International Chicken

This slow cooker chicken curry takes the 1970s “international” cooking trend seriously. Curry powder, tomatoes, raisins, and bell peppers simmer together with flour-dusted chicken pieces for a mellow, slightly sweet curry that sits halfway between Indian and American comfort food.

The flour-dusting step before the crockpot is an often-skipped move that makes all the difference. The coating thickens the liquid as the chicken cooks and creates built-in body, so the finished sauce clings to the chicken instead of pooling watery at the bottom.

Raisins are the secret element. They plump up during the long braise and add little bursts of sweetness that play beautifully against the curry spices and tomato acidity. It’s the same trick used in Moroccan and Cape Malay cooking.

The long low-heat braise (8 to 10 hours on Low) is what makes bone-in chicken pieces fall-apart tender without drying out. High setting works for 3 to 4 hours when you’re pressed for time, but low-and-slow gives better texture and deeper flavor.

Thickening the sauce at the end with a flour-water slurry is the final refinement. After removing the chicken, the slurry goes in and cooks until the sauce turns glossy and clings to a spoon. Don’t skip this step or you end up with watery tomato juice instead of curry sauce.

Serve over basmati rice with a dollop of yogurt and fresh cilantro.

Kitchen Tips

• Use bone-in chicken pieces, not boneless breasts. Boneless breasts dry out in 8 hours of slow cooking; bone-in dark meat stays juicy.
• Cut the bell pepper in large chunks. Thin slices cook to mush in a slow cooker; 1-inch pieces stay identifiable at the end.
• Taste for salt after adding the slurry, not before. Reducing sauce concentrates salt, and over-salting early in the cook leaves no recovery room.
• Brown the chicken pieces in a skillet first if you have 10 extra minutes. Browning isn’t strictly required but adds a flavor layer the slow cooker alone can’t create.

Variations

• Add a can of chickpeas in the last 2 hours for a heartier, vegetarian-adjacent meal.
• Stir in ½ cup coconut milk at the end for a creamier, tropical-leaning curry.
• Swap raisins for dried apricots or golden raisins for a different fruit note.