This slow cooker Chicken Massaman Curry is creamy, slightly spicy, nutty Thai curry that is rich with flavor and quick and easy to make!
Massaman Curry is what I generally order at our local Thai restaurant. Sometimes I order it with chicken, sometimes with pork. This easy Chicken Massaman Curry for the slow cooker is quick and easy and will be waiting for you when getting home from a long day.
HOW TO MAKE SLOW COOKER CHICKEN MASSAMAN CURRY
Massaman Curry is basically a Thai curry with a lot of Indian influence. I use a canned curry paste that I think is very good. It’s called Maesri Thai Masaman Curry. I like using the canned version simply for the ease of putting this recipe together. You can certainly make a homemade version if you wish.
This recipe is simmered for several hours in a slow cooker where all the flavors marry together to create a creamy, slightly spicy, nutty, and flavorful curry. We like to eat ours over Jasmin or Botan Rice. I hope you enjoy!
RECIPE VARIATIONS
- Use beef or pork instead of chicken
- Replace red skin potatoes with sweet potatoes or butternut squash
TIPS FOR MAKING MASSAMAN CURRY
- I use 4 tablespoons of curry paste. I like things on the spicy side, but this amount seems to be just right for my family. It’s not super hot.
- If you like things hotter, add more curry paste and also some chopped Thai chiles.
- Don’t skip the fish sauce! It smells gross, but it adds a distinct, important flavor that makes this curry just right.
CAN YOU FREEZE MASSAMAN CURRY?
Yes! Allow the curry to cool to room temperature and place the curry in an airtight container or zip-top freezer bag. You can freeze it for 1 month. When you’re ready to eat it remove the curry from the freezer and let it thaw.
Empty the curry into a microwave-safe bowl and microwave it, or place it in a pot and warm it up on the stove.
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Slow Cooker Massaman Chicken Curry
Ingredients
- 3 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs cut into bite sized chunks
- 2 tablespoons olive or coconut oil
- 2 onions cut into chunks
- 1 cup mixed red yellow, orange bell peppers, cut into bite sized chunks (optional)
- 2 cups carrots cut into bite size chunks
- 6 red skin potatoes peeled and cubed
- 2 13.66 oz cans Coconut Milk
- 4 tablespoons thai red curry paste used: Maesri Thai masaman curry
- 1 tablespoon fresh ginger paste used: Gourmet Garden Ginger
- 2 teaspoons fresh lemongrass paste used: Gourmet Garden Lemongrass
- 4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice about 2 small lemons
- 3 tablespoons fish sauce to taste
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar to taste
- 2 cups chicken stock used: Kitchen Basics Chicken Stock
- 1/4 cup peanut butter
- 1 cup chopped dry roasted peanuts
- 6 to 8 cups cooked Jasmin or Botan Rice for serving
Instructions
- In a large heavy bottom skillet or iron skillet, heat olive oil or coconut oil over medium high heat and begin browning the chicken pieces in batches. Place browned chicken into slow cooker.
- Place cubed potatoes, carrots, and mixed peppers on top of the meat.
- Drizzle about 1 tablespoon more oil into the skillet if needed, and brown the onion; spoon browned onion into the slow cooker with the other ingredients.
- Immediately add the curry paste, ginger and lemongrass paste to the skillet and "saute" the paste for about 1 minute.
- Stir in 1 can of coconut milk and reduce to medium-low heat and let simmer and reduce by half.
- Whisk in chicken broth and remaining can of coconut milk, along with peanut butter. Bring to a boil, then reduce to low and simmer for about 5 minutes.
- Pour sauce over ingredients in slow cooker, gently stir ingredients to combine and set to low for about 4 to 6 hours.
- About 20 minutes before serving, season to taste with lemon juice, fish sauce and brown sugar.
- Stir in half of the chopped peanuts.
- Serve with hot cooked rice and sprinkle with additional chopped peanuts.
I’m Jennifer Locklin, author and owner of Jennifer Cooks. I am a trained chef and passionate about good food, cooking for family and friends, and creating recipes that form lasting memories from one generation to the next.
I love chicken curry and i love to try different curry recipes! Thanks for sharing one!
It’s full on summer with 100* temptatures. I don’t have AC so I’m cooking all my meals outside in either a charcoal grill, Dutch oven or propane stove. This meal worked great in my Dutch oven (13 briquettes on lid and 7 on bottom kept it around 190-200). I also didnt realize my freezer was short on chicken so I ended up with thigh pieces and some chicken legs, worked great! Mm-mmm tasty. Thank you!
I understand the heat and getting it oustide. I bet it gave it an added smokey flavor. Sounds delicious! Thanks for stopping by and letting me know.
This recipe sounds amazing and can’t wait to try it! Just a suggestion though maybe try using sweet potatoes instead. We went to this amazing restaurant and they used sweet potatoes in their recipe and it was.to die for!
I’ve made this recipe multiple times, onceusing red skin potatoes and two other times using sweet potatoes — DELICOUS either way but I very much prefer it with the sweet potatoes!
Thanks Gregg! I’m so glad you like it. I’ll have to make it again soon for my family and use sweet potatoes. I bet it’s delicious!
Easy to make and absolutely delicious flavours! I can’t wait to make it again.
I’m so glad you liked it! Thanks for letting me know how it turned out for you!
I searched all over for a Masaman curry recipe and I’m so glad I found this. My local Thai restaurant has it on the menu and I wanted to try making it. They do theirs with sweet potatoes as well. I had some white potatoes on hand so I used them. I bought the recommended curry on Amazon. I cut the recipe in half because there’s only myself and my husband. This was excellent.
I’m so glad you liked it! I love it too!
Has anyone tried this without browning everything first? My ideal would be to just dump everything into the crock pot in the morning and go.
Hi Stephanie! I usually brown meats before adding them to the slow cooker so that the dish has more depth of flavor and it also sears the meat so that it doesn’t just turn to mush when slow-cooked for a long period of time. You can certainly add everything without browning and it should taste just fine.