Slow cooker butter chicken

Sam's favourite indian meal is butter chicken, and he judges an indian restaurant based on this dish.


This recipe is adapted from the Australian Women's Weekly. It is made in the slow cooker, which I love. 

I increased the spice amounts for more flavour - it would be extremely mild without doing this. The recipe also called for pouring cream, but I use thickened cream. Sam likes the sauce to be thick and creamy. I remove the lid from the slow cooker about 45 mins before serving. This helps to reduce the sauce down a bit, and thicken it even more.

Butter chicken

10-12 chicken thigh cutlets, skin removed
2 tbs lemon juice
1 tbs chilli powder
3/4-1 cup Greek-style yogurt (I use the full cup)
25g ginger, grated
2 tbs garam masala
45g butter
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 medium onion, chopped finely
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tbs ground coriander
1 tbs ground cumin
1 tbs sweet paprika
2 tablespoons tomato paste
410g can tomato puree
1/2 cup chicken stock
1 tbs honey

1 tbs sugar or stevia - I use stevia

1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/3 cup thickened cream
1/2 cup loosely packed fresh coriander leaves to garnish (optional)

Place the chicken, juice and chilli powder in a large bowl. Stir and cover. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Remove from fridge and stir in the yogurt, ginger and the garam masala.

My slow cooker has a browning function. If you have this, set the slow cooker to the browning function (150 degrees C) and heat the butter and oil. Cook the chicken until browned all over (you may have to do this in batches - I could do all the chicken at once in my slow cooker). Add the onion and garlic to the slow cooker and cook, stirring, until the onion softens. Add the remaining ground spices and stir until fragrant. Remove from heat; stir in tomato paste, puree, stock, sugar, honey and cinnamon. Cook, covered, on low, for 4 hours. 

Alternatively you can use a frying pan to brown the chicken. Once done, remove chicken and add the onion and garlic, stirring until cooked. Then add the remaining ground spices; cook, stirring, until fragrant. Remove from heat; stir in tomato paste, puree, stock, sugar, honey and cinnamon before adding everything to the slow cooker.

The chicken should be lovely and tender. It will have broken down some during the cooking process - you  can roughly shred it before serving if desired. Serve with naan bread and rice.

Notes

You can use chicken breast instead of chicken thigh, but the meat won't be as tender as the breast is a leaner cut.

Don't allow the chicken to sit in the lemon and chilli marinade for too long prior to cooking. See why, here.

If you are short on time, skip marinating the chicken altogether. Just add the lemon and chilli to the chicken, stir to coat, then add the yogurt, ginger and garam masala and start cooking.