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+ servings
5 from 25 votes

Slow Cooker Butter Chicken

Make this Slow Cooker Butter Chicken for a flavorful dinner that your whole family will love! It's deliciously spiced (but not hot spicy!), super creamy, comforting, and the chicken is so tender and juicy!
Author Diana
Servings 4 servings
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 45 minutes

Equipment

  • 4-quart Slow Cooker

Ingredients

  • 5 cloves garlic minced
  • 2 tablespoons fresh ginger grated
  • 16-oz (450g) tomato sauce or passata
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 2 teaspoons garam masala click for recipe
  • 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
  • 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
  • ½ teaspoon chili powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon granulated sugar or honey
  • 2 lb (900g) chicken thighs
  • 3 tablespoons unsalted butter cut into small cubes
  • ½ cup (120ml) heavy whipping cream double cream in the UK
  • 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, mint, or cilantro for garnish

Instructions

  • To the slow cooker, add ginger, garlic, tomato sauce, spices, salt and sugar. Give everything a good stir, then add the chicken thighs and coat them in the sauce.
  • Scatter the butter all over the top, cover and cook on HIGH for 1.5-2 hours, or on LOW for 4-6 hours. The chicken is done when its internal temperature reaches 165°F with an instant read thermometer.
  • Remove the chicken, and place on a cutting board to cool enough to be handled.
  • Stir in the heavy cream in the sauce, and whisk until the sauce is creamy.
  • Cut the chicken into bite size pieces, and return to the sauce.
  • Serve with basmati rice and naan bread, garnish with fresh parsley, mint, or cilantro.

Video

Notes

  1. I used a 4-quart Crockpot for this recipe. It's a cheap Crockpot that I use when I make smaller amounts of food. If I was to make a whole chicken or large meat in the slow cooker, I'd use my 6-quart Crockpot instead.
  2. Do not add water, the chicken will produce enough liquid for the sauce. Adding liquid will make the sauce too thin.
  3. Tomato sauce can be substituted with Passata, or a can of plain tomatoes that are blended and sieved.
  4. Traditionally, a little bit of sugar is added to the sauce to make it sweeter. I personally don’t add any sugar to my butter chicken, and it tastes great (could be the tomato sauce that I use being not acidic). But feel free to add 1 teaspoon of granulated or brown sugar to the sauce before cooking.
  5. If you don’t have fresh ginger available, you can use ½ teaspoon of ground ginger instead.
  6. This dish is medium spicy (heat), so if you’re feeding children then I recommend that you leave the chili powder out.
  7. You can make your own garam masala mix at home. I have the recipe on my website. Making your homemade seasonings at home is much cheaper, and healthier as store-bought seasonings usually contain added sugar. If you can’t make it at home, you can buy garam masala from Amazon.
  8. You can substitute heavy cream with half and half, or coconut milk for a non-dairy option. Keep in mind that the sauce won’t be as creamy as if you use heavy cream.
  9. Do not add the cream before cooking as it might separate.
  10. If you double the ingredients, do not adjust the cooking time.
  11. Garnish with fresh herbs before serving. The recommended herbs for garnish are fresh cilantro, mint leaves, and parsley.
  12. Serve with Instant Pot basmati or brown rice, and/or fresh naan.
  13. For a vegan version of this dish, check out my vegan cauliflower butter chicken recipe.
  14. You can make this in the Instant Pot if you like, find my Instant Pot butter chicken recipe here. It's a very popular recipe with hundreds of great reviews!

Nutrition

Calories: 580kcal | Carbohydrates: 11g | Protein: 40g | Fat: 58g | Saturated Fat: 23g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 286mg | Sodium: 1369mg | Potassium: 933mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 1695IU | Vitamin C: 10mg | Calcium: 70mg | Iron: 3mg