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| Slow Cooker Chicken Massaman Curry |
3 Tbsp red Thai curry paste (I used mild)
1 tsp grated fresh ginger
1 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs
2 Tbsp brown sugar
3 Tbsp fish sauce
3 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1/3 cup peanut butter
3 baked Russet potatoes, cut into cubes
1 (13.5 oz) can coconut milk
1 fresh lime, juiced
2 Tbsp quick-cooking tapioca
Garnish with peanuts and cilantro, if desired
1. Combine curry paste, ginger, brown sugar, fish sauce, Worcestershire sauce, peanut butter, coconut milk, lime juice and tapioca in the slow cooker and stir to combine.
2. Gently stir in the potatoes.
3. Nestle the chicken in the slow cooker.
4. Cover and cook on LOW for 4-6 hours. Chicken should be nice and tender.
5. Remove chicken and place on a cutting board. Cut into bite size pieces or shred. Add back into the slow cooker.
6 Serve chicken and curry over hot cooked rice.
*An alternative way of making this, if you don’t have baked potatoes on hand is to peel and cube uncooked potatoes. Then add the chicken in frozen. This will ensure that the uncooked potatoes and the chicken will cook at the same rate.
Review:
I’m not going to lie. I’m having a really hard time writing this review. I’m having a hard time because I loved it the night of but then the next day I got really sick and was have major bowel issues (TMI, I know). I’m not sure if it was the food since my husband ate 2 huge plates and didn’t get sick at all. But all I know is that my mind is connecting eating the curry with the next day of pain and grossness. It’s like the time I was prego with my daughter and I threw up spinach and then I didn’t eat it for 6 years. Literally. Now I like spinach again, but it took me a while.
Anyhow, please try this recipe if you like Thai food. My husband had Massaman curry at a restaurant a week ago and told me that I needed to try it in the slow cooker. So I did. While he was eating it he said, “You know what’s missing?” Me: “No what?” Him: “Nothing! This is perfect!”
He totally loved it and said it was even better than the restaurant. So he definitely gives this recipe 5 stars.
The tapioca helped make the sauce nice and thick. Also, I cut up the potatoes pretty small because they take a while to cook, but chicken doesn’t. So in order to get them done at the same time I cut the raw potatoes small. If you were going to substitute stew meat in place of the chicken the potatoes wouldn’t have to be cut so small.
I like avocado added to chicken massaman. When would you think I should add it to the crock pot?
I just made this for dinner and it came out GREAT! I did make some minor changes to the recipe though because the flavors weren’t quite where I like it:
1. I used two cans of coconut milk to give it more coconut aroma and somewhat thicken the curry more
2. I used 4 Tbsp of curry powder instead of 3
3. I also added a tiny bit of salt
Overall, this recipe is a keeper at my household! Thanks for sharing!
Glad you liked it Kevin!
Could make this in an Instant Pot? how would I change the recipe… Sounds good!
I haven’t made an IP version for this one yet I need to! HAve you tried my yellow curry in the IP? https://www.365daysofcrockpot.com/instant-pot-yellow-chicken-curry-and-jasmine-rice/
I would LOVE for you to create an Instant Pot massaman curry recipe, Karen! 🙂
I totally need to! On my list!
This is a wonderful recipe. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I didn’t have tapioca so I substituted with 2 tbsp of red split lentils instead. The sauce turned out lovely and think although it was a long day for me so it was left for another 3hrs on warm after a slow 6hrs cooking but it turned out perfect for me. I also didn’t have Worcester sauce so I replaced with Henderson’s relish which as a yorkshire in England is a crime I know! Thank you for a fabulous recipe which led to a happy girl after a full long day
Sorry for typo’s. I did warn it had been a long day!
So glad Tina!!! Thanks for sharing 🙂
I made this tonight and it was delicious! I added bell peppers (had two to use up) and subbed out coconut aminos for the Worcestershire sauce. So yummy…adding this to the regular rotation!
sounds great Sonja! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Tried this for the first time tonight. Taste is good, but seems like not enough sauce. I did do a few things different. First, I used rabbit meat instead of chicken. But I weighed it out carefully and got exactly 1.5 pounds of meat. I think the problem might be the potatoes. I found the three smallest (not very small mind you) potatoes at the store, but it still came out to a lot of potato. I also added about half an onion. But I really think it’s heavy on potatoes. Might be nice to adjust the recipe to say approximate potato weight as well. Still good, but I like a nice saucy curry. I might just try to adjust the sauce portions in the future.
If I remember right it does have quite a bit of potatoes in it. I guess that’s just my personal preference. Thanks for the review! Maybe make more sauce next time and less potatoes?
I will, definitely, ASAP! any meat-lovers suggestion for the third slow cooker tentative?? cheers!
My boyfriend bought me a slow-cooker only last week and this is only the second time that I used it!
It's good recipe, my boys said they would love to have it again 🙂
Just few comments to share with you:
1) I used Massaman curry paste by Valcom (easy find it in any supermarket, at least in Australia – 210g jar), 3 tbsp as you suggested (=half jar-ish). However, on the jar there is written half jar for 400g of chicken. Next time I will use the full jar for 700-800g of chicken
2) I used ginger powder instead fresh ginger, 1 tbsp as suggested. Next time I will use I little bit more
3) I put potatoes as suggested, but also carrots and chickpeas – all good 🙂
4) I didn't use the tapioca – all good, the thickness was perfect 🙂
5) I used chicken breasts instead chicken thighs – all good 🙂
Thank you for sharing your recipe with us, I can't wait to try something else!!!!
