Indian Butter Chicken — An EASY, ONE-POT recipe for a classic Indian favorite!! Juicy, BUTTERY chicken simmered in a CREAMY tomato-based sauce! Next time you’re craving Indian food, you can make it yourself in 30 minutes!!
Easy Butter Chicken Recipe
I am by no means an expert in Indian cooking. Or for any ethnic recipes that I share, from Mexican to Asian. But after plenty of research, trial and error, and condensing some very complicated and time-consuming recipes for Indian butter chicken into this very straightforward and easy one, I can definitely say that it’s a winner that my daughter and I loved.
It reminds me a lot of my Chicken Tikka Masala, but rather than having to marinate the chicken overnight in a Greek yogurt-based marinade, no planning ahead is required for Indian butter chicken. Score!
Sweet Vidalia onions are caramelized in butter before adding the chicken, garlic, and a slew of spices, including garam masala, cumin, turmeric, and ginger. I am not shy when adding spices because flavor development is my goal and bland food is my nemesis.
None of the spices are so exotic that they are hard to find and you can find them all in your regular grocery store. Keeping recipes convenient enough so that people actually make them is important to me!
Garnished with cilantro and served on top basmati rice, this is a keeper that’s faster than going to your local Indian restaurant because it’s ready in 30 minutes and tastes every bit as amazing. It may be a simple butter chicken recipe, but I promise it’s packed with flavor!
Indian Butter Chicken Ingredients
To make this simple butter chicken recipe (including the addicting butter chicken sauce), you’ll need:
- Unsalted butter
- Sweet Vidalia onion
- Chicken breasts
- Garlic
- Kosher salt and pepper
- Heavy whipping cream
- Tomato sauce
- Basmati rice
- Fresh cilantro
The butter chicken spices that I used included:
- Garam masala
- Ground cumin
- Ground turmeric
- Ground ginger
- Salt and pepper
- Cayenne pepper
Can I Make This Vegetarian?
Yes, very easily! You can sub cubed tofu or chickpeas for the chicken, if desired.
Is There a Heavy Cream Substitute I Can Use?
Not that I’m aware of. Indian butter chicken is one of those dishes where full-fat butter and cream is a must.
If you tried to use a substitute like whole milk or yogurt, I’m not sure how well the butter chicken would taste. Not to mention the butter chicken sauce would likely be super runny.
A few readers have reported success using full-fat coconut or coconut cream, but both options would of course add a coconut flavor to the recipe.
How to Make Butter Chicken
This recipe for Indian butter chicken is as quick and easy as it gets! Here are the basic steps to making this simple butter chicken recipe:
- Heat a little butter in a skillet and sauté the onions until they begin to soften and caramelize.
- Add the diced chicken to the skillet and cook until almost done.
- Then, stir in the spices and garlic.
- You can’t have butter chicken without plenty of butter! After adding the spices, you add (more) butter and heavy cream. It’s a full-fat dairy marriage in heaven that produces a buttery, creamy, full-bodied sauce that is butter chicken’s signature.
- Let the sauce bubble away until thickened, then serve the butter chicken over rice and garnish with fresh cilantro.
What to Serve with Homemade Butter Chicken
I’ve had a few readers ask what they should serve as a side with this easy butter chicken recipe. I like serving naan bread (sold in most grocery stores), steamed or roasted veggies, or a side salad with butter chicken curry.
The butter chicken has so much flavor that you can pair it with simpler sides.
Can I Freeze Indian Butter Chicken?
Yes, this Indian butter chicken recipe can be prepared, allowed to cool, and then frozen for up to three months.
Tips for Making the Best Butter Chicken
Very Saucy – If you’re a sauce fan, this recipe produces an abundant amount of butter chicken sauce as written.
If you don’t want it as saucy, you can scale back on the amount of tomato sauce and/or cream. The sauce it good enough to slurp down as if it were a soup, which I relished doing.
Salt – 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. Always salt to taste.
Not Spicy – Note that the cayenne pepper in the sauce doesn’t make the dish spicy. It just adds a nice depth of flavor.
However, you’re welcome to add more cayenne pepper if you like things spicy.
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Indian Butter Chicken
Ingredients
- ¾ cup unsalted butter, 1/2 stick + 1 stick, divided
- 1 large sweet Vidalia or yellow onion, diced small
- 1.50 pounds boneless skinless chicken breast, diced into bite-sized pieces
- 4 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
- ¼ 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
- ⅓ cup fresh cilantro leaves, or to taste for garnishing
Instructions
- 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.
Notes
- 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.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Originally posted April 9, 2018 and reposted January 20, 2023 with updated text.
This recipe is on point. So simple and such a tasty dish. Best served with a side of basmati and naan.
Glad the recipe is on point, simply, and so tasty!
excellent recipe!! absolutely delicious my family and I loved it!
