I put this recipe together after seeing Tieghan’s Butter Chicken on Pinterest and combining it with a recipe I learned from Suneeta Vaswani back in 2000. While doing research, I found the lovely eCurry site by Soma and her family in West Bengal, India—a comprehensive resource for learning more about Indian Cuisine.
This is a slow cooker recipe with some preparatory cooking on the stovetop. I do it to develop the flavor in the onions, tomato paste, garlic, ginger, and spices. Tieghan’s recipe skips that step, so I’m sure it would be fine to put it all in the pot and go about your day!
from the RiPE archives, February 2015
Slow Cooker Butter Chicken
makes 6–8 servings
Ingredients
- 8–12 bone-in chicken thighs, skin and excess fat removed
- 2 tablespoons ghee or butter
- 1 yellow onion, sliced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced and mashed with 1 teaspoon salt
- 2-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and minced or grated on a microplane
- 4 green cardamom pods (remove husk, crush dark seeds)
- 2 teaspoons garam masala
- 2 teaspoons curry powder
- 1 teaspoon turmeric, ground
- ½–1 teaspoon cayenne pepper, ground
- 6 ounce can tomato paste
- 13–14 ounce can full-fat coconut milk Chaokoh is the best
- 7–8 ounce container Greek yogurt 2% Fage
- ¼ cup heavy cream
Serve with rice, naan, parsley or cilantro, and raita made with cucumber
Instructions
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Melt ghee in stove-top safe slow cooker insert set on stovetop, medium heat. (Or use sauté pan through next two steps then transfer to slow cooker/crock pot.) Add onions and cook for 5 minutes to soften, stirring now and then. Add garlic, ginger, cardamom seeds, garam masala, curry powder, turmeric, and cayenne. Stir and cook for a minute then add the tomato paste and cook for another minute or so.
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Add the coconut milk and yogurt. Add chicken thighs, transfer slow cooker insert to slow cooker, and cook on High 4 hours. When chicken is cooked, add the cream and allow it to gently heat. Sprinkle with cilantro or parsley leaves and serve with naan and raita.
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You can also make this in the oven, use a Dutch-oven or other large, covered casserole. Cook the onions as above and optionally brown the chicken thighs. Add spices and other ingredients as above and place in preheated 350° oven for about an hour. Remove pot from oven and add cream. Cover the pot and let rest for a few minutes.
Amy’s Kitchen Coach Tips
- I like slow cooking with the bone-in thighs and think it provides more depth to the flavors, but you can certainly use boneless chicken, and even cut into bite-sized pieces – it’s all just a matter of preference. If you do go with the bones, it causes no problem at all at dinner time; the chicken is so tender, it falls off the bone with a touch of your fork.
- Simple raita: stir some small diced cucumber into plain yogurt with a pinch of salt and squeeze of lemon juice.
- I highly recommend Penzeys curry powders. I splurge on the bright yellow Maharajah which has a mild, rich flavor without much heat – turmeric, fennugreek, cinnamon and saffron are major players. I also keep Vindaloo on hand, for when I want more spicy heat. Try some and see what you like.
