Butter Chicken (Murgh Makhani) is rich, unbelievably delicious and super easy to make in your slow cooker! Serve with pilau rice or cauliflower rice for a Keto friendly option.
Love curries? Why not try my Healthy Chicken Rogan Josh
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Do you have a ‘takeaway’ night? Ours tends to be on a Thursday or Friday, because even food bloggers need time away from cooking!
But our favourite Indian restaurant comes with a pretty hefty price tag, so ordering in is for special occasions only.
Give your purse a break and make this insanely delicious butter chicken recipe at home! I have updated my 2017 recipe to make it even easier and quicker to make – no browning, no fuss!
SLOW COOKER BUTTER CHICKEN
Butter Chicken is one of my fave curry recipes – tender chunks of chicken in an ultra rich and delicious sauce enriched with butter and cream.
Serious amounts of BUTTER and cream make this the PERFECT KETO MEAL, served with cauliflower rice or perhaps zucchini noodles.
Despite the richness of the sauce, this is a very easy recipe where the slow cooker does almost all the work. You can even prepare the sauce base in advance and freeze it so that you always have it to hand!
Murgh Makhani Ingredients
This easy chicken curry doesn’t require a ton of ingredients, other than a few spices which add so much flavour to the rich sauce.
- Chicken thighs or chicken breasts (skinless). Chicken thighs are more tender and suitable to this recipe.
- Onion and garlic
- Fresh ginger or ginger paste for convenience
- Lemon juice
- Diced tomatoes in their juice
- Tomato paste (you can leave this out if preferred)
- Spices: garam masala, smoked paprika, cayenne, turmeric, cumin
- Plenty of butter to enrich the sauce or coconut oil for a dairy free version
- Cream or full fat coconut milk for a dairy free version
HOW TO MAKE BUTTER CHICKEN CURRY
Full measurements and instructions can be found on the printable recipe card at the bottom of the page. Please take a look at the steps and video before attempting this recipe!
STEP 1 Cut the chicken thighs into cubes removing any large pieces of fat. Put all the sauce ingredients in a food processor and blitz to a smooth paste.
STEP 2 Add the paste into your slow cooker and mix in the diced chicken.
Cover and cook on HIGH for 3 hours or on LOW for 5 hours.
STEP 3 Stir in the butter until it melts into the sauce and add the cream.
STEP 4 Taste and adjust the seasoning (if needed). Garnish with chopped coriander and serve over rice or cauliflower rice.
You will also love…
Coconut Beef Curry
Slow Cooker Lamb Curry
Dal Makhani | Vegan & Slimming Friendly
Quick and easy prawn curry
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Slow Cooker Butter Chicken Curry
Ingredients
For the sauce
- 1 onion chopped finely
- 4 garlic cloves
- 400 g | 14oz tin chopped tomatoes
- 1 tbsp tomato paste (optional)
- 1 tbsp finely grated fresh ginger or ginger paste
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tsp garam masala
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp ground turmeric
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp cayenne
Butter Chicken
- 10 large skinless chicken breasts cut into cubes
- 113 g (½ cup) unsalted butter cubed
- 120 ml (½ cup) cream heavy / double cream
- fresh coriander (cilantro) to garnish
- salt and pepper to season to taste
Instructions
- Cut the chicken breasts into large cubes removing any large pieces of fat.
- Put all the sauce ingredients in a food processor and blitz to a smooth paste.
- Add the paste into your slow cooker and mix in the diced chicken.
- Cover and cook on HIGH for 3 hours or on LOW for 5 hours.
- Stir in the butter until it melts into the sauce and add the cream.
- Taste and adjust the seasoning (if needed). Garnish with chopped coriander and serve over rice or cauliflower rice.
Video
Notes
- The curry will keep in the fridge for 2-3 days.
- The sauce paste can be prepared in advance and frozen to use whenever you like!
Nutritional Info
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Ravenstorme says
This recipe is absolutely delicious! I grew up in a country where I could find Indian food on every corner but now live in a state where I can’t find a good Indian restaurant within driving distance sadly. The only way my family and I have a good Indian meal is if I cook it. I tried this recipe today and it’s a definite winner and MUST make again! Thank you for sharing! Saving this one for sure. 🙂
Alyson says
This is a stunning dish and so easy to make! I have tried a few slow cooker recipes but this is easily the best, very authentic. Thank you !
Erin says
Hi Lucy – do you think Coconut Cream could be substituted for the heavy cream here without ruining the recipe? Thanks!
Lucy Parissi says
Hi Erin,
don’t see why not as long as it is full fat. I have also used soya cream in the past
Linda says
I have been wanting to make butter chicken for quite some time. This recipe is simple to do! Will be in my rotation monthly. I did use fresh parsley for garnish as I did not have the fresh corriander.
Lucy Parissi says
Glad you enjoyed it 😘
Stephen Watts says
Fantastic. Kids ate all of it
Dawn @ The Kitchen and a Latte says
We don’t do a takeaway weekly mainly because I find I often enjoy the food at home better. I think my version of takeaway is a “it’s not going on the blog so it can be thrown on a plate however” kind of meal haha! We will occasionally have one, but not often. In NYC tho, I would probably have one once a week! There is so much good food up there 🙂 But I am an hour away from there. The tolls and parking make it not worth going all the time just for food anymore (I used to when I was a younger adult.)
I am going to try this with the family one day soon, it looks and sounds delicious 🙂
Dawn says
Your recipes are so perfect! Do you have an instantapot cookbook?
Lucy Parissi says
I was thinking of doing an ebook soon!
Anita says
Awesome Indian recipe for the slow cooker. I always thought that Chinese restaurants here in the US are pretty bad, unless you are in big cities like San Francisco, LA, or Seattle. But, it’s good that you have great Indian fares over there.
Lucy Parissi says
I only experienced Chinese takeaways in New York. And a very long time ago. Probably not great by most standards but for my inexperienced taste buds the food was amazing. Indian restaurants in the UK range from incredible to pretty poor but I would say the standard overall is pretty high
Dahn says
Oh I just love butter chicken. We don’t have any Indian restaurants close to our home so a good recipe is a must.
Rae says
I was just saying to my husband that I was craving Indian food—now I don’t have to drive 45 minutes into town for dinner! Can’t wait to try this.