Slow Cooker Butter Chicken with Coconut Milk

Slow Cooker Butter Chicken Recipe with Coconut Milk and Heavy Cream is something that we Indians LOVE. You must try my Authentic Murg Makhani or Butter Chicken before you go into this slow cooker version.

Basically, Butter Chicken as the name suggests is a creamy, buttery, smooth, tomato-based Indian Chicken Curry, which is best served with Indian Cumin Rice or Jeera Rice or Naan Bread or Paratha or Pulao or Fried Rice.

I love butter chicken. If you've ever been to Delhi, you will fall in love with Butter Chicken. We Delihities LOVE LOVE LOVE butter chicken.

I have made Butter Chicken Pizza and Butter Chicken Meatballs in the past. But, today, I thought, let me make Butter chicken in a Crockpot.

These days many people are looking for Vegan Butter Chicken. What you can do is just replace Chicken with Chickpeas and Cauliflower. If you want you can add chopped baby potatoes as well. See this recipe for Chickpea Tikka Masala and Tofu Tikka Masala and learn more about how to give this dish a typical Indian touch!

Jump to:

• 🥘 Crockpot Butter Chicken
• 🍴Ingredients needed to make Butter Chicken
• 🍽 Instructions for How to make Slow Cooker Butter Chicken with Coconut Milk
• 📝 Variations
• 🧊 Storing Leftover Butter Chicken
• 💯 Top tips to make the Best Butter Chicken
• 🥗 Serving Slow Cooker Butter Chicken
• 💪 Is Butter Chicken Healthy?
• Slow Cooker Butter Chicken Recipe

🥘 Crockpot Butter Chicken

Making Butter Chicken in the crockpot got me so excited. I remember the last time I made Chicken Jalfrezi in Slow Cooker, and people loved it at my home. There is something so amazing about cooking chicken in Slow Cooker. Recipes like Honey Bourbon Chicken, Coconut Lime Chicken, Hawaiian Pineapple Chicken, and so many crockpot chicken recipes have become readers' favorite recipes.

When you cook make chicken in the slow cooker, you actually get the BEST flavors. Only people who have tried chicken in Slow Cooker, can tell you that. See more on Why you Should own a Slow Cooker. Also, try Vegan lentil Coconut Curry in a Crockpot.

Talking about Slow Cooker Butter Chicken, Let me tell you a little history about Butter Chicken. I know as an Indian, you expect me to know more about this dish. Well, here it is.

Traditionally, Butter Chicken was believed to be made with shredded tandoori Chicken. BTW, Have you tried my tandoori Chicken wings?

Anyway, not going off the topic... So, people thought, that if you further cook tandoori chicken it will get dry. They thought about making a sauce. A Creamy, butter, tomatoey sauce. And, that is how Butter chicken came into the picture.

DO NOT confuse this with Instant Pot Chicken Tikka Masala. Also, try Traditional Chicken Tikka Masala. Although, both the recipe uses a tomato-based gravy, Butter Chicken is a lot creamier. Other Indian Chicken Recipes which readers love include Malabar Chicken Curry with Coconut Milk, Creamy Coconut Chicken Curry, Chicken Pasanda, Chicken Korma Recipe, Chicken Madras, Indian Spiced Spinach Chicken, and many more!

Jump to:

• 🥘 Crockpot Butter Chicken
• 🍴Ingredients needed to make Butter Chicken
• 🍽 Instructions for How to make Slow Cooker Butter Chicken with Coconut Milk
• 📝 Variations
• 🧊 Storing Leftover Butter Chicken
• 💯 Top tips to make the Best Butter Chicken
• 🥗 Serving Slow Cooker Butter Chicken
• 💪 Is Butter Chicken Healthy?
• Slow Cooker Butter Chicken Recipe

🍴Ingredients needed to make Butter Chicken

These are the Ingredients you will need to make Crockpot Butter Chicken with Coconut Milk

• Boneless Skinless Chicken breasts - You can use Chicken thigh but traditionally butter chicken is made with chicken breasts.
• Coconut Oil and Butter: If you are making Paleo or Whole30 version you can use Ghee.
• Onions, Garlic
• Crushed Tomato, Tomato Paste: Instead of Crushed tomato you can use Canned tomato puree.
• Spices - Turmeric Powder, Curry Powder, Red Chili Powder, Garam masala Powder, Salt and Freshly cracked black pepper.
• Coconut Sugar - For that slight sweetness.
• Coconut Milk and Heavy Cream - To make our butter chicken creamier.
• Fresh chopped cilantro - You can replace this with toasted fenugreek leaves or Kasuri Methi.

See the recipe card for quantities. Also, see the video for a visual.

🍽 Instructions for How to make Slow Cooker Butter Chicken with Coconut Milk

This is a quick overview of the recipe. For the complete recipe see the recipe card below.

