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This easy Yellow Chicken Curry recipe combines tender chicken, coconut milk, and aromatic curry paste in your slow cooker. Perfect Thai-inspired chicken in yellow curry sauce ready in just 4 hours with minimal prep!

A plate of rice topped with chicken in yellow curry, vegetables, and peanuts, garnished with cilantro and lime, is served with a spoon. Another plate and a Crockpot slow cooker are visible in the background.


 

👩‍🍳 Dump everything in the slow cooker, set it, and forget it. The result? A restaurant-quality curry that’ll have your family asking for seconds (and thirds)!

Table of Contents

My 2 Best Tips For Making Yellow Chicken Curry

Don’t Skip the Fresh Garnishes: The lime juice, cilantro, and peanuts aren’t just pretty toppings – they’re essential flavor components that brighten and balance the rich curry sauce. The acidity from the lime cuts through the coconut cream beautifully.

Perfect Sauce Consistency: If your curry turns out thinner than you’d like, mix 1 tablespoon cornstarch with 1 tablespoon cold water and stir it in during the last 20 minutes on high heat. For a thinner consistency, simply add more chicken broth or coconut milk.

Melissa in her kitchen smiling in front of the starting ingredients for the chicken the quinoa salad and skillet chicken on the wood block in front of her

🩷 Melissa

The combination of coconut cream, yellow curry powder, and fresh ginger creates layers of complexity that develop beautifully during the slow cooking process. Each spoonful is a perfect balance of creamy, aromatic, and satisfying.

Make a double batch and freeze portions for those days when cooking feels impossible. It reheats beautifully and tastes just as good as the day you made it!

A plate of rice topped with chicken in yellow curry, vegetables, and peanuts, garnished with cilantro and lime, is served with a spoon. Another plate and a Crockpot slow cooker are visible in the background.
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Slow Cooker Yellow Chicken Curry

By: Melissa Griffiths
This easy Yellow Curry Chicken recipe combines tender chicken, coconut milk, and aromatic curry paste in your slow cooker. Perfect Thai-inspired chicken in yellow curry sauce ready in just 4 hours with minimal prep!
Prep: 10 minutes
Cook: 2 hours 20 minutes
Total: 2 hours 30 minutes
Servings: 6
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Ingredients 

  • 1 can coconut milk, 15-ounce can
  • ½ cup chicken broth, or water
  • ¼ cup soy sauce
  • 2 limes
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
  • 1 tablespoon yellow curry powder, or regular curry powder
  • ½ teaspoon ground turmeric
  • ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 2 pounds chicken breast, skinless skinless
  • 2 medium sweet potatoes, cut into 1/2-inch cubes (about 2 1/2 cups)
  • 2 medium carrots, sliced
  • 1 yellow onion, diced
  • 1 cup frozen peas
  • 1 red bell pepper, julienned
  • Fresh diced cilantro, for serving
  • ¼ cup salted roasted peanuts, for serving

Instructions 

  • Whisk the coconut milk, broth, soy sauce, juice from 1 lime, garlic, ginger, curry powder, turmeric, black pepper, and salt in the bottom of a 6-quart slow cooker.
  • Add the chicken, sweet potatoes, carrots, and onion to the slow cooker. Stir to combine.
  • Cover and cook on Low 4–5 hours or High 2 – 3 hours, until the chicken is tender and the sweet potatoes are soft.
  • Remove the chicken, shred or chop, and return it to the slow cooker.
  • Stir in the peas along with the red bell pepper, and let cook for another 20 or so minutes to warm up the peas and soften the peppers just a bit.
  • Taste and adjust salt or pepper. Spoon over hot cooked rice and top with cilantro, lime juice, and peanuts.

Notes

Slow Cooker Size: 6-quart
Recipe Variations & Substitutions:
  • If your soy sauce is quite salty, start with a pinch of salt and add more to taste at the end.
  • Want it thicker? Stir in a cornstarch slurry (1 tablespoon cornstarch + 1 tablespoon cold water) during step 5 and simmer on High until glossy.
  • Add greens by stirring in a couple handfuls of baby spinach during step 5.
  • You can use regular potatoes instead of sweet potatoes if that’s what you like or have on hand.
  • I find that the slow cooker dulls the spices quite a bit so I’ll often add a good sprinkle of all of them again at the end of the cook time to help with potency. 
  • If you cook this too long the sweet potatoes will kind of dissolve and thicken the sauce, if you want them more chunky, just cook for less time. It’s great both ways. 
Must Have: The lime juice, cilantro, and peanuts really add a lot to this dish, don’t skip them, they aren’t a garnish, they are part of the recipe!

Nutrition

Serving: 1 of 6 servings, Calories: 459kcal, Carbohydrates: 31g, Protein: 40g, Fat: 21g, Saturated Fat: 13g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g, Monounsaturated Fat: 3g, Trans Fat: 0.02g, Cholesterol: 97mg, Sodium: 1076mg, Potassium: 1273mg, Fiber: 7g, Sugar: 8g, Vitamin A: 14958IU, Vitamin C: 49mg, Calcium: 85mg, Iron: 5mg
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How to Make Chicken in Yellow Curry Sauce

Chopped sweet potatoes, carrots, green onions, and red bell peppers are arranged on a wooden cutting board, with minced garlic and ginger in small piles and a halved lime. A plate of raw chicken sits to the side.

Step 1: Whisk the coconut milk, broth, soy sauce, juice from 1 lime, garlic, ginger, curry powder, turmeric, black pepper, and salt in the bottom of a 6-quart slow cooker.

Chopped sweet potatoes, carrots, and green onions in a white slow cooker, ready to be cooked.

Step 2: Add the chicken, sweet potatoes, carrots, and onion to the slow cooker. Stir to combine.

A white slow cooker filled with yellow chicken curry, garnished with green onions and surrounded by plates of white rice on a marble surface.

Step 3: Cover and cook on Low 4–5 hours or High 2 – 3 hours, until the chicken is tender and the sweet potatoes are soft. Remove the chicken, shred or chop, and return it to the slow cooker.

A table set with bowls of rice, a curry dish in a pot, plates of curry over rice, and small bowls of chopped green onions, cilantro, peanuts, and lime wedges, plus several serving spoons.

Step 4: Stir in the peas along with the red bell pepper, and let cook for another 20 or so minutes to warm up the peas and soften the peppers just a bit. Taste and adjust salt or pepper. Spoon over hot cooked rice and top with cilantro, lime juice, and peanuts.

Recipe FAQs

Can I use chicken thighs instead of chicken breast?

Yes! Chicken thighs actually work wonderfully in this recipe and stay extra tender during the long cooking time. Use 2 pounds of boneless, skinless thighs and follow the same cooking instructions. The result will be even more succulent and flavorful.

How spicy is this yellow curry dish?

This recipe is quite mild and family-friendly. Yellow curry powder tends to be the mildest of the curry varieties, focusing more on aromatic warmth than heat. If you want more kick, add a pinch of red pepper flakes or a diced jalapeño with the vegetables.

Can I make this on the stovetop instead of the slow cooker?

Yes! Brown the chicken in a large Dutch oven over medium heat, add all the sauce ingredients, bring to a simmer, then add vegetables. Cover and cook for 25-30 minutes until chicken is tender and potatoes are soft. Add peas and peppers in the last 5 minutes.

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