Chicken Tikka Masala is a super delicious and flavorful curry that you can now make keto! You can serve this on its own and it’s an amazing dish, though you can pair it with some sides to “bulk” it up in a sense. I decided to serve this with cauliflower rice, with a 1/6 serving per person.
The cauliflower rice was just riced cauliflower sauteed in a dry pan. Once the cauliflower was dried out, I added butter, cumin, and coriander. Upon finishing, I added salt and pepper to taste (to keep moisture leakage lower). You can also add different ingredients depending on your mood, though this “rice” is an awesome keto side dish in its own regard. Another great addition is to cook frozen spinach and to wring out as much moisture as possible. Add it into the slow cooker with about 10 minutes left, allowing it to soak up any extra flavor from the curry.
I played around the with the recipe a few times, eventually getting to this formula. Originally I had added fresh onion to the mix, but I didn’t find a large difference in flavor between the onion and the onion powder. The raw onion essentially disintegrates and adds too many extra carbs to be considered for the flavor profile.
I definitely don’t recommend skipping the cilantro. It adds the perfect bite of freshness that’s needed in such a rich and hearty dish. Sprinkled over the top, it’s a fantastic addition to the recipe at the end.
Yields 5 Servings
The Preparation
- 24 ounces bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
- 16 ounces boneless, skinless chicken thighs
- 1 tablespoon fresh ginger, grated
- 5 teaspoons garam masala
- 4 teaspoons kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons onion powder
- 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
- 10 ounces canned diced tomatoes
- 3 teaspoons fresh garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 cup unsweetened carton coconut milk
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1 teaspoon guar gum
- 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped, for garnish
The Execution
1. De-bone chicken on the bone-in chicken thighs. Chop all chicken pieces into bite sized pieces. Make sure to keep the skin on for the pieces that have it. I prefer to use kitchen shears here as it makes cutting the chicken very fast and easy.
2. Add chicken to slow cooker and grate 1 inch knob of ginger over the top.
3. Add all dry spices into the slow cooker and mix well.
4. Add canned diced tomatoes,olive oil, and tomato paste into slow cooker, then mix well again.
5. Lastly, add 1/2 cup coconut milk and mix together thoroughly. Cook on low for 6 hours or high for 3 hours.
6. Once the slow cooker is done, add the remaining coconut milk, heavy cream, and guar gum and mix thoroughly into the chicken. It should help the curry thicken well; serve over cauliflower rice or vegetable of your choice.
This makes a total of 5 servings of Keto Slow Cooker Chicken Tikka Masala. Each serving comes out to be 726 calories, 62.5g fats, 5.9g net carbs, and 35.3g protein.
| NUTRITION | CALORIES | FAT | CARBS | FIBER | NET CARBS | PROTEIN |
| 24 ounce bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs | 1701 | 151.9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 85.1 |
| 16 ounce boneless, skinless chicken thighs | 649 | 40.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 76.9 |
| 1 tablespoon fresh ginger | 5 | 0.1 | 1.1 | 0.1 | 1 | 0.1 |
| 5 teaspoon garam masala | 39 | 1.3 | 9.1 | 5.2 | 3.9 | 1.3 |
| 4 teaspoon kosher salt | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 teaspoon onion powder | 16 | 0.1 | 3.7 | 0.7 | 3 | 0.5 |
| 2 teaspoon smoked paprika | 13 | 0.6 | 2.5 | 1.6 | 0.9 | 0.7 |
| 10 ounce canned diced tomatoes | 45 | 0.7 | 9.8 | 5.4 | 4.5 | 2.2 |
| 3 teaspoon fresh garlic | 13 | 0 | 2.8 | 0.2 | 2.6 | 0.5 |
| 2 tablespoon olive oil | 239 | 27 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 tablespoon tomato paste | 40 | 0.2 | 9.3 | 2 | 7.3 | 2.1 |
| 1 cup unsweetened carton coconut milk | 45 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1 cup heavy whipping cream | 809 | 85.9 | 6.5 | 0 | 6.5 | 6.8 |
| 1 teaspoon guar gum | 16 | 0 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 0 | 0.2 |
| 2 tablespoon fresh cilantro | 0 | 0 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 3630 | 312.3 | 48.6 | 18.9 | 29.6 | 176.5 |
| Per Serving (/5) | 726 | 62.5 | 9.7 | 3.8 | 5.9 | 35.3 |
Keto Slow Cooker Chicken Tikka Masala
Ingredients
- 24 ounce bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
- 16 ounce boneless, skinless chicken thighs
- 1 tablespoon fresh ginger grated
- 5 teaspoon garam masala
- 4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 teaspoon onion powder
- 2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 10 ounce canned diced tomatoes
- 3 teaspoon fresh garlic minced
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 3 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 cup unsweetened carton coconut milk
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1 teaspoon guar gum
- 2 tablespoon fresh cilantro chopped, for garnish
Instructions
- Debone the chicken thighs as necessary and chop all the chicken into bite-sized pieces, leaving the skin on the pieces that have it. Kitchen shears work very well here.
