Your New Go-To Make-Ahead Meal Recipe: Crockpot Chicken Curry

Early evenings before dinner are often the busiest time of my day–they don’t call 5:00 “the witching hour” for nothing! I’ve just gotten off work. The kids all want to talk to me at once, and they all seem to need things. And they need them Right. Now. We’re often trying to get ready for some evening sports practice, game, or lesson.

Cooking dinner just adds one more layer to a hectic evening. That’s why I love days when dinner is waiting for me when I get off work.

The curry chicken recipe that I’m going to share with you is one of my absolute favorites. Not only does it taste amazing, it’s a no-effort dinner on the day you make it. All you have to do in order to have dinner waiting for you that night is throw a freezer bag full of food in the crockpot in the morning, put some rice and water in the rice cooker, set the timer on both and press “cook.”

Of course, making it that easy means you have to do some prep work on days that are not so busy, which are usually Sunday afternoons for me. I like to make several batches at once to make the most of my prep time.


Crockpot Chicken Curry

Crockpot Chicken Curry – Your new favorite make ahead meal!

Ingredients

Here’s what you need – some are staples you already have in your kitchen and some you’ll likely need to add to your grocery list.

• 2-3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 6 oz can of tomato paste
• 14.5 oz can of tomato sauce
• 13.5 oz can of coconut milk
• Vidalia onion (you can use any onion you have on hand, but my family likes the sweet flavor of Vidalia onions)
• 1 bag of frozen peas
• 3 tablespoons of honey
• 2 tablespoons of curry powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 2 cloves minced garlic (about 1 teaspoon)
• Gallon size freezer bags (I like to get the kind that can stand on their own to make them easier to fill several at a time.)

Tip: Spray your honey measuring spoon with cooking spray to make the honey glide right off the spoon and into your freezer bag.

Meal Prep Directions

1. Chop up the chicken into bite size pieces.
2. Chop up half the onion in as small pieces as your family likes to eat. At my house, that means practically pureeing them in the food processor, but maybe your kids are more tolerant of chunky onion bits than mine. You only need half the onion per batch.
3. Set up your freezer bag and add all the ingredients to it.
4. Squish your bag a little to mix it all up.
5. Throw it into your freezer until the night before you’re ready to cook it.

Cooking Directions

1. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator.
2. Cook on low in your slow cooker for three to four hours. (Note: The original directions for this say to cook on low for 8 hours, so if you don’t have a programmable crockpot, you can cook it all day. My family just prefers crockpot chicken that hasn’t been cooked for quite that long.)
3. Serve over rice and with a side of naan bread from the freezer section at your grocery store.


Hope this gives your dinner repertoire a fun new flavor while taking the stress out of dinnertime!

This recipe comes from a collection of Crockpot Freezer Meals. 


 

Laura
Laura is a mom of three who works full-time from home as a Development Director for a children’s charity. Laura grew up in Maryland, spent her 20s living in Southern California and South Carolina, and has spent her 30s and now 40s in Iowa, moving to Iowa City in 2010. Laura loves dancing, reading, baking, and music. She and her husband Ryan started dating in college (gasp – over 20 years ago!) and they have been sharing life’s adventures ever since. Their biggest adventure is, of course, parenthood. With three kids, the action is non-stop - which is just the way Laura likes it.

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