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Creamy Crockpot Coconut Curry Chicken Meatballs. The perfect bowl of warming comfort food that’s incredibly delicious. Indian-inspired curry chicken meatballs made with plenty of spice and creamy coconut milk. This curry is perfectly spicy, creamy, and filled with warming Indian-inspired flavors. Making the dish in the crockpot leaves you with an even more flavorful sauce and the tastiest meatballs. Serve these creamy curry chicken meatballs over bowls of rice with acorn squash roasted in garlic butter. You’ll have the perfect dinner that can be enjoyed any night of the week. And the leftovers are even more delicious the next day. Directions for the Instant Pot and stove-top are provided too!
We’ve officially entered crockpot season! I use my crockpot throughout the year, but I really start to lean into crockpot recipes once September rolls around. They feel cozier and are usually pretty easy to prepare.
Creighton has been asking me to make a curry for weeks now. Butter chicken and tikka masala are both his favorites. My very favorite way to cook meatballs is in the crockpot (they never dry out). I thought a butter chicken meatball curry would be delicious and great for this transitional time of year.
Since I love sharing all-in-one dinner recipes, I also added seasonal acorn squash tossed with roasted garlic and honey butter.
Everything is cooked together in the crockpot, or you can use the instant pot if you prefer. If you’re looking for a stove-top variation, try my 30-Minute Butter Chicken Meatballs.
Here are the details
Step 1: mix the spices
I like to use garam masala, ginger, curry powder, turmeric, and cayenne. Mix them together in a bowl. Half of the mix will be used for the meatballs, and the other half for the coconut sauce.
Step 2: mix the meatballs
In a bowl, mix the chicken (or use pork or turkey), with half of the spices and plain Greek yogurt.
Once you’ve rolled the mix into balls, place them in the crockpot with the onion, shallots, and garlic cloves. Then place the squash on top of the meatballs. Slowly cook.
Step 3: pull out the squash and garlic
Once the squash and garlic have finished cooking remove them from the crockpot. Place them on a sheet pan with butter and put them under the broiler until charred, about 5 minutes.
Toss with some honey. So yummy!
Step 4: finish the sauce
To the meatballs, stir in the coconut milk and cilantro. Let cook until thickened.
Then the sauce is complete.
Step 5: serve
As this cooks, the aroma in the kitchen is truly incredible. It’s just like your favorite Indian spot in town, but maybe just a touch better. I always find anything made at home to be even more delicious.
I like to serve my curry chicken meatballs over steamed rice with some fresh naan for scooping up the creamy, coconutty sauce. Absolutely DELICIOUS!
Looking for other Indian-inspired dinners? Here are my favorites:
Crockpot Creamy Coconut Chicken Tikka Masala
30 Minute Spicy Indian Butter Chicken
30 Minute Butter Chicken Meatballs
Super Simple Coconut Chicken Tikka Masala
Gingery Coconut Sweet Potato and Rice Stew with Chili Oil
Lastly, if you make this Crockpot Coconut Curry Chicken Meatballs be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!
Crockpot Coconut Butter Chicken Meatballs
Servings: 6
Calories Per Serving: 311 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons garam masala
- 1 tablespoon fresh grated ginger
- 2 teaspoons yellow curry powder
- 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
- 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper, use to your taste
- 1 1/2 pounds ground chicken, pork, or turkey
- 1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt
- kosher salt
- 1 yellow onion, chopped
- 1 shallot, chopped
- 6 whole cloves garlic
- 1/2 cup tomato paste
- 1 small acorn squash, cut into wedges
- 1 can (14 ounce) full-fat coconut milk (or sub 1 cup cream)
- 4 tablespoons salted butter
- 1 teaspoon honey
- 1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
- steamed rice. and naan, for serving
Instructions
Crockpot
- 1. Mix the spices. In a bowl mix the garam masala, ginger, curry powder, turmeric, and cayenne pepper. 2. Add the chicken, half of the spice mix, and the yogurt to a bowl. Season with salt. Mix to combine. Coat your hands with oil, and roll the meat into tablespoon-size balls (will make 15-16 meatballs). Place the meatballs, onion, shallot, and garlic cloves in the crockpot. Add the tomato paste. 3. Pour over 1/3 cup water and sprinkle the remaining spices over the meatballs. Add garlic, then the acorn squash wedges. Cover and cook on low for 3-4 hours or on high for 1-2 hours.4. Preheat the broiler to high. Remove the squash and garlic from the slow cooker and place on a baking sheet. Add the butter. Broil 2-5 minutes, until charred. Peel away the garlic skin, then chop and mix with the butter, honey, and squash on the sheet pan.5. Meanwhile, crank the heat on the crockpot to high. Stir in the coconut milk and cook, uncovered, 10 minutes until warmed. Stir in the cilantro.6. Serve the meatballs and sauce over bowls of rice with fresh naan and squash on the side. Enjoy!
