Making a curry from scratch can sometimes sound daunting, but this recipe is a breeze – promise! Follow me…
Butter Chicken Marinade
The marinade is key in this recipe. Not only does it inject flavour into the chicken, but it also helps tenderise it. Alongside that, you can add the excess marinade to the sauce for an extra boost of flavour! For this recipe, we’ll be using boneless skinless chicken thighs. Thighs are much fattier than breast, meaning there’s more flavour AND they tend to dry out less easily. This is important when it comes to cooking the chicken as we want to build up some char/flavour without overcooking the chicken. The base of the marinade is yoghurt. Yoghurt makes the perfect marinade as it works as a binder for the other ingredients. Its slight acidity also means it also helps tenderise the chicken. Just make sure it’s plain (i.e. no funky added flavours) and it’s full fat.
Butter Chicken Spices
When it comes to the spices in this recipe, they can all be found at a regular supermarket, besides one. You might struggle to find Kashmiri Chilli Powder unless you go to an Asian/Global store. Having said that, it’s not a deal-breaker if you just use regular chilli powder.
How long do I marinate the chicken for?
Aim for 24 hours if you can, with the absolute minimum being 3 hours. Process shots: add marinade ingredients to a bowl (photo 1), whisk (photo 2), add chicken (photo 3), mix then marinate (photo 4).
Butter Chicken
When it comes to cooking the chicken we’ll be pan-frying it. I recommend working in two batches as we want to give the chicken room in the pan. Otherwise, it’ll steam and you won’t be able to develop flavour. You’re looking to lightly char the chicken for some authentic flavour. When it comes to the sauce I like to think of it as two separate components:
Tomato base – the first component is made with tomato passata, alongside garlic and ginger. Creamy sauce – this is when we add in the butter and cream to turn it into a proper butter chicken.
Cashew Nuts
I LOVE adding some cashew nuts into the sauce. These add a lovely creaminess to the sauce and help thicken it up. Process shots: fry chicken in batches then remove (photos 1&2), melt butter (photo 3), fry onion (photo 4), fry garlic, ginger and spices (photo 5), simmer passata, water and cashews (photo 6).
Butter Chicken Sauce
Once you’ve simmered the tomato base alongside the cashews, you’ll want to blend it up until smooth. You can do this in a blender or in a bowl with a hand blender. It’ll be pretty thick at this point, but you can add a dash of water to loosen it up if you need to.
Creamy Butter Chicken
The sauce will be somewhat creamy from the cashews and butter, but we want it creeeaaaamy. So, in goes some cream alongside the rest of the butter. From there we’ll simmer it with the cooked chicken. Process shots: blend sauce (photo 1), add to pan (photo 2), stir in sugar, salt, cream and butter (photo 3), stir in chicken (photo 4).
Serving Butter Chicken
Naan or Flatbreads are a must to dunk in that delicious sauce. There will be plenty! I also go with rice and fresh coriander/cilantro. Alrighty, let’s tuck into the full recipe for this butter chicken shall we?!
How to make Butter Chicken (Full Recipe & Video)
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