Aromatic Butter Chicken

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About this Recipe

Cooking Time

40

Prep Time

15

Cuisine

  • Indian

Serves

6-8

cooking style

Stove Top

PROTEIN / DIET

CHICKEN

Butter Chicken is a favourite of ours from our local takeaway and is always such a hit with the kids. With aromatic spices, a rich gravy and succulent chicken, there’s nothing more you want from a curry, but you can achieve that same delicious taste at home and in fact, we think it’s even better! With a plethora of spices, this dish is a labour of love but oh so worth it.

We don’t just love the taste of food, but we also eat with our eyes so with the added golden glow of turmeric and the rich deep red of sweet paprika, this dish is one to satisfy every sense. Simmered away until the chicken is tender and falling apart, the gravy is infused with all those aromatic spices and finished off with a little cream; this dish is ultra-decadent and a real treat to make at home.

If you’re poor on time or pantry space, check out our own Spice People’s Butter Chicken Curry blend. We’ve done the mixing work for you to make life a little simpler.

Ingredients

  • 125ml Greek-style yoghurt
  • juice of 1 lime
  • 1 tsp The Spice People’s Turmeric Powder
  • 2 tsp The Spice People’s Garam Masala
  • 2 tsp The Spice People’s Ground Kashmiri Chillies
  • 1 tsp The Spice People’s Ground Black Pepper
  • 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
  • 1 thumb ginger, finely grated
  • 1kg skinless chicken thigh, cut into 3cm chunks
  • 150g almond meal
  • 1 brown onion, finely chopped
  • 2 The Spice People’s Whole Green Cardamom Pods, bruised
  • 1 stick The Spice People’s Cinnamon Sticks
  • 3 tsp The Spice Peopel’s Sweet Paprika
  • 80g unsalted butter
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 400g tomato passata
  • 200ml chicken stock
  • 1 cup cream
  • 250ml Greek-style yoghurt
  • juice of 2 limes
  • 2 tsp The Spice People’s Turmeric Powder
  • 4 tsp The Spice People’s Garam Masala
  • 4 tsp The Spice People’s Ground Kashmiri Chillies
  • 2 tsp The Spice People’s Ground Black Pepper
  • 6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
  • 2 thumbs ginger, finely grated
  • 2kg skinless chicken thigh, cut into 3cm chunks
  • 300g almond meal
  • 2 brown onions, finely chopped
  • 4 The Spice People’s Whole Green Cardamom Pods, bruised
  • 2 stick The Spice People’s Cinnamon Sticks
  • 9 tsp The Spice Peopel’s Sweet Paprika
  • 160g unsalted butter
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 800g tomato passata
  • 400ml chicken stock
  • 2 cups cream

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Method

  1. Start this recipe by combining all the ingredients for the marinade in a non-reactive dish and place the chicken in before tossing it through until it is evenly coated.
  2. This recipe is best if you let the chicken marinade for a couple of hours however, as I always say who has time for that… plenty of flavour here.
  3. Meanwhile begin the sauce for the butter chicken. Brown the onion off in olive oil before adding the spices and cooking for 1-2 minutes to take the rawness out of them.
  4. Add the marinated chicken and the marinade followed by the remaining ingredients bar the cream and cook for 30 minutes. Add the cream and cook for a further 10 minutes before serving.

Notes

  1. Alternative cooking methods
  2. Substitutes
  3. Links to paired recipe ideas

Recent Comments

  1. ellen.linke Avatar
    ellen.linke

    I found a low calorie version of Butter Chicken online (Cook it Out! on YouTube) which is surprisingly good. The ingredients to serve four are: 1 tsp oil; 1 tsp garlic paste; ½ tsp ginger paste; 150 g Tomato Puree; 1 tsp Salt; 1.5 tsp black pepper; 2 tsp Garam Masala; a pinch of Chilli Powder; a pinch of ground Coriander; ½ tsp Heeng (Asafoetida); 500 g skinless chicken pieces or thigh fillets; 250 ml full cream milk (but I used low fat milk for even fewer calories), and 1 tbsp dried fenugreek (Kasoori Methi) is optional.
    To cook it: Fry the ginger and garlic paste in the oil in a hot pan. Add the tomato puree and cook until thickened and reduced.
    Add the spices and cook for a few minutes. Add ¼ cup of water if necessary before adding the chicken and stirring to coat with gravy. Bring it to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. If using larger pieces of chicken with the bone in (drumsticks or thigh cutlets for example) cook for an extra 10-15 minutes.
    Sprinkle in the crushed dried fenugreek leaves (if used), pour in ½ cup of milk and stir. Boil for 15 minutes.
    Pour in the other ½ cup of milk and continue to boil until the gravy reaches the desired thickness.
    Turn off the heat and allow the chicken to rest for 10 minutes.
    Serve with basmati rice, naan and any vegetable dish you like.
    This recipe has about 300 calories per serve, with 28g of protein, 7g of carbs and 18g of fat (or even less if low fat milk is used)

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You have two options to access our FOTW range. We stock our new range in a series of grocers around the country. To find your nearest stockist, Click Here to visit our Find us in your favourite store page and simply enter your postcode or suburb to find a stockist closest to you.

Alternatively, you can conveniently buy online on our website. Simply follow the respective links on the Shop tab.

You have two options to access our FOTW range. We stock our new range in a series of grocers around the country. To find your nearest stockist, Click Here to visit our Find us in your favourite store page and simply enter your postcode or suburb to find a stockist closest to you.

Alternatively, you can conveniently buy online on our website. Simply follow the respective links on the Shop tab.

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