Slow Cooker Chicken Curry and Rice

Slow Cooker Chicken Curry and Rice is a flavor-packed, all-star dish that may just become your family’s next favorite.

As the chicken curry simmers in the slow cooker, your house will take on the most amazing fragrance, and you’ll be all like Yeah, I did that.

It’s perfectly okay to crow about it, right? ‘Cause not everything we attempt in the kitchen is a success 🙂 Just read about my own food bloopers in this archived post and you’ll know it’s true 🙂 I’d love to hear about your kitchen disasters in the Comments!

This simple chicken curry dish is fail-safe.

We’ve made it twice in the past 2 weeks and it’s impossible to get wrong! It’s subtly spicy, saucy to the max, with a creamy texture thanks to coconut milk.

The fight for the leftovers is vigorous.

It couldn’t be easier, either. You plop nearly all the ingredients in the slow cooker and walk away for a few hours. Later, you add a touch of lime juice and cornstarch to thicken it up.

Pile it on some rice and grab a spoon.

Slow cooker chicken curry is one-bowl eating at its best, and the perfect thing for crisp fall days.

It goes great with football, soccer, and baseball (if you’re lucky enough to have your fave team still playing).

If you’re wondering where this recipe came from, I morphed it from my famous-for-being-ugly recipe for Coconut Curried Pork. That one’s from all the way back in 2013 – yes, this little blog’s been around for a while! You can read here all about how, though it was absolutely delicious, it was as un-appetizing as sin. I’ll spare you the photographic evidence.

It still makes me shudder.

My photography has gotten better, though I still say this dish is tough to capture. But the flavors? So easy to perfect.

Print

Slow Cooker Chicken Curry and Rice

An aromatic, flavor-packed meal that cooks up easily in the slow cooker while you go about your day. Finish it off with a side of rice and serving of fruit and you've got a complete meal.

Course Main Meals

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 3 hours

Total Time 3 hours 15 minutes

Servings 6

Author Julia Robarts

Ingredients

• 1.5 lbs boneless chicken thighs trimmed
• 1 small onion peeled and diced
• 1/2 large bell pepper, red seeded and diced
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tbsp curry powder
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
• 13.5 oz light coconut milk
• 2 tbsp lime juice about 1 lime
• 3 tbsp corn starch
• 3 cups cooked rice white or brown

Instructions

1. Layer the chopped onions and pepper in the bottom of the slow cooker.

   

2. Arrange the chicken pieces on the vegetable layer.

3. In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar, curry powder, ginger, salt and pepper. Stir well.

   

4. Sprinkle the mixture over the chicken.

   

5. Pour the coconut milk over the chicken. Cover the slow cooker with snug-fitting lid. Cook on Low for 3-4 hours.

   

6. Whisk together the lime juice and cornstarch. Pour over the chicken mixture and switch slow cooker setting to High and replace cover. Allow to cook, covered, for an additional 15 minutes, to thicken the sauce.

7. Serve in bowls over hot rice. Optional: garnish with lime wedges or chopped chives.

   

Recipe Notes

• This recipe calls for yellow curry powder. Other options include red curry powder or curry paste. Adjust the amount to taste.
• I used chicken thighs here. The meat is tender and cooks easily. You may substitute boneless chicken breasts, or even pork tenderloin, if you like. 
• Time saver: use pre-cooked frozen brown rice, or prep the rice the night before and simply reheat before serving.