This healthy crockpot butter chicken is creamy, rich, and flavorful – but much healthier than any restaurant version you’ve tried! A healthy, wholesome, comforting meal for the whole family!
You can even make a version of Instant Pot butter chicken or butter chicken stuffed spaghetti squash boats!
Slow Cooker Butter Chicken
Restaurant quality healthy butter chicken with simple ingredients you have on hand right now.
Crockpot butter chicken – ultimate Indian comfort food made light, healthy and in the slow cooker for added convenience. A slow cooker is perfect for making comforting meals for the whole family like chicken noodle soup, white chicken chili, and even whole chicken and pasta!
And despite the name, this dish contains not a teaspoon of butter. Not that there is anything wrong with a bit of butter in your diet.
I don’t love all Indian food but I love butter chicken (and this green lentil curry, chicken coconut curry, and Instant Pot dal)! This healthy butter chicken definitely delivered – creamy, rich and a tad sweet.
Healthy Simple Ingredients
I’m a strong believer that anyone can make authentic slow cooker Indian butter chicken at home. The problem with many ethnic recipes on the web are specialty ingredients no average cook has on hand. This healthy butter chicken recipe calls for chicken, coconut milk, tomato paste, curry powder and garam masala.
Tip: You can replace garam masala with with 1 part cumin + 1/4 part allspice or any combination of coriander, cumin, black peppercorns, cardamom, cloves, and nutmeg.
Prefer Thai flavors? I also have recipes for Thai chicken and shrimp curries!
How to Make Crockpot Butter Chicken
- Saute garlic, onion and ginger root for 30 seconds. Use separate skillet or slow cooker with Saute option.
- Add garam masala, curry powder, chili powder, salt, pepper, tomato paste, coconut milk, flour and whisk to combine. Cover and let cook for 3 – 4 minutes or until thickened.
- Transfer to a slow cooker, add chicken and stir. Cover and cook on High for 3 hours or on Low for 6 hours.
As for serving suggestions, I would recommend some basmati brown rice to go with this crockpot butter chicken. I also suggest some fresh cilantro and/or scallions for garnish. It adds some fresh zest to a rich and creamy sauce.
Is It Spicy?
You can taste a hint of ginger and traditional Indian spices: garam masala and curry powder. Quality fresh spices is everything! Coconut milk prevails over the tomato sauce which makes this slow cooker butter chicken taste truly creamy without heavy cream.
In case you are wondering how spicy this crockpot Indian butter chicken is – it’s not. I would say it’s mild. My kids ate it and that was the point. You can definitely spice things up with some red pepper flakes or cayenne pepper.
Make Ahead? Freezer Meal?
Butter chicken can be frozen and prepared in advance. You can refrigerate butter chicken leftovers for up to 5 days or freeze for up to 3 months. It can also be a freezer meal and make ahead recipe.
To make ahead: Do Step 1 and 2, refrigerate in a container for up to 3 days. When ready to cook, start with Step 3 and cook as per further instructions.
Freezer meal: Follow the recipe up to final cooking step and freeze uncooked. Thaw in the fridge for 24 hours before cooking. Cook on Low for 8 hours or on High for 4 hours.
More Healthy Slow Cooker Recipes
You can also browse through my entire collection of slow cooker recipes, for more inspiration!
Crockpot Butter Chicken
Ingredients
- 3 – 3.5 lbs boneless & skinless chicken breasts cut into 2″ pieces
- 4 garlic cloves crushed
- 2 medium onions finely chopped
- 1/2 inch ginger root minced
- 1 tbsp garam masala
- 1 tbsp curry powder
- 1/2 tsp chili powder
- 2 tbsp maple syrup or honey
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 6 oz can tomato paste
- 14 oz can coconut milk full fat
- 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
- 1/4 cup cilantro/scallions chopped (for garnish)
- Cooking spray I use Misto
Instructions
- Preheat medium skillet on medium heat and spray with cooking spray. Add garlic, onion and ginger root. Stir frequently for 30 seconds.
