Fabulous butter chicken, right in your own kitchen! Rich, creamy, and full of delicious curry flavor, you’ll love digging into this dish with hot basmati rice and naan.
“This butter chicken recipe is blog-worthy!”
That’s what my family said to me after I made what turned out to be THE ONE! This is my first foray into cooking Indian food and I am so excited to share this recipe!
When we lived in California, one of our favorite restaurants was a place called Amber India. They had the best butter chicken, and even though it wasn’t the cheapest dish, we figured it was worth splurging once in a while to enjoy their awesome dish. The thought of making butter chicken myself never even entered my mind.
And then Amber India published their butter chicken recipe in a local newspaper! Suddenly the idea of making homemade butter chicken became doable! I’ll be honest, though, and say that, at first glance, the recipe seemed incredibly daunting and intimidating. The list of ingredients (mostly spices) was long…I don’t even think I read the actual words. I just saw a long list! I wasn’t ready to attempt it.
But fast forward to today (about 15 years later…okay, so it wasn’t THAT fast…), and I can only say I wish I tried it sooner!
Inspired by Amber India’s version, my Creamy Butter Chicken is an adaptation of their recipe, having tweaked it a bit to make a little simpler for the home cook…like you and me!
Enough talk…let’s get cooking! 😉
Butter chicken is a two-step process, the most important being the marinating. The marinade is actually quite simple: lemon juice, plain yogurt, garlic, ginger, salt, chili powder, turmeric, cumin, coriander, and garam masala. Let the chicken mingle with these ingredients for at least 6 hours, but it is best if you can let them hang out overnight (butter chicken sleepover!). 😉
After the slumber party, it’s time to get cooking! While the chicken pieces roast in a high temperature oven, that’s when it’s time to put the sauce together in a pot – tomato puree, cream, butter (of course!), nutmeg, honey, and another helping of minced ginger, minced garlic, salt, cumin, turmeric, chili powder, and garam masala. Add the chicken and all of a sudden, you’ve got BUTTER CHICKEN! Made right in your very own kitchen!!
How can you not get excited about that???
As I mentioned above, I was quite apprehensive about attempting to make this dish at home. But then I decided to dive right in and tried it out! Needless to say, with each attempt, I got more confident. And all those spices that intimidated me years ago? They suddenly didn’t seem so scary anymore! Just think…if I hadn’t even tried, I wouldn’t be sharing this awesome recipe with you now! And if I can do it, you can, too!
Serve it with some basmati rice and naan and you have got a fabulous Indian meal! Better yet, try making my Soft Gluten-Free Tortilla Flatbread as a worthy naan-substitute! While my flatbread recipe is not exactly like a true naan bread, it IS gluten-free and it is perfect for dipping into all that delicious curry sauce.
So what are you waiting for?? If you love butter chicken like we do, you have to give this recipe a go. You’ll be so proud of yourself when you realize you’ve got this! Leave me a comment below!
Rich and Creamy Butter Chicken
Ingredients
Marinade
- 1 kg (just over 2 lbs) boneless, skinless chicken thighs cut into chunks
- Juice from 1 lemon
- 1 1/2 cups plain full-fat yogurt
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 1/4 tsp chili powder
- 1 1/4 tsp cumin
- 1 1/4 tsp turmeric
- 1 1/4 tsp coriander
- 1 1/4 tsp garam masala
- 3 cloves garlic minced or grated
- 1-2 tbs ginger minced or grated
Sauce
- 1 tbs ghee (butter is fine if you don't have ghee)
- 1 tsp nutmeg
- 1 1/2 tsp cumin
- 1 1/2 tsp turmeric
- 1 1/2 tsp garam masala
- 1 tsp coriander
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp chili powder
- 2 cloves garlic minced or grated
- 2 tbs ginger minced or grated
- 2 1/4 cups tomato passata (may also be called tomato puree; NOT tomato paste)
- 2 1/4 cups cream (can use whole milk or combination of the two)
- 2 tbs honey
- 1/4 cup Butter
Instructions
Marinade
- In a large ziploc bag, place chicken pieces and lemon juice. Let sit for 30 minutes.
- In a small bowl, combine yogurt, spices, garlic, and ginger and mix well.
- Add yogurt-spice mixture to chicken in the ziploc bag, making sure that chicken is coated well.
- Seal ziploc bag and refrigerate chicken for at least 4 hours (overnight is best).
Cooking Day
- Preheat oven 450 deg F (230C).
- Remove chicken from marinade and place on a foil liked baking sheet. Bake for 40 minutes, until chicken is browned.
- While chicken is roasting, melt ghee in a large pot over medium heat.
- Add dry spices to the ghee and stir until fragrant (30 seconds).
- Add ginger and garlic to spices and cook for 1 minute.
- Add tomato passata, cream, and honey and stir well. Bring to a gentle boil.
- Add cooked chicken pieces to the pot and heat through.
- Add 1/4 cup butter and stir into sauce to melt.
- Garnish butter chicken with some fresh parsley and a drizzle of cream.
Notes
Nutrition
If you make this dish, share your photo on Facebook or Instagram and tag me @dayinthekitchen!
You might also like:
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- Slow Cooker Teriyaki Pulled Chicken
-
- Dry Brined Roast Chicken
-
- Creamy Chicken Pumpkin Curry
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