This slow cooker chicken honey badami is an incredibly easy chicken curry made with yoghurt, ground almonds, honey, warming spices and tender shredded chicken thighs.
It’s one of those recipes where the slow cooker does almost all of the work for you. There’s no browning, no frying onions first. You just add everything to the slow cooker, stir, and leave it alone.
The result is soft, shreddable chicken in a gently spiced almond sauce with just a little sweetness from the honey.
Serve it with rice and you’ve got a really easy family dinner with barely any hands-on time. The dream! And if you love this kind of meal, check out my easy chicken recipes for more.
Why You’ll Love This Chicken Honey Badami
This is a proper slow cooker dinner – minimal prep, very forgiving, and the sort of thing you can chuck in and look forward to later.
Chicken thighs are perfect here because they stay tender over the long cooking time. Once they’ve cooked for six hours, they shred easily into the sauce.
The sauce is made with plain yoghurt, chicken stock, onion, garlic, ginger, warming spices, ground almonds and honey. You get an incredible balance of that almond flavour, the honey and all of those spices.
It’s also very low-maintenance. You don’t need to fry anything first. You don’t need to blend anything unless you want to. You don’t need to do anything clever. Just stir, cook, shred, eat!
What Is Chicken Honey Badami?
Chicken honey badami is my slow cooker version of a dish from my local Indian restaurant – the one I order over and over again!
The word badami comes from badam, meaning almonds, so badami-style curries usually have an almond-based sauce. You’ll often see dishes like murgh badami or badami chicken described as North Indian or Mughlai-style, with a rich sauce made from yoghurt, almonds and warm spices such as cardamom, cloves and cinnamon. Mughlai cooking is known for these creamy, nut-enriched sauces.
This version is inspired by that style, but made much more hands-off. Rather than frying onions, making a paste or cooking everything in stages, all of the ingredients go straight into the slow cooker. The ground almonds thicken the sauce as it cooks, the yoghurt gives it a gentle tang, and the honey rounds everything out with a little sweetness. It’s not a hot, punchy curry. It’s soft and warm and utterly delicious!
Ingredients
- Skinless boneless chicken thighs – Chicken thighs are ideal for slow cooking because they stay juicy and tender. They’re much more forgiving than chicken breast, which can dry out over a long cooking time. You could use thighs with the bone and skin still on – just remove them before shredding the meat at the end of the cooking time.
- Plain yoghurt – Yoghurt adds tang and helps create the base of the sauce. Use plain natural yoghurt.
- Chicken stock – This gives the sauce enough liquid to cook slowly without drying out. Use a good chicken stock cube or homemade stock if you have it.
- Onion, garlic and ginger – These form the base of the sauce. You only need to roughly chop them because they’ll soften during cooking. If you want a smoother sauce, you can blend them with the other sauce ingredients before adding the chicken.
- Cardamom pods and cloves – These bring beautiful warmth and fragrance. You can remove them before serving if you spot them, or warn people that there may be whole spices in there.
- Ground cinnamon – Cinnamon adds warmth and sweetness, and works really well with the honey and almonds.
- Hot chilli powder – This gives a bit of heat (not a lot – it’s still a mild curry). If you prefer things milder, reduce the amount. If you like more heat, you can add a little extra.
- Turmeric – Turmeric gives warmth and colour to the sauce.
- Ground almonds – These are key to the “badami” element of the dish. They thicken the sauce and make it feel rich without needing cream.
- Honey – A little honey rounds out the spices and gives the sauce its sweetness. You only need two teaspoons.
How to Make Slow Cooker Chicken Honey Badami
Start by peeling and roughly chopping the onion, garlic and ginger.
Put the chicken thighs into the slow cooker, then add the yoghurt, chicken stock, chopped onion, garlic, ginger, cardamom pods, cloves, cinnamon, chilli powder, turmeric, ground almonds and honey. Stir everything well so the chicken is coated in the sauce.
Cook on low for six hours. During the cooking time, turn the chicken two or three times if you can, just to make sure everything cooks evenly and stays coated in the sauce.
Once the chicken is cooked and tender, use two forks to shred it directly into the sauce. Stir well so the shredded chicken soaks everything up.
Serve with rice. Naan or chapatis would also be excellent if you want something for scooping.
Can You Make This Without a Slow Cooker?
Yes. If you don’t have a slow cooker, you can make this in the oven.
Put all of the ingredients into a casserole dish with a lid and cook at 150°C for around 4 hours.
Check it regularly to make sure the liquid hasn’t evaporated. If it starts looking dry, add a splash more stock or water.
At the end of the cooking time, the chicken should be tender enough to shred into the sauce with two forks.
What to Serve with Chicken Honey Badami
I love to eat this with a simple pilau rice, a vegetable dal (or a black lentil dal), and my saag halloumi works incredibly well with it! Add naan and poppadoms for a feast of a dinner.
Slow Cooker Chicken Honey Badami
Equipment
- Slow cooker
- Chopping board
- Sharp knife
- Two forks
Ingredients
- 640 g skinless boneless chicken thighs
- 4 tbsps plain yoghurt
- 150 ml chicken stock
- 1 onion
- 4 cloves garlic
- 10 g ginger
- 5 cardamom pods
- 4 cloves
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp hot chilli powder
- ½ tsp turmeric
- 25 g ground almonds
- 2 tsp honey
Instructions
- Peel and roughly chop the onion, garlic and ginger.
- Put all of the ingredients into the slow cooker and stir well so the chicken is coated in the sauce.
- Cook on low for 6 hours. Turn the chicken 2 or 3 times during the cooking time if you can, so it cooks evenly and stays coated in the sauce.
- Once cooked, use two forks to shred the chicken into the sauce.
- Stir well and serve with rice.
Notes
- You can blend all of the ingredients apart from the chicken before cooking if you want a smoother sauce, but it isn’t necessary.
- If you don’t have a slow cooker, cook everything in a covered casserole dish in the oven at 150°C for around 4 hours. Check regularly and add more stock or water if the liquid starts to evaporate.
- Chicken thighs work best for this recipe because they stay tender during the long cooking time.
- Watch out for the whole cardamom pods and cloves when serving.
- The sauce will thicken as it cools, so add a splash of water or stock when reheating if needed.