One of my all-time favorite things to order in is butter chicken from an amazing Indian restaurant here in Chicago. I literally crave it and could eat the sauce like soup…it’s that good. The thing is, it’s notttt good for my waist line, so for this “Crocktober,” I made it my mission to recreate my favorite Indian dish and bring it to a healthy level with this awesome Crock Pot Indian Butter Chicken. I joke that this is butter chicken without the butter, but I’m correct when I say it! It’s rich and creamy, and you wouldn’t even guess that it’s only 315 calories a serving. My goal on this blog is to make comfort classics a little healthier so you can enjoy any time. This healthy Crock Pot Indian Butter Chicken definitely hit the spot!
Crock Pot Indian Butter Chicken
Servings: 6, with leftover sauce
Calories per serving: 332
Fat: 8.1
Carbs: 19.9
Protein: 39.3
Ingredients:
For the marinade:
- Juice from 1/2 lemon
- 1.5 tsp of ground turmeric
- 2 tbsp of garam masala
- 2 tbsp of ground cumin
- 1 cup of chobani non fat greek yogurt
- 2 lbs of chicken breasts or thighs, cut into chunks
Remaining Ingredients:
- 4 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 large onion, diced
- 3 tbsp of fresh ginger, grated
- 1 jalapeno, minced
- 1 tbsp of curry powder
- 1 tbsp of cumin seed
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 tbsp of tomato paste
- 28-30 oz of tomato sauce
- 1/3 cup of heavy whipping cream
- olive oil spray
- cilantro (optional)
- salt
Directions
- Prepare your marinade and add your chicken to the ingredients from the marinade list all into a ziplock bag and refrigerate for up to 24 hours before you plan to cook.
- When you’re ready to start cooking, saute your onions, garlic, ginger, and jalapeno in a pan with the curry powder, cinnamon stick, salt, and cumin seeds. Cook until onions are translucent.
- Add your marinated chicken to your crock pot, and have the settings on low. Wipe off some of the yogurt from the chicken (not all of it!) and have your crockpot settings on low at first to ensure the yogurt does not curdle.
- Add your tomato sauce and onion mixture to your crockpot. Stir to combine all of the ingredients.
- Set your crockpot back to high for 4-6 hours…time is all up to you!
- About an hour before serving, remove your chicken and cinnamon stick, and blend your sauce until smooth. I use an immersion blending to get those onions and jalapeno blended into the sauce.
- Add your heavy cream right before you plan on serving, and stir until combined.
- Serve your healthy butter chicken with rice, naan, and cilantro!
*Note: Rice, naan, and any other sides are not calculated in the calories for this recipe.