Slow Cooker Indian Butter Chicken made with spices you already have in your cabinet with all the creamy deep flavors you’d expect from your favorite restaurant.
Slow Cooker Indian Butter Chicken is one of my favorite meals to make when I’m feeling nostalgic about culinary school. The recipe is a slow cooker version of one of the first ethnic dishes I learned to cook in culinary school.
One thing I’ve learned when it came learning to cook different cuisines in client’s homes was that you try to pack light and use as much as possible in the client’s home. If they have great cookware that means you don’t have to bring in pots and pans (score one for your back!) and if they have spices that are fresh you use them (my clients pay for groceries so using existing spices was always preferable). 
There are some tweaks you can add if you’d like to take this recipe to the next level:
- Brown the chicken quickly on a high heat before cutting into chunks (don’t worry about it cooking through, that is the slow cooker’s job)
- Saute the jalapeno and garlic in the butter in a saucepan before adding the sauce ingredients into it. Yes, a second pan – but it will make an even more awesome flavor if you’d like to take the extra step.
- If you want to skip the cornstarch, scoop out the sauce and reduce it in a saucepan while you’re setting the table before dinner. Again, second pan but another trick for an additional layer of flavor.
When cooking Asian or Indian cuisines you’ll often find that the spices you need are unique, expensive and not readily available. This of course is the chef’s problem since your clients only need to be thinking “oh my goodness this is amazing!”
This Slow Cooker Indian Butter Chicken is the perfect set of spices and flavors that rivals your favorite Indian restaurant with none of the hunting down spices.
And if you’re looking for an amazing Naan to go with it, check out this Homemade Naan from Domestic Superhero.
Tools Used in the making of this Slow Cooker Indian Butter Chicken:
Slow Cooker: This is the smaller version of my normal slow cooker, but if you’d like to make it in a larger slow cooker make a double recipe. Don’t skimp on the sauce, it thickens if you have leftovers too and it is SO good you won’t want to have to ration!
AllSpice Spice Rack: I use this spice rack and fill up the bottles with freshly purchased spices. It’s basically one of the most beautiful things in my kitchen and when you’re working with a large quantity of spices, not having to hunt and peck through your cupboards makes everything go at warp speed.
Ingredients
- 1 cup plain yogurt
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 3/4 teaspoons black pepper
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts
SAUCE
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 clove garlic , minced
- 1 jalapeno pepper , finely chopped
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 2 teaspoons paprika
- 1 teaspoon salt , or to taste
- 1 8- ounce can tomato sauce
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon water
- 1/4 cup fresh cilantro , chopped
Instructions
- In a large ziploc bag the night before cooking add the yogurt, lemon juice, cumin, cinnamon, cayenne, black pepper, ginger, salt and chicken (leave the chicken breasts whole here).
- Zip the bag closed and work the mixture into the chicken until all incorporated. Refrigerate overnight.
- Scrape off a majority of the marinade that is on the chicken and discard it. You'll have plenty of the second sauce to keep the food moist and provide enough sauce.
- Cut the chicken into two inch chunks.
- When you're ready to cook the chicken, add the butter, garlic and jalapeno into the bottom of the slow cooker.
- In a small bowl add the 2 teaspoons cumin, 2 teaspoons paprika, 1 teaspoon salt, tomato sauce and heavy cream and stir to combine.
- Pour the sauce over the chicken, cover and cook on low for 4-5 hours.
- Stir the cornstarch into the one tablespoon of water and add to the slow cooker and stir (stir and pour quickly since you're using more cornstarch than water it will settle quickly).
- Cook an additional 20 minutes on high.
- Top with cilantro before serving.
Video
Nutrition
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I love this recipe! I’ve mAde it many times. I was just wondering, can it be frozen?
This is so easy and just as good as anything from our favorite takeout!
I accidentally cut my chicken before marinating and it turned out fine.
The cornstarch gets thick really fast so once the cornstarch and water are mixed in a bowl, we mixed in a little of the sauce from the crock pot before dumping the mixture in.
Can I sub cumin with curry to make curry chicken?
Sabrina- I have gone to make this recipe many times, but the morning comes and I have forgotten to marinate the chicken. This morning, having forgotten again, I bit the bullet and decided to marinate until cooking- only two hours. Have I ruined dinner?
Hi Brooke! Sorry for the late response but I’m sure you found out it was still good. More marination is fantastic and definitely lends itself to the flavor so hopefully next time you’ll enjoy even more.
Thanks!
Sabrina- I have gone to make this recipe so many times, but the morning comes and I’ve forgotten to marinate the chicken. I bit the bullet and decided to go through with it with only two hours marinating time. Have I ruined dinner??
Also, if I wanted to marinate it longer and get every hour I can…would it cook faster in a Dutch Oven? Suggestions please!
Is it possible to substitute chicken thighs?
Sure!
Why can’t I read the comments?
Thanks
Katherine
Can I substitute sour cream or ? For yogurt?
Thanks
Katherine
Sure!
What size slow cooker is this made in? The link doesn’t seem to be working.
Tried this recipe and it turned out to be AMAZING. Perfect blend of spices and just perfect served over Basmati rice. It is hard to NOT include the marinade with all its spices and yogurt in the crock pot but (as the recipe describes), the sauce in the second step will amaze. Highly recommended.
