Learn how to make a delicious slow cooker style chickpea chicken curry. Enjoy the depth of bold flavours and the aroma from slow cooking this curry. Served with some low carb herb cauliflower rice.
If you love chickpeas and chicken this chickpea chicken curry is a must try. It was my amazing mother that introduced me to this recipe.
Every winter for several years my mom makes the most amazing chicken and chickpea combination curry.
Even though I adore the way she would make it I decided to tweak a few things, adding a bit of this and that to make it my own rendition.
My version is made in the slow cooker which is my favourite style of cooking especially during the colder months.
I like to use dried chickpeas because they are more cost effective and always to hand. I consume them very often so having them in their dry form is ideal for my lifestyle.
I soak the chickpeas usually overnight and then parboil them.
This is a very important step to ensure that the chickpeas are completely cooked through even though I slow cook the recipe for 4 hours, I never miss this step.
I also like to season the meat, speaking of meat, I use boneless/skinless chicken thighs.
I simply chop the chicken into small pieces,trim off the excess fat to make the meat more lean, unlike chicken breast, chicken thighs aren't dry and hold a lot of moisture especially when being browned.
The meat is seasoned with my homemade curry powder along with all purpose seasoning, onion/garlic granules, parsley, chilli powder which gives the dish a spicy kick, black pepper and pink salt.
I leave the meat to infuse the seasoning overnight in the refrigerator.
The next day day I par boil the chickpeas, you only need to do this for roughly 10 minutes.
Parboiling is like the stepping stone cooking method before moving onto the next steps of the recipe.
I usually drain off the chickpeas and set them to the side while I focus on preparing the rest of the curry.
Cooking a small amount of curry powder in some oil before I brown the meat. Browning the meat is important for sealling in that flavour, skipping this step isn't an option or the overall results will be disappointing.
It takes about 10-15 minutes to brown the meat and it's worth every minute.
Once the meat is browned, I saute the onion, garlic and ginger along with the bell peppers and carrot until soft.
At this point I transfer the entire contents from the frying pan to the slow cooker. I then add the thyme, tomato paste, chickpeas, chicken stock and coconut milk.
Before you put the lid on, make sure to stir everything together before leaving it to slowly cook for 4 hours on high.
Once the curry is cooked, I always recommend that you do a taste test and add any additional black pepper and pink salt, if needed.
Taste testing is crucial because there is no one size fits all recipe, some like their curry fiery, mild or just well seasoned, so make it YOUR own.
Ingredients you need
- Chickpeas - Use dried chickpeas as they work best for this slow cooker recipe.
- Chicken - You can use any type of chicken that is skinless/boneless my preferred choice is chicken thighs because they are juicer than breast.
- Chicken stock (not pictured) - Make sure the stock is low sodium and free from gluten.
- Coconut milk - Full fat coconut milk.
- Onion/garlic/ginger - These are what I call the best ingredients which I use for most savoury recipes.
- Carrot/bell peppers - Chopped and peeled
- Curry powder - I like to use my homemade Jamaican curry powder.
- All purpose seasoning - Again, this is my homemade version of this seasoning which is multipurpose.
- Onion/garlic granules - I prefer granules however powdered form works just fine.
- Parsley/thyme - Two of my favourite herbs, parsley can be dried although I like to use fresh thyme that is tied together.
- Tomato paste - Colour and flavour
- Black pepper/pink salt - To optimise the taste.
- Olive oil - Sauteing the meat.
The steps
- Rinse the chickpeas several times before leaving them to soak in a medium sized bowl overnight or for several hours.
- In a medium sized bowl, season the chicken with the curry powder, all purpose seasoning, garlic granules, onion granules, chilli powder, parsley, black pepper and pink salt.
- Cover both bowls with saran wrap/cling film and refrigerate (you can leave the chickpea bowl on the countertop).
- Drain and rinse off the chickpeas then set aside.
- Fill a medium sized saucepan with water, add the chickpeas and par-boil them for 10 minutes.
- Drain them off and set aside.
- Meanwhile, in a large frying pan/skillet on medium heat, add olive oil.
- Add the one teaspoon of curry powder and cook it for about one minute.
- Add the chicken and brown the meat (this will take about 10-15 minutes) during the given time the meat might extract it's own juices, if it does, carefully increase the heat to high to cook off the liquid (this will help to lock in the flavour so don't skip this step!).
- Add the onion, garlic and ginger and saute until soft and translucent.
- Add the carrot and bell peppers and continue to cook for a few minutes.
- Once the meat has seared, transfer it to the slow cooker along with the chickpeas, tomato paste and thyme.
