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Indian Butter Chicken

5 from 2 votes

Time to dive into something hot, creamy and just utterly mouth watering. Yes, Indian Butter Chicken. If you have never made this dish, make it this week and you won’t be disappointed. It has all the creaminess of a masala chicken dish but with the addition of tomatoes for a bit of zing!

Indian Butter Chicken in a blue bowl
Indian Butter Chicken

What’s This Dish Like

  • Difficulty – This dish is probably medium difficulty as it uses quite a few ingredients, takes time to marinade and there are several components to the dish.
  • Taste – A velvety creamy sauce with a hint of spice with a light tomato flavour.
  • Serving – This recipe makes four generous portions. You could probably stretch it to six servings if you have a few side dishes.
over head view of the chicken
Indian Butter Chicken

Notes About The Chicken

  • In an ideal world, we would all have time to marinade things overnight.  But we don’t always have that time.   When I made this dish, it marinaded for just an hour and it was tender and delicious.  I have made it in the past with overnight marinade and the chicken was more tender and had somewhat more flavour.  But as long as you give it an hour in the marinade you are good to go. 
over head view of the Indian Butter Chicken
Indian Butter Chicken

Notes About The Sauce

One of the key components to this dish is the sauce.  Like most dishes that are sauce based, you just got to get it right. 

  • The caramelizing of the onions in essential to getting a sweetness in this sauce.  So whatever you do, don’t skip it!  Very important.  So make sure you take the time to slow cook the onions to perfection.  It usually takes about 20 minutes.  Watch them closely as they are cooking because you don’t want to burn them.  Nobody likes a burnt flavour to their sauce.  If you notice the onions are starting to stick to the pan, add a little bit of water and reduce the heat to low.  This should avoid any unwanted burning.  Onions will be caramelized whey they are light golden brown in colour and and kind of stringy.  If you taste them, you will notice at this point that they will be sweet.

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Indian Butter Chicken

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Indian Butter Chicken

Time to dive into something hot, creamy and just utterly mouth watering. Yes, Indian Butter Chicken. If you have never made this dish, make it this week and you won't be disappointed. It has all the creaminess of a masala chicken dish but with the addition of tomatoes for a bit of zing!
Prep Time20 minutes
Cook Time50 minutes
Total Time1 hour 10 minutes
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Indian
Keyword: chicken, curry, rice
Servings: 6 servings
Calories: 311kcal
Author: Julia Pinney

Ingredients

For the chicken:

  • 1 1/2 lbs chicken breast cut into bite size pieces
  • 2 cloves garlic crushed
  • 1 inch piece of ginger root grated
  • Juice of one lime
  • 1 Tablespoon hot curry powder
  • 1 Teaspoon turmeric
  • 1 Dried chili finely chopped
  • 1 Teaspoon ground coriander
  • 1 Teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 Tablespoon tomato paste
  • 1/2 cup Greek Yogurt

For the sauce:

  • 2 Onions thinly sliced
  • 3 Garlic cloves crushed
  • 3 Tablespoons butter divided
  • 2 Tablespoons garam masala
  • 1 Teaspoon hot paprika
  • Sea salt
  • 1 large can whole tomatoes
  • 2/3 Cup cream

Instructions

  • In a large bowl, combine the garlic, ginger, lime juice, curry powder, turmeric, chilli, coriander, salt, tomato paste and Greek yoghurt. Stir well and add chicken. Coat the chicken in the marinade and cover. This can now be refrigerated overnight or for just an hour.
  • In a large skillet set over medium heat add one tablespoon of butter and the onions. Give a quick stir and leave the onions to caramelize. This will take about 20 minutes. Stir the onions occasionally as they are cooking and add a few tablespoons of water if they are sticking. Add the garlic, garam masala and paprika. Stir and let flavours enhance for about a minute. Add the chopped tomatoes, stir well and bring to a simmer. Pour in the cream and bring back to a simmer. Add salt and stir well. Remove from heat and blend in batches. Set aside.
  • In reserved skillet set over high heat, add the chicken. Sear the chicken for just a few minutes and then pour in the sauce. Bring to a simmer, reduce heat to low, cover and leave to cook for about 15 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in remaining butter. Serve topped with fresh coriander.

*A note on times provided: appliances vary, any prep and/or cook times provided are estimates only.

Nutrition Facts
Indian Butter Chicken
Amount Per Serving (1 serving)
Calories 311 Calories from Fat 171
% Daily Value*
Fat 19g29%
Saturated Fat 10g63%
Cholesterol 125mg42%
Sodium 608mg26%
Potassium 558mg16%
Carbohydrates 7g2%
Fiber 2g8%
Sugar 3g3%
Protein 27g54%
Vitamin A 660IU13%
Vitamin C 6mg7%
Calcium 58mg6%
Iron 1mg6%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Thanks For Stopping By & Hope To See You Soon!

By on November 14th, 2016
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