Ingredients
- 3 chicken leg quarters, skin-on
- 4 tablespoons oil
- 2 medium onions, thinly sliced (for frying)
- 2 medium onions, quartered (for the slow cooker)
- 1 tablespoon ginger garlic paste
- 2–3 whole dry red chillies
- 1/2 cup water
- Salt to taste
Whole garam masala
- 4 green cardamom pods
- 1 black cardamom pod
- 4 cloves
- 1-inch cinnamon
- 4 black peppercorns
- Small piece mace (javitri)
- Pinch of nutmeg (jaiphal) — very small, it's strong
Instructions
Prep
- Grind or roughly crack the whole garam masala spices together. A mortar and pestle or the back of a knife works — you want them cracked open, not powdered.
Fry base
- Heat oil in a pan over medium. Add the thinly sliced onions and fry until deep golden and starting to crisp — 15–18 minutes. Don't rush; this is the flavour base.
- Add ginger garlic paste to the fried onions; sauté 2 minutes until the raw smell is gone. Remove from heat.
Slow cooker
- In the slow cooker, place the quartered onions as a bed. Lay the chicken leg quarters on top.
- Spoon the fried onion and ginger-garlic mixture over the chicken. Scatter the cracked garam masala and whole dry red chillies over.
- Add 1/2 cup water and season generously with salt.
- Cook on Low for 6–7 hours or High for 3–4 hours. The chicken should be falling-off-the-bone tender.
Finish
- Transfer the chicken pieces to a foil-lined baking tray. Spoon some of the cooking masala and onions over the top.
- Broil on high for 15–20 minutes, until the surface chars slightly and the masala dries and sticks to the chicken. Watch closely from 12 minutes — it should look glossy and caramelised, not burnt.
- Taste the remaining slow cooker liquid, adjust salt, and spoon any thick masala left over the chicken before serving.
Serve
Serve with roti or rice. The slow cooker liquid, if not too watery, can be spooned over as a thin sauce.
Variations
Instant Pot — Use Slow Cook mode on Normal for the same result. Or pressure cook on High for 15 minutes + 10 minute natural release. The broil step is the same either way — it's what gives the dish its character, so don't skip it.
Without broiling — If you don't want to broil, do the bhunao on the stovetop instead: transfer everything to a heavy pan and cook on high heat, stirring and pressing, until the liquid evaporates and the masala fries in the oil. Takes 10–15 minutes but needs attention.
Notes
- The broiling step is doing what a traditional bhunao does — roasting the masala onto the meat in direct heat. It's the step that separates slow-cooked chicken from properly cooked chicken.
- Bone-in, skin-on quarters give the best result. The skin chars and crisps under the broiler.
Added Aug 27, 2026 · Updated Aug 27, 2026