This is the third week of Crocktober recipes for 2014. Recipes for this week are:
Skinny Slow Cooker Chicken Tikka Masala, Crock-Pot Sweet and Sour Chicken, Creamy Chops with Veggies, and Slow Cooker Chicken Pot Pie Soup.
Here’s Crocktober Week 1, Week 2, and Week 4
Welcome back to another week of Crocktober! Have you all been enjoying this month as much as I have? I’ve been loving the money-saving and time-saving advantages of using my slow cooker to make dinner each day, and my husband has been loving having a new recipe for dinner each night. In case you’re just tuning in, this month is Crocktober in the Powers household. We’ve been cooking 4 meals a week in our slow cooker and I plan to continue for the rest of the month. Each Monday I will be posting 4 recipes along with a complete grocery shopping list.
This week I’ve created a lightened up recipe for Slow Cooker Chicken Tikka Masala to share with you. If you’ve ever made (or considered making) tikka masala you’ve probably looked at some crazy complicated recipe and then picked up a jar of pre-made sauce off the shelf instead. Well, I’m here to tell you that it can be super easy! The hardest part of this recipe is dicing the chicken and stirring. 🙂 The recipe is down at the bottom of the post along with this week’s Crocktober meal plan and shopping list.
I’m writing this post a little later than I usually do because tonight was the season 5 premiere of the Walking Dead. If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you’ll know that we host a weekly Walking Dead dinner and watch party during the primetime tv season. It’s usually a pot luck of sorts and I make a main dish that we share before watching and discussing this week’s episode. I won’t share any spoilers, but holy cow was this week’s episode intense!! It was also a somewhat bittersweet night because 3 of our constant Walking Dead watchers have moved away and are no longer able to watch with us. I won’t name them here, but know that you’re each greatly missed! Anyone have ideas for Skyping people in to watch TV shows?
On to this week’s recipes:
Note: I’m only featuring 4 recipes per week because we have a leftover night once a week in our house, and we tend to make plans with friends on the weekends. If you have a large, hungry family or want to use your slow cooker every single day, feel free to double these recipes or add to these weekly meal plans.
I’ve listed each recipe’s ingredients directly below it and here is the
Printable Crocktober 2014 Week 3 Shopping List
Click the photos to get the recipes.
Recipe 1:
Slow Cooker Chicken Pot Pie Soup by The Gunny Sack
Ingredients
- 2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 2 1/2 cups frozen, mixed vegetables
- 3 cups cubed potatoes
- 2 cans condensed cream of chicken soup plus 1 cup of water
- Optional: 1/2 cup instant mashed potato flakes OR 2 tbsp cornstarch + 3 tbps cold water
Recipe 2:
Crock-Pot Sweet and Sour Chicken by Paris over at My Big Fat Happy Life
Ingredients:
- 3 chicken breasts, cut into 1 inch pieces
- 1/3 cup flour
- salt and pepper to taste
- vegetable oil
- 3/4 cup white sugar
- 4 Tablespoons ketchup
- 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1 Tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 teaspoons minced garlic
- 2 cups steamed rice for serving
Recipe 3:
Creamy (pork) Chops with Veggies by 2 Crochet Hooks
(I know it doesn’t look like much, but this recipe is incredibly delicious!)
Ingredients:
- 1 Pork Loin (or 6 boneless chops) sliced 3/4in. thick
- 2 cans cream of soup (any variety)
- 4 -6 red potatoes
- Baby carrots – 2 cups or approx. 20ish
- 1/2 cup water
- Spicy breader/breading mix
- Salt/pepper/spices to taste
Recipe 4:
Skinny Slow Cooker Chicken Tikka Masala
I know it may look like a lot of ingredients, but I promise most of it is just spices you need to add together to get the authentic tikka masala taste. I found all of the spices for this recipe at my normal grocery store. The great thing about this recipe is that it’s easy to make vegetarian or vegan and it makes plenty of leftovers. Enjoy!
PrintSkinny Slow Cooker Chicken Tikka Masala
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 6 hours
- Total Time: 6 hours 10 minutes
- Yield: 8 1x
Description
A lightened up version of the UK favorite chicken tikka masala. Tangy yogurt marinated chicken comes together with a spice-filled masala sauce in this easy slow cooker dish.
Ingredients
- 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1 inch pieces
- 2 (15oz) cans diced new potatoes, drained (optional to stretch the recipe)
- 1/2 large yellow onion, finely diced
- 1 (29 oz) can tomato puree (this is basically thinner tomato paste, but could be substituted with plain tomato sauce)
- 1 1/2 cups plain Greek yogurt
- 1 cup coconut milk
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons freshly, finely grated ginger
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons Garam Masala (found in the spices section of most grocery stores)
- 1 tablespoon cumin
- 1/2 tablespoon smoked or sweet paprika
- 2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
- 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper (this is a “mild” level – add 2-3tsp for some bigger heat or serve it on the side)
- 1 tsp coriander
- 2 bay leaves
- 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum or 2 tablespoons cornstarch (for thickening)
For Serving
- 4 cups cooked steamed rice or cauliflower rice
- Chopped fresh cilantro
Instructions
- Dice chicken breasts and add chicken, potatoes, and onions to the crock-pot.
- In a medium bowl, combine tomato puree, greek yogurt, coconut milk, garlic, ginger, olive oil, spices, and corn starch.
- Pour over chicken and potatoes in the crock-pot.
- Cook on low for 6-8 hours or until chicken is tender and fully cooked.
- Fish out bay leaves and serve chicken over prepared rice topped with chopped cilantro.
Notes
- This recipe has great flavor, but is fairly mild, feel free to up the heat with more cayenne if desired.
