Slow Cooker Coconut Curry Chicken

More slow cooking…yes!  So we went to brunch with friends and inevitably as the kids were playing together the conversation drifted into ‘what’s for dinner’. I started discussing my current slow cooker obsession and my friend shared this wonderful recipe that I decided to tweak a bit for my family’s needs (ahem, ingredients and time I had available).

There are a lot of ingredients in this dish which creates the lovely layers of flavor as is typical for curries.   I am adding this one to my weekend rotation of larger meals. It was delicious and it’s been a long time since I’ve made a curry in the slow cooker.

Expectations:

• Total time: 5 to 5 1/2 hours.  Prep time takes about 15 – 20 minutes (chopping the veggies, browning the chicken & setting everything up in the slow cooker).   Cooking time for me was 4 1/2 hours — much less than stated in the original recipe, so check on how things roll after 4.5 hours based on the amount of chicken and speed of your slow cooker.
• Servings: This dish served my family of four 2 to 3 times. I doubled the chicken used in the original recipe – planning for left overs and streamlining some steps for speed, i.e. I didn’t reduce the sauce at the end and adjusted the seasoning.  The original recipe is from The Food Charlatan’s website, posted here.
• Kid modifications:  I know, you’re thinking curry with kids?  But it works! It’s not super spicy, however, my oldest is ‘anti-sauce’ so I removed the skin and scraped off any excess sauce with a spoon from the kid portions of the chicken.  I only added the cilantro on top for the grownup portions.
• Equipment: You will need a 6 quart (large) slow cooker

Slow Cooker Coconut Chicken Curry (adapted from the Food Charlatan).

Ingredients::

• 2 – 3 lbs. (i.e. 2 grocery store packages) of bone-in skin on chicken pieces (I used 4 thighs & 6 chicken drum sticks.  However, legs, quarters, etc. would be fine also).  Seasoned with salt, pepper & turmeric to taste.
• 1 teaspoon of olive oil (or other vegetable oil).

• 2 cans or packages (I had one that was 13.66 ounces & a 12 ounce size) of lite coconut milk
• 3 tablespoons of dried basil leaves
• 2 teaspoons of salt
• 1 to 2 teaspoons of fresh ground pepper
• 2 to 3 tablespoons of sweet yellow curry powder
• 1 teaspoon of chili powder (I used regular chili powder)
• 1 large red onion, chopped
• 1 head of garlic (chopped or minced)
• 1 or 2 jalapeno peppers (seeded and finely chopped)
• Optional: serve with 2 tbsp. of chopped fresh cilantro per cilantro eater

Chopped carrots, cilantro & cucumbers

Steps to put this on your table:

1. Brown the chicken, using the olive (or vegetable oil) on all sides over medium high heat, this will take about 3 – 4 minutes per side and you may have to work in batches, depending on the size of your pan.
2. Transfer the chicken and all of the other ingredients to the slow cooker.
3. Set (low heat, 4.5 hours to 5 hours) and forget!
4. I served mine over a basmati and wild rice + lentils combination that I love to make.  Enjoy!

Kids’ plates basmati & wild rice with lentils + curry chicken

Slow cooker curry chicken over basmati & wild rice with lentils.