I love a good butter chicken and this version is my current favourite.
I originally featured a butter chicken recipe on this page back in 2014. It wasn’t until visiting the page recently that I realised how much it needed updating!
So here I have for you my updated butter chicken recipe.
This is a recipe I learned while travelling in India and it will feature in my next cookbook ‘The Curry Guy BBQ’. That is scheduled to be published in April 2022.
As you’ve found it here though, you can try my favourite butter chicken recipe now!
Truly the best butter chicken I have ever tried!
Why I cook this butter chicken on the barbecue?
You could of course cook this famous curry indoors but for me it’s all about that deliciously marinated and grilled chicken.
I like to cook butter chicken outside because I can grill the chicken at about the same time I cook the sauce. It just makes a lot of sense really.
Butter chicken is made with tandoori chicken on the bone and the leftover marinade becomes part of the sauce. This version is about as authentic as they come.
What is so different about this butter chicken?
I my cookbooks ‘The Curry Guy’ and ‘The Curry Guy Bible’ I featured a more commonly seen version of butter chicken.
This version goes back to the original, with the chicken marinated in mustard oil and a good amount of chaat masala.
If you haven’t tried butter chicken with these two key ingredients, it’s time to change that.
We’re talking curry heaven here!
Which cooking products?
You can use whatever you have. I use a Kadai Fire bowl with a tripod stand and karahi.
I always use top quality, restaurant grade charcoal from Big K Products. In this case I used briquettes but I also highly recommend their lump wood charcoal for this style of cooking.
I think of the fuel I use to cook as one of the ingredients. A good quality charcoal will enhance the flavour. Never use low quality charcoal that has been treated with lighting chemicals.
Yes, it makes it faster to light up your barbecue at times but your food won’t be nearly as good. Another tip is to use
Make this recipe your own…
You will see in the ingredients that I recommend either Kashmiri chilli powder or paprika.
This is a personal thing. I prefer a spicier curry so I use Kashmiri chilli powder in my butter chicken. You could make it less spicy with paprika or a combination of the two.
Some people prefer not to use mustard oil. I have given instructions how to use it but if you would prefer, you could substitute ghee.
Butter chicken is usually cooked with chicken on the bone for better flavour. This time around I was cooking for a few that liked their chicken off the bone so I prepare a bit of both.
Step by step preparation photos…
First marinade. Rub the ingredients into the chicken and set aside while you make the second marinade.
Whisk the remaining marinade ingredients together and rub this into the chicken. Allow to marinate for an hour or overnight for best results.
I recommend scraping as much of the marinade off as possible before grilling. The reserve marinade it great in the sauce.
It is best to weave the chicken onto the skewer rather than pushing the skewer straight through. Cook over direct heat until cooked through.
This is also a great way to make chicken tikka. No butter chicken sauce required!
The marinade for the chicken is one of my all time favourites.
So if you just want to serve some tandoori chicken on its own or wrap it into a naan or chapati, go for it.
You will love the flavour.
The tandoori chicken served without the butter chicken sauce.
With the chicken cooked, heat up your pan and add half of the butter and the oil.
Stir in the blended onions and fry for about 5 minutes.
Stri in the blended tomatoes and cashews. Bring to a simmer and then add the garlic and ginger paste.
Let this all come to a simmer and be sure to stir well.
Add the retained marinade, the ground spices and the kasoori methi. Then stir in the cooked tandoori chicken.
If you like a bit of cream, go ahead and add it now with the remaining butter. This is butter chicken after all!
Season with salt to taste and serve.
Dig in!
If you like this butter chicken, you might like to try some of these Indian curry favourites too…
Chicken biryani
Chicken Karahi
Katsu Chicken Curry
Chicken Lababdar
Simple staff chicken curry
Butter Chicken Made Easy
Ingredients
- 1 x 2k (4 lb.) chicken, skinned, cut into small pieces and scored
- FOR THE TANDOORI CHICKEN
- Juice