We love having friends over for dinner. A few months ago, the couple we invited over informed us they were not able to eat dairy or gluten. That threw my original plans for a loop since I never even think about the dairy or gluten content of my recipes. I went on the search for something easy I could have ready on a weeknight and found this recipe for Chicken Coconut Curry in the slow cooker. I made a few modifications and it turned out wonderful! The only downside is that your entire house and all your clothing smells strongly of curry for a few days (or maybe this is a bonus?) Keeping with the Crocktober theme, we had this on day # 13 of Crocktober and enjoyed it while watching the season premiere of The Walking Dead.
Start by dicing the chicken and season it with salt and pepper. Then dice up the onion and potatoes (if working with raw potatoes.) The jar you see in the photo below is my onion jar. I don’t really like dicing onions, so I like to cut up several onions (or talk my hubby into acting as sous chef) at one time and store the extra in a glass jar in the freezer so I can use them later without having to chop them every time.
Heat olive or coconut oil in a skillet on medium-high heat and add the minced garlic. Sauté for about a minute, then add the onions and sauté for another 2 minutes. Add the curry powder, stir until blended, and sauté for an additional 2-3 minutes to unlock the curry flavor.
This is where it starts smelling really delicious. Add in the seasoned chicken breast and toss to coat evenly. Cook for another 4-5 minutes, or until chicken is mostly cooked.
While the chicken is cooking, add the coconut milk, sugar, tomatoes, potatoes, and peas to the crock-pot and stir to combine. Add in the mostly cooked chicken and turn it on the Low setting for 2-3 hours. Serve over rice with a side of naan.
Because of the sugar content in this recipe, it’s important not to leave the crock-pot cooking for longer than the 2-3 hours. The mixture will caramelize and burn around the top (trust me on this). That makes it a bad choice to start before a long workday. It’s a great one to prep in the morning for a Sunday Dinner, lunch, early day off work, or a weekend. If you don’t have the time to wait 2-3 hours in the evening, you can follow the directions through step 6 but instead cook the chicken completely through, add the rest of the ingredients to the chicken in the pan to be heated on the stove, and then serve immediately over rice. I always prefer to let the curry and coconut milk meld thoroughly in the crock-pot, but sometimes dinner just needs to be eaten.
If you try this recipe, comment below and let me know how it turns out!
Chicken Coconut Curry
- Prep Time: 20
- Cook Time: 180
- Total Time: 200
Description
A flavorful coconut curry recipe in the slow cooker.
Ingredients
- 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast (about 2 large breasts), diced
- 1 ½ tablespoons olive or coconut oil
- 1 ½ tablespoons curry powder
- 1/2 onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 4 diced baked yellow potatoes or 2 (14 ounce) cans diced new potatoes, drained
- 1 can green peas, drained
- 1 (14 ounce) can coconut milk (In asian foods aisle)
- 1 (14.5 ounce) can stewed, diced tomatoes, undrained
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- salt and pepper to taste
- 4 cups cooked rice (set aside)
Instructions
- Assemble ingredients.
- Dice chicken and season with salt and pepper. Dice onions and potatoes and set aside.
- Heat oil in a skillet on medium-high heat and add the minced garlic.
- Sauté garlic for about a minute, then add the onions and sauté for another 2 minutes.
- Add the curry powder, stir until blended, and sauté for an additional 2-3 minutes to unlock the curry flavor.
- Reduce heat to medium, add in the seasoned chicken breast and toss to coat evenly. Cook for another 4-5 minutes, or until chicken is mostly cooked.
- While the chicken is cooking, add the coconut milk, sugar, tomatoes, potatoes, and peas to the crock-pot and stir to combine.
- Add in the mostly cooked chicken and turn it on the Low setting for 2-3 hours.
- Serve over rice with a side of naan.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 6
Ohh, that curry fragrance would be a BONUS! Shared this one verbally with Debbie “as we speak,” with the intention of sowing a seed-thought for tomorrow’s lunch. Since we’ve gotten hooked on Thai, even the kids who are still at home want to “do” Thai for Sunday lunch. This would certainly feed that craving and be less expensive than going out.
I like the potatoes. My favorite Thai dish is Massaman Curry which includes potatoes. This recipe is very similar. Maybe add some sliced onion and substitute or add diced carrot, and you’d be even closer.
I definitely want to give this one a try!
I liked it until my students were asking why I smelled of curry. 🙂
The whole recipe cost is around $10 for what you’re using in this meal. It’s maybe $20 if you have to go out and buy every single ingredient, but you’ll have extra of the staples for the pantry. Much less than a meal out.
It feeds about 6 comfortably, but you could easily double it to feed a crowd and still fit it all in the crockpot.