Butter chicken is a perfect introduction to Indian food. Fall in love with this easy and enticing North Indian dish that covers all the bases: make it ahead, good for parties, and even for a weeknight meal.
In a bowl mix all the ingredients listed for the marinade. Let marinade from 20 minutes to overnight. See Notes below.
Sauce (while chicken is marinating):
Sauce Ingredients
Gather your ingredients
Heat 1 tablespoon ghee or oil in a heavy-bottomed saucepan or dutch oven, and over medium heat sauté onions until translucent. About 5 to 7 minutes.
Add the ginger garlic paste and sauté for another minute or two, stirring constantly, until the paste no longer smells raw.
Add ground red chili, cumin and coriander, and cook for 2 minutes.
Add tomatoes, and cook for 6 minutes, scraping any browned bits on the bottom of the pan into the mixture. You should end up with a thick sauce.
If you want a silky smooth masala, remove from the heat and allow to cool until you can safely add to your blender or food processor. Puree until smooth, adding up to a cup of water as needed. If you are not cooking the chicken immediately, store in the fridge for 2 days, or in the freezer for 6 months. If you are cooking now, return the sauce to the large pot or dutch oven. Since this is called easy butter chicken, I often skip the blending step. See Notes below.
Cooking the Chicken and Final Steps
Remove chicken from the refrigerator, saving any extra marinade to add back into the sauce. Heat the remaining tablespoon of ghee, or oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add chicken to the pan without crowding, so they have room to develop a nice caramelized crust; even a little char is good. You may have to do this in two batches, depending on your pan size and whether you've doubled the recipe. If you prefer, you can add the chicken pieces to a rimmed baking sheet lined with foil, and broil in the oven until there are nice brown spots. Do not overcook because you will be finishing the chicken in the sauce.
When all the chicken is sautéed or broiled, add to the sauce with any with reserved marinade. Simmer over medium heat for 3 to 4 minutes.
Add cream, cover and very gently simmer on low heat for 10 minutes, to blend all the flavors and finish cooking the chicken.
Uncover, add garam masala, crushed kasori methi (if using), lemon juice, sugar, and butter. If the sauce is too thick, thin with a little water. Taste for acid, sweet, heat, and salt levels and adjust to your preference. If the sauce needs mellowing a little, add yogurt to balance out the spices. I often need to add a couple more tablespoons of yogurt to find the right flavor for me. Garnish with cilantro and serve hot with rice and Indian bread.
Notes
Before cooking:
Use chicken thigh meat so you will have moist, tender chicken. Shrimp and lamb cubes would work well in this sauce too!
Decide before making this recipe, how long you want to marinate your chicken.You can make a weeknight version and do a 20-minute marination, or go for an overnight version. However, I do strongly recommend marinating the chicken overnight.
To save time cook the chicken pieces, while you are blending the sauce.
I have written a mildly spiced easy butter chicken. If you want more heat, add a minced fresh green chili (or two, or more) with the tomatoes, and/or increase the ground red chili amount, and add a half teaspoon or more garam masala with the lemon at the end.
My goal with this recipe is to offer a more streamlined version of butter chicken. If you use pureed tomatoes and mince the onions finely, you can skip the blender step. However, if you are looking for a silky smooth sauce, go ahead and blend it.
This sauce is perfect for vegetarians. Just swap out the chicken with sautéed paneer, mushrooms, extra firm tofu, or even your favorite mix of vegetables.
To avoid cow’s milk yogurt and cream, use unsweetened coconut yogurt and coconut milk or cream. To thicken the masala, you may need a bit of arrowroot (start with 2 teaspoons) added with the cream or coconut milk at the end, or soak 2 tablespoons of cashews for an hour, and add with the tomatoes. You will need to blend the sauce to pulverize the cashews and don’t skip the butter. or it won’t be butter chicken!
Kasuri Methi is dried fenugreek leaves and it adds a complex sweet, earthy note to the dish. Use it if you got it!
If you are using fresh tomatoes instead of puree, you will want to either remove the skin and seeds before cooking, strain the final sauce before after blending, and before you add your meat or vegetables.
I understand that from a traditional Indian way of cooking,this recipe is heretical for not adding a final fillip of garam masala at the end, but why spoil an already perfect dish? You certainly can if you wish, starting with a 1/2 teaspoon.