Nonlinear photonic crystals are capable of highly efficient nonlinear wavefront manipulation, providing a promising platform for compact and large-scale integrated nonlinear devices. However, the current nonlinear encoding methods for nonlinear photonic crystals inherently require a number of disordered and complex microstructures, which are quite challenging in a real fabrication process. Herein we propose and experimentally demonstrate a nonlinear detour phase method for nonlinear wavefront manipulation in nonlinear photonic crystals. With the proposed method, the designed nonlinear detour phase hologram only requires a set of basic building blocks with simple shapes, which are easy to fabricate by using the femtosecond laser writing technique. The second-harmonic hologram is demonstrated by designing the nonlinear detour phase patterns, and the quasi-phase-matching scheme in the second-harmonic holographic imaging process is also discussed. This study conceptually extends the conventional detour phase method into the nonlinear regime, offering new possibilities for compact nonlinear micro-devices with multi-functions.