- There's a reason why butter chicken
is one of the most popular curry recipes
at Indian restaurants and it's this.
The ultra creamy and buttery sauce
perfectly balances the bold and rich spices.
It's seriously delicious.
The chicken is marinated in a spiced yogurt mix
which makes it juicy and flavorful
and after a quick sear,
the chicken is served in the oh so delicious curry sauce
that's a blend of tomatoes, spices, cream
and of course, a little butter
though I will tell you how to make it dairy free
in the video as well.
Serve this butter chicken recipe over rice,
sprinkle a little cilantro on top and you are done.
I know you guys are really gonna love this recipe
especially if you love bold flavor.
So let me show you how to make it.
As I mentioned in the intro, butter chicken has bold flavor
and a lot of that comes from dried spices
which we'll get to in a second
but there's also some simple aromatics you'll need to prep
including mincing some ginger and garlic
and dicing an onion.
You'll need about four teaspoons of minced ginger
which will be split between the marinade and the sauce
and six garlic cloves
which will also be split between the marinade and the sauce.
If you wanna save a little time in the kitchen,
you can also buy a jar of garlic ginger paste
which is already a blend of the two
and add a tablespoon of that to the marinade
and a tablespoon of it to the sauce
and if you forget all of that, I've also got it listed
on the printable recipe on my website which is linked below.
Now, butter chicken is traditionally made
with chicken thighs so that's what I'm using today
but you could also easily substitute chicken breasts
in this recipe.
I personally love chicken thighs as the meat is super juicy
but it's up to you.
Either way, you'll need about a pound and a half of chicken
and then dice it up into an inch
to one and a half inch pieces.
These don't have to be perfect.
Just think bite sized.
And once you've got the chicken all chopped up,
add it to a mixing bowl
To marinate the chicken,
you'll need a half a cup of Greek yogurt
and if you're dairy free,
you can go ahead and sub dairy free yogurt in here.
One tablespoon of fresh lemon juice,
two teaspoons of the minced ginger and three garlic cloves
that you can mince right into the bowl.
Next come the spices
and you'll need one teaspoon of Kashmiri red chili powder.
Red chili powder is not the same as American chili powder
which you might use in say a chili con carne recipe.
That chili powder is a blend of spices
whereas red chili powder is simply ground chili peppers
and it's much more vibrant red in color.
I'll also add that there's a difference
between plain red chili powder and Kashmiri red chili powder
which is used in this recipe.
The former is considered very hot
whereas Kashmiri chili powder is more mild in heat.
I accidentally bought the wrong one
when making this recipe once before
and let's just say that it definitely got my sinuses going.
To that, you'll add a teaspoon of garam masala,
a teaspoon of ground turmeric and a teaspoon of kosher salt.
Give that a stir
so that the spices get mixed into the yogurt
and then the chicken gets well coated in everything.
Marinate this in the fridge
for ideally a few hours or overnight
but if you're on a time crunch,
even 30 minutes will add a bunch of flavor
and make the chicken ultra moist.
So once your chicken has marinated,
add two tablespoons of olive oil or avocado oil
to a large saute pan on medium high heat
and give that a swirl
to make sure that the bottom is fully coated.
Use tongs to add your yogurt
and spice marinated chicken to the pan
and you may need to work in two batches
depending on the size of your pan.
It's best not to crowd the pan
though I'm doing a pretty bad job of that today
as I had a little bit more
than a pound and a half of chicken.
Cook the chicken on one side for about three minutes
then flip it over and cook for another two to three minutes
until the chicken is opaque and cooked through
then use your tongs to remove the chicken to a bowl.
I should also note that the chicken won't really brown
in this recipe because of the yogurt marinade
so once it's cooked through, you can remove it from the pan
and if there's juices and marinade still in the pan,
that's fine as you can cook the onions in whatever's left.
So add the onions to the pan
and saute them for about three to four minutes
or until softened and translucent
and if you feel like you need to add a little splash of oil
to the pan during this process, go ahead and do that.
Then add two teaspoons of minced ginger,
three minced garlic cloves,
one teaspoon of Kashmiri red chili powder,
one teaspoon of garam masala,
half a teaspoon of ground coriander
and half a teaspoon of cumin.
Give that a quick stir to toast the spices
and make them fragrant then add a quarter cup of raw cashew
and one 15 ounce can of crushed tomatoes.
You'll also need to add one cup of water
and what I like to do is just fill the tomato can
about two thirds full with water and add that.
Lastly, for a little sweet to balance the spices,
add one tablespoon of coconut sugar or honey
or your sweetener of choice.
Give that a stir, reduce the heat to low
and bring it to a simmer
and let it simmer for about five minutes
so that all of the flavors can meld together.
The next step is what makes my butter chicken recipe
I think the best butter chicken recipe
not that I'm biased at all
but it's the combination of cashews
and a high powered blender
because it makes for the most silky smooth
and luxurious curry sauce.
If you guys have ever blended soaked cashews before,
you know just how creamy they turn out.
So carefully transfer the sauce to a blender
and if you don't have a high powered blender,
you could also transfer this to a bowl
and use an immersion blender.
Add the lid then blend the sauce on high for about a minute
or until it's ultra smooth and a bright orange color
and then take it back over to the stove.
(calm music)
Use paper towels to quickly wipe the pan clean
or go ahead and wash the pan
as you don't want any remnant chunks
because we've just worked so hard
to make a silky smooth sauce
then add two tablespoons of butter
and one cup of heavy cream over medium heat.
If you're dairy sensitive, substitute with ghee
or oil and coconut cream
then pour your blended curry sauce into the pan
and I make sure to get every last little bit
out of my Vitamix container by using the under blade scraper
then stir it all together.
I honestly love this part, the stirring it all together
because once you blend the butter and cream with the sauce,
it seriously becomes velvety smooth
and then all that's left to do is add the cooked chicken
back to the pan with the curry sauce
and stir it for three to five minutes
or until the chicken is warmed through.
There's so much to love about Indian food
especially when rich curry sauces are involved
and digging into a bowl of this
brings back all of the fond memories I have
from traveling India nearly 20 years ago
and side note, I need to go back for an updated trip
because time just flies too darn fast.
Butter chicken is delicious served on top of basmati rice
because the rice soaks up all that liquid gold curry sauce
and of course I would be remiss if I didn't remind you
that this also makes for one fantastic meal prep recipe
that you can freeze and easily reheat in the future.
You could freeze the butter chicken
in a separate container to the rice
or you can freeze the two already combined together.
It's up to you.
Before serving, top it off with a sprinkle of fresh cilantro
and that's it, the most delicious butter chicken recipe
that will definitely have you and your family
going back for seconds.
I hope you guys enjoyed today's video
and if you did, share it with your family and friends
and give it a thumbs up
especially if you'd like to see more Indian recipes
like tikka masala in the future.
(calm music)