Indian Butter Chicken
Butter chicken isn’t traditionally spicy, this recipe isn’t spicy either. If you wish to have a bit more kick in your dinner then double the jalapeños or keep the seeds in.
PrintIndian Butter Chicken
Restaurant quality creamy and flavorful Indian food from your home.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Total Time: 60 minutes
- Yield: serves about 6 1x
Ingredients
Chicken-
¾ cups plain Greek yogurt
1 ½ teaspoons salt
2 pounds chicken breasts or boneless, skinless chicken thighs.
Sauce-
2 Tablespoons butter
1 medium onion, chopped
5 garlic cloves
3 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
1 Jalapeño, diced and seeds removed
1 ½ tablespoons garam masala
½ teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon pepper
1 ½ cups water
½ cup tomato paste
½ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons sugar
1 cup heavy cream
3 Tablespoons chopped cilantro
2 tablespoons butter
Instructions
Preheat oven to 375 F before cooking the chicken and place the oven rack in the middle position.
In a resealable bag, put the Greek yogurt, salt, and chicken and squish around to coat evenly. Put in fridge for a few hours up to 24 hours. (you can do this in a bowl and immediately cook the chicken but I like how tender the chicken becomes when marinating in the yogurt) To cook the chicken line a rimmed baking sheet with foil and put a metal rack on top of it. Lay the chicken on top of the metal rack cook for about 15-20 minutes, turning halfway through cooking. If you don’t have a metal rack you can cook it just on the foil. Remove from oven and let rest for 10 minutes before chopping.
In a large saucepan or a small pot, melt the butter over medium heat and add the onion, garlic, ginger, and jalapeño. Sauté till the onions are starting to brown.
Add in the garam masala, cumin, and pepper and stir frequently for a few minutes. This helps the seasonings release a lot of flavor.
Add the water, tomato paste and salt and stir till no lumps are left from the tomato paste. Slowly bring to a boil.
At this point you can reduce heat to low and simmer with a lid for several hours to get maximum flavor or continue on with the recipe immediately if you want a quick meal.
Add the cream, stir to combine and then pour all of the sauce into a blender and blend for 20 seconds till creamy.
Return to pot, add 3 tablespoons of chopped cilantro and 2 more tablespoons of butter and stir. Add in the chopped chicken and serve over steamed rice and with naan if desired.
Loved this! I’m just a new fan of some Indian food and this was delicious–had it for leftovers twice and it was still good. Ha ha! My chicken took way longer to cook, but I didn’t flatten it, so maybe that’s the reason… Made the naan bread to go with it–perfect meal.
SO GOOD! This makes enough feed my whole family and costs way less than Take-out! I made the naan too and together it’s like eating at an Indian restaurant. I haven’t made a recipe from your blog that I haven’t absolutely loved!
So freakin’ good. Tasted just like takeout. I ate so much and thought I wouldn’t want more for lunch the next day–I was wrong. This is going on our permanent rotation!
This recipe is absolutely delicious!! Restaurant quality meal, at the comfort of your own home! And way cheaper too. A new family favorite!
I love this. It is so good and everyone I have made it for LOVES it. I had to take a meal to our friends who grew up in India. I was a little worried since they obviously make great curries (without following a recipe haha) and they said it was so good and tasted like a curry you would get in a good Indian restaurant!!!
Loved this, my husband isn’t into Indian food but he really liked the sweetness of this. We pared it with the coconut rice and added some veggies, it was perfectly satisfying!
Another recipe we absolutely love! Will be making this again and again.
This recipe is amazing. I couldn’t believe how easy this was to make at home. It’s now a family favorite! Amazing flavor that develops quickly and tasted even better reheated. The yogurt marinade made the chicken so tender.
Had to update that this is still a family favorite! We’ve started to move it to a slow cooker after adding water and tomato paste for the flavor to develop without having to man the stove. We just stir every hour or so. Seriously, such a great recipe!