Instant Pot
- 1. Mix the spices. In a bowl mix the garam masala, ginger, curry powder, turmeric, and cayenne pepper. 2. Add the chicken, half of the spice mix, and the yogurt to a bowl. Season with salt. Mix to combine. Coat your hands with oil, and roll the meat into tablespoon-size balls (will make 15-16 meatballs). Place the meatballs, onion, shallot, and garlic cloves in the instant pot. Add the tomato paste. 3. Pour 1/3 cup water overtop and sprinkle the remaining spices over the meatballs. Add the garlic, then the acorn squash wedges. Cover and cook on high pressure for 6 minutes.4. Once done cooking, release the steam. Set the Instant pot to sauté. Preheat the broiler to high. Remove the squash and garlic from the instant pot and place on a baking sheet. Add the butter. Broil 2-5 minutes, until charred. Peel away the garlic skin, then chop and mix with the butter, honey, and squash on the sheet pan.5. Meanwhile, stir the coconut milk into the meatballs and cook, uncovered, for 5 minutes until warmed. Stir in the cilantro.6. Serve the meatballs and sauce over bowls of rice with fresh naan and squash on the side. Enjoy!
Notes
Stove-Top: use my 30 Minute Butter Chicken Meatball recipe.
I doubled this recipe for our monthly ladies dinner for 12. It was a huge hit and everyone loved it. There were just enough leftovers to take for lunch the next day. Thank you Tieghan! ❤️
Thank you so much! Hope you have a great fall season! 🙂 xT
Diehard HBH fan here. I do always read the comments tho to help perfect the recipe! This is the first HBH I’ve really altered “significantly”.
I followed the recommendations in a prior comment for this is a stovetop meal and was glad I did:
Meatballs – added an egg and some panko and half the shallot to help keep them together. Baked in the oven for 20 min at 400.
Squash- baked in oven. Added butter at end of cooking.
Sauce- sautéed onion shallot and minced garlic in olive oil until fragrant. Then added the tomato paste and sautéed for 2 min. Added 1/2 c water and brought to a simmer. Added coconut milk and chopped spinach for some additional color and sprinkled some salt. Simmered for about 10 minutes and added the meatballs once they were done. It was so so tasty. Best homemade curry I’ve made!
Thank you so much for the feedback Meredith, I appreciate it! xT
YUM!!!! Amazing. The meatballs did fall apart a little, but it helps to open crock pot occasionally and push together the balls. I took the acorn squash out of the hard shell and smushed it together, then added to crockpot- made a creamier texture and soooo yummy!
Thank you so much for trying out the recipe! Have a great week! xT
I used the instant pot method and it worked great for me! Delicious. It ushered Autumn in to our island home in a beautiful way. Will make again!
Thank you for taking the time to try out this recipe! So glad to hear you enjoyed it! xT
My meatballs didn’t fall apart as others noted, even with ground chicken and cooking on low. However, I found the sauce really lackluster in flavor. I think another comments point that this would be better as a stovetop meal is accurate because then you could toast the spices and garlic before adding liquids. My baby enjoyed it, but it was def bland enough for him. It was edible enough for the rest of us but wouldn’t make again.
Thank you so much for the feedback Kylie! xT
I came to the comments as I was preparing to make this yesterday because I forgot to buy Greek yogurt and was hoping someone had asked about making this dairy free, and I am so glad I did! After reading all of the comments about the meatballs falling apart, I decided to use an egg, 1/2 cup of breadcrumbs, and 1/2 of the shallots and onions to make mine. They held up perfectly cooked in the crockpot on high for 2 hours! I did wonder if I was supposed to peel the squash and if it mattered how I placed it in the crockpot as I could not tell from the pictures or recipe. Also, how do you “toss” the squash wedges with honey? I just drizzled. The flavor was great!
*I used ground chicken and it was not dry at all with my modifications.
