Slow Cooker Chicken Pasanda Curry

Mildly spiced and creamy, this slow cooker chicken pasanda, similar to a slow cooker korma, is easy to prepare and full of flavour. You’ll want to make it again and again! 

What kind of curry is a pasanda?

Pasanda is an Indian curry dish containing cream, yoghurt or coconut milk and almonds.

The name means “liked” or “favourite” as this mild curry is popular with young and old alike. It is quite close in terms of spice to a chicken korma, one of the milder curries.

If you like chicken tikka masala, this is similar in taste but a bit milder.

Adapting pasanda for the slow cooker

As I wanted to make this mild chicken curry in my slow cooker, I swapped the cream or yoghurt normally used in the recipe for reduced-fat coconut milk, because cream or yoghurt can split, or curdle, in the slow cooker.

Dairy ingredients curdling is one of the few problems you can encounter when using a slow cooker. Happily there are ways to avoid it, like here where I have used tinned coconut milk instead. Another option to get around it is to only stir cream through at the end just before serving.

The coconut milk swap worked very well, producing a thick and creamy sauce when served. This is helped by the ground almonds and tomato puree, which act as thickens too.

I make no claims as to the authenticity of my version of the chicken pasanda, but we all enjoyed the flavours, including the children!

It would also be easy to adjust the level of spice in this recipe to suit your taste by reducing or increasing the amount of fresh chilli and chilli powder. Taste the sauce as you prepare it (before adding the raw chicken) and remember that flavours normally become more muted by slow cooking.

You can add a dash more garam masala about half an hour before serving if needed.

Advantages of slow cooker curries

I love to make curries but the length of the list of ingredients and the number of steps can be overwhelming, especially if you don’t want to spend hours in the kitchen.

This slow cooker version is so simple because you can throw all of the ingredients into the slow cooker together if you are short on time, and still get great results.

For me, using the slow cooker to make curries is ideal, as you can forget about it for the rest of day while at work or out of the house.

Really popular with my family and also with my readers, this chicken pasanda curry is one I turn to over and over again as it always has great results.

It is also very tasty if you throw in some other vegetables – peas, baby corn and mushrooms work really well, and you can also bulk it up with sweet potato or butternut squash.

Ingredients needed

For the precise quantities please see the recipe card at the end of the post.

Remember, while the list looks quite long, a lot of the ingredients are store cupboard spices. Invest in small jars of these spices and you can use them in lots of different curry recipes in future. Dried spices last ages.

If you know you love curries and will use a lot of spices, you can look in the world food aisle at the supermarket where you can buy bigger bags of spices at bargain prices. 

• chicken breasts
• onion
• red pepper
• optional: other vegetables such as mushrooms, baby corn, butternut squash chunks etc
• garlic cloves
• small piece of fresh ginger
• red chilli (or jarred “lazy” chilli)
• ground almonds
• 1 tin (400 g / 14 oz) reduced-fat coconut milk
• tomato purée
• garam masala
• ground turmeric
• ground coriander
• ground cumin
• medium curry powder
• chilli powder
• fresh coriander

Step by step instructions

Step 1. Prepare the ingredients: measure out the spices, dice the onion, crush the garlic, chop the ginger (if using fresh), chop any vegetables you want to include.

Step 2. Place all of the ingredients in the slow cooker.

Step 3. Mix all the ingredients together well.

Then cook on high for 3-4 hours or on low for approx. 6 hours.

Serve with rice and naan breads. Here I’ve used cauliflower rice to make this a less carby meal.

Tip:

If you have more time you could fry the onion in a little oil until soft, then add the garlic and ginger and cook for a minute more, then add the spices and fry for 1-2 minutes more until fragrant, before putting it in the slow cooker and adding the coconut milk and ground almonds to the chicken.

If not, you still get plenty of flavour just putting all the ingredients in and leaving it to cook slowly.

Recipe swaps

• Swap chicken for Quorn pieces for a vegetarian version.
• Replace the chicken with lamb for a lamb pasanda.
• Adjust the spice level to suit you – mix the sauce ingredients in a bowl before adding it to the chicken and taste. You could add more or less red chilli and chilli powder depending on who you want to serve. Kids might want it less spicy, adults more so!
• To make this curry even more creamy you could stir through a little single cream before serving – make sure you do this off the heat though so the cream doesn’t curdle.
• Add in your preferred vegetables to bulk out the dish more and make it go further.

Sides

Basmati rice and mini coriander naans are our preference. I make my mini naans using this naan bread recipe.

Cauliflower rice is great for a lower carb option!

More curry recipes to try

For more tasty curry ideas, take a look at these slow cooker curries:

• Slow cooker coconut lentil curry from Recipes From a Pantry
• Slow cooker lamb curry
• Slow cooker coconut beef curry
• Slow cooker chickpea and paneer curry
• Slow cooker vegetable curry

Make sure you check out my Slow Cooker Category for loads more slow cooker recipes for families. Plus a whole loads of desserts!

You might also like

• slow cooker moussaka

• slow cooker shepherd’s pie

• slow cooker chicken saag

Pin for later

Recipe

Slow Cooker Chicken Pasanda

A delicious mild and creamy slow cooker chicken curry with ground almonds and coconut milk

4.25 from 4 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Slow Cooker

Keyword: slow cooker chicken curry

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 6 hours

Total Time: 6 hours 5 minutes

Servings: 4

Calories: 335kcal

Author: Lucy Allen | BakingQueen74

Ingredients

• 3 chicken breasts cubed
• 1 onion chopped
• 3 cloves garlic crushed
• 2 cm piece of fresh ginger chopped, or 1 tsp jarred pickled "lazy" ginger
• 1 red chilli or 1 tsp jarred pickled "lazy" red chilli
• 30 g ground almonds
• 1 tin reduced-fat coconut milk
• 5 tbsp tomato purée
• 2 tsp garam masala
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp coriander
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1.5 tsp medium curry powder
• 1 tsp chilli powder
• fresh coriander leaves to garnish

UK Measurements - US Measurements

Equipment

large oval slow cooker

Instructions

• Prepare your ingredients then place all the ingredients in the slow cooker. Stir well.
• Put on the slow cooker lid then cook for around 6 hours on low or 3-4 on high. I like to cook for the first hour on high to get it going well, then switch to low.
• Serve with rice and naan bread.

Notes

Tip:

If you have more time you could fry the onion in a little oil until soft, then add the garlic and ginger and cook for a minute more, then add the spices and fry for 1-2 minutes more until fragrant, before putting it in the slow cooker and adding the coconut milk and ground almonds to the chicken.

If not, you still get plenty of flavour just putting all the ingredients in and leaving it to cook slowly.

Recipe swaps

• Swap chicken for Quorn pieces for a vegetarian version.
• Replace the chicken with lamb for a lamb pasanda.
• Adjust the spice level to suit you - mix the sauce ingredients in a bowl before adding it to the chicken and taste. You could add more or less red chilli and chilli powder depending on who you want to serve. Kids might want it less spicy, adults more so!
• To make this curry even more creamy you could stir through a little single cream before serving - make sure you do this off the heat though so the cream doesn't curdle.
• Add in your preferred vegetables to bulk out the dish more and make it go further.

Sides

Basmati rice and mini coriander naans are our preference. I make my mini naans using this naan bread recipe.

Cauliflower rice is great for a lower carb option!

Tried this recipe?Tag me @bakingqueen74 or use hashtag #bakingqueen74!