Thanks for the five star review and I’m glad that it was delicious and your family loved it!
I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE, did I say I absolutely LOVE Butter Chicken – my addition to all these wonderfully fabulous suggestions is… near the end of cooking – a cup, or so, frozen sweet peas. TRUST ME!
Thanks for trying the recipe and glad you loved it!
This is incredible!!! Butter chicken is my ultimate comfort food and on a cold wintry night, I could not be happier with this dish! Bones: even my picky 8 year old cleaned his plate! I like this version even more than the local indian restaurant!
Thanks so much!
Thanks for the five star review and I’m glad you think it’s better than your local Indian restaurant and that your picky eater approved of it!
I followed the recipe exactly as written and it was perfect! So rich and creamy. Would not change a thing. Will definitely make this again!!! Thank you.
Thanks for the five star review and I’m glad that following the recipe exactly yielded great results and that you will make it again!
This butter chicken is awesome. We made it last night and we both loved the flavor. We added a bit more cayenne than the recipe called for but other than that we completely followed the recipe. Our recipe did not turn out to be that color, it was more towards greenish brown. Could that be because of the type of garam masala? The cumin is not light colored either. We did use ground ginger and not fresh. The color really doesn’t matter as the taste was awesome, but I am curious as to how this change came about. Any ideas?
That’s interesting about the color. Between the tomato sauce and all the yellow/orange colored spices I would think it would be almost impossible to get it to turn greenish brown but I am guessing somewhere along the line there was some sort of chemical reaction that caused a color change but that’s above me. Maybe switch brands entirely of the products you used and see if that changes the color – but as you said, not that important because the taste was awesome! Glad you loved it!
Made this recipe today & it was awesome. We’re a big family so I tripled everything but cut down a little on tomato sauce. Everyone loved it. Thank you.
Good idea on not quite tripling the tomato sauce. Thanks for the 5 star review and glad this worked out great!
When I do butter chicken I normally do the marinade first (although I don’t bother cooking it tandoori style). I tend to just blend the marinade which leads to no chopping. For the main dish I blend the tomatoes, chili (normally Serrano), and ginger which certainly cuts down on the prep time. This is the one Indian dish I prepare where I don’t use onions. Anyway, if you have any interest I can certainly give my recipe which involves almost no effort whatsoever although I do have many more spices on hand than most people.
I cook the butter Chicken for my family and they loved it. I used chicken thigh with the bone and without the skin. I made some cuts in thigh of the chicken in order for the sauce an flavor could go through the chicken. It was delicious, the flavor of the sauce were in every bite of chicken.
I also prepared the Naan bread. Which were a little complicated to do, but the taste were there but not the look.
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad this was a success for you!
I just don’t see how you can get this rich color with only 1 spoon of turmeric. I have tried it twice now, and the color is pale yellow. What is the secret? Special brand of turmeric? Food dye?
I use turmeric from Trader Joe’s and also the tomato sauce has color. No food dye involved. I am not sure how or why yours is pale yellow given the tomato sauce and the turmeric and I also add cayenne to mine, too. It would seem at the very least it would be reddish in color and not pale given the tomato sauce. Thanks for trying the recipe.
I made this with great success today. And the ironic thing is that I eat this kind of cusine very regularly because of my ethnicity and it has to be one of the best Indian dishes I have made. But there is no way I put that much cream and butter in my dish so I reduced it but was still really good. maybe one day you can teach us how to make samosas!!
This is such an amazing compliment because I know you are Indian and you I’m sure do cook this way often and so it’s a HUGE compliment for you to say that it was one of the best Indian dishes you have made! That’s so amazing and thank you!!
I figured what the heck and just went for it with the butter/cream :)
Samosas…now that is one I have never attempted. I know they can be baked, but I’m sure are better fried, and I hate frying things in my house. A week later you can still smell it. lol
Butter Chicken is hands down Kailey’s fave meal (and her birthday meal every year!)…. I’ve never made it home made before. I’m going to make this for her!
It’s super easy to make and if she’s a butter chicken fan, I think she will love it! It makes a ton of sauce as I noted so if you’re not feeling so saucy like I am lol just cut back on some of the half & half.
OMG!!! This was perfect. Easy and delicious.
Thanks for the 5 star rating and glad you loved it!
My Hubby will love this Indian butter chicken! I can’t wait to make it!
This looks delicious! I remember reading somewhere that butter chicken is good Indian comfort food and I can see why after reading the recipe. I woke up to snow (yet again) this morning so I could use something yummy and warm with plenty of flavor!
I can’t believe it’s still snowing there! Wow! Well stay warm and this would be the perfect type of comfort food on a snowy day!
I am Indian and I have to say that your butter chicken looks divine :-)
Have to finish any Indian dish off with coriander
Thanks for the compliments on my butter chicken. Means a lot coming from an Indian! Thanks!