This is a recipe for the well-known “Butter Chicken” dish that can be found in most Indian eateries. It is an adaptation of a fantastic sauce recipe that usually makes me crazy from one of my cookbooks that I streamlined to make it just take half as long. Essentially, it is chicken that has been cooked in a hot tomato cream sauce. Serve with basmati rice and naan.
| Prep Time: | 15 mins |
| Cook Time: | 40 mins |
| Total Time: | 55 mins |
| Servings: | 2 |
| Yield: | 2 servings |
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 2 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, cubed
- 8 green cardamom pods
- 10 cloves, lightly pounded
- 10 whole black peppercorns
- 1 (1/2 inch) piece cinnamon stick
- 3 serrano peppers
- 2 teaspoons ginger paste
- 2 teaspoons garlic paste
- 1 (15 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
- 1 ¼ cups water
- 1 ½ teaspoons paprika
- 1 ½ teaspoons dried fenugreek leaves
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon butter, softened
- ½ cup cream
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat; cook and stir the chicken in the hot oil until completely browned, about 5 minutes. Set aside.
- Wrap cardamom pods, cloves, peppercorns, and cinnamon stick in cheesecloth and secure with elastic or twist-tie.
- Blend the serrano peppers, ginger paste, and garlic paste together in a blender until smooth; add the crushed tomatoes and blend again until integrated. Transfer the mixture to a saucepan; add the water, paprika, and the spice bundle to the saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil; reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until the volume of the liquid reduces to about half. Add the browned chicken to the liquid and stir. Cover the saucepan and simmer until the chicken is no longer pink in the center, about 15 minutes. Stir the salt and fenugreek seeds into the mixture and continue simmering another 5 minutes. Remove the bundle of spices and discard. Stir the butter and cream into the mixture; simmer until the butter is melted completely, 3 to 4 minutes. Serve hot.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 676 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 34 g |
| Cholesterol | 166 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 11 g |
| Protein | 33 g |
| Saturated Fat | 21 g |
| Sodium | 1182 mg |
| Sugars | 1 g |
| Fat | 47 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
So good. I added more butter and cocked my chicken in butter. I also added chicken stick instead of water. Great recipe
This was really tasty! Just a note. Be sure to fully purée the tomatoes so there are no chunks before cooking. That helps the cream and butter flavors blend better. Also, I doubled the butter since it didn’t taste like what I usually have without doing that. I will definitely make this again!
A little bit time consuming but I like the way it cooks together without ground spices in the sauce. Removing the spice bundle seems to result in the best butter chicken.
An Indian lady who served lunch at my office got me hooked. But she’d make it infrequently. Then I left the job never to have again. Found this recipe, tried it, and it was AWESOME!!!!
Made it with leftover Thanksgiving turkey and Thai chilis. Turned it great!
Takes a bit of time to make but once you put it on the plate it will all be worth it. The family loved it!
Faster version of Butter Chicken. One could use about 2 ts of Garam Masala as well, instead of the cardamom pods, cloves, cinnamon to make it less work. I used cream, but next time I will use Greek style Yogurt for a creamier texture. Did not have Serrano peppers so used hot Sriracha paste and also used Ghee instead of regular butter. I simmered this for about 30 minutes. Also sauted half an onion. (A note about the ingredients: calls for fenugreek ‘leaves’ but the directions refer to fenugreek ‘seeds’?? I used seeds but did grind them a bit) Will make again.