Wow thanks so much for all the great tips! I'm glad you liked it and I hope you'll be using your slow cooker more in the future?
My boyfriend bought me a slow-cooker only last week and this is only the second time that I used it!
It's good recipe, my boys said they would love to have it again 🙂
Just few comments to share with you:
1) I used Massaman curry paste by Valcom (easy find it in any supermarket, at least in Australia – 210g jar), 3 tbsp as you suggested (=half jar-ish). However, on the jar there is written half jar for 400g of chicken. Next time I will use the full jar for 700-800g of chicken
2) I used ginger powder instead fresh ginger, 1 tbsp as suggested. Next time I will use I little bit more
3) I put potatoes as suggested, but also carrots and chickpeas – all good 🙂
4) I didn't use the tapioca – all good, the thickness was perfect 🙂
5) I used chicken breasts instead chicken thighs – all good 🙂
Thank you for sharing your recipe with us, I can wait to try something else 🙂
I've made this twice in 3 weeks. Fantastic recipe! The amount of curry wasn't enough for our fam the first time so I added 1 more TBS and it was perfect! it was sweetly mild as the recipe is written and after adding another tbs curry it's sweetly spicy! LOVE this curry! Thank you!
I'm so glad that you liked it! Thanks for commenting 🙂
I don't understand the rave reviews; I wanted to love this, but it was incredibly bland. I had to add a lot of different things to give it both flavor and kick (and I started with hot curry paste). In the end, it was tasty, but I had to go way beyond what the original recipe called for. Also, there was not nearly enough liquid to soak into the rice. Thanks for the chickpeas idea from another reviewer. I only had two potatoes, so added a can of them and it worked great.
Agreed. It tastes okay, but it most *certainly* doesn’t taste like Massaman curry! I added half a bottle of chili oil and cut down on the Worcestershire sauce (since you could basically only taste Worcestershire sauce in the original recipe!) and it improved a lot, but I still had to add onions and jalapenos to make it truly palatable.
Karen – This was sooooo good! I "baked" the potatoes in the microwave while I was prepping the other ingredients. I added several shakes of curry powder and used chicken breast instead. When I removed the chicken to shred, I added a small package of frozen peas to warm. Served with Naan and rice – even the pickier teenagers loved it! Definitely getting put in the rotation. Thanks!
YUM! I love Naan!
We had this for dinner tonight and it was delicious! Actually, delicious might be an understatement. My husband said it was the best Massaman Curry that he has ever eaten (and he is obsessed with Thai food) and he wants me to add it to our menu on at least weekly basis. He seriously talked about how delicious it was for a good hour after we ate it. 🙂
Thanks for sharing this!
Becky, that makes me sooooo happy!
We love this recipe too.
And we love to talk about food too. Maybe I just do and my husband pretends to listen ha ha!
Is there a reason you used red thai curry paste instead of massaman curry paste?
I guess because that's what I found at the grocery store! Just use whatever you prefer 🙂
How much longer would I need to slow-cook it if I used frozen chicken breasts rather than thawed?
probably about 1 1/2 hours!
I made this last night and felt it was missing a little something too. I may try adding lemon grass next time for a little extra flavor/kick. Also my lime was pretty big and I think I might cut down on that next time. It had a bit too much sour. Overall we really liked it and will make it again!
Anonymous, so glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Best thai crock pot recipe I've tried!!!! YUM. Will be passing this on to friends as well 🙂
Mama Mia, hooray! that is so great! Love to hear stuff like this 🙂
We love this recipe! A friend made it and let me try her leftovers. I have been hooked ever since. We make it every 2 weeks. Thank you!
Caroline,
So glad you enjoyed it!! Bring on the heat, eh?
Hi Karen
I cooked this last night and LOVED it! It was delicious. I used hot red curry paste rather than mild and it had great flavour without too much kick.
Thanks for the great recipes – you've made my evenings so much easier!
Suzanne, could you use curry paste that is hot instead of mild?
Loved this dish. I took someone's recommendation for chickpeas and it was a great addition. The only thing I found lacking was the spicy kick. I love having curry that is spicy and it was too mild for me. We tried adding in curry powder and then some cumin and it helped a little. Despite this, we still really liked it and had leftovers again tonight.
Unfortunately this was not a winner for me. I skipped the tapioca and found that I did not need it anyway, with all the potatoes it was thick enough for my taste. The flavor overall fell way short. The strongest flavor was the peanut butter and little else. I imagine this could be built upon to increase flavor, but I won't be trying this again.
I use the red kind!
Karen, what kind of curry paste did you use? I know I have seen it in the stores sold by color, or did you use something else? Maybe one that was massaman specific?
I made this for my hubby who travels quite often to Thailand. He LOVED it. He told me to put it in the must make again rotation. MMMM! Thanks.
mmmmm, chickpeas!
Finally got around to making it and my husband, like yours, loved it (me too). I left out the fish sauce and added a can of rinsed/drained chickpeas. Definitely a keeper, thanks!
yeah, it is for thickening. would the quinoa do the same? probably not.
I think the tapioca is used as a thickening agent 🙂
hmmmm, maybe. I will try it out and see. Would you think just adding 1 Tbsp per recipe would be sufficient?
I noticed tapioca in another curry post. I'm wondering if quinoa or couscous would serve the same purpose? Quinoa is a complete grain that is really good for you 🙂
The purpose of the tapioca is to thicken the sauce. It is used in fruit pies sometimes as a substitute for or in addition to corn starch. Quinoa would NOT do this. Neither would couscous. Quinoa or couscous would be a substitute for serving it over rice and would not be added to the crockpot. Tapioca is a thickener.