Slow Cooker Chicken Tikka Masala

Submitted by gailanng

"If you can't find tomato puree, you can substitute tomato paste mixed with water. Using regular canned tomatoes will not produce a rich red sauce. From Cooking Classy's blog."

 

• Ready In: 8hrs 15mins
• Ingredients: 21
• Serves: 6

ingredients

• 5 boneless skinless chicken breast halves, cut into 1 inch pieces (about 3 lbs)
• 1⁄2 large yellow onion, finely diced
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tablespoons freshly grated ginger
• 1 jalapeno, stemmed, sliced in half and seeds removed
• 1 (29 ounce) can tomato puree (Contadina Brand recommended)
• 1 1⁄2 cups plain yogurt
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons garam masala
• 1 tablespoon cumin
• 1⁄2 tablespoon paprika
• 2 teaspoons salt (to taste)
• 3⁄4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 3⁄4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
• 1 -3 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1⁄2 tablespoon cornstarch
• long grain white rice or basmati rice, cooked
• chopped cilantro, for serving

directions

1. In a large mixing bowl combine chopped onions, minced garlic, grated ginger, sliced jalapeno, tomato puree, plain yogurt, olive oil, lemon juice, Garam Masala, cumin, paprika, salt, cinnamon, pepper and cayenne pepper. Stir until combine.
2. Pour half of sauce mixture into a large slow cooker then add in diced chicken followed then cover chicken with remaining sauce. Add in 2 bay leaves.
3. Cover slow cooker with lid and cook on low heat for 8 hours (or high for 4 hours).
4. In a mixing bowl, whisk together heavy cream and cornstarch, pour mixture into slow cooker and gently stir. Allow mixture to cook 20 minutes while you prepare the rice.
5. Remove bay leaves and sliced jalapeno and serve warm over rice and sprinkle with chopped cilantro.

Reviews

[sum dum girl]

don't let the small number of reviews deter you; this recipe is fantastic! We, as another reviewer did, added more guram masala near the end of cooking to maintain the flavors. We also added twice as much cream because we like it creamy. Don't judge. I didn't need to add the cornstarch bc it thickened up nicely on its own. It was amazing and I am definitely making it again. Thank you!

 

[fredomoftruth]

Made this and bought some from a restaurant to compare. The crockpot one was a hit. I personally couldn't taste a difference and my friends agreed. I don't like spicy so I didn't add jalapeño and did 1teaspoon of cayenne pepper, with that said, I still thought it was a little too spicy. Next time I'll only do 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper. Will be making this again! Thank you!

 

[Stebnay]

So yummy! We used non-fat Greek yogurt and half-n-half instead of cream (that might be why it didn't look uber creamy like you get in a restaurant, but it tasted great!) Also didn't use the cornstarch, forgot to get it. This was a super easy dish. We served with aromatic rice and a couple of sides from an Indian cookbook we have. The sides were more time consuming than the main dish! This will definitely go into our dinner rotation. :)

 

[beffymaroo]

Indian food doesn't get easier than this. I doubled the garlic and used diced tomatoes canned in tomato juice (I put the contents of the can into the blender and pureed it for about 20 seconds). Fantastic with naan!

 

[sjkotylak]

This was great and I loved the way the house smelled all day while it cooked! I had to use the tomato paste and I just added a couple cans of water with it and I served it with recipe #424415 instead of plain basmati. Thanks for an easy Indian dish that I can rock with my crockpot! Made for ZWT 8