I have recently been on a mission to adapt most of our family favorite recipes into simplified crockpot adaptions that could easily be combined in a freezer ziploc bag for a future meal. I love my crockpot for the simplicity it provides to my homemaking – one pot meals with little mess to clean up afterwards. This week we made an easy adaption to my favorite chicken curry recipe, added a few more yummy vegetables, and threw all the ingredients in the crockpot. And guess what? It was our favorite curry yet!
1-2 chicken thighs, cut into chunks
3-4 Tbsp curry powder (adjust depending on how spicy you like it)
1 Tbsp dry ginger (or 4 Tbsp fresh, finely chopped)
1 Tbsp garlic powder (or 4-6 garlic cloves, minced)
1 large onion, chopped
1 large sweet potato, peeled and cut into small chunks
1-2 zucchini, cut in small chunks
1 apple, diced
2 carrots, cut in small chunks
2 celery stalks, chopped
4 Tbsp arrowroot powder or cornstarch
1 Tbsp sea salt
1-2 Tbsp sucanat, rapadura, or other natural sweetener
2 1/2 cups chicken broth
1-2 cans (14 0z) coconut milk (adapt to your tastes)
Cut, chop, and prepare all your ingredients as described above and throw together in your crockpot. Turn crockpot on low for 4-6 hours. Stir on an hourly basis until fully cooked. You may desire to thicken further with additional flour or arrowroot powder or remove the lid during the last hour so some of the liquids can simmer off. We also like to add additional coconut milk and puree in the blender for the kids so it is not too spicy for them. Serve over a bed of brown rice and enjoy!
If you want to make this ahead of time for the freezer, simply combine all the raw ingredients above and place in a freezer ziploc bag. Store in the freezer until you are ready to thaw and prepare in your crockpot on another occasion. Be aware that it may take longer to cook if you place the ingredients directly from freezer to crockpot. This is crockpot freezer cooking for you!
I’m eager to adapt my recipes so we can have a weekly or monthly freezer crockpot meals preparation day! That would certainly simplify my life!
With so many more people developing allergies and sensitivities to dairy products, finding tasty and cheap alternatives to milk can be a challenge. One tasty alternative that can be used in cooking and everyday use is almond milk. But honestly, almond milk can get pricey. Instead try making your own almond milk for a quick and easy project that is fun to do with the kids.,
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I made this tonight and it was really good and it made a TON! I don’t have to cook dinner tomorrow.
One problem I had though was that sauteeing the onions, carrots and spices with the flour made it very clumpy. I spent a long time trying to break apart the clumps in the sauce. Any ideas on how to avoid this?
Sorry I meant to post this in the other curry recipe, not the crockpot one!
If this happens, it will break down naturally as it cooks…at least that has been the case for me. You could also just add the flour to the meat instead.
Love love love curry! Can’t wait to make this – looks like a good one, Thanks!
Thanks so much for this post and this great one-pot meal idea! I made this (minus the chicken + garbanzo beans) for my husband and myself tonight and we really enjoyed it. The only problem we ran into was that I added the salt before tasting the mix with the chicken broth and it came out far saltier than I would have preferred. So, depending on the saltiness of your broth, I’d suggest that it might not need so much, if any, salt. But otherwise, delicious!
Hi Lindsay,
This looks good. Would it be a bad idea to cook it in the crockpot and THEN freeze it for later re-heating or does it make a huge flavor difference to wait to cook it and just freeze the raw ingredients?
Thanks,
Kelly
We love, love, LOVE curry! This looks delicious. We put a lot of vegetables in our curry, which helps the kiddos get their veggies in. A food processor is a must for me, and I’m hosting a giveaway for a food processor on my website. Check it out if you’re interested.
I love this recipe. I chopped all my veggies and fruit the night before. I also cooked a whole chicken in the crock pot with two cups of water to have my own yummy broth. After deboning and straining the broth it was easy sailing from there! I used a whole chicken and doubled the recipe for a great frozen dinner. Viola!!
Love new crockpot recipes! Just added it to my ‘Plan to eat’ Menu! Thanks!
This sounds great! Thanks for the recipe, Lindsay!
What a great idea. I usually put dinner in the crockpot before church, but it can be stressful to get all the chopping done while trying to get all the kids breakfast and dressed.
I love once a month cooking! Thanks for the recipe idea. It simplifies my life so much and leaves time for things other than the kitchen!
I cook mostly in my crock pot, it is the most convient way for our family. I have not used curry much before, but my sister in law loves it. I think I will try this today, seriously because I have no defrosted meat. I have frozen chicken, a lot of frozen chicken that needs to be used!
The crock pot is a life saver for days like this!!
Ok, confession: I’m a curry novice
. Should I be able to buy it at the local grocery store (even if I live in the middle of the Texas Panhandle?? 
. Is there a certain brand you suggest?
Yes, you should be able to buy curry powder at your local grocery. I buy Oregon Spice brand.
Do you think that regular old dairy milk would work okay with the recipe. Sounds so good!
Coconut milk is pretty essential for curry’s! It adds such rich flavor and adds sweetness to balance the spice.
I’ve used coconut oil and yogurt as a substitute when I’m out of coconut milk and that seems to work fairly well
Our whole family LOVES this recipe and now it’s just gotten easier, if that’s possible! I love that I can throw this together at the last minute and it comes out great…EVERY TIME!! I happen to have a curry base that I have been using. I use pre-cooked chicken and add it last. When I use the base I obviously skip the curry powder, and only use 1Tbs curry base, it’s really spicy! I also skip the ginger most of the time. This is so yummy, I plan to make it and freeze it before our baby arrives in mid March.
