Slow Cooker Butter Chicken

I love butter chicken and I found the best slow cooker recipe for it. It is so good that I’ve made it multiple times since I found the recipe last year. I think the key is that it’s a slow cooker recipe because it really allows those flavors to develop.

I follow this recipe that I found via Pinterest. I follow the recipe exactly, except I don’t garnish with cilantro cause yuck! I’m one of those people that can’t stand cilantro. I tell this to everyone who asks me about it, but there have been studies that show that for some people they just genetically cannot stand cilantro and it tastes disgusting to them. I am one of those people.

So for this recipe the ingredients are two parts. You’ll need ingredients to marinate the chicken the night before and then ingredients for the sauce.

For the marinade you’ll need:

3 boneless skinless chicken breast or thighs (I’ve used both)
1 cup plain yogurt
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
3/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon salt

In a large ziplock bag, put all these ingredients in and then I like to smush it all together and make sure all the ingredients get mixed up and all the chicken is coated. Then refrigerate it overnight.

The next day when you’re ready to start the slow cooker, take the chicken out and cut it in to chunks. The recipe says to scrape off the excess marinade, but I just leave it. I don’t try to get all the sauce out of the bag, but I don’t bother scraping the chicken either. I just leave it as it comes out of the bag.

For the sauce you’ll need

1 tablespoon butter
1 clove garlic minced
1 jalapeno finely chopped
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon salt
1 8-oz can tomato sauce
1 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 tablespoon water
cilantro (optional – I never use it)

At the bottom of the slow cooker add the butter, garlic, and jalapeno. In a bowl mix together the cumin, paprika, salt, tomato sauce, and heavy cream. Add the chicken in to the slow cooker and pour the sauce over it. Cook on low for 4-5 hours. Now comes the tricky part, which I can never get right. Very quickly, stir the cornstarch and water together and pour it in to the slow cooker to thicken up the sauce. This is really hard because there is less water than cornstarch so literally within a second it forms a paste instead of a slurry. It’s really hard to do and I have yet to perfect it.

Cook for an additional 20 minutes on high and that’s it! I like serving it over rice with some vegetables and naan on the side. I have made it before without the rice and just naan, but the rice is nice because it soaks up all that sauce. So delicious! And like I said I’ve made it many times and it’s so good every single time!