An Easy Butter Chicken Recipe

Butter Chicken Recipe is an Indian chicken dish which is mixed with butter, spices, tomatoes, and cream. It is slightly spicy which is best to eat with rice or bread. In India, they called this dish Murgh Makhani.

This is one of the most popular chicken dishes from around the world. Despite it is originated from India, this dish is popular in some western countries, Asia, and in the Middle East.

The first time I tried butter chicken when I visited and ate in an Indian street food place in Kuwait. It is mildly spicy, but very flavorful and creamy. Also, you can taste the spices from the garam masala, cumin and other herbs they add.

Personally, I love indian food and they have one of the best cuisines in the world. Most of the best food places to find are from street foods, which inspired me to make own dishes.

Recipe Ingredients

There are several ingredient needed when making an easy butter chicken recipe. Some of these ingredients, such as the spices, are mostly found in an Indian grocery stores. Below are the list of ingredients for this recipe

• Paprika or Red Chilli Powder- This spices is needed as a food coloring when making your sauce red. Unlike other spices, they are not used during marination, but in the cooking process. I used Red chilli powder because I love spicy food and I find it tastier. If you don't want to make your butter chicken spicy, you can use paprika instead.
• Garam Masala, Cumin, and Coriander- These spices are used when sauteing along with the tomato and onion.
• Onion and Tomatoes- These two ingredients gives a nice aroma in your dish. They are used during cooking in the pan. Also, the tomatoes is used for reddening the dish. You will be mixing them later with the spices during cooking before blending them into a sauce.
• Unsalted Butter- This butter is use when sauteing the marinated chicken. In addition to that, you also need butter along with vegetable oil when sauteing the onion and tomatoes together with the spices. DO NOT use salted butter since it will make the dish salty. This is one mistake I did in the past.
• Vegetable Oil- They are use when sauteing the onion and tomatoes
• Light Cream- This will be use to make the dish creamy. I used light cream since it less fatty than heavy cream. If you don't like to use cream, you can replace it with unsweetened milk.
• Lemon- This give a nice sourness flavor of the chicken.
• Salt and Black Pepper-

Ingredients for marinating the chicken

In this paragraph, I will be stating the list of of ingredients needed when marinating the chicken.

• Chicken Breast- This is a meat that you will be using when cooking chicken butter. It is recommended to use breast since they are boneless and it is easier to cook.
• Minced Garlic and Ginger- These two herbs are use when marinating the chicken together with the spices. This will give nice flavor of your chicken.
• Yoghurt- This is needed when marinating you chicken along with spices. This will help make the meat tender since the chicken breast are known to be dry.
• Garam Masala, Cumin, Turmeric, and Coriander- These are the spices needed for seasoning your chicken.

How long do you need to marinate before cooking?

After marinating the chicken, it is recommended to store into the fridge for 24 hours before cooking the chicken. This will help absorb the spices and tender the chicken by the yoghurt.

What kind of kitchen appliances do I need?

There are only two kitchen appliances you need when making this dish. First, you need pan or pot where you will use to cook the chicken, onion and other ingredients.

Second, you need a blender where you will blend the sauteed onion, tomatoes and the spices to make into a sauce.

Step by Step Instruction

Firstly, add butter in the pan. Once the butter is fully melted, add the chicken and let it cook for few minutes. Once it is cooked, remove the chicken, and add again butter and vegetable oil in the same pan. Add the onion and stir it for 1 minutes and then add tomatoes, and stir it again. Later, add the spices and mix it well. Cook it for few minutes before turning off the heat. Let it cool down before putting into the blender. Add 2 tablespoon of water into the blender to help make the spices, onion and tomatoes into a sauce.

Put the sauce back into the pan. Add the sauteed chicken and mix it with the sauce. Add the cream and red chilli or paprika powder. Stir it slowly and let it cook for 3 to 5 minutes in low heat. Add lemon juice and salt and black pepper for taste.

Lastly, garnished it with parsley before serving with rice or roti bread. As you can see the picture below, I love eating my butter chicken with rice and it taste delicious.

Other Asian Chicken Recipes

If you are looking for similar recipes, there are several amazing Asian chicken recipes that you may love to cook in your kitchen.

• Chicken Majboos (Kuwait)
• Yellow Chicken Curry (Thailand)
• Chicken Rogan Josh (India)

If you are looking for other delicious Indian street food, I highly recommend you check it out from the Food Hog blog.

📋 Recipe Card

Butter chicken recipe

Saif Odeh

Butter Chicken Recipe is a creamy chicken Indian dish which is mixed with spices, butter, chicken breast and cream. It is perfect to serve with rice or naan bread.

5 from 6 votes

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Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 20 minutes mins

Total Time 35 minutes mins

Course Poultry and Chicken Recipes

Cuisine Indian

Servings 4

Calories 468 kcal

Ingredients

  

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INGREDIENTS FOR MARINATING THE CHICKEN

• 500 gram of chopped chicken breast
• 6 cloves of minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon of minced ginger
• 1 tablespoon of garam masala
• ½ teaspoon of cumin powder
• 1 teaspoon of coriander powder
• 5 tablespoon of yoghurt

INGREDIENTS FOR COOKING THE BUTTER CHICKEN

• 1 cup of chopped onion
• 3 chopped of large tomatoes
• 3 tablespoon of unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoon of vegetable cooking oil
• 2 teaspoon of red chilli or paprika powder
• ½ cup of light cream
• 1 tablespoon of garam masala
• ½ teaspoon of cumin powder
• 1 teaspoon of coriander powder
• 3 tablespoon of lemon juice
• ¼ cup water For blending
• Salt and Black Pepper for Taste
• 1 tablespoon of chopped parsley for garnish

Instructions

 

• Add 2 tablespoon of unsalted butter in the pan. Wait till it is fully melted
  
• Add the marinated chicken into the pan. Stir it for 2 to 3 minutes till it is cooked. Make sure the juice is fully evaporated before removing from the pan.
  
• In the same pan, add 2 tablespoon of vegetable oil and 1 tablespoon of unsalted butter. Once it is melted, add onion and stir for few minutes till light brown. Later add the chopped tomatoes and stir again for one minute.
  
• Add the garam masala, cumin, and coriander. Mix it well. Turn off the heat and let it cool down
  
• Transfer into the blender, and add ¼ cup of water to help blend into a sauce
  
• Put the sauce back into the pan. Add the marinated chicken and mix it well.
  
• Add the cream and the red chilli or paprika powder. Stir it slowly. Let it cook for 3 to 5 minutes in low heat.
  
• Add lemon juice, salt and black pepper into the pan. Mix one more time. Lastly, garnished it with parsley before serving.

Nutrition

Serving: 1gCalories: 468kcalCarbohydrates: 20gProtein: 44gFat: 24gSaturated Fat: 10gPolyunsaturated Fat: 11gCholesterol: 148mgSodium: 311mgFiber: 6gSugar: 9g

Keyword butter chicken, indian food

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