Slow Cooker Butter Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Slow Cooker Butter Chicken Lettuce Wraps ~ Indian spiced butter chicken in a rich sauce served with basmati rice on a lettuce leaf.Website bucket list recipe completed.

Finally!

Butter Chicken Lettuce Wraps have been on my to-make list for two years.

TWO YEARS!

That list never gets smaller, even when I make something from it.

Indian food is a favorite in my house. Elizabeth will eat it right up without murmur or compliant. In fact, she only got a single bite of this recipe because I made it for another. When she tasted that bite, she climbed up onto the bar stool and waited to be served. Sadly, I had to inform her this wasn’t for us, that it was to be left for Darla and her family. She wasn’t mad, she was downright pissed off. I got a talking to all the way home that night.

Have you ever been scolded (almost righteously) by a near 6 year old? Apparently, I do not make her enough good food like this, that she has been deprived for years of good Indian food (mind you we just had take-out from our favorite place a few weeks previous) and why couldn’t she just have dinner with them, it’s not like we don’t eat there all the time.

Once she simmered down and allowed me to get a word in edgewise, I told her we had a batch for us at home. That perked her up a bit, until I dropped the other shoe; we couldn’t eat it until the next day. From the backseat came the sarcastic comment, because you haven’t taken pictures yet–it wasn’t even a question.

Ah, my child, love that girl.

I rarely make two batches of anything. I wanted to experiment with different cooking methods. I love slow cookers but some dishes come out soggy and well, less than attractive. But one cannot ignore the time saving joys of such a device.

This slow cooker butter chicken and Indian Spiced Butter Chicken recipe are nearly the same in ingredients, but slight adjustments in quantities. I experimented using regular unsalted butter in the slow cooker version and used ghee, Indian clarified butter (which I made at home with unsalted butter) in my other version. I recommended using ghee for both versions because there is a deeper, richer, and nuttier taste that comes from ghee that was absent in the slow cooker version. However, if you do not have ghee, cannot find ghee, and do not wish to make your own, your dish with unsalted butter will still rock. Just ask Darla and her family. In the end, both versions were great, and I can happily put my name on both the slow cooker and upcoming oven/stovetop versions. 

This post contains Amazon affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links below and make a purchase using the link, I’ll receive a penny or two, which helps maintain this site. I promise to make links relevant to the content you are reading.

Ok, enough legal stuff.

Many of you have written to me about trying to find the spices I use in my cooking, so I am linking them to Amazon for your convenience. However, these are all sold on your spice aisle at most grocery stores, except maybe the ghee…I can only find that at speciality food stores, but I live in a small town. The rice should be available at your local store where rice is sold, or sometimes where international foods are.

• Ground Ginger
• Ground Cardamom
• Ground Coriander
• Ground Cumin
• Ghee
• Basmati Rice

Slow Cooker Butter Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Author: Michelle De La Cerda

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Ingredients

• 1/4 cup Greek yogurt
• 1-28 oz can crushed tomatoes
• 2 tbsp fresh lime juice (1 large lime)
• 4-5 garlic cloves; minced/grated
• 2 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tbsp ground cumin
• 3 tsp ground coriander
• 1/2 tsp ground cayenne pepper
• 1/4 tsp ground cardamom
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 1/3 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp salt +/- to taste
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 3 lbs boneless/skinless chicken thighs
• 1/4 cup ghee or unsalted butter (1 stick)
• 1/4 cup cilantro; chopped
• Cooked basmati rice
• Bib , butter, or Boston lettuce leaves; cleaned and trimmed

Instructions

1. Whisk together the yogurt, tomatoes, lime juice, garlic, ginger, cumin, coriander, cayenne, cardamom, cloves, salt, pepper, cilantro, and heavy cream.
2. Trim the chicken, taking care to remove any remaining skin, fat, or tendons still attached.
3. Place the chicken in the slow cooker..
4. Add the ghee or butter to the slow cooker.
5. Pour the liquid over the chicken and mix in.
6. Cover.
7. Cook on high for 3 hours, or on low for 5.
8. Once chicken is cooked, remove the chicken and place on a cutting board, allow it to rest for a couple of minutes before cutting.
9. Remove any floating fat. Use paper towels, coffee filters, fat separator, or cheesecloth to get the fat out.
10. Cube the chicken and return the slow cooker, reduce heat to keep warm.
11. Layer the lettuce leaves with a kitchen tablespoon of rice and then a strained kitchen tablespoon of butter chicken.
12. Reserve the extra sauce as a dip for the lettuce wraps.

Recipe Notes

To thicken sauce, the lid can be left askew during the last hour of cooking or once the chicken has been removed and the grease removed, up to 2 tbsp of tomato paste can be whisked in.

For best flavor, use Ghee. It has a deeper, richer, and nuttier flavor that is tasted throughout the dish.

Oh and in case you’ve been asking why lettuce wraps? I am trying to make something from every cuisine on a lettuce wrap. And because I tend to eat a lot less carbs when I put them on lettuce, which utterly makes no sense to me, but it’s true. Here are some of my other lettuce wrap recipes: traditional Chinese-style chicken, Korean BBQ beef, turkey taco and now a slow cooker butter chicken lettuce wrap. What else should I make into a lettuce wrap? Tell me in the comments below.

Thank you for sharing!