Butter Chicken

Butter Chicken

Butter Chicken


Have you ever had Butter Chicken made by real Indian mom with authentic recipe? Would you tell me how is it tastes like? Is it always as sweet as the one at the restaurant?... Honestly, all the butter chicken I have had was from restaurants and it's always very sweet, almost like candy sweet. I wonder is it supposed to be that sweet?... Today I made my version of Butter Chicken, and it is not as sweet as the one at the restaurant. I like it better this way. How do you like your Butter Chicken?


My recipe consists of two separate steps of cooking, one for the chicken, one for the sauce, but trust me, at the end, all the flavor will just come up in a harmony. So, let's get started!

First of all, it is better to prepare the chicken 12-24 hours in advance. Here is what to do:

Chicken Marinade:
1 kg of cubed chicken (I used a mix of brown and white meat)
1 cup of yogurt
1 tsp vinegar or lime juice
1 tbsp tandoor masala

Preparing the marinade:
  1. In a small mixing bowl, mix lime juice or vinegar, yogurt, and tandoori masala. Mix everything all together into a thick, pink mixture, 
  2. In a big bowl, preferably with a lid, add chicken and the pink mixture, fold with a spatula to make sure each of the chicken piece is coated. Cover the lid and set aside in the fridge to marinate (ideally over a night),

Butter chicken sauce:
1/4 cup of butter
1 onion, minced
1 tbsp garlic paste
1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup of evaporated milk
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp garam masala*
salt to taste

Cooking step:


Butter chicken sauce:
  1. Melt a few tablespoon from the 1/4 cup butter in a skillet. Add minced onion, and garlic paste, and cook slowly on medium-low heat until the onion caramelizes to dark brown (it took me about 30 minutes),
  2. Meanwhile, melt the rest of the butter in a saucepan (I used Dutch oven) over medium-high heat along with tomato sauce, heavy cream, cayenne pepper, and garam masala. Bring to boil, then reduce the heat to medium-low. Put a lid on and continue cooking for 30 minutes, stir occasionally,
  3. Add the caramelized onion into the sauce, continue cooking,
  4. Meanwhile, put the marinade chicken on a baking tray and bake for 12 minutes on 375 F,
  5. Once the chicken is baked, toss it into the sauce and simmer for another 5 to 10 minutes, 
  6. Serve with rice and naan bread.
*I make my own garam masala mix, here is the ingredients:
2 tbsp coriander seeds
1 tbsp cumin seeds
1 tbsp cardamom seeds
1 tbsp whole black peppercorns
1 tsp fennel seeds
1/2 tsp whole cloves 
2 tsp dried chili flakes
2 tbsp ground tumerics

On medium-low heat, toast coriander seeds, cumin seeds, cardamom seeds, whole black peppercorns, whole black peppercorns, fennel seeds, and cloves on a skillet until fragrant. Becareful not to burn it. 

Put everything in a spice grind, and grind them into a fine powder, add the tumeric, combine. This mix will make a couple of tablespoons of garam masala.




1 comment:

Next PostNewer Post Previous PostOlder Post Home