Easy & Delicious Butter Chicken
This easy butter chicken recipe is your new weeknight hero. Forget expensive takeout—in just 25 minutes, you can create a restaurant-quality meal that will have everyone asking for seconds.
Ingredients
- Chicken Breasts
- Vegetable Oil & Butter
- The Spice Blend Mix of Garam Masala, Smoked Paprika, Turmeric, Ground Cumin and Chili Powder
- Tomato Sauce or Passata
- Heavy Cream
Instructions
- Heat the vegetable oil in a large, deep frying pan or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add 1 tablespoon of the butter and let it melt and foam. Add the diced chicken to the pan in a single layer.
- Lower the heat to medium and melt the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter in the empty side of the pan. Add the minced garlic and grated ginger. Sauté for about 1 minute, stirring constantly, until they become intensely fragrant. Be careful not to let them burn, as burnt garlic can make the sauce bitter.
- Sprinkle the garam masala, smoked paprika, turmeric, cumin, chili powder (if using), and salt directly into the pan with the aromatics. Stir everything together so that the chicken, garlic, and ginger are well-coated. Continue to cook for another minute. This step is called “blooming” the spices—it toasts them lightly, which awakens their essential oils and deepens their flavor significantly.
- Pour in the tomato sauce (or passata) and stir everything together, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan (that’s pure flavor!). Bring the sauce to a gentle simmer. Once it’s bubbling lightly, reduce the heat to low, cover the pan, and let it simmer for 10 minutes. This gives the flavors time to meld together and allows the chicken to finish cooking and become incredibly tender.
- Uncover the pan and stir in the heavy cream. Watch as the sauce transforms into a beautiful, creamy orange color. Let it simmer gently, uncovered, for another 2–3 minutes until it has thickened slightly and is heated through. Do not let it boil rapidly after adding the cream. Taste the sauce and adjust the salt if needed.
- Remove the pan from the heat. Garnish generously with freshly chopped cilantro. Serve immediately over a bed of fluffy Basmati rice with warm naan bread on the side for dipping into that irresistible sauce.
Notes
For Serving:
- Cooked rice – Basmati rice pairs best with this dish.
- Warm Naan or Roti – Perfect for scooping up the rich sauce.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!