Recipes 5 min read
Slow Cooker Chicken Tikka Masala Recipe for Tender, Creamy Curry
Update with a correction: I originally forgot to include the whole jalapeño pepper in the recipe. The dish is fine without it, but it’s better with it. The recipe below has been corrected.
After sixteen years of trying, this plate of Chicken Tikka Masala felt like a major victory. It was vindication, celebration, and a little bit of triumph over long-held dinner-time limitations—mostly my husband’s aversion to Indian food.
I love that man—truly—but for as long as I’ve known him he’s insisted he doesn’t like Indian food. He blamed heartburn, bland or muddled takeout, and sometimes even the presentation. So I rarely served dishes I thought would make him unhappy.
One day I scored a great price on chicken thighs and decided to run an experiment. I set up two slow cookers: one for chicken taco meat—safe, familiar, husband-approved—and the other for my bold plan, a homemade slow-cooker Chicken Tikka Masala. If I was going to live dangerously, I wanted to do it properly.
I started by marinating the thighs in yogurt and spices, then browned them in butter before transferring them to the slow cooker. I used the same pan to brown onions, garlic, ginger, and spices, deglazed with tomatoes and sugar, and scraped the flavorful bits into the sauce (reserving the cream to add at the end so it wouldn’t curdle). I added the pierced whole jalapeño on top of the chicken in the cooker for a gentle heat and aroma.
After hours of slow-simmering, I whisked cornstarch into heavy cream and stirred it into the sauce, bringing the texture to a rich, silky finish. The aroma was heady, the color inviting, and the first taste nearly brought me to tears.
I served the tikka masala over buttery rice cooked with peas, piled a generous helping onto each plate, and topped it with chopped cilantro. It looked and tasted wonderful.
I called the boys to try it and three hungry sons and a friend silently appeared with forks in hand. They inhaled the meal and asked for more; the friend asked me to give the recipe to his mom. That was the first hurdle down.
Next came the true test: my husband. I plated the dish as nicely as I could and handed it to him while he worked at his computer. He knows well enough not to refuse a lovingly offered plate at any hour, and he dug in.
“If you don’t like it, you don’t have to eat it. I have taco meat in the other slow cooker,” I said, half teasing.
“Mmmm! Sgood!” he said around a bite.
“So you like it?”
“Yeah! Sreally good!”
He finished the plate, asked for more, and thanked me. I admit I smiled—victory tasted especially sweet knowing even my skeptic loved it.
Slow Cooker Chicken Tikka Masala
Ingredients
For the Chicken:
- 9 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
- 1 tablespoon ground coriander
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup yogurt
- 4 tablespoons butter (divided for browning)
- 1 whole jalapeño pepper, stem removed and pierced several times
For the Sauce:
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 1 large onion, peeled and diced
- 6 cloves garlic, minced or thinly sliced
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- 3 tablespoons garam masala
- 1 piece fresh ginger (2–3 inches), peeled and grated
- 4 cups crushed tomatoes
- 1 tablespoon raw sugar (or white sugar)
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch or clearjel
- 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
Instructions
- Cut the chicken into 1–1½ inch pieces. Sprinkle with coriander, cumin, and salt, then stir in the yogurt until evenly coated. Cover lightly and let sit 10 minutes.
- In a large sauté pan, melt 1 tablespoon butter over medium heat. Increase to medium-high and quickly brown about one-quarter of the chicken. Transfer browned chicken to the slow cooker and repeat, using 1 tablespoon butter per batch, until all chicken is in the slow cooker. Place the pierced jalapeño on top of the chicken.
- Prepare the sauce: return the pan to medium-high heat and melt the remaining butter. Add the onions, garlic, and kosher salt; cook, stirring frequently, until the onions start to brown at the edges.
- Stir in garam masala and grated ginger and cook until fragrant (about 1 minute). Add crushed tomatoes and raw sugar, scraping up any browned bits from the pan. Bring to a boil, then pour the sauce over the chicken in the slow cooker.
- Cover and cook on LOW for 5 hours, or until the chicken is very tender.
- Whisk cornstarch into the heavy cream until smooth. Pour into the slow cooker and stir gently to combine. Replace the lid and cook 10 minutes more, until bubbly around the edges.
- Serve over hot rice and peas, topped with chopped cilantro.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is an estimate. Calculate using the exact ingredients you use if needed.
Buttery Rice and Peas
Ingredients
- 2 cups long-grain white rice
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 4 cups water
- 1 cup frozen sweet peas
Instructions
To Cook in a Rice Cooker:
- Add rice, butter, and water to the rice cooker and run the regular cycle. When finished, open the lid, stir in the peas, and let stand 10 minutes before serving.
To Cook on the Stove Top:
- In a mid-sized, heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine butter, water, and rice and bring to a boil over high heat. As soon as it boils, cover tightly and reduce heat to low. Simmer 12–15 minutes, or until water is absorbed and rice is fluffy.
- Fluff with a fork, stir in frozen peas, and let sit partially covered for 10 minutes before serving.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is an estimate. Calculate using the exact ingredients you use if needed.