Step 1: Sear Chicken

No need to coat chicken in any spices. Add it directly in a skillet with some coconut oil. Sear until it gets light golden brown color and forms charr marks on it. So cook on high heat and stir continuously. Don't discard the leftover browned bits in the pan. Make the Makhani sauce in the same pan.

Step 2: Make Makhani Sauce

Makhani gravy is traditionally a very lengthy process. What happens is - Onions, tomatoes, garlic, and few whole spices (green cardamom, cinnamon, peppercorns, mace, cloves, star anise) are boiled in water until the tomatoes get soft and mushy. Then it is crushed with a hand blender or a food processor. And, that's not it. Finally, it is strained so that you get a creamy, makhani sauce. Basically, the term "Makhani" comes from the Hindi word - "makhmali" which means smooth.

But, today, we are NOT going to do all of that. We are just going to make a quick Makhani sauce that is equally tasty and delicious.

So, what I do, is Sauté onions and minced garlic over low heat in some coconut oil and butter. (I am not using ghee, because this is BUTTER CHICKEN).

Then add Red Chili Powder, Curry Powder or Coriander Powder, Garam Masala, Salt, and Pepper. Sauté until the spices get cooked.

Add crushed tomato and tomato paste along with some coconut sugar.

Toss well and cook until you see oil oozing out from the sides. When you see oil oozing out from the side of the pan, it suggests that your Makhani sauce is ready. The "Masalas" is cooked. And, at this stage, you can strain your sauce or you can use it just as is.

Step 3: Dump in Slow Cooker and Cook

Finally, dump this Makhani Sauce in the slow cooker along with the chicken. Do not toss. Cover with a glass lid and slow cook on High for 1.5 hours or on Low for 2.5 hours.

Step 4: Add Coconut Milk and Heavy Cream

I love this step. Coconut Milk adds a nuttiness to the Makhani sauce and you cannot have Butter Chicken without Heavy Cream. So, at 1 hour Mark (if cooking on High) or at the 2-hour mark (if cooking on low), open the lid and pour Coconut Milk and Heavy Cream. Toss lightly and cover cook for another 30-minutes.

Step 5: Garnish and Serve

Finally, garnish your Slow Cooker Butter Chicken with fresh chopped cilantro. if you want to make it more traditional you can use toasted fenugreek leaves which are called Kasuri Methi in Hindi. You just crush it with your hands and sprinkle it on your butter chicken. The beautiful aroma will swoon you. Serve it with fresh naan bread and some rice. And, your dinner is sorted.

📝 Variations

• Slow Cooker Butter Chicken with Potatoes - Some chopped baby potatoes would make this a wholesome recipe.
• Cauliflower - Traditionally, You do not add Cauliflower to Butter Chicken, but if you want to add more depth of flavor to the recipe, you can add Cauliflower. See this Indian Butter Cauliflower Curry Recipe and it will help you get more idea.
• Vegan Butter Chicken - Just skip Heavy Cream or use any Plant based Milk in its place. Chicken can be replaced with Cauliflower or Chickpeas and Potatoes.
• Keto Butter Chicken - This recipe for Slow Cooker Butter Chicken will snugly fit into your Keto-diet. If you want you can swap certain ingredients to make it suitable for you.
• Paleo and Whole -30 Keto Butter Chicken - See the Instructions for Vegan Butter chicken above and you can replace butter with ghee.

🧊 Storing Leftover Butter Chicken

• I don't recommend freezing this recipe since there is heavy cream. Although you can keep this in an air-tight container and refrigerate for 2-3 days.
• Before Serving, you can thaw it on the countertop for 4-5 hours before serving.
• You can Microwave your leftover butter chicken with rice until warmed through.

💯 Top tips to make the Best Butter Chicken

• Sear Chicken until it forms charr marks on the outside.
• Use Both tomato paste and crushed tomato to make the Makhani sauce.
• Strain the sauce for a smooth consistency.
• Before searing chicken, add whole spices - Broken Green Cardamom Pods, Cinnamon sticks, Peppercorns, and cloves into the pan while butter is melting. Allow this to sizzle and get fragrant for not more than 20-30 seconds, and then add onions.
• Fenugreek leaves - For best taste, use crushed fenugreek leaves to garnish on top.

🥗 Serving Slow Cooker Butter Chicken

Serving Slow Cooker Butter Chicken is really fun. You have so many options.

A fluffy bed of veg fried rice or Pulao or Jeera rice works really well. But, what works best is soft naan bread or Paratha or Kulcha. In our Indian homes, plain Tawa roti works the best.

💪 Is Butter Chicken Healthy?

Well, the answer is no. It contains so much butter and heavy cream. But, the good news is that you can make it healthy. Replace Butter with ghee. Instead of heavy cream use coconut milk, as I have used in this recipe. Instead of serving with naan bread or rice serve it with cilantro lime quinoa or cauliflower rice.

if you are making this recipe, then please leave a rating below. Also, take a snap and share it on Instagram with #recipemagik. Tag me @recipemagik and let me know how it turned out.