- Gluten-free: This recipe is gluten-free (but always check your individual ingredients).
- Vegetarian: Paneer cheese can be swapped for the chicken.
- Vegan: Use soy or almond yogurt and your favorite vegan chicken substitute.
- Low-Carb: Leave out potatoes, use xantham gum, use cauliflower rice, and substitute 1 (9oz) can tomato paste + 1 cup water in place of the tomato puree to reduce carbs. (Macros: 219 calories, 6g net carbs (9g carbs-3g fiber), 28g protein, 6g fat.)
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cup without potatoes
- Calories: 232
- Fat: 6g
- Carbohydrates: 13g
- Fiber: 3g
- Protein: 29g
Recipe Remix: Bake up a few potatoes and top with leftover chicken tikka masala.
This post is linked up with Menu Plan Monday over at Org Junkie.com
sue Jordan says
Thanks so much! So happy to use this recipe instead of a jar of sauce!
When I make Tikka Masala instead of adding potatoes I add frozen cauliflower and peas about 30 minutes before serving and serve it over brown rice. I love the idea of leftovers over baked potatoes!
Stephanie Powers says
Ooh! I love the idea of adding cauliflower! I did add peas to my rice before I steamed it in the rice cooker. I hear that jacket potatoes with tikka masala are all the rage in the UK.
Kristina and Millie says
Oh the episode last night was totally awesome! This will be the best season ever I think. Love the new look for the walkers too! Do you watch the talking dead after? I could not stop laughing at Conan lol he is so crazy! All these recipes look delish, looking forward to trying the sweet and sour chicken this week, one of hubby’s favs when we eat out. Thanks for featuring our chop recipe! Have a fun week and beware the walkers!
Stephanie Powers says
I love how they’ve aged the walkers to reflect how much time has passed! I was definitely expecting this to be a season of Terminus, and they dispatched with that in less than an episode. We love watching Talking Dead afterwards and I think Conan was definitely a great addition to the group last night. I can’t wait for next week’s Walking/Talking Dead. We made your chops on Saturday and they were super yummy!
Kristina and Millie says
I love that the group (or Carol) just tore Terminus up in 30 mins., seemed just perfect lol. Glad you enjoyed the chops! It’s a new fav here too!
Nicky says
I love Tikka Marsala, but have never made it myself. I will have to give this a try. It being a crock pot version is an added bonus. I found you at the Merry Monday Link Party. It’s great to find you there.
Stephanie Powers says
Thanks for stopping by! My friends who love tikka masala said it tasted just like their favorite, so I think you’re going to love it!
Keri says
We used to have a Doctor Who tv-and-dinner night but our friends have all moved too. We try to get together for the Christmas specials once a year, but I don’t know that it would work for TWD since they don’t do one.
Stephanie Powers says
We’ve done Doctor Who watch parties as well (I have a whole post on ideas to throw one), but the number of Whovians in our friend group is much smaller than the people who like the Walking Dead. We were joking that we could DVR Doctor Who and watch both at once on Sundays. A Walking Dead Christmas special would be an interesting thing. I’m imagining walkers with shiny bows shambling around. Haha.
Neive Osborn says
This is so great!! I have been on the lookout for more crock pot reciepes! Totally pinning this post! THANKYOU!!
Stephanie Powers says
Great! Glad I could help. There’s 2 other weeks of Crocktober and a 4th week of recipes posting tomorrow, so be sure to come back and check them out if you need more ideas!
Brenda says
I just brought a crockpot in the summer, and I used it a few times. I can’t wait to try some of these recipes…like the sweet and sour chicken.
Stephanie Powers says
I’ve been using mine almost every day this month and it’s been amazing! I’ve either created or tested each recipe here, so you can’t go wrong! The sweet and sour chicken is going to make a regular appearance at our house.
Rachel G says
Chicken Tikka Masala is one of my favorite foods of all time, but I’ve never made it from scratch! But looking at this recipe, I think that I could get just about all the ingredients, even here in China! I’ll save this one!
Stephanie Powers says
Awesome! I cant wait to hear how it turns out. Let me know if there’s something you can’t find and I can help you brainstorm a substitute.
Olivia says
I love crock pot recipes! Thank you for sharing! 🙂
Olivia (www.vickiandlivi.com)
Stephanie Powers says
I’ve been keeping them coming this Crocktober! I just added 4 more this morning, so you’ll never run out if you stick around. 🙂
KC the Kitchen Chopper says
I know what you mean about the list of ingredients. But your’s sounds like such a great combo. YUM! Thanks for sharing at #theWeekendSocial. Pinned. Hope to see you again Thursday 9:00 PM EST. http://www.theKitchenChopper.com
Stephanie Powers says
I always feel bad about listing so many things, but it just didn’t taste “right” any other way. The only other way would probably mean opening a jar of tikka masala, and that just won’t do. Thanks for hosting a lovely party!
Catherine Short says
I’ve been looking for a good Tikka Masala recipe!
Stephanie Powers says
I’ve been told this one’s a keeper! Take out fake out at its easiest. 🙂 Thanks for stopping by!
Trish says
This dish looks so delicious. I think I want to try this. Thanks so much for sharing it at The Southern Special.
Stephanie Powers says
Thanks for hosting the party Trish. Let me know how you like it when you try it. 🙂
Kylee says
OMG. Hello, lover!!
I love some tikka masala – that looks AMAZING.
Stephanie Powers says
Thanks Kylee! I hope you really do love it. 🙂
Kylee says
Made it.
Loved it.
It was SO GOOD!!!!
Stephanie Powers says
Yay! Glad you loved it. I need to drop by and get some ham and cheese pinwheels now! Yum!