- Pour in the coconut milk and chicken stock
- Stir the entire contents so everything is combined.
- Put the lid on and slow cook on high for 4 hours.
- After the given time, remove the lid, do a taste test and add black pepper and pink salt to taste.
- Discard the thyme stems before serving.
Notes and tips
- This is the recipe that you need for my homemade All Purpose Seasoning and Curry Powder.
- The curry has a subtle spicy kick to it, if you don't care for any heat then simply omit the chilli powder.
- The amount of pink salt that you will need is subjective depending on the seasoning and stock, so taste test when and where possible.
- Freeze any leftovers for up to 3 months in a freezer friendly container(s).
- If you need to re-heat the the curry, simply use the "re-heat" option on your slow cooker.
- If you don't want to freeze the recipe, then refrigerate (store in an airtight container) for up to 3 days(re-heat on the stove or microwave).
- You may need to add a splash of water to loosen up the sauce when re-heating the curry.
- I highly recommend using chicken thighs, if you want your meat to be juicy (be sure to trim off any excess fat).
- Don't skip the step of par-boiling the chickpeas.
- This recipe is strictly for DRIED chickpeas, not CANNED.
Side serving recipes for you to try
- How to Steam Vegetables On The Stove
- Air Fried Plantain (Plátanos)
- Steamed Callaloo
- Caribbean Creamy Mashed Potatoes
- Cauliflower Rice
- Air Fryer Whole Cauliflower
- Roasted Breafruit
- Brown Rice
- Yellow Rice With Corn
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Slow Cooker Chicken Chickpea Curry
Ingredients
- 1½ cups dried chickpeas (300g)
- 1½ lb boneless chicken (680g) chopped, I used skinless/boneless chicken thighs
- 2½ tablespoon curry powder
- 1½ tablespoon all purpose seasoning
- 1 teaspoon onion granules
- 1 teaspoon garlic granules
- ½ teaspoon chilli powder
- 1 teaspoon parsley
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon pink salt
To cook the curry
- 3 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon curry powder
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 2 teaspoon ginger minced
- 1 large carrot chopped
- 1 red bell pepper chopped
- 1 green bell pepper chopped
- 2 tablespoon tomato paste
- 6 sprigs of thyme tied together
- ½ cup coconut milk (118ml)
- 2 cups chicken stock (475ml)
- additional black pepper and pink salt
Instructions
- Rinse the chickpeas several times before leaving them to soak in a medium sized bowl overnight or for several hours.
- In a medium sized bowl, season the chicken with the curry powder, all purpose seasoning, garlic granules, onion granules, chilli powder, parsley, black pepper and pink salt.
- Cover both bowls with saran wrap/cling film and refrigerate (you can leave the chickpea bowl on the countertop).
- Drain and rinse off the chickpeas then set aside.
- Fill a medium sized saucepan with water, add the chickpeas and par-boil them for 10 minutes.
- Drain them off and set aside.
- Meanwhile, in a large frying pan/skillet on medium heat, add olive oil.
- Add the one teaspoon of curry powder and cook it for about one minute.
- Add the chicken and brown the meat (this will take about 10-15 minutes) during the given time the meat might extract it's own juices, if it does, carefully increase the heat to high to cook off the liquid (this will help to lock in the flavour so don't skip this step!).
- Add the onion, garlic and ginger and saute until soft and translucent.
- Add the carrot and bell peppers and continue to cook for a few minutes.
- Once the meat has seared, transfer it to the slow cooker along with the chickpeas, tomato paste and thyme.
- Pour in the coconut milk and chicken stock.
- Stir the entire contents so everything is combined.
- Put the lid on and slow cook on high for 4 hours.
- After the given time, remove the lid, do a taste test and add black pepper and pink salt to taste.
- Discard the thyme stems before serving.
Notes
- This is the recipe that you need for my homemade All Purpose Seasoning and Curry Powder.
- The curry has a subtle spicy kick to it, if you don't care for any heat then simply omit the chilli powder.
- The amount of pink salt that you will need is subjective depending on the seasoning and stock, so taste test when and where possible.
- Freeze any leftovers for up to 3 months in a freezer friendly container(s).
- If you need to re-heat the the curry, simply use the "re-heat" option on your slow cooker.
- If you don't want to freeze the recipe, then refrigerate (store in an airtight container) for up to 3 days(re-heat on the stove or microwave).
- You may need to add a splash of water to loosen up the sauce when re-heating the curry.
- I highly recommend using chicken thighs, if you want your meat to be juicy (be sure to trim off any excess fat).
- Don't skip the step of par-boiling the chickpeas.
- This recipe is strictly for DRIED chickpeas, not CANNED.
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