Indian Butter Chicken gently simmers in fragrant Tomato-Ginger-Coconut Sauce infused with Indian spices – delicious comfort food on chilly winter nights. Vegan adaptable! Serve with fluffy basmati rice or naan bread!
Life is a process of becoming, a combination of states we have to go through. Where people fail is that they wish to elect a state and remain in it. This is a kind of death.~ Anaïs Nin
Just as delicious with roasted cauliflower or pan-seared tofu, this Indian Butter Chicken is vegan adaptable, and really ALL about the sauce! The sauce alone, spooned over veggies and fluffy basmati rice will make you so incredibly happy you will want to melt into your chair. You think I’m kidding don’t you? I’m not.
The best thing is this version is adaptable for mixed households, meaning, your spouse who wants his chicken dinner and your daughter who is vegan will both totally loooooove it! Serve it with chicken, serve it with cauliflower or tofu or chickpeas or roasted veggies ( or all the above) – all at the same time- and let your family assemble their own bowls. Guess, what….everyone’s happy! Total win!!!
I’ve been making this recipe for years in our catering business and am so excited to finally be able to share it with you! It’s not a 30 minute dinner, but it’s reasonably quick and easy ( 45-60 mins). The payoff, however, is huge. You can totally do this.
Here it’s made with chicken thighs, left whole to finish cooking in the flavorful sauce. Serve over fluffy basmati rice, or with naan bread with a side of raita!
Here below, it’s served with roasted cauliflower and brown basmati rice.
Here it’s served with rice and pan-seared tofu.
And for a low-carb, high-protein option, you could serve the chicken with roasted cauliflower instead of rice. Or try cauliflower rice!
Or leave all the components separate so family members can create their own bowls!
What to serve with Indian Butter Chicken?
- Emerald Dal
- Palak Paneer
- Raita!
- Mint Chutney
- Aloo Gobi
- Basmati rice
- Naan Bread
- Authentic Chai!
- Chai Cookies!
As you can see when you look at the recipe, this can easily be made this vegan (though the ghee truly does add great flavor). Feel free to serve the Indian Butter Sauce over simple, oven-roasted veggies and rice, or slow-braised lamb or beef. It’s really that versatile.
If cooking for one or two, freeze half of the sauce for another time, or freeze the sauce in individual portions – in small ziplock bags for quick lunches or dinners.
I purposely used coconut milk here instead of the traditional plain yogurt and heavy cream -to keep it vegan -which if you prefer, please use instead.
FYI: the sauce tastes even better the next day. Be sure to rate the recipe leave your notes below and share any adaptions or substitutions.
Thanks and enjoy! xo
Sylvia
PS. Here’s a simple recipe for Garam Masala Spice that may come in handy!
Indian Butter Chicken ( or Cauliflower)
- Prep Time: 20
- Cook Time: 40
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 6-8
- Category: Main
- Cuisine: Indian
Description
Indian Butter Chicken (or Cauliflower or TOFU!!) served over your choice of roasted cauliflower or brown basmati rice– a flavorful Indian Curry dish that is vegan adaptable!
Ingredients
- 2 lbs chicken ( breast or thighs) or tofu, or roasted veggies ( cauliflower, sweet potatoes, parsnips etc)
- salt, pepper & garam masala to taste, oil for searing.
Indian Butter Sauce
- 2 tablespoons ghee (or coconut or olive oil)
- 1 onion, finely diced
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 2 serano chilies ( or sub 1 jalapeno) split in half lengthwise, ( leave tops in tact)
- 4 fat garlic cloves- finely minced
- 1 tablespoon ginger finely minced ( or use paste)
- ½ teaspoon fennel seeds ( optional)
- ½ teaspoon cumin seeds ( optional)
- ½ teaspoon mustard seeds ( optional)
- 14-ounce can diced tomatoes or tomato puree (or sub 2 medium tomatoes, diced, with their juices)
- 1 cup water or stock
- 1 tablespoon garam masala spice ( see notes)
- 2 teaspoons dried fenugreek leaves (optional, but elevates the dish substantially)
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon paprika ( do NOT use smoked paprika, if you don’t have regular, just leave it out!)
- 1 13.5 ounce can coconut milk (milk and solids) see notes
- 1 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon sugar or honey ( optional)
- little squeeze of lemon, 2 teaspoons
- cilantro, optional garnish
Serve with naan bread, fluffy basmati rice, cauliflower rice or cauliflower florets and optional raita!
Instructions
Decide what you want to serve this over ( basmati rice, roasted cauliflower florets, cauliflower rice, quinoa ) and get it cooking.
