Using cupboard ingredients, slow cooker butter chicken has all the rich, creamy tastes you’d want from your dearest Indian place.
This dish for the chicken dinner we’re about to present isn’t your typical one! It’s even simpler to make Indian butter chicken in a slow cooker, and after trying it, you’d like to make slow cooker Tikka Masala chicken or easy Tandoori chicken later.
When you’re in a hurry but also in the desire for something different, slow cooker Indian butter chicken seems to be the ideal dish to create. You’ll frequently discover that the seasonings you require are special, pricey, and difficult to locate while preparing Asian or Indian foods.
This dish creates layers of rich, authentic flavor without having to go for difficult-to-find ingredients by combining cupboard staples like paprika, cumin, cayenne, and cinnamon with simple ingredients such as fresh cream, canned tomato sauce, cilantro, and jalapeño.
As a main meal, this delectable Indian recipe could be placed over steamed rice. For a quick and delicious Indian meal, serve with Saag Paneer, Indian Raita, and easy vegetable Biryani. And if you’re searching for a fantastic Naan to accompany it, take a look at, say, Domestic Superhero’s homemade Naan.
Let’s Unveil All About Butter Chicken
An Indian meal known as butter Chicken, also known as Murgh Makhani, is prepared of chicken that has been marinated and rendered tender with yogurt and spices. It’s then prepared and served with something like a tomato-based curry sauce that is creamy and mildly spicy hot. Chicken Tikka Masala, which similarly employs a creamy sauce with spices and tomatoes, is comparable to butter chicken.
This slow cooker recipe makes it simple to cook the chicken and sauce at the same time rather than in two processes because butter chicken doesn’t often contain the onions and tomatoes found in Tikka Masala sauce.
Key Ingredients
- Chicken: For the slow cooker butter chicken, use a high-quality boneless, skinless chicken breast. We advise against using chicken breasts in slow cooker dishes because they can overcook. Your chicken will stay tender and moist thanks to the creamy butter sauce and yogurt marinade.
- Yogurt marinade: You’ll marinate the chicken in a concoction of yogurt, cumin, lemon juice, cayenne, cinnamon, ginger, salt, and black pepper to tenderize it overnight. The chicken gets a ton of moisture and flavor from this.
- Butter sauce: The chicken will be cooked gently in a creamy sauce composed of butter, salt, jalapeños, garlic, paprika, tomato sauce, heavy cream, and cumin after the marinade has been discarded. To complete and thicken the sauce, add a cornstarch batter at the end of cooking. Garnish with vibrant, fresh cilantro before serving.
How to Prepare Indian Butter Chicken in a Slow Cooker
- In addition to whole chicken breasts, the yogurt, cumin, lemon juice, cayenne, cinnamon, ginger, salt, and black pepper should be combined in a big ziplock bag the night before cooking. Refrigerate the chicken overnight after sealing the bag and incorporating all the ingredients into the meat.
- The following day, scrape off most of the marinade from the chicken and throw it away. To keep the meal wet and offer adequate sauce, you’ll have sufficient of the second sauce. Chicken should be cut into two-inch pieces.
- Butter, jalapeños, and garlic should be placed in the bottom of the slow cooker before you start cooking the chicken.
- Add these ingredients and mix in a small bowl.
- Heavy cream
- Tomato sauce
- One teaspoon salt
- Two teaspoons paprika
- Two teaspoons cumin
- The sauce should be poured over the chicken, covered, and cooked for 4-5 hours on low.
- Since you’re using more cornstarch than water, the mixture will settle rapidly if you quickly combine it with one tablespoon of water before adding it to the slow cooker. After that, continue to cook for 20 more minutes on high.
- Prior to actually serving over basmati rice, garnish with cilantro.
Variations on Slow Cooker Indian Butter Chicken
- Meat: Although chicken breast works best for soaking up the creamy, buttery sauce’s exquisite flavors, you can substitute any other protein of your choosing. Try cooking this recipe with steak cut into cubes, boneless, skinless chicken thighs, hog loin, or even tofu for a vegetarian variation. These different meat kinds for a slow cooker Indian butter chicken can be found on a service that only buys sustainable meats and fruit from reliable vendors, such as Dinnerly. And that’s a good option if you want to make the dish with chicken by yourself but try it with a lump of different meat some other time to compare tastes.
- Vegetables: Add some healthy vegetables to your Indian butter chicken to give it more substance. To cook and simmer with the chicken, add 1-2 cups of diced potatoes, broccoli, carrots, onions, peas, bell peppers, or green beans to the slow cooker mixture.
- Spices: To suit your preferences, experiment with the spice combos in this recipe. Put cayenne pepper in the sauce in addition to the marinade if you prefer your Indian food hotter. To add more spice, you can substitute serrano peppers for the jalapeños.
- Dairy-free: Replace the butter in a delicious dairy-free butter chicken recipe with your preferred margarine. Use full-fat coconut milk or non-dairy half-and-half as a substitute for heavy cream. Additionally, coconut milk adds a delectable taste layer that harmonizes wonderfully with the Indian spices.
Doubts Regarding Cooking Slow Cooker Indian Butter Chicken
You may be unsure whether to brown the chicken before adding it to the slow cooker. This recipe doesn’t call for this extra step, but if you do it, the flavor will always be better. Before chopping the chicken into bits, briefly brown it over a high burner (don’t sweat about it cooking through; the slow cooker will take care of that).
Yes, you can give this dish of Indian butter chicken more flavor. Butter and the jalapeño and garlic should be sautéed in a saucepan first before sauce components are added. Yes, a secondary pan is required, but if you want to go the additional mile, the flavor will be much better.
Can sauce be thickened without cornstarch? When setting the table for dinner, take a spoonful of the sauce and lessen it in a saucepan if you don’t want to add cornstarch. Once more, use a second pan, but this time add another flavor layer.
Storing Slow Cooker Indian Butter Chicken
Don’t keep butter chicken out at room temperature for more than two hours. For 3–4 days, keep in the fridge in an airtight container. Indian butter chicken can be in a freezer for up to three months when packaged tightly. Prior to reheating, thaw in the refrigerator.