- Add the chicken to a slow cooker and grate the ginger over top.
- Add the garam masala, salt, onion powder, and paprika in the slow cooker and stir well.
- Add the canned diced tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, and tomato paste. Stir well.
- Finally, add half of the coconut milk and mix together thoroughly. Cook on low for 6 hours or high for 3 hours.
- Once the curry is done cooking, add the remaining coconut milk, heavy cream, and guar gum, mixing them into the chicken thoroughly to thicken it. Serve alone or with a side of choice.
Do you add the heavy cream with the coconut milk? By “from the carton”, do you mean the very liquid stuff like So Delicious Coconut Milk?
Hi, do you think that this would freeze well?
I definitely think it would. I’ve frozen many soups/curries in the past with no problem at all!
Can the carbs from the tomato products be cut by subbing Rao’s Sensitive Sauce marinara (has no onion or garlic in it)? Rao’s has 3 total carbs per 1/2 c. serving, and since we’re adding our own onion and garlic…
Nutrition facts label: http://www.shopwell.com/rao…
Sorry for the late reply! I don’t see why not. I’d still keep the paste, though, as it does add quite a lot of flavor. If you try it let me know how it goes because I’m actually quite interested myself 🙂
Am I correct in assuming that the serving size is 1 Cup?
I usually measure by weight so I’m not sure how large the serving was. I would say it was pretty close to 1 cup, though. Maybe slightly more.
Very excited to start!!!
Looks great! I’ve been craving Indian food lately, my husband and I used to go eat at an Indian restaurant frequently pre Keto. Can’t wait to try this!
Hope you guys liked it!
Made this today and it was delicious. Couple of questions though. When was the olive oil used? I see it in the ingredient list and the calorie count, but it doesn’t look like it was needed. Also, is the chicken thigh estimates off? All the chicken thigh estimates I found end up at at least 1200 calories for 1.5 lbs.
I’ll re-look over the macros on the chicken but that’s what my package had said to me. For the oil, I just added it in at the beginning when I added in all the spices. Glad you liked it, though!
Thanks for an awesome site Craig! We started the keto diet a couple of weeks back but only after we came across your site, did the dieting process get exciting! The recipes are so good that it doesnt feel a bit like we are dieting 🙂 We have also bought the 3 cookbooks to widen our meal options. Got a quick question though…when the recipe says ‘6 servings’ or ‘3 servings’, how is a ‘serving’ defined here (when the casserole recipes turned out so good, we were being tempted to go for seconds!!)? Thanks again
I really appreciate that Anu! When I talk about servings, I usually decide that based on the caloric output. I generally just eyeball it because I’m going to be eating all of the portions (or most) anyway. But what you can do is measure the entire recipe out by weight and then divide that into whatever the serving sizes are.
Thanks for the response Craig! That makes sense. Will give it a shot next time 🙂
Sure thing!
Hi Craig, new to this stuff. When you say you “riced” the cauliflower. Did you use a grater, food processor? Not sure how to do this.
You can use either to be honest. I prefer a food processor. There’s a recipe for cauliflower fried rice on the site to give you a basic idea!
Hi Craig, This is a great recipie!!! loved it, I’m new to cooking and this is really easy to make, just chuck everything in the slow cooker and it’s done in 3 hours. Thanks for this.
I’ve got a question though, can you tell me if I double the ingridients, do I need to increase the cooking time??
Glad to hear it and I’m really sorry for the late reply. I was in the middle of 2 cross country moves. You would probably need to increase cooking time a little bit, and watch out for too much liquid alltogether; it should work though.
My husband and I made this recipe yesterday and it was delicious!! We followed the recipe just as it is and will definitely be making again!
Really glad to hear it Christina – thanks so much for the feedback!
What can I subsitute for guar gum? I don’t have that item in my pantry yet. Will xanthan gum or tapioca starch work?
Yep – xanthan gum can work. Just make sure to use about 1/4 of the amount of xanthan and work your way up (to about half the amount) from there.
This was a lip-smacking recipe. And it counts a lot coming from an Indian who has tried so many different kinds of chicken curries. The husband gorged on it.
This came out pretty good but VERY salty. I will reduce salt by half next time.
Sorry to hear that. I tend to salt my food relatively heavily (for future reference).
Is it chicken thighs bone and skin on, or chicken thighs boneless and deboned?? Which is it, or is it both?
It’s both! You will take the bones out of the thighs that have them, and then leave the skins on. This way there is skin on some of the chicken, but not all of it.
