Slow Cooker Butter Chicken is a true family favorite recipe that you will make again and again. Delicious flavors and simple prep make this butter chicken perfect for dinner on busy nights!
I don’t know about you but I love this time of year. It’s fun to see the kids all excited about heading back to school and I love getting our family back into a routine again. On the other hand, with all the extra activities, it takes a little planning on my part to make sure we have dinner on the table. Thank goodness, once again, for my slow cooker! Of all of the slow cooker chicken recipes on my site, I love this recipe for Slow Cooker Butter Chicken because it’s easy to put together in the morning (or even the day before) and it turns out delicious every time. It’s a staple in our house not only because it’s easy, but because everybody loves it! I often make a double batch and the leftovers disappear for lunch the next day!
What you need to know about Slow Cooker Butter Chicken:
- This dish is just my take on a classic food and the version I serve to my family. Feel free to adjust the seasonings to make it your own!
- It’s not spicy at all. If you’d like some spice, go for it by adding some cayenne pepper or red pepper flakes.
- To make it vegetarian, you can swap out the chicken for chickpeas!
MY LATEST VIDEOSWhy I love butter chicken:
- Making slow cooker chicken breast can seem boring, so aren’t we all always looking for new recipes to cook chicken? Chicken doesn’t have to be boring! In fact, if you haven’t tried butter chicken, you are in for anything but boring chicken!
- Even my picky 5 year old devours it. You can make it a tad spicy or keep it mild. It’s rich and creamy and made with coconut milk and a little cream added at the end for that something extra.
- It’s a no prep dish, meaning nothing has to be cooked ahead of time. Just toss in the slow cooker for a delicious meal at the end of the day.
Ingredients you need to make this butter chicken sauce:
And if you don’t love curry flavors, I’ll bet you’ll love this Slow Cooker Lemon Chicken recipe instead.
- 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 1/2 sweet yellow onion diced
- 3 teaspoons jarred minced garlic
- 1 tablespoon red curry paste
- 2 teaspoons curry powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon turmeric
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 14.5 oz can coconut milk
- 6 oz can tomato paste
- 1/2 cup heavy cream for later
- 2 cups Basmati Rice
- Add all ingredients except cream and rice into slow cooker and stir to combine
- Cover and cook on high for 3-4 hours or low for 6-8
- Stir in heavy cream and return cover to let it heat through while you make the rice
- Cook rice according to package directions
- Serve rice topped with chicken and with a side of naan if desired
This was great. My sauce seemed too wet. Any tips?
It could possibly be from the chicken, some chicken is injected with saline which will cause it to give off more water during cooking. Was your chicken thawed before adding it? Check the label and see if it indicates if a solution was added. If that’s not it and you just prefer a thicker sauce, I would increase the chicken or decrease the coconut milk a bit.
do you cut the chicken into bite size pieces before or after cooking
before… I will get that added. Thanks!
Where’s the butter or did I miss it?
The ‘butter’ in the gravy used to be actually butter. Not the salted off-the-shelf variety, but fresh white butter made out of the thick cream that rises to the top of buffalo milk after boiling and cooling. This butter, added to the onion-tomato based gravy late in the process, made the gravy smooth and creamy (and less tart). Remember, till the hullaballoo about cholesterol started, butter was (and still is, in some parts of the world) a very healthy food.
https://www.quora.com/Indian-Cuisine-and-Food-Why-is-butter-chicken-called-butter-chicken
Very bland, had hardly any flavour. I won’t bother making this again.
Wow, no flavor is not a comment I usually hear in regards to this recipe. What kinds of spices do you usually enjoy? With all the curry and ginger most people find this quite flavorful. Did you add some extra spices as suggested since you enjoy things that are more likely really spicy?
Hi Jennifer! Thanks for the great recipe! What do you use to make it spicy?
Hi CraShanta! You could add some red pepper flakes and/or cayenne pepper to make it spicy!
No salt????
I recommend just adding a little to your taste.
Is that parsley or cilantro over the top? That is not listed in the recipe.
Just a little cilantro for garnish 🙂
I’m very disappointed with this recipe – followed it exactly and it looked nothing like the picture. Not near enough sauce and not much flavour 🙁
So sorry you didn’t enjoy it. I’m trying to image why it wouldn’t have had enough sauce with the amount of liquid that gets added, but I’m stumped. I always feel like our is swimming in sauce. I’ll add a note to the recipe that it also makes sense to add a little salt to taste.