Season chicken (either whole or cut into bite-sized pieces) or tofu ( filets or cubes) with salt, pepper and a little sprinkling of garam masala. Heat oil in a skillet and sear well, until golden and crispy and set aside. ( You can continue cooking the chicken all the way through in the Indian Butter Sauce in a little bit, or in the oven now.)
Heat ghee or oil in a large skillet or dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onions, cinnamon stick and serano chilies and saute 8-10 minutes until deeply golden. Add the garlic, ginger and optional fennel seeds, mustard seeds and cumin seeds and cook until ginger is cooked and golden, about 3 more minutes. Add the diced tomatoes (and juices) plus 1 cup water. Add all the remaining spices and salt. ( If you didn’t have cumin seeds or fennel seeds earlier, feel free to add the same amount ground, now.)
Bring this to a gentle simmer on low heat, uncovered for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, allowing all the fragrant spices to infuse the sauce and your home. After 10 minutes it will have thickened slightly – stir in the coconut milk and simmer gently once more for 5- 10 minutes, placing the chicken into the sauce to finish cooking all the way through.
Alternatively you can keep everything separate, allowing people to make their own “bowls” with either chicken or tofu or veggies, over the rice, topped with the fragrant Indian Butter Sauce.
Sprinkle with fresh cilantro if you like.
Notes
This recipe is all about the Indian “Butter” Sauce. As you can see you can easily keep it vegan (though the ghee truly does add great flavor). Feel free to serve it over oven roasted veggies and rice, or slow braised lamb. It’s really that versatile. Feel free to freeze half of the sauce for another use, or to freeze it in individual portions- in small ziplock bags for later on down the road. You could even use the sauce in a slow cooker meal. I purposely used coconut milk here instead of the traditional plain yogurt and heavy cream ( to keep it vegan) which you are free to use instead ( 1 cup yogurt, ½ cup cream). FYI: the sauce tastes even better the next day.
Garam Masala Spice can be found at your local super market ( spice section or bulk spice section) and even though it’s kind of an “odd” ingredient, it’s one that I use here on the blog frequently, so perhaps worth investing in. You can also make your own blend….click here!
This recipe is all about the Indian Butter Sauce. As you can see you can easily keep it vegan. Feel free to serve it over oven roasted veggies and rice, or slow braised lamb. It’s really versatile. Feel free to freeze half of the sauce for another use, or to freeze it in individual portions- small ziplock bags for later on down the road.
Another ingredient I use a lot on the blog….are dried fenugreek leaves (not seeds) – they can be hard to track down, but well worth the hunt- they elevate Indian dishes substantially! Asian markets usually carry them or they can be ordered on Amazon.
Absolutely delicious, made it with chicken for my son, vegan for myself. Will definitely make again. Thank you !
★★★★★
Hi there. Can you use fenugreek seeds instead of leaves?
The leaves are best!
I made this yesterday ( my 6th from this site)and loved the whole experience from the gentle but distinct aroma filling the house to a complex satisfying taste of a healthy wholesome dish. I changed nothing, served over cauliflower rice.
Thank you Sylvia
★★★★★
Hi there. Spokane local, and this is about the 8th dish of yours we’ve tried. They’re great.
Our chicken was a bit on the dry and tough side. We used 3 breasts of about 10-12 ounces. We cut each breast into 4 chunks on the bias, hoping to infuse the flavors a bit more effectively. We seared the chicken well… maybe 90 seconds per side. The chunks finished for about 20 minutes in the sauce. What should we change next time? (And there *will* be a next time. Amazing flavor.)
Thanks!
★★★★★
Hey Jerrod, Sorry your chicken was tough. Sometimes it can actually be the chicken itself. I always have better luck with organic and pasture-raised. The chicken has more time to grow, and because it can run around their meat is actually more tender. Commercial chickens are fattened up too quickly, grow too quickly processed several weeks earlier and I find have tougher meat. I know it can cost prohibitive though. You could always make this with thigh meat, which is usually very tender.
The chicken should also be at room temperature so it cooks evenly and I brine my chicken..soaking it in salt water 20 minutes to an hour before I cook it. This forces the chicken to stay more moist when it’s cooked. I do the same for pork as well.
What size can of tomatoes? Sorry if I missed it somewhere. I would like to try making this on the weekend.
Nope you didn’t miss it, I left it out.;) 14-ounce can tomtoes.
Could you try subbing paneer instead?
Yes, for sure!
I love many of your recipes. This one didn’t quite do it for me. I followed the recipe as written, and the butter sauce just wasn’t as rich, thick, and buttery as I’d hoped. I’m inspired, though, and will keep trying! Thank you for sharing.
