Indian butter chicken is a fabulously flavorful dinner recipe that cooks in less than 30 minutes.
My dear friend Jan had been telling me about a new restaurant in town that she wanted to visit. It’s an Indian restaurant that she knew her husband wouldn’t be particularly thrilled to try. When, a couple of months ago, my mom offered to babysit and I realized that all of the places I needed to run errands to were closed due to a holiday, I wasn’t sure what to do to occupy my time.
So I asked Jan if she wanted to meet for lunch, and she agreed! We tried out the new restaurant. We shared two meals so we could both try them, and we both really enjoyed their Indian butter chicken.
Being that I have a family of 5, it isn’t cost effective to go out to dinner very often. I wanted to have more Indian butter chicken, but I couldn’t afford for us to all go get some, so I had to try making it myself.
I started looking to see what different recipes had. There are a million recipes for Indian butter chicken (at least!). And they’re all very different from each other, so I basically just guessed and mixed things together, and hoped for the best. It turned out well the first time, so I tweeked things a little bit the second time and created this quick, under 30 minute recipe of Indian butter chicken.
I already had some garam masala, which is a blend of spices, so I wanted to use it in the Indian butter chicken. I have a blogger friend who uses it often, so I had purchased it from Amazon but then been afraid to try cooking with it. How’s that for blogger truthfulness? Us bloggers even get intimidated about cooking new things sometimes!
Garam masala is very inexpensive, and I’ve already made this recipe twice using it, and it’s still nearly full. This is the kind I bought.
If you love spicy, add the cayenne pepper. The recipe is mildly hot without it. The cayenne makes it more authentic burn your mouth Indian food, but the flavor is still fabulous without it.
Recipe for Indian Butter Chicken:
Indian Butter Chicken
Indian butter chicken is a fabulously flavorful dinner recipe that cooks in less than 30 minutes.
Ingredients
- 2 lbs. chicken thighs or breasts,, chopped
- 6 Tbs. butter, divided
- 1 large onion
- 4 cloves garlic
- 3 tsp. garam masala
- 3 tsp. grated fresh ginger
- 1 tsp. chili powder
- 1 tsp. cumin
- 1/2 tsp. cayenne, (optional)
- 15 oz. can tomato sauce
- 1 C. plain yogurt or sour cream
- 1 C. whole milk
- 1/2 tsp. salt, to taste
Instructions
- In a large skillet, melt 2 Tbsp. butter over medium heat. Brown chicken, but don't worry about cooking it all the way through. Remove chicken from pan and set aside.
- Melt 2 Tbsp. more of the butter. Add chopped onion and cook until translucent. Add garlic and spices, and cook for about one minute.
- Add tomato sauce, and bring just to a boil. Lower heat and simmer for 5 minutes.
- Stir in remaining ingredients, as well as the reserved chicken. Bring back to a simmer, and simmer for 15 minutes.
- Serve over rice, with naan bread.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield:
6Serving Size:
6 ServingsAmount Per Serving: Calories: 517Total Fat: 35gSaturated Fat: 15gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 19gCholesterol: 232mgSodium: 971mgCarbohydrates: 13gFiber: 2gSugar: 9gProtein: 41g
The nutritional information provided here is not guaranteed to be accurate and is provided for informational (and google) purposes only.
Do you have a favorite Indian recipe? I would love to try it!
Linking up at Weekend Potluck, Wise Women Link Up and Tasty Tuesday. See the rest of my link parties here.
Chanel | Cultural Xplorer says
How delicious! I love butter chicken, especially with basmati rice and garlic naan 😀
Jamie H says
I hope you enjoy it!
Gina says
Indian butter chicken isn’t traditionally hot but the cayenne sounds like an interesting addition.
Serena | Serena Bakes Simply From Scratch says
This looks amazing! I can’t wait to try your version!
Jamie H says
I hope you like it! I would love to hear back how you like it 🙂
Angela says
I love Indian food! This looks so good!
Megan @ MegUnprocessed says
Those seasonings sound good!
Lane & Holly @ With Two Spoons says
Love, love, love Indian food-especially butter chicken!
Jamie H says
It is really so good, right? And I was so excited to make it work in a 30 minute recipe that tastes just as good as if it had cooked slowly for hours!
Jennifer @ Show Me the Yummy says
We get Indian food almost every week. NEED to try this homemade version!
Jamie H says
You definitely should, Jennifer! It is so easy of a recipe, and it will save you a ton of money!