This Butter Chicken Recipe is so easy and so delicious. It’s the perfect weeknight meal. Better than take out, you’ll love making this Indian Butter Chicken at home!
You guys, the hustle and bustle of the holiday season is a real thing, like a super real thing, and I keep thinking about all these great holiday recipes I want to make for you. But for real, we need some regular go-to dinner recipes still. We can’t just have sugar cookies for dinner every night … right?
We are such huge fans of Indian cooking around here, the flavors and spices are always so perfect. Nathan and I love getting chicken dishes, especially the ones that come with a lot of sauce that we can eat with rice and warm pieces of naan. The saucier the recipe, the better. The biggest problem is that our favorite Indian restaurant is super far away and a hassle to get take out from. So, an easy butter chicken recipe I can make at home is pretty much essential .
INGREDIENTS:
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter (1/2 stick + 1 stick), divided
- 1 large sweet Vidalia or yellow onion, diced small
- about 1.50 pounds boneless skinless chicken breast, diced into bite-sized pieces
- 3 to 5 cloves garlic, finely minced or pressed
- 2 tablespoons garam masala
- 1 tablespoon cumin
- 1 tablespoon turmeric
- 1 tablespoon ground ginger or 1+ tablespoon fresh ginger, finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream (see Notes below)
- one 8-ounce can tomato sauce (I used no-salt added; see Notes below)
- basmati rice (or your favorite rice) for serving
- about 1/3 cup fresh cilantro leaves, or to taste for garnishing
DIRECTIONS:
- To a large skillet add 1/4 cup butter (1/2 stick), onion, and sauté over medium-high heat until the onions begins to soften and caramelize about 5 minutes; stir intermittently. It does not have to be fully caramelized before moving on.
- Add the chicken and cook for about 5 minutes, or until chicken is done; flip and stir often to ensure even cooking.
- Add the garlic, stir to combine, and cook for about 1 minute, or until fragrant; stir frequently.
- Add the garam masala, cumin, turmeric, ginger, salt, pepper, cayenne pepper (does not make it spicy but adds depth of flavor), and stir to combine.
- Add the remaining 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter and heat until it has melted; stir frequently to encourage melting.
- Add the heavy cream, tomato sauce, stir to combine, and allow mixture to simmer for about 10 minutes, or until sauce has thickened and reduced slightly. Taste and if desired, add additional salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, etc.
- Add rice to the serving plates and top with chicken and as much sauce as desired.
- Evenly garnish with cilantro and serve immediately. Dish is best warm and fresh but will keep airtight in the fridge for up to 5 days.
RECIPE NOTES AND TIPS:
- If you’re a sauce fan, this recipe produces an abundant amount of sauce as written. If you don’t want it as saucy, you can scale back on the amount of tomato sauce and/or cream.
- I used no-salt added tomato sauce and used nearly 2 teaspoons salt in total but if you’re using salted tomato sauce 1 teaspoon salt will likely be enough.
