Slow Cooker Chicken Curry
on Sep 17, 2018, Updated Oct 19, 2020
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This Slow Cooker Chicken Curry is perfect in every way – juicy pieces of chicken and a spicy, flavorful gravy that has the right consistency. This is the perfect dinner to come home to ❤️
Alright! So who is with me when I say slow cookers are awesome? Especially when you have recipes where you can dump a whole lotta stuff in and after a few hours, you are left with plain deliciousness. Enter: Slow Cooker Chicken Curry.
This recipe took a few tries but I’ve got it exactly the way we like it – tender, juicy chicken, a gravy that coats each piece of chicken instead of pooling at the bottom, and so much flavor that you would think we marinated the chicken for a few hours!
- A really simple dump-and-go recipe that yields a really flavorful chicken curry
- Most of the recipe is hands-off. The only real cooking you’ll do here is to cook the onions and garlic together in a little oil before adding it to the slow cooker
- Can be made in a large batch and stored for later
Jump to section: Slow Cooker Chicken Curry
Top tips to cooking juicy chicken in a slow cooker
To cook really juicy chicken in the slow cooker, here are my top tips:
- Use chicken thighs because they have more fat than breasts so they remain tender when cooked for long periods and don’t get stringy or dry out
- Don’t add too much liquid because you are locking in the steam in a slow cooker so the water in the recipe does not have room to evaporate as much as it does in a pot. The chicken also leaves a fair amount of water so you are actually left with more liquid than you started with in the beginning
- Cutting chicken into the desired size right in the beginning will save you the time and effort to shred it or chop it later. It will also ensure that the flavors coat and seep through every piece right from the beginning
- Don’t cook it for longer than 6-7 hours because really, chicken cooks pretty fast compared to lamb or beef and that’s all the time it needs if you are cooking it on low sitting. When you slow cook it on high, the chicken only needs 3.5-4 hours
- If you don’t have whole spices, feel free to skip them and increase the garam masala by 1/4 teaspoon
This slow cooker chicken curry uses simple ingredients but is really high on flavour. Plus you’re going to love just how simple it is to put together. I usually serve this with some plain steamed rice and a lemon wedge for weeknight dinners. But you can easily alleviate the recipe by serving with some butter garlic naan for weekend lunch or if you’re making this for guests.
Watch Slow Cooker Chicken Curry Recipe Video
Slow Cooker Chicken Curry
Equipment
- Slow Cooker
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon Oil
- 1 cup Onions, finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon Garlic, minced
- 7-8 Baby Potatoes, cut into half (or 2 large potatoes, diced into 1 inch pieces)
- 685 grams Chicken Thighs, skinless and boneless , cut into 1 inch pieces
- 1 Bayleaf
- 2-3 Cloves
- 6-8 Peppercorns, whole
- 1 Green Chilli, finely chopped (or Serrano Pepper)
- 1 tablespoon Coriander Powder
- 1 teaspoon Red Chilli Powder, or chilli flakes
- 1/2 teaspoon Turmeric Powder
- 1 teaspoon Garam Masala Powder
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- 1 cup Tomato Puree
- 1/2 cup Water
- 1 tablespoon Butter
- Chopped coriander for topping
Instructions
- Heat oil in a pan and add chopped onions and minced garlic. Saute for 3-4 minutes till the onions soften. Transfer this mixture to the slow cooker along with all the other ingredients. Mix well.
- Cover and cook on high for 3.5-4 hours or low for 6 hours. Once the chicken curry is cooked, mix in the chopped coriander and serve hot on top of steamed rice or with some butter naan.
Video
Notes
- Chicken Thighs vs. Breasts: I recommend chicken thighs for this recipe because they don’t dry out and retain their juiciness in the slow cooker. You can also use bone-in chicken thighs for this recipe. If you insist on using chicken breasts, keep them whole and once the curry is cooked, use a fork to shred the chicken in the slow cooker.
- Butter: Butter adds an extra layer of flavor and the fat keeps the chicken curry from drying out. You can also stir in some cream or coconut milk in the end in this recipe.
- Spices: The blend of coriander powder, turmeric, chilli powder and garam masala is powerful, and adds tons of flavor. Chilli powder can be swapped with paprika or cayenne pepper in this recipe. You can also swap these spices for two tablespoons generic curry powder.
Love this recipe. I’ve made it a few times now and it’s delicious. Last time I made it I had everything (I thought) ready to go when I realised I had no potatoes. I put it 3 desert spoons red lentils and oh my word!!! Family favourite definitely.
Yaay! that sounds fantastic, glad you & your family enjoyed it
Where it says 2-3 Cloves on the ingredient list, do you mean 2-3 Cloves of garlic?
Hey Chelsey, no its not garlic, it means 2-3 numbers of the spice – Clove
Hi Richa
I have done this recipe many times. I love how simple it is and the flavour is amazing. The only change I make is that I put chopped corriander stalks in the pot too. I love it.
Hey Pamela, That’s awesome, thank you for your comments
Fantastic, such a lovely curry
Yaay!Thanks for leaving a comment, Gill
I can’t wait to try this over the weekend. One quick question……I see you posted the nutritional summary. But there is no serving size. So on what did you base the results and does that include rice? I chart all my food so I am just curious. I would guess it is based on 1 cup of curry and a half cup of rice. Thanks in advance!
Hey Kerry, this nutritional summary is for 110 grams portion of only the curry. it does not include the rice. hope this helps.
Fantastic recipe. Very spicy and full of flavour.
This would work perfectly with lamb so will be cooking again
Hey John, Thank you. do comment & let me know if you try it
I cooked it, and loved it. I added red chillies and a extra spoon of garam marsala. Definitely will make it again, thanks Richa
Yaay! that’s awesome Shane. Thank you for your comments
love this, thank you, tastes lovely
Yaay Bern, sooo glad you liked the recipe
How much grams of chicken breast should I use for the recipe? Thanks
You may use 680-700 grams of chicken breast in the recipe. keep the chicken breasts whole and once the curry is cooked, use a fork to shred the chicken in the slow cooker.
We made this “curry” recipe and were sorely disappointed!!! WAY too much tomato flavor (could it be the 1 cup of tomato paste?), and absolutely NO curry taste!!!! We had to add curry to it and it was still horrible!!
Listen people, if you like/love curry this NOT the recipe for you!!
Hey Rosemary, I’m sorry this didn’t work out well for you, i have cooked this a multiple times and it has turned out perfect.
The only good thing about this recipe was that the chicjen was really really tender There was absolutely NO curry flavor in this; it was basically tomato sauce with chicken. very underwhelming!!!
Hey Rosemary, if the curry is slow cooked for 6 hours, it will get rid of the rawness of tomatoes and the curry should taste perfect. I have cooked it many times and it turned out well. Im sorry it did not work out for you.