Slow Cooker Indian Butter Chicken {Dairy Free Option}

Indian Butter Chicken (Chicken Makhani) is a restaurant favorite for good reason. It's absolutely delicious. The dish includes tender pieces of chicken floating in a creamy curry sauce flavored with onions, garlic, garam masala, chili powder, ginger, turmeric and paprika.

This slow cooker recipe makes it easy to come home to a satisfying meal that just might be better than takeout. The sauce can be made with heavy cream or pureed cashews for a delicious dairy free option.

What is Indian Butter Chicken (Chicken Makhani)?

According to legend, there are two families in India who claim credit for the invention of Butter Chicken. No one seems to know which origin story is correct, but that hasn't done a thing to dampen its popularity all over the world.

There are also a lot of different ways to cook this popular dish. It's a staple in most Indian Restaurants but most have their own way of cooking it. It can include boiled or tandoori cooked chicken, cream or cashews, and be sweet or spicy.

What is common to all butter chicken recipes is chicken swimming in a delicious tomato-based, reddish-orange, creamy sauce.

Why this recipe works

My husband and I are full-time travelers, which means sometimes we are near a good Indian restaurant, and sometimes we're not. So I don't mind telling you that if really good Indian takeout was always an option for me, this recipe wouldn't exist.

But good things are often born from necessity, and this is one of those recipes I'm happy to have in my wheelhouse for all the times we don't have access to good Indian food. Also, this recipe for Kung Pao Chicken has saved us from succumbing to mediocre Chinese take out more than once. I love good takeout, but how great is it to be able to make it at home whenever you want???

My goal with this recipe was simple: make really, really good butter chicken. What I didn't want is a complicated, time consuming recipe.

Yes, homemade butter chicken is going to take a bit more effort than picking up the phone and ordering take-out. But, I wanted to keep the effort to a minimum. So using my slow cooker was an easy decision.

This Indian Butter Chicken recipe only takes about 6 hours in the slow cooker on low or 4 hours on high. If I want to serve it on a day when we'll be out and about, setting the timer means not having to worry about dry, overcooked chicken.

By the way if you don't have a slow cooker with a timer, I strongly urge you to invest. The timer allows you to dump everything in the crockpot in the morning, set it to cook for however long you think it will take, and know it will shut off all by itself at the end of the specified time. 

Start the sauce on the stovetop, which allows you to cook the onions and release the flavor or the spices into the sauce. Then simply pour it into the slow cooker, add the chicken, and forget about it until later that night.

By the way, this method works well for most recipes that require slow simmering over low heat. For example, butter lamb curry can be prepared on the stovetop as instructed then moved to the slow cooker and allowed to cook on low until the meat is tender.

You can even prepare the sauce in advance. This allows you to simply pull the sauce from your refrigerator, dump it into the slow cooker along with the chicken and be done with it.

How to make Indian butter chicken

This recipe comes with two different options for making deliciously creamy Indian Butter Chicken Sauce:

• Use heavy cream
• OR cashew cream

I can tell you with complete confidence that both are equally delicious. But, besides being (obviously) dairy free, one of the benefits of using cashews is that they are something I almost always have in my pantry. Cream in the refrigerator is more hit or miss.

And honestly, pureed cashews are remarkable in their ability to stand in perfectly well for all kinds of dairy. In this recipe, you simply throw them into a high-powered blender with some water and blend until smooth. Added to this butter chicken sauce, they make it creamy, dreamy, and delicious.

Regardless of whether you use cream or cashews, making Butter Chicken Sauce is pretty straightforward:

1. Cook some chopped onions in butter until they are nice and soft then add some garlic and ginger. Add the spices (garam masala, curry powder, chili powder, turmeric, paprika, a pinch of sugar, cayenne, salt, and pepper) and cook for a minute or two to open up their flavor.
2. If using cashew cream, add that to the sauce pan and cook for a couple of minutes. 
3. Add crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce, and a little bit of water or broth. Bring the whole thing to a boil and let it simmer for about 5 minutes to let the flavors blend.
4. Remove from the heat. If using cream, stir it in now. 

That's it. Add some chicken to the bowl of the slow cooker and pour the sauce right over the top. Set the timer and let it do its thing.

Or, pour the sauce into an airtight container and pop it in the refrigerator until you're ready to use it.

What can you serve with butter chicken?

My favorite recipe for Indian Rice is flavored with Indian spices, onion, garlic, and sweet peas. It’s better than takeout, simple to make, and the perfect accompaniment to any Indian inspired dish.

It also includes many of the same spices used to make Butter Chicken. For those without a super-stocked spice cabinet, knowing that you're likely to use the new spices your purchasing in other recipes is important. 

Can you even eat Indian food without Naan? Probably. But, why would you want to?

These days, most supermarkets cary Naan, which also freezes well, making it easy to keep some on hand. But, if you have the time and inclination, homemade Naan is one of the easiest types of homemade bread you can make.

If homemade naan is not on your agenda this week, pick up a package at your local market. Wrap it in foil and warm it in the oven. Then, stir some chopped parsley into melted butter and brush over the naan.

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