I will have to try this again- sorry about that and thanks for letting me know Jill!
I’m making tonight. When do you add the lemon?
Also, I found fresh fenugreek leaves at the Indian market, lucky me!
I guess at the end.
Super tasty and rich. I added cauliflower riced to the sauce towards the end of the cooking process. Turned out great. I also added a little extra lemon juice to my daughter’s helping to take some of the spicy out. Thank you for this treat!
★★★★★
Hi Sylvia I am loving reading your recipes. I’ve tried a couple and they are fantastic. I plan to base all my meal prepping in the near future around your recipes,
For future posts would you be able to post the quantities in metric units as well as imperial? Thanks Rai
Hi, I’m so sorry, the recipe plugin I use unfortunately does not currently offer metric.
Could you substitute almond or cashew milk for the coconut milk and solids? This recipe looks very authentic!
You can, but the sauce would be a little runnier. The coconut milk adds richness and a little thickness.
Great recipe. We are big fans of Indian cuisine and this recipe satisfied our cravings for Indian food. I made it yesterday for dinner. I had all spices in my kitchen, I fallow the recipe. I used boneless, skinless chicken breasts. I used coconut oil to fry the chicken and coconut milk for sauce. Only one thing I did differently- I zipped the sauce before adding coconut milk.
My hubby and I were so impressed with this dish. Thank you for this tasty recipe.
★★★★★
Thanks so much!
Do you ground the seeds or use them whole?
I leave them whole. 🙂
Yum! We ate this sauce with roasted vegetables. Will definitely make again
★★★★★
Awesome, thanks for sharing!
This recipe is fantastic and so quick to throw together, Family loved it!
★★★★★
So happy you liked it…thanks for the rating!
This is my new favorite! So much flavor. It took me longer than an hour, but I also made naan. So worth it!
★★★★★
Great to hear….and thanks for rating! I love that you made naan!
This is a GREAT recipe. I use chicken, and keep the chilis to about 1/2 jalapeno or serrano (hubby does not like it too hot). You can get fenugreek leaves online at Amazon. Ghee is easy to make – there are many videos online – all you need is a heavy small saucepan and good salt-free butter.
★★★★★
This is now one of my favourite recipes – so tasty! Even my meat loving husband likes the vegan version, but it’s great with chicken too!
★★★★★
Thank you so much for this recipe! My family loooved it! We all enjoy a crockpot Indian Butter Chicken recipe I make, but my youngest daughter recently became a vegetarian, so I was looking for a destructed version. So we did make your own bowls – I served it with rice, roasted cauliflower, your chicken, and chickpeas (from dried). The sauce was amazing – so worth the little extra time! I couldn’t find the fenugreek leaves and left out any sugar. The entire dish fed my family of 4 with enough for leftovers later in the week! Oh and both of my girls said this was better than the crockpot version 🙂
★★★★★
That is awesome….love how you adapted to serve both meat eaters and vegetarians.
Hi Sylvia,
Another great recipe, I made this last night using chicken and we all loved it! Followed your recipe exactly and it was delicious. It’s so good to have so many really good recipes to make, dinners have become much more interesting thanks to you!
Annette.
★★★★★
Awesome Annette! Glad you enjoyed it!
How spicy is this withe serranos & garam masala
medium spicy!
Hi Sylvia,
This dish is going to be another of my favorites from your website. I like that I can make a big batch of the Indian Butter Sauce and use it for other dishes during the week. I could not find fenugreek leaves anywhere and finally had to order online. It was worth the effort. Coconut milk, tomatoes, chilies, ghee, and all those spices were delicious over pan fried tofu. The next day I used the leftover sauce over purple sweet potatoes. You have a poached cod in lemongrass broth recipe I also love. I grew my own lemongrass this year so I always have some on hand. Perhaps I will try to grow some fenugreek next spring.
★★★★★
Thanks Terry, some how I missed this! Appreciate this so much! I can’t believe you grew your own lemongrass… That is truly amazing. All the best to you!!!
★★★★★
I often save the extra butter chicken gravy to use it later with some other veg or non-veg items. I like your idea of using it with califlower or tofu. And the gravy really looks perfect.
★★★★
This is simmering away on the stove as I write this. It smells delicious! After I cooked the chicken, I scooped some of the liquid from the sauce into the pan and scraped out all the lovely brown bits. They tasted amazing!
This looks really good! I am going to have to try this.
Hey! I saw the recipe thumbnail on foodgawker. I love your pictures! I am sure that the butter chicken is awesome as well.
This looks absolutely delicious! Will have to give it a go ?