My Favorite Easy Weeknight Dinner Is All Thanks To One Aldi Ingredient

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.

When I dare to think of where I'd be in life without Aldi grocery pickup, a cold shudder runs down my spine. Look, I make no bones about the fact that I am a Mom with a capital "M." I drive a minivan, my schedule is always a hot mess, I know way too much Gen Z slang (catch me with the "6-7" jokes), and I never have a free moment that isn't pre-booked. Scoring groceries from Aldi, which many folks reckon to be the cheapest grocery store in the States, saves me money and, with the curbside pickup option, precious time.

One item that I adore for quick, tasty dinners is Burman's Butter Chicken Curry Sauce, which comes in a 15-ounce jar and currently retails for $4.09. My three kids are teenagers, and I've spoken previously about how ravenous and picky they are — just refer to my paean to loaded baked potatoes, a steakhouse side that I turn into a full meal to feed my goblins — and it seems like there are never enough hours in the day to cook all the things it would take to satiate their unique appetites and whims. 

That, my friends, is where the jarred butter chicken sauce comes in. It's creamy, tomato-y, and packed with umami savor. I use my two favorite convenience tools, my crockpot and my rice cooker (I like a six-quart programmable crock with a locking lid and my Aroma digital rice cooker) to make a complete meal of Indian-inspired chicken and coconut rice, with the sauce as the starring component. If you can throw chicken breasts on low heat and add water to rice, you have all the skills you need for a belly-warming dinner with plenty of room for remixing and building flavor. 

In the morning, the oh-so-versatile boneless and skinless chicken breasts go in the slow cooker with some seasonings and butter to keep them moist. You could also use thighs, but I prefer the white meat. I toss some jasmine rice in the cooker with minced garlic and salt, then sub a bit of the water for coconut milk. (Having an Asian husband, I use the "finger method" for eyeballing the rice liquid.) The rice cooker keeps the rice warm, so I can set it and forget it. When dinner is about an hour away, I toss a jar, or sometimes even two, of the sauce in and shred the chicken with two forks. Heat up some naan, pita, or flatbread, and you have an easy, kid-approved meal that's filling and endlessly riffable.

Got some canned chickpeas? Dump them in with the sauce for extra protein. If I'm really feeling froggy, I've been known to nuke either yellow potatoes or sweet potatoes to cube up and toss in for a quick-and-dirty take on aloo curry. Keep in mind that this meal is "Indian-ish" in the same way that Panda Express is traditional Cantonese fare, which is to say ... not very much. Still, you can derive inspiration from your favorite Indian dishes, such as including spinach, peas, or cauliflower to bulk up your meal. Likewise, I think that everything is better with onion, so I'll sometimes dice up a sweet Vidalia and include it with the raw chicken. Add a squirt of sriracha for heat because the sauce doesn't really have any of its own. No matter how you customize it, I wholly recommend Aldi's butter chicken sauce as the delicious ingredient that ties together one of my favorite easy dinners.