Thank you so much for the feedback Amy! xT
I am extremely upset with this recipe. I cooked this for a family night in and the meatballs completely fell apart. I ended up with a disturbing looking stew with an extremely off-putting texture. It was not serve-able. I thought it was strange that the recipe didn’t call for binders or searing, but trusted anyways. I am now just reading the other comments and am extremely bothered by the fact that this recipe was never updated given all the negative feedback. Rather than commenting “thanks for the feedback!” why not update the recipe so this doesn’t continue happening? Again, extremely disappointed and this caused for wasted money on groceries and the additional need to order out. Not to mention wasted time and effort.
🙁 like many others mentioned my meat balls fell apart in the crock pot.
Hey Jorie! Thanks for letting me know! xT
A couple notes:
First of all, I love almost every recipe I have tried from this site. This recipe does need some work though. It’s possible that hers turned out great simply because of crock pot variations or some other simple reason.
I made the recipe exactly how it was written, but in future I would:
-use half the amount of garam masala.
-sauté the onion and shallot before adding.
-whisk the tomato paste and seasoning into the water before adding into the crock pot for more even distribution.
-use a different meat than chicken for the meatballs, OR add more fat into the meatballs. Also, I would add 1/4 of the total seasoning into the meat, not half (they were over spiced) and I would add onion or some other grated vegetable into the meat for more moisture & flavor.
-I DO recommend doing the option to cook on low for 4 hours. I think other people’s meatballs fell apart because they cooked on high for the shorter time instead. I carefully laid them in the bottom of the pot in one layer, then sprinkled in the onion/shallot mixture, then gently laid on the rest of the meatballs. They must be handled gently to avoid falling apart later. I did have to gently break some of them apart once I opened up the pot at the end.
-the recipe ingredients do not say to leave the garlic cloves unpeeled, but later in the recipe it says to remove the peels, so I think that was an error/miscommunication in the ingredients list.
-Finally, if I make this again- to be honest I think it would be best not as a crock pot meal, but as a stovetop/oven meal. I would bake the meatballs, make the sauce on the stovetop, make the rice, and eat all together. Crock pot/instant pot meals can be helpful for saving active cooking time, but it often is at the expense of the meal’s overall texture and flavor.
Hey Jana! Thank you so much for your thorough feedback, I really appreciate it! Thanks for giving the recipe a try. xT
Did it in instant pot. Souse was delish and I added some corn starch to thickin it. But meat balls were a little dry. Is it because I used my own ground meat?🤔
Hi Tieghan! I thought you used to have a stovetop recipe for something similar, only I just can’t seem to find it! Do you know what I’m talking about? I’ve tried that recipe, and absolutely love it, but didn’t write it down 🙁
I’m your biggest fan and consistently sing your praises, but I have to say this one was a bit of a flop. The meatballs do NOT stay together in the crockpot, and I ended up with a soupy stew at the end. Wish you would have recommended searing them in advance that probably would have done the trick. Edible, yes, but not very presentable -and sadly I prepared it for guests without testing the recipe first 🙁
Hey! Thank you so so much for trying out the recipe, I am SO sorry to hear this recipe was a flop! I appreciate the feedback!
These are straight up yum!!! My family (including 2 teens) ate this up and wanted more! Ty, ty!
Thank you so so much! xT
I’m not sure if I missed something but how does ground chicken, spices and yogurt form a cohesive meatball without some sort of binder? Ours resembled more of a “drop dumpling” and would have resulted in just making a curry bolognese. We opted to sear the meatballs before adding the tomato paste/water.
All in all, we enjoyed the end product
We liked this recipe. But as it feeding 6 I disagree, we had 3 small meatballs each serving 4. Had plenty of sauce left over but no meatballs. I did it in the crock pot and thought the sauce had plenty of seasoning. Little bit of spice but not too much for my liking. The sauce was a little thin but we put it on jasmine rice and made naan bread ( used Tieghan’s recipe) to go with it. I would add more meat to the recipe if making for a larger group.
Thanks for the feedback Christine! xT
Unfortunately I bought all the ingredients to make this before reading the comments. What’s so strange is that it actually looks really good in the video on Instagram, with a thick and creamy sauce—but even if you follow the recipe carefully, it still turns into a bit of a soupy mess. Two stars instead of one because it was edible enough so we didn’t have to throw it away.
Hey Kate, I’m so sorry about that! Thank you for the feedback! xT