Butter Chicken

This restaurant quality Butter Chicken will blow your mind! Never have you been able to replicate this favorite classic dish so accurately before. With a few secret ingredients and simple step-by-step instructions, your family will be begging to have this recipe added to the weekly rotation.

The Best Butter Chicken Recipe

As I’m sure you’re painfully aware, there are many variations of butter chicken. Hunting for a version that will replicate the restaurant flavor you’re craving can be a challenge. I’ve tried to make it many times, and many times I didn’t quite get the flavor I was looking for. Until now!

Butter chicken must be cooked with tons of butter, right? Think again! Contrary to its title, there’s not much butter in it after all. Some chefs will even nix the ingredient all together. There are a few ideas of where the name butter chicken came from and the most popular seems to stem from the silkiness of the sauce, comparable to butter.

• Aroma – Fresh ginger and garlic. You can use canned if you’d like but fresh is always best.
• Chicken – I used breast, but dark meat will work here as well.
• Spices – Ground coriander, chili powder, garam masala, and cumin seeds.
• Salt – Season to taste.
• Oil – I used vegetable oil. Since we’re sautéing, other types of oil that will work are olive, grapeseed, sunflower, safflower, canola, or avocado.
• Onion – Any type you like.
• Water
• Cashews – This will help you get a beautiful, creamy sauce. Use unsalted if possible.
• Chili – I used a jalapeño. Use any type of pepper you can handle for heat, or none at all.
• Tomatoes – I used 3 medium-sized tomatoes, about, 2 cups.
• Butter – I always use unsalted to have full control over the sodium.
• Ketchup – A secret ingredient for many Indian restaurants! Just a bit will help with color, extra tomato flavor, and a bit of sweetness.
• Sugar – Use more or less to taste.
• Half and half – Half milk and half cream, 10%MF. You can use heavy cream instead.
• Parsley – Freshly chopped for garnish.
• Red Food coloring – Completely optional. This is how restaurants get that nice red color for the sauce. Completely optional but realize you won’t get that red color otherwise, the tomatoes alone won’t create that rich red color.

How To Make Butter Chicken

This recipe looks more complicated than it is and produces amazing flavor that transports your taste buds to India! The only real work is pureeing the sauce, which you do need a blender or immersion blender for but takes just seconds. However, if you don’t have a blender, don’t worry! Check out my Instant Pot Butter Chicken recipe for another amazing way to make this dish!

Season The Chicken

To begin, prep the chicken pieces to cook by patting them dry with paper towels to remove any excess moisture and then put them in a large bowl. Then add half of the garlic and half of the ginger to the chicken along with 1 tablespoon of the coriander powder, ½ tablespoon of the chili powder, and salt to taste. Now, mix it all together until the chicken is fully coated in the spice marinade.

Cook The Chicken

Once the chicken is seasoned, heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Now, add the chicken pieces to the pan and cook them for about 5 minutes or until it’s no longer pink and fully cooked. Then remove it from the skillet and set it aside for a later step.

Begin The Sauce

To make the sauce, you need to use the same skillet that you cooked your chicken. First, add the cumin seeds and onion to the pan along with the remaining garlic and ginger. Then saute the mixture for about 2 to 3 minutes or until the onion is transparent.

Now, add a couple cups of water to the skillet and stir. Finally, stir in the cashews, jalapeno, tomatoes, and the rest of the coriander and chili powder. Then cover the skillet with a lid and cook the sauce over medium low heat for about 20 minutes. 

Blend The Sauce

Now that all the flavors have had time to meld, remove the sauce from the heat and let it cool for about 5 minutes. Then put it into a blender and puree it until it’s nice and smooth. Now, pour the sauce back into the skillet and then stir in another cup of water, the butter, ketchup, and sugar. Then taste and add salt if needed.

Finish The Sauce

To complete the recipe, add the heavy cream and garam masala to the skillet along with the cooked chicken that you set aside. Then mix everything together well and cook the sauce with the chicken for another 10 minutes. For a dairy-free version you can use full-fat coconut milk if you prefer.

Garnish And Serve

Transfer the butter chicken to your favorite dish and then garnish it with fresh chopped parsley. Then serve it with hot steamed basmati rice and warm homemade naan or roti. 

What Is Butter Chicken?

Indian Butter Chicken is basically pieces of tandoori chicken cooked in a tangy, tomato cream sauce. Despite its name, butter chicken doesn’t have a lot of butter in it.

Can I Double The Recipe?

Absolutely! If you double it, just double all the ingredients, not just the chicken!

Do I Have To Use Red Full Coloring?

No, you don’t. It’s completely optional. Sometimes restaurants will use it to get that gorgeous red color in our butter chicken that we all know and love. Instead of red food coloring you can use Kashmiri chili powder and that’s going to give the butter chicken a nice red color as well.

Leftovers

Transfer any leftover butter chicken to an airtight container and store in the fridge for 3-4 days.

It’ll be easiest to reheat in the microwave, giving the sauce a stir evert 30 seconds or so. You can also reheat on the stovetop. Add the butter chicken to a skillet or saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring often, until completely heated through.

Freezing

This butter chicken will last 4-6 months frozen. Let the chicken completely cool down to room temperature before transferring to an airtight container and freezing.

Let the butter chicken thaw overnight in the fridge before following the reheating instructions detailed above. While you can reheat straight from the freezer, it will be much easier to work with if it’s thawed first.

Other Delicious Recipes To Try

• Oven Baked Chicken Thighs
• Instant Pot Chicken Tikka Masala
• Garlic Butter Chicken
• Sweet Chili Chicken
• Teriyaki Chicken Meatballs
• Skillet Chicken Satay

Originally Shared November 2011. Updated with new pictures and process shots.

Recipe adapted from vahrehvah.com.