Crock Pot Chicken Tikka Masala Recipe

There is one thing I miss most about my life before kids: Traveling. My bucket list is a mile long with places I would like to go. I was bit with the travel bug at a young age and have been lucky to travel to some really cool places {a few favorites include Hungary, Switzerland, England and Germany}.

With three young kids, exotic travel is far off my radar. I know many people take their small children places, and I seriously applaud that. But my kids just aren’t ready, and honestly, I’m not willing to spend a lot of money on a trip we can’t all enjoy.

So until my kids are older, we just travel with our minds 😉 I am slightly obsessed with books that help us learn about other cultures, and I never turn down a meal at a foreign restaurant, even if I don’t know what half the food is. I love learning!

I live in a pretty white suburban area, so the lack of diverse restaurants is tough for me. I’ve decided to take it upon myself to make more ethnic-inspired foods in my home this year.

One type of food I hope to experiment with more is Indian food. I love curry, coconut milk and the many spices that go along with the foods, so I’ve decided to dive right in to try some new things.

One dish a friend introduced me to that I love is Chicken Tikka Masala. Funny enough, it has Indian roots, but was actually invented in the United Kingdom.

Aren’t all the spices together just beautiful? Reminds me of the sunset!

It’s chicken in a delicious sauce that can easily be spicy – or not. It’s extremely flavorful and a welcome addition to my ever-growing list of great crock pot recipes. I tweaked a few recipes and found one I will be making often! Best of all, it’s SUPER flavorful, high in protein, but not too high in the calorie department.

Also, I already had most of the spices in my cupboard, so it was relatively inexpensive to make. The only item I needed to purchase was Garam Masala, which was worth every penny of its $5 cost. Deee-lish!

Here’s how it’s made:

[amd-zlrecipe-recipe:6]

I love that this dish makes a lot of leftovers for our family, and tastes even better the few days after its made. I also love that it’s easily adjustable to your liking. My son loved it; it was a bit spicy for my girls, though they are very picky with anything that has flavor.

I recommend serving it on a bed of rice of your choosing, and a piece of Naan bread. My favorites are the mini naan that Stonefire makes and are available at Costco.

I recently was introduced to Raita, a savory yogurt by a Michigan mom-run company, South Asian Flavors. I fell in love with these yogurts! The cucumber with cilantro and mint was the perfect addition to this dish.

My favorite for veggies, naan and crackers was the tomato with cumin and coriander, while my husband enjoyed the spicy carrot. Give them a try if you see them! See this list of locations where they can be found across metro Detroit and Ann Arbor, and stayed tuned for expansion news.

What is your favorite ethnic recipe? Give me some ideas on where I should “travel” to next!