- Add garam masala, curry powder, chili powder, maple syrup, salt, pepper, tomato paste, coconut milk, flour and whisk to combine. Cover and let cook for 3 – 4 minutes or until thickened.
- Transfer to a slow cooker, add chicken and stir. Cover and cook on High for 3 hours or on Low for 6 hours.
- Serve hot on a bed of brown rice or quinoa, garnished with cilantro/scallions.
Notes
- Store: Refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 5 days or freeze leftovers for up to 3 months.
- Make Ahead: Do Step 1 and 2, refrigerate in a container for up to 3 days. When ready to cook, start with Step 3 and cook as per further instructions.
- Freezer Meal: Follow the recipe up to final cooking step and freeze uncooked. Thaw in the fridge for 24 hours before cooking. Cook on Low for 8 hours or on High for 4 hours.
Nutrition
Recipes and images are a copyright of ifoodreal.com. It is against the law to republish recipes without permission. Nutritional info is approximate.
This recipe saved me this evening! I had defrosted the chicken with another recipe in mind but didn’t have the right ingredients. Found this on Pinterest and had everything to hand! I didn’t make this in the slow cooker as I needed it in a hurry. It’s absolutely delicious and never would have thought of substituting coconut milk!!!! This will be a regular dish in my home.
Oh, good old Pinterest… I’m happy my recipe fell into a category of true and tried Pinterest recipes.:) And A+ for stovetop creativity!
I made this with fried tofu instead of chicken, and diced sweet potato. The sauce was too thick after an hour in crock pot so added a cup of vegetable broth. It turned out delicious! Thanks for the recipe.
That was a good call. Chicken contains water and it is released during the cooking process, along with condensation => therefore needs more thickening agent like flour. Where tofu is pretty dry. Glad you enjoyed it.
I think my family would LOVE this! Looks fantastic! I’m printing your recipe right now!
Enjoy!!! All my boys loved it! Even the 3 year old who is hit and miss.
It was really really good!!!!
Glad you liked it, Olya.:) Did kids enjoy it as well?
this crock chicken is simply delicious, everybody should try it!
Olga
I might be butter chicken’s number one fan. Love this crockpot version, and this is already added to our menu this week. Great looking recipe – can’t wait to try it!
This is the recipe I’ve been searching for! My husband and I love butter chicken, but don’t order it out, or make it at home due to our clean diets, BUT, Olena, I’m making this right now in the slow cooker for dinner tonight! You forgot to say how amazing it smells! YUM! By the way, what are the little black garnishes, sesame seeds or chia?
I should hire you as a content writer LOL. Yes, the smell is terrific and I didn’t capitalize on it. That’s true. But you know it.:) Those are black sesame seeds, mostly for aesthetic purposes that’s why I didn’t mention them.
This looks delish.. my mouth is watering! Olena – temper your yogurt with egg whites, it won’t curdle anymore (google it). Then you can use it in casseroles, curries, anything you want. 😛
Whaaaaaat?! OMG. Thank you!!!
hahaha 😛
I’m glad you didn’t use yogurt as I can’t have any dairy and I’m always iffy about how to substitute and keep things tasty! 🙂
Couldn’t use yogurt because it will curdle.
This looks so appetizing, Olena, that I nearly abandoned my plans to make a thai chicken dish tonight and make this instead! Unfortunately tho I don’t have any garam masala and I think that might be important ;-( Oh well, another time! I have always thought butter chicken sounds delicious but probably really unhealthy, so thanks for this lighter version!
You can replace garam masala with other spices if you have them on hand. Look at garam masala recipe here. Butter chicken is very heavy but not this one.:)
This looks delicious! I’ve never had butter chicken but I love Indian food. I love that this is in the crock pot.
Thanks, Aggie! I’m not a huge fan of Indian food but I love butter chicken and naan bread. That’s it. Everything else I can’t eat. Well, I can eat various curries but very selectively.