I want to try and make this a little bit healthier, could I substitute anything else for the cream, maybe add in more yogurt at the end?
When the recipe says tomato sauce, is that referring to ketchup? Or a tomato puree? Or canned diced tomatoes? Love the look of this recipe and want to give it a try!
Hi Hannah! Tomato sauce is a canned sauce. There is no other name for it. It is usually in the section near the tomato paste or asta sauce. Good luck!
This is 4 months later but incase anyone else has the same question. In the U.S. we have canned tomato sauce, tomato purée, tomato paste. (And Ketchup but this is completely different used as a topping like mustard or mayonnaise .) The difference between the 3 is mainly thickness. The closest would be tomato purée but that is slightly thicker and a stronger flavor than tomato sauce. But you could make tomato sauce easily by using tomato paste and diluting it with equal amounts of water so 1 part paste to 1 part water and then blending it together well.
YUMMY!
I doubled the recipe and although ended up with a lot of sauce it was an absolutely fantastic recipe!
Everyone enjoyed it – even our 4 and 2 year old granddaughters asked for seconds (and they can be picky).
The chicken was tender and flavourful and all ingredients readily handy at home, the only change made was I substituted evaporated milk for the cream and only used 1 jalapeño pepper.
A very solid slow cooker recipe! Easy and delicious. I have made it several times and have NEVER used the cream, though, not even once (trying to do more heart-healthy meals). And it is still really good without the cream. I also tend to add more chili peppers, some ground coriander, and turmeric. I don’t think you can go wrong experimenting!
I tried another butter chicken recipe from a cookbook I have, “The Indian Slow Cooker: 50 Healthy, Easy, Authentic Recipes.” This recipe from Sabrina is WAY better (the lentil/bean and veggie recipes in that book are really good, though).
This has been a family favorite for a couple years. I am only now reading back on browning the chicken and I’m so excited to see how it’ll change it!
I do have a question, chicken breasts vary so much in size, do you have the weight of how many chicken breasts that this sauce best works with? Thanks so much in advance!
Ok so first I have to say that this is becoming my favorite recipe site. Normally I’m all about allrecipes, but I was struggling with their slow cooker recipes being bland or the usual. Found this site and this is the second recipe that was amazing, and already have 2 other recipes I am trying out this coming week. This was delicious the only thing I deviated from was that I had jalapeños in a jar and I hate wasting so I use what is available. My youngest thought it too spicy but the rest of my family of 6 loved it. My only suggestion is if you don’t want as much heat you could switch out the jalapeños for mild green chiles or even some roasted red peppers so u still get the yummy pepper taste without the heat. Thanks for the recipe. I will definitely be using this again.
Hi Jena! This truly melts my heart. I am so happy that your family loved the recipe and that you have found a liking to the site. Can’t wait for you to come back and share you cooking successes with us!
Thank you <3
I make this all the time in the crock pot and it’s amazing. Have you ever made in an InstaPot? Trying to figure out timing.
I made this in my IP and it worked fabulously, plus you can use the sauté function to brown the chicken and garlic/jalapeño so you don’t have to dirty additional pans. I put slow cooker setting on medium and cooked for about 4 and a half hours + the extra 20 minutes with the cornstarch and it came out great.
Since chicken breasts vary so much in size, about how many pounds of chicken should I use?
Hi! Thanks for this recipe, I was wondering, I’m trying it this week and I always usually butterfly my chicken breasts because I don’t trust myself cooking whole breasts. Will it be over spiced if I marinate overnight with butterflied chicken breasts? And will it cook too fast in the crock pot afterwards?
Thanks!
Hi Adriana, I don’t think it will be over seasoned, usually anything under 24 hours is fine, longer than that and the meat may cook differently. And yes, it would cook much faster being butterflied. Hope you enjoy!
This was great but I would love to incorporate a little heat into the dish (whenever I order butter chicken in a restaurant, I ask for a little kick). Would you know a good way to do that? Would it just be adding a bit of hot chili powder?
I would add whatever your favorite heat spice is.
Beautiful recipe. Followed all instructions, including browning the chicken and sauteeing the garlic and jalapeno. So flavorful and delicious. Thank you!! It was my first time attempting an Indian-inspired dish and I’ll be making it again.
If I want to double the recipe, do I double everything?
Hi! Yes you would double the ingredients.
This is basically my favourite butter chicken recipe, in spite of the needing to remember to prep it the night before. (The other THREE recipes I’ve tried have been really lovely smelling, but kind of bland and I think it’s because of that extra marinating time this has that they don’t.) But as I’m the only one in my family that likes it, I don’t make it very often.
Can this be made with paneer or will the cheese melt for the slow-cooker time? If it can be made with paneer, to heck with my fam-jam, it’ll be a twice a month recipe for me! *grin*
My family and I love this recipe, however I have recently discovered my daughter might be allergic to cinnamon. Do you think the recipe would work well by just leaving the cinnamon out or can you suggest an alternative?
My suggestion is to substitute with cassia, allspice, clove, nutmeg or cardamon instead. Good luck!
Love this recipe so much! I’ve made it numerous times and my very picky husband loves it 🙂 I recently bought an instant pot.. wondering if this can be done in the instant pot as well? If so, what would be the cook settings and would the process change at all?
I give instructions on an instant pot version in the post of this recipe link.
https://dinnerthendessert.com/indian-butter-chicken/