Butter Chicken

4.67 from 21 votes

Butter Chicken - easy and authentic Indian butter chicken recipe that tastes just like your favorite restaurant. The creamy sauce is great with basmati rice and naan bread.

Prep Time30

Cook Time40

Total Time1 10

Course: Indian Recipes

Cuisine: Chicken

Keyword: Butter Chicken

Servings: people

Calories: 506kcal

Author: Bee Yinn Low

Ingredients

Chicken

2 lbs (1kg) chicken, preferably thigh meat, boneless and skinless cut into 2-3 inch (5cm-7cm)pieces
2 teaspoons ginger paste
1 1/2 tablespoons garlic paste
1-2 teaspoons red chili powder
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
Salt to taste
3 tablespoons oil
2 teaspoons lime or lemon juice
2 pinches food color deep orange, optional

Creamy Tomato Sauce

4 large tomatoes quartered
1 1/2 tablespoons garlic paste
2 teaspoons ginger paste
1 jalapeno
2 inch (5cm) cinnamon piece
1 bay leaf
4 cloves
2 green cardamom
6 whole black pepper
2 tablespoons ketchup
2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon red chili powder
1/2 teaspoon dried fenugreek leaves
Salt to taste
2 tablespoons oil
2 tablespoon butter
1 cup water

Garnishing

Chopped cilantro
Heavy cream

Instructions

Chicken

Wash and pat dry the chicken with paper towels. Transfer to a large bowl. Add all the Chicken ingredients, stir to mix well. Cover and marinate the chicken for 30 minutes or best overnight in the refrigerator.
Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large wok or a pan. Transfer the chicken and the marinade to the wok or pan. Cook on medium-high heat until the liquid has dried up, and the chicken turns brown on the surface, 10-15 minutes. You can also grill the chicken.
Transfer the chicken to a clean platter. The chicken can be cooked a day in advance.

Sauce

In a large pan, heat 2 tablespoons of the oil and add the green cardamoms, cloves, black peppercorns, bay leaf and cinnamon. Sauté the spices for 30-40 seconds. Add the ginger and garlic paste; stir fry for a minute. Add the tomatoes and jalapeno with 1/2 cup of the water. Cover the pan and reduce the heat to low, simmer for 5-7 minutes or until the tomatoes are soft and start to break down. Remove the pan from the heat and let cool.
Remove all the whole spices (cardamom, bay leaf, cinnamon stick, cloves and black pepper) and discard. Transfer the tomato mixture to a blender and puree it to become a sauce.
Transfer the sauce to a clean pan, add the ketchup, sugar, red chili powder, salt and dried fenugreek leaves and the remaining water. Let it simmer for 2-3 minutes on low heat. Stirring occasionally. Now add the butter, stir and simmer on the lowest heat for 5-7 minutes, or until the sauce starts to bubble. Add a little bit more water if the sauce is too thick.
Add the cooked chicken and let simmer for another 5 minutes. Remove the butter chicken from the heat, top with chopped cilantro and heavy cream. Serve immediately with naan bread or rice.

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