still should all fit in the same size slow cooker.
- You can leave the lid off for the last 30 minutes of cooking time to get a thicker sauce if you'd like.
- This can be frozen, see my storage tips above.
- We use jasmine rice to serve with this but you can serve it with any rice that you like.
- You can top with parsley or cilantro, we like both.
Nutrition
Tornadough Alli is not a nutritionist or dietitian, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and nutritional value is important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories and values can vary depending on which brands were used.
Michele Wolosyn
Love love love this recipe! I made it in the Instant Pot (cooked 7 minutes, 3 minutes NR, then QR) and it turned out amazingly. Highly recommend this one.
Michele Wolosyn
I kinda messed up. Had plans to make this today for dinner but got sidetracked (peeling, cutting and freezing 25 pounds of apples) and forgot to start this in the crock. I decided to make it in the Instant Pot. I cooked for 7 minutes, 3 minutes natural release then QR the rest of the way. PERECT! I served with Naan bread and it’s amazing. I will definitely be making this again. Thank you!