I’d echo the sentiment that it was a bit saltier than I’d prefer (and if
I would have read Craig’s response, I might have scaled back by 1/3 of
the salt) – but everything else about it was fantastic! Left over, even
better. And riced cauliflower is a pretty good neutral vehicle to go
with it. I wonder if the stromboli crust, with no spice blend, or an
alternate spice mix than Italian, would work as a naan substitute too?
I really don’t like anything but breast, how will this affect cooking time? Should I add something if I’m going to use breast?
You can use chicken breast but be aware that It dries out very easily – even in a slow cooker. Check to see if it’s done before the time’s we’ve recommended.
Smells great! but the taste is a little weaker than I’d like. I left some of the salt out per the comment below, so I think a little more salt will help. What is the best way to add a bit more spice? More Garam Masala?
Also, do you use unsweetened or standard coconut milk?
Should be unsweetened. More garam masala would work great, but if you want to add heat then some cayenne might make a great addition.
Made this tonight, and it’s incredible. I actually goofed and added a 1/2 cup of the full fat canned coconut milk before realizing my mistake. Added a half cup of water, and used half the heavy cream called for. I also replaced 1/2 a teaspoon of the smoked paprika with cayenne to give it a little kick. Might just add a quarter next time. Also, I’d cut back on the salt by about a teaspoon. That said, this is an amazing recipe, and I’m looking forward to eating it for the next few days! I think slow cooker curries are going to become a staple while I’m on this diet…
Can you explain the problem with the canned coconut milk? I can’t find any explanation on why carton coconut milk needs to be used. The only thing I can find in a carton is coconut cream which has little water in it.
Coconut milk from the carton is generally thinner/more watered down. You could use canned coconut milk or coconut cream instead. The nutrition will be a little different, but the big thing is make sure that there is no sugar added to it.
I missed the part where the olive oil goes in…
I always remembered tikka masala to be a little sweeter because it has more tomato flavor, so I was not sure how I would like it. I made it today…and it’s really good! The great seasoning made me not notice the lack of sugar in the dish. Thanks for the recipe!
I made this today and loved it! Thank you.
I added the guar gum with dry ingredients because I didn’t read all the way through the instructions but it was fine 😀
Yay! I’m glad it worked out 😀
OMG, this was awesome! We live in Qatar where Indian food is ubiquitous and has quickly become our fave. This rivals any restaurant dish we have tried here. I put mine over oven roasted tumeric cauliflower, and the kids had theirs with rice. If the kids eat Indian food, it’s definitely a success! Thanks!
Thank you Aimee! That’s such a high compliment. 🙂
Can someone please tell me why we need bone-in chicken thighs and boneless? Couldn’t we just get all boneless? How many pounds total of boneless chicken thighs would I use, if so?
It’s so you get the skins, most markets don’t give you the skins when they debone the chicken. If you do all boneless you’ll need about 2-2.25 lbs of chicken. If you import the recipe into a tracker like My Fitness Pal you can switch ingredients and then recalculate the nutrition.
Thank you for the reply.
Hi y’all, did anyone tried making it in an instant pot instead of the slow cooker?
This is super good, I think the leftovers taste even better than they did the first day. Honestly, I think I might just cook through your whole website, everything I have made of yall’s stuff is amazing.
Hi, is there a substitute for Guar Gum? I asked this earlier but my comment seems to have disappeared so sorry if I’m repeating. Thank you! I can’t wait to try this 🙂
Guar gum is used as a thickener. You’re welcome to skip it, but the recipe may turn out a bit watery.
Trying to see if I can make this a little bit lower fat. Is it okay to use just the skinless chicken thighs? And maybe swap out the heavy cream for something lighter?
I don’t see why not 🙂
Nice recipe! I’ve made this a few times already and love it. One thing I can’t seem to figure out, when do you add in the minced garlic??
Glad to hear you’ve enjoyed it! You just add the minced garlic with the rest of the spices.
My cauliflower rice recipe
1 head cauliflower, broken into florets, and then throw into the food processor
3 tbsp butter
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1/4 tsp minced fresh ginger
pinch cayenne pepper
salt and ground black pepper to taste
What would the time be in an Instant Pot?
I can’t imagine it would take more than 15-20 minutes in an Instant Pot, but I haven’t tested to to know the exact time.
How many grams per serving after it’s done slow cooking?
I’m not sure of the weight of the final dish. I cook everything by weight initially but then eyeball the servings based on my own macros.
Why use bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs when the first thing you do is bone them? Was this recipe invented before boneless skinless chicken thighs were a thing?
Let me know when you find skin-on, boneless chicken thighs. I’ve never seen them in any store so maybe you can be the first one to “invent” them 👍
Seriously, what is the purpose of the skin?
Fat and collagen?