Simple & Healthy Crockpot Butter Chicken
Why is it that I always forget about my crockpot? It’s almost impossible to screw up a recipe, it usually takes under 10 minutes to prep, and you can go on about your day and come home to the most beautiful smell of rich simmering juices, and fall off your fork tender meats. It really is a huge lift off your shoulders when you want to have a nice home-cooked meal at the end of the day, but don’t have enough time to prepare it. Since I am on a health kick lately, and really trying to plan out my meals better, I decided it was finally time to whip my crockpot out and give it a go.
One of my all-time favorite types of food to cook, even though I don’t often get a chance to because of the complexity of its ingredients, is Indian (you may remember my melt in your mouth lamb curry recipe here). The smells are so vibrant, the food is so colorful and rich, and if you know how to, you can always touch up the recipe to make it healthy and work for your diet or lifestyle. I am ashamed to say, I never tried Indian food until a couple of years ago (thank you The Hundred-Foot Journey). Immediately after seeing that movie (3 times in theaters), the beauty of this culture and all of the foods and spices struck me, and ever since then I have been hooked :).
When I made this recipe for butter chicken, it was “football Sunday”, and I knew if I wanted a home-cooked, healthy meal, I would have to get it prepped and done before I went over to my boyfriend’s house for the day. So I woke up, got all of the ingredients into the crockpot, left, and came home about 7 hours later to a house oozing with delicious smells – the aromatic and intense flavors of the Indian spices, but not overpowering in any way, oh my gosh it smelled like heaven. I had a really hard time not pouring all the sauce over my rice and devouring it before I was able to take some to him and his friends.
The beauty of this dish is not only that it takes about 10 minutes to prep, but it’s really healthy! The flavors are also much more mild and subtle than other Indian dishes, which I liked a lot, but you always have the option to add more spice.
Ingredients
- 1 ½ lbs. boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into bite size pieces
- 1 sweet yellow onion, minced
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tbsp. minced fresh ginger (I used a mandolin to dice)
- 2 tsp. curry powder
- 2 tbsp. garam masala
- 1 tsp. turmeric
- 1 tsp. cayenne pepper (adjust to taste)
- 1/4 tsp. ground cardamom
- 1/4 tsp. cumin
- 1/2 tsp. sea salt
- 1, 6 oz. can tomato paste
- 1, 14 oz. can coconut milk
- ½ cup non-fat plain Greek yogurt
- 4 tbsp. heavy cream
- 1.5 tbsp. butter
- 1 Jalapeno, seeded
- 1 green bell pepper, cut roughly into 1" pieces
- 1/4 cup cilantro, diced
- 1 cup cooked white rice
Instructions
- Combine yogurt, heavy cream, coconut milk, and tomato paste. Add in the remainder of the ingredients (except cilantro), and stir well. Place the mixture into the crockpot, turn heat to low, and set the timer to 6-7 hours, or high for 4 hours. It's as easy as that! Serve over rice, and top with cilantro. Enjoy!
Adapted slightly from Half Baked Harvest.
This was so simple to make and so good. Make extra for leftovers or you will wish you had!!!
Haha, thank you Eli!!!! Can’t wait to see what we come up with for camping recipes this weekend!
It’s too bad the recipe never came up with all the marketing for local retailers and where to get ingredients. I simply wanted the recipe. Very frustrating to click on something so many times just to get some other garbage. I don’t have time for that
Hey Amy! My plugin wasn’t working which is why the recipe didn’t come up. It’s working now!
By any chance were you trying to access by phone. Happened to me every time. I went to my computer and when I clicked on the recipe it said “enable”, clicked on that and the recipe came right up. Hope that helps.
Does not say how many it serves. The whole football team?
It serves 4-6!
You do not say how many the recipe serves. The whole football team perhaps.
is there a way to modify this for a pressure cooker??
For sure!!!! I would just research how people make it in a pressure cooker. From my experience you can cook high 10 minutes with all the ingredients except for the coconut milk, then add it in, and cook another 10 minutes.
This is something my Sister-in-law would love . She probably already has the recipe but I’m sending it to her . Thanks , Derrell
Could I use light sour cream instead of yogurt (which I do not like)? If so, does it change the amounts of the cream, milk and/or butter?
Yes you can substitute that! I wouldn’t adjust anything else if you make this change. Thanks!
The last item on the ingredient list is 1 cup cooked white rice. Do you add that to the crock pot with all the other ingredients (except cilantro) or is that the rice that you serve the butter chicken over?
Simply serve the butter chicken over the cooked rice! Thanks!
and do you mince the jalapeno?
Yes!
Could I make this with lamb or beef?
You can make it with lamb or beef as well – that would be great also!
Do you have to brown chicken first or put it in croc pot raw?
Nope, just throw it all in raw!
I want to try this! I forget my crockpot size, what minimum size would this recipe fit?
Hmmm.. I have a 6 qt. crockpot and it fills it about 3/4 of the way!
Do you have nutritional information on this recipe? How much is a serving?
I don’t have nutritional info, but I would say this makes about 6 servings! If you plug it into my fitness pal it should give you the nutrition info!
What can I use instead of cream in this recipe? Cream isn’t a staple in our house,,,,
Hi! I would just omit the cream and add a touch more yogurt and coconut milk to thicken!
Might have been better to sauté the onion first. It cooked for 8 hours and the onion was still crunchy. However, flavour was great.
Perhaps a slow cooker issue? Onion never stays crunchy in mine and it’s years and years old but also cooks a bit hot.
This dish has been my go-to for years when it’s dad’s night to cook. I’ve shared this with so many friends because it’s so easy and delicious. Can you recommend any other rotation-worthy recipes for a dad that can barely boil water? Would love to impress the gang with something new! Thanks
Wow – thank you for the kind words! I’m so glad you love it! I would try my brisket in the pressure cooker, sriracha chicken, and my lamb chops!
Hi hi wondering how I avoid my chicken from becoming shredded and stringy in my slow cooker? Any advice would be much appreciated!
Thanks, Kiran