Easy Butter Chicken

If you’re looking for an easy recipe packed with flavor that whips together in a snap then you’ve got to try my butter chicken recipe. This is actually one of the recipes that I make most often at home—it’s that good.

Prep the Aromatics

First off, let’s do a little bit of prep. We’re going to chop about one cup of onion; you could use a little bit more or a little bit less. A rough chop is fine—there’s no need to be precious about this. As you can see, I added a bit more onion than the recipe calls for; you could do it the way the blog post says for the exact blog experience, but they’re both delicious.

Now it’s time to mince about three tablespoons of garlic. In my estimation that would be one, two, three, four, five, six cloves. You could add a little bit more or a little bit less—totally up to you. I like to give my garlic a good smash to get that skin loose and also move some of the oils around inside of there. After you’ve removed the skin, time to give it a good mince, which is really just a fine chop.

The last thing I have to chop is fresh ginger. Fresh ginger is an amazing ingredient; don’t be intimidated by the wonky shape. We’re going to use about three tablespoons, so that would be around this much, but once again it’s totally up to you. Use a spoon to just scrape the skin off—it’s going to be really easy. Now we’re going to slice the ginger; this ginger root has a ton of fiber in it, so you don’t want massive pieces—mince them up nice and small. Everything will cook down really well.

While you’re doing all of this you might as well have a pot of rice getting ready. Today I’m just doing plain white rice because I’m photographing this again for the blog and I wanted it to be kind of a nice contrast, but normally I would either add some garam masala or turmeric, chili, curry powder, all of my favorite spices, a lot of cardamom too, and have a really tasty rice.

Bloom the Spices

I prepped my ingredients. I have a Dutch oven over medium heat, and now it’s time to add in the butter for butter chicken. Let the butter melt, and then it’s time to add the spices in. Right in the spices with the melted butter—it’s going to bloom them and really expand the flavors and give you wonderful aromas and everything delicious.

My butter’s melted; it’s already starting to brown. It’s time to add the spices, starting with one tablespoon of curry powder—it’s a generous, generous tablespoon, but that’s how we roll—and then two tablespoons of garam masala. Garam masala is a spice blend, so you could make it at home if you don’t have this specific spice. Oh my gosh, the smell—spices and butter blooming together. Just stir it around so everything has a chance to melt and mix.

Cook the Chicken

Now I’m adding in about two pounds of cubed chicken. Pop it in there; you want to stir to make sure the meat’s all coated with the spices, and then just let it cook. After the chicken’s been mixed around a bit, it’s time to add in the onions, the garlic, and the ginger. Dump it all in carefully. We’re going to cook this, stirring occasionally, for about five minutes or until the chicken is lightly browned. The chicken will finish cooking through as the sauce simmers.

I love this recipe because it makes a ton of food, it’s super fast, and it’s just delicious. It has the right combination of spices, but it’s not too spicy, so everyone is gonna like it. At this point I’m going to add in a healthy pinch of black pepper and about half a teaspoon of salt as well. It’s not a ton of salt, and we’re going to finish this off at the very end with some lime juice, which really brightens up the flavor and adds a little extra punch.

Build the Sauce

My onions are softened, the chicken is lightly browned, and this smells divine. It’s time to add in our tomato paste—I’m using about a quarter of a cup. The tomato paste adds a really nice richness of flavor as well as good depth; it’s also super good for you. Stir that in until it’s combined.

Now it’s time to add in one 28-ounce can of crushed tomatoes for some extra richness and just plain amazing flavor. We’re adding in one 14-ounce can of coconut milk, and it’s full-fat coconut milk. This looks amazing, and right now you’re like, “Oh boy, this color seems very light”; however, as this cooks down and simmers for the next 25 minutes or so, it’s going to really become more of a deep red-golden color, and the flavors are going to come together.

On my personal version of this, I love adding a ton of cashews right in here—actually, I would add in the whole container normally. When the cashews cook down and simmer with all the juices, they’re going to absorb it, become really soft and buttery, and just give you a nice buttery crunch and deliciousness. We’re going to reduce the heat to low and let this simmer for 25 minutes, half an hour, even longer. The flavors will come together, you’ll see the color change, and it’ll thicken up just a little bit as the water cooks off. Stir occasionally, too.

Finish and Serve

My butter chicken’s been simmering, and you can see this lovely rich, almost burgundy color has come out. It’s really infused a lot of flavors, and it’s ready for the final touch, which is a really healthy squeeze of fresh lime juice. This will brighten up the flavor, add a ton of contrast, and just wake everything up. I usually add the juice of one lime to the pot, and then I give little wedges if people want some more. Stir that lime juice in.

This is totally optional, but I like to give a little bit of a garnish with some coconut flakes. I think it looks pretty, and it also kind of harkens back to the coconut milk we used in here.

The lime juice, the ginger, all the spices—it’s coming together in a symphony of flavor that you’re gonna love. I really hope you get a chance to make this recipe because I know it’s gonna be a family favorite for you too.