This looks delicious. I was wondering what kind of Crockpot you use?
I have two crockpots for different jobs. I use a large 7 qt rival crockpot for my big jobs – slow cooking a whole chicken, roast, chicken broth, etc. And I use a cuisinart 4 qt crockpot for all my casseroles, yogurt, soups, etc. I have learned that it is really important to use the right size for your cooking – your ingredients should fill up at least 3/4 of the pot otherwise it will get overcooked. I started with the 7 qt thinking it would do everything, but discovered that all my smaller dinners would get fried. So I invested in the smaller edition and it works beautifully!
Looks yummy! Just a question about the recipe for clarification: do you *only* use 1-2 chicken thighs or 1-2 *lbs* of chicken thighs? Just kinda wondering how many servings this makes since usually when we have chicken, my husband can eat 1-2 chicken thighs by himself.
i was wondering the same thing.
I mean 1-2 actual thighs. You can certainly add more as needed. I made it this last week with just one large thigh and it made 8 servings just fine. All the veggies help stretch the meat making it very economical.
I will really enjoy your crock pot posts! I find I am most happy about making dinner when I can throw ingredients into the crock pot.
Lindsay,
You are speaking my love language! I’m all about the one pot wonder, and at this season of our lives we are all about crockpots and casseroles. I look forward to future recipes! I appreciate this post because it reminds me that even though it may seem like it at times, I am not the only one experiencing the dinner hour challenge, and I can use that struggle to encourage other women as you have done today. Thank you for keeping it real!
I just read your recipe in more detail – if you are interested, there is a recipe for “Homemade Mild Curry Powder” on my site. We have a favorite beef curry dish that we use it in all the time and my youngest is very sensitive to spicy foods – so I think it would work well for you as well.
Blessings.
I am so excited to try this! I’ve bookmarked 2 chicken recipes today and curry is one of our favorites! And the crock pot makes everything so much simpler – thank you!
What brand of coconut milk would you recommend, and where do you purchase it? Thanks! (Also, does this type taste good for drinking as “milk”?)
M,
Thai Kitchen brand makes a good canned coconut milk. You can get that at any grocery store, including your basic grocery store or Whole Foods, but not Trader Joe’s (they have their own brand of coconut milk which is good, too). I wouldn’t drink that in place of milk, but the brand So Delicious makes a milk-alternative coconut milk. The original is good, the vanilla is almost too good (tastes like ice cream), and the unsweetened is a bit plain, but better if you add vanilla extract. I have seen that at my regular grocery store. Several of my children have dairy allergies, so we’re well-acquainted with the alternatives, and we usually turn to coconut products (or almond milk since it has calcium and the coconut milk does not). If you can’t have dairy, the So Delicious brand also makes dairy-free ice cream, yogurt, creamer, and keifer, but I’ve only seen those at Whole Foods.
Hey Suzanne! Wondering if you or anyone else has actually tried making this recipe with almond milk. I make my own and we also have sensitivities to dairy so I’m wanting to try this. I’ve learned that the carton coconut and almond milks aren’t good for you so almond seems to be the cheaper to make. Anyway, I’d love a response. Thanks!
I’ve been using Wilderness Family’s dried coconut milk. It works great in this recipe and all the others I use it for. It’s more economical for me that way. A tip though, always reconstitute with very hot water or it will be lumpy. for this recipe I use 4c water and 2c coconut milk powder.
I recommend Native Forest organic coconut milk brand as it is BPA free. I buy through Azure Standard, Amazon, or your local health food store. I don’t recommend So Delicious as it is just watered down coconut milk and does not give half the flavor.
Do you use Native Forest coconut milk for regular drinking? I like So Delicious for drinking as a dairy milk alternative. I don’t think I can imagine drinking the canned kind in place of dairy milk because it’s so thick, but I agree that I wouldn’t use So Delicious at times like this recipe or when I need canned coconut milk for a recipe.
I would agree that So Delicious is a good option for general drinking just not for cooking. You can water down the canned coconut milk to make the same thing. Not sure how it compares price wise though.
That’s a great idea. I will look at the price and compare. Btw: made this curry last night. Oh my goodness, it’s amazing! Thanks for the recipe.
Can I ask, have you made this as a freezer meal yet? Some of the veggies in it are ones I’d usually blanch before freezing and I wonder what your experience is with freezing them raw. Zucchini being one of them!
Yes! It worked great!
I’ve always loved this concept but my problem is that when I buy meat from the local farmer, it’s already frozen so I would have to prep it and refreeze it… which I thought was a no-no. Do you run into this? I know I could do the same thing and just add the meat later, but it would be nice to have everything prepped.
This dish sounds yummy and full of veggies! I’m going to have to try it!
My meat is frozen as well as I buy it all in bulk from local farmers as well, so I have considered this a challenge. It is pretty easy with chicken though. I just cut it up frozen and throw it in the crock pot most of the time. Or if you want to make it into a freezer meal, I would keep the meat separate and then just thaw it out at the time you pull the ziploc bag of ingredients out. Often time you can throw a chicken thigh in frozen and then after it is partially cooked, I will pull it out and chop it up before throwing it back in for the remainder of the cooking time. Does that make sense?
Makes perfect sense! Thanks for the ideas
i wonder this too…could you defrost, brown the chicken and then freeze with the veggies?
This sounds amazing. I love curry and anything that makes it simpler is very welcome in our home
Thanks for sharing.
this looks great! i’m definitely going to try it. next week i’ll be doing a 10-day feature testing out crock-pot recipes on my blog, whiskeyandsweettea.blogspot.com – i’d love for you to check it out!
This looks delish! And I LOVE being able to make freezer to crockpot meals! Keep ‘em coming!