Butter Chicken Recipe

5 from 2 votes

This Butter Chicken served with Naan on the side is my ultimate comfort food meal. It is spicy, sweet, creamy, and just delicious! Serve it with basmati rice and pan fried naan for a meal you’ll want to make from scratch again and again.

Course Main Course

Cuisine Indian

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 35

Total Time 55

Servings servings

Calories 418kcal

Author Alexandria Drzazgowski

Ingredients

Marinade Ingredients

1½ lb boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into cubes
⅓ cup greek yogurt
2 tsp ginger + garlic paste
½ lemon juiced
1 tsp salt
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp Kashmiri red chili powder
¼ tsp turmeric
½ tsp ground coriander

Sauce Ingredients

3 Tbsp butter or ghee
½ large white onion finely chopped (about 1 ¼ cups)
1 Tbsp Ginger garlic paste
1 tsp salt
1 tsp kashmiri chili powder more or less to taste
1 tsp cumin powder
2 tsp garam masala
⅛ tsp ground cloves
½ tsp cardamom powder
2 tbsp tomato paste
⅛ cup unroasted unsalted cashews (about 8)
1 15 oz oz can diced tomatoes
⅓ cup heavy cream
2-3 tsp sugar
1 tsp dried fenugreek leaves
fresh cilantro chopped, for serving
Naan basmati rice for serving

Instructions

Put the cubed chicken in a medium mixing bowl and then add the rest of the marinade ingredients. Stir until the chicken is well-coated, then cover the bowl and place it in the fridge. Allow the chicken to marinade overnight (preferably) but for a minimum of 2 hours.
Once the chicken is done marinating, melt 2 tablespoons of butter or ghee in a large pan.
Add the marinated chicken into the hot pan and stir until the outside of the chicken is cooked, about 5-7 minutes. The middle can still be raw. Remove the chicken and set aside.
Add another tablespoon of butter into the pan. Add the diced onion and stir until sauteed, scraping down the extra flavor into the pan. Saute until the onions soften.
Add the ginger and garlic paste and saute again for a minute.
Add the spices and mix until toasted, about 1 minute.
Add the tomato paste and mix for another minute until the mixture is fragrant.
Pour the diced tomatoes into the pan along with the cashews. Cover and let this simmer for about 10 minutes.
After 10 minutes, remove the sauce from the stove and allow it to cool for a few minutes (this is very important, as your blender can explode if the sauce is too hot). Once cooled, put the sauce in a blender and blend until smooth.
Pour the blended sauce back into the pan, then pour in the heavy cream and the granulated sugar. Mix until everything is combined, then add the chicken. Stir until the chicken is fully coated.
Cover and simmer for another 10 minutes until the chicken cooks through and reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit.
Sprinkle with fenugreek leaves, chopped cilantro, and an extra drizzle of heavy cream. Serve over basmati rice with garlic naan. Enjoy!

Notes

Recipe copyright The Foreign Fork. For educational or personal use only.

Boneless, Skinless Chicken Thighs: Cut into cubes. You can also use chicken breast or a mix of the two if needed.

Greek Yogurt: For marinating. Make sure you use the one without any added flavors. The Greek Yogurt tenderizes the chicken thighs, so make sure to use this in the marinade!

Ginger + Garlic Paste: You can make this yourself using a lemon zester or just buy it frozen at the store! You can use equal parts garlic paste and ginger paste if you do not have a combination packet.

Butter: You can substitute ghee

White Onion: Some recipes call for red onion

Unroasted, Unsalted Cashews: To thicken the sauce and make it creamier

Heavy Cream: I do not recommend substituting milk in this recipe. You can substitute coconut milk or coconut cream for a lighter or dairy free alternative.

Dried Fenugreek Leaves: Also called Kasuri Methi. This might be the only difficult thing to find in American grocery stores. You can often get it at Indian grocery stores or online. As a last resort, you can omit it.
Mix the spices into the yogurt before adding the chicken so that the flavor gets evenly dispersed!
For an extra Authentic Butter Chicken, you can grill the chicken instead of pan frying it for a delicious smoky flavor. Then add it into the sauce to simmer at the end.
You can also use whole spices instead of pre-ground spices. For this, toast the whole spices in a skillet until fragrant and then grind them.
Butter Chicken with Naan is one of my favorite meals. I love to get the frozen Naan from an Indian grocery store or Trader Joe’s and then pan fry it until it warms up. This is great for when you want a low-effort dinner. If you want homemade, try this recipe for Garlic Naan.

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