Easy Butter Chicken Recipe (Indian Style)

Close-up shot of butter chicken, rice and parsley

4 from 70 votes

Easy Butter Chicken Recipe (Indian Style)

Easy Butter Chicken Recipe, my take on the classic Indian chicken curry that is popular all over the world. With a rich and heavenly creamy sauce and a fantastic blend of spices, this dish is one of the must-try easy family dinner recipes. The sauce doesn't have any butter in it actually, just double cream, and the spices are earthy and give deep flavours to this chicken recipe. Quick and easy, a big hit with the whole family. The best chicken curry recipe!

Prep Time1 5

Cook Time30

Total Time1 35

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Indian

Servings: people

Calories: 535kcal

Author: Daniela Apostol

Ingredients

For the marinade

3 chicken breasts
⅓ cup Greek yogurt
1 teaspoon Garam masala
½ teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon ground coriander (cilantro)
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon turmeric
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 teaspoon ginger paste

For the sauce

2 cups tomato passata
½ cup double cream (heavy cream)
1 teaspoon garlic paste
1 teaspoon ginger paste
1 teaspoon garam masala
1 teaspoon brown sugar
freshly-chopped coriander (cilantro) to garlish
1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

To make the mariande, combine all the ingredients together, toss the chicken pieces in and mix well to coat.
Cover the bowl with clingfilm, and refrigerate for at least one hour, ideally longer.
Heat up the oil in a large pan, and fry the chicken pieces on a medium heat for about 5-6 minutes until cooked through.
Add the tomato passata, garlic and ginger paste, sugar and garam masala and give a good stir.
Leave to cook on a low to medium heat for 20 minutes, until the sauce is reduced by almost a quarter, and it coats the chicken pieces well.
Add the cream, mix well and cook for a further 5 minutes.
Remove from the heat and garnish with freshly-chopped coriander leaves.

Video

Notes

To see the measurements in cups and ounces, please click on the US CUSTOMARY link.
The amount of ingredients listed can be adjusted depending on the number of servings you need, just click on the number next to SERVINGS.

You can go for more spiciness if you like, depending on your family's taste buds. My little ones don't handle spicy food very well, so my curries are usually mild. But mild does not mean less taste, all on the contrary, I think there is a perfect balance between spices, at least for me.
When you add the cream to the sauce, make sure it's hot cold from the fridge, as the texture of the sauce might change - it is best to add a bit of the sauce to the cream, mix it together, then add the cream to the pan.
Marianate the chicken for as long as you can, the longer, the better, as the chicken will soak up all the flavours.

Nutrition