When you refer to tomato paste… Is that like passata? No tinned tomato paste here….. Thanks
I believe that passata is much thinner than tomato paste? If you don’t have the paste available you might try about 1/4 cup tomato sauce although it will thin out your sauce just a bit.
I used a tin of tomato purée 🙂
Better late than never: I looked up and down the “sauce” aisle last week trying to find “tomato puree”
As I normally do I read the label, ingredients “tomato paste, water.” NOT what I remember as puree but that was half a century ago.
I’m curious what changes you make to make it more mild or more spicy? I prefer mild myself and want to make sure it doesn’t turn out too spicy for me. Also, have you ever tried adding chickpeas?
Ho Chelsea! It’s not really spicy as is, but you could tone it down a little by reducing spices. If you want more spice I recommend some red pepper flakes. This sauce is delicious with chickpeas, so they would be a great addition or you could also swap out the chicken if desired.
Could you freeze this if you made a large batch?
Yes! It freezes very well!
What kind of curry powder do you use?
I just use the McCormick brand!
I Just had 2 teeth pulled and I’m making this dish for the 3rd time. The dentist said I should eat soup and this was the closest thing to soup that I could think of. For the taste to be up to your standard’s just add more spices accordingly.
So glad you like it, Shawnell. Hope your teeth feel better soon!
Hi – I’m going to try this one today.. 2 questions please 🙂 If I want to add some vegetables to the meal which ones would you suggest? and I like the sauce to be a on the thicker side, how could I achieve this? would a cornflour slurry towards the end change the taste?
Hi Kirsty! To thicken, yes you could do the cornstarch/flour slurry. I’m thinking maybe using coconut creme instead of milk may work? But I haven’t tested it yet to say for sure. For veggies I would say peas for sure! Other options would be carrots, corn, squash or potatoes. Add them in at various points depending on how quickly they would cook.
Is the coconut milk required? Or can it be replaced? (I’m not a huge fan of coconut milk) Thanks in advance 🙂
There are some recipes that have used homemade cashew milk, but we haven’t tried this so I can’t guarantee how it would turn out.
Love this recipe!! I make it all the time. I also serve mine atop basmati rice and a side of naan. Makes great leftovers, too. Yum!
I’m so glad you enjoy the recipe, Sara! Thanks for letting us know!
Perhaps a dumb question. Did you thaw the chicken or put it in frozen?
Not at all! You should always thaw your meat before adding to slow cooker for food safety purposes. Better safe than sorry (and sick!).
Delicious, delicious, delicious! I’ve made this several times now and it’s a family favourite – even my 1 year-old son loves it, thank you for posting! I like to pop all of the ingredients (minus the rice and cream) into the casserole bowl of the slow cooker and store it in the fridge overnight to save time in the morning and more importantly to let the flavours really work into the chicken. Lovely recipe, thanks again for sharing x
Has anyone tried this without the heavy cream? We’re trying to cut calories where we can, and I’m thinking this might be tasty without the heavy cream?
Plain Greek yogurt works well.
My daughter and I are not fans of curry so I have not experimented with it or any different kinds). Is this very curry smelling/tasting. Sorry I don’t know terminology. It looks amazing and would love to try it but don’t want to waste the ingredients.
It definitely has a curry flavor to it, and the smell is fairly strong. If you want to try an Indian flavor inspired dish, I wonder if you might like this Slow Cooker Tikka Masala a bit better? It doesn’t have any curry. Let me know what you end up trying!!
Thank you. I appreciate it.
This was great! Thank you for sharing. My husband added more spice to his after it was done but was down but Iiked it just the way it is!
Thanks Jayna!
Have made this several times since discovering it on Pinterest. It’s really flavorful and delicious! Getting ready to make it again today!
That’s awesome Deb! So glad you’ve enjoyed it!!
Just made this and I sautéed onion, capsicum, garlic and a sprinkle of cayenne pepper and a dash of chilli flakes to infuse the flavours, smells great looks great can’t wait to try it 😊
Made this last night. Used a different brand of red curry paste and added an extra spoonful which added a bit of spice. Perfect for us. Forgot to add heavy cream at the end but no problem it’s still delicious. Thank you for this recipe!
Cooked in low setting.
I noticed you show how many servings this makes, but you don’t specify a serving size. Would you be so kind as to add that?
Thank you.
I’m so sorry, for some reason I don’t have that documented exactly (it can vary too based on several factors) but next time I make this I will get it updated!
Thanks, Jennifer!
It was good, but it definitely required mixing with the rice! So, so rich!
Some comments say that they used curry paste and others say that they used curry powder. Which one do you feel is a better fit for this dish?
I actually use both in this recipe. They are very different and can’t be substituted for each other, so I would recommend both.
We enjoyed this curry very much. I added carrots, peas and baby spinach to make a real meal of it. The sauce was not very thick but was ideal to mix with the rice. I used both chicken breast and thigh fillets just to compare them, the breast was a little dryer than the thigh but not greatly.
Gingerly going to attempt to make this.. mixed reviews.. also- the only red curry paste is THAI? Is that what you are meaning??
Yes! That should be it.
Just finished eating! Absolutely loved this recipe! So did my partner. I used a table spoon of curry powder because I like spices and it was delicious! Thanks!
Thanks Jessye! So glad you both loved it!
Great recipe thanks for sharing. I just made it for dinner. My kids loved it. I didn’t have red curry paste but I did follow the directions on how to make red curry paste from scratch and made my own. It was really nice and I will sure make it again. Thanks.
Followed this recipe to the letter and used the slow cooker on high, but after 2 hours, the liquid all but boiled off and the chicken breasts burned a bit to the bottom, even though I stirred a few times in between. I’m guessing cooking on low for longer creates better results.
sounds like your slow cooker may be running hot (some do). Have you done a water test to check the temp? That may help going forward to know! Sounds like the slow setting may work better for you.
Hi, I’m wondering if you know how this would turn out with a non-dairy alternative for the heavy cream? I unfortunately can’t have dairy but this recipe looks delicious! Perhaps an almond milk or more coconut milk? Thanks!
Hi Emily! I would just swap it out for additional unsweetened coconut milk!
Thanks! 🙂
Hi Emily! My whole falimy enjoyed your recipe! It was so easy for me to make too. Thank you so much! Delicious!
Awesome! Thanks Shelly!
Hi! Just wondering if this could be made FROM frozen if the ingredients were combined in a container? Thanks!
While you can prep ahead and freeze, I don’t recommend cooking from frozen in the slow cooker. For best food safety you will want to thaw first before slow cooking.
when you say red curry paste would thai red curry paste be ok
yes, that’s perfect.
thankyou
Excellent recipe. Thank you for sharing! I made this for dinner tonight for my husband who generally dislikes anything curry. He was licking his plate clean! I added a teaspoon of crushed red pepper and an extra 1/2 teaspoon of salt for our preference, but otherwise followed the recipe exactly. We’re adding this into our regular rotation. Thanks again!
Awesome! Thank you so much!
Hi! I’m very excited to try this recipe! I do like things to be a little spicy though, how much chilly powder would you recommend adding for a little spice? I would hate to guess and mess it up!
I would start with about 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper and then you can add a pinch more at a time and taste until you get it just right after cooking.
I made this two weeks ago and myself and one of my kids (the other one is simply going vegetarian without realizing it yet) loved it. My husband is a vegetarian and is allergic to curry so we don don’t have it in the house. I took that out and added some Costa Rican achiote, a red paste from natural seeds. Tonight I ma making it again!
I wanted to make this vegetarian so I cut up frozen Hempe, which is made from chickpeas. I also added carrots, peppers and celery. It was delicious.
This was delish!! I modified a bit. Sautéed the onions in a little butter with the tomato paste spices garlic ginger and added cayenne and red pepper flakes because we like spice. Then I added to the slow cooker with chicken and coconut milk. Shredded the chicken at the end and added to rice. We have left overs so I’ll make roti to have with it again. Thank you!!
An outstanding recipie!! Couldn’t get red curry paste near me, so used Trader Joe’s red curry sauce in a bottle and then used half the spices listed but the entire can of coconut milk. I also took the lid off for last 40 mins or so to thicken up. Crazy good dinner, thank you SO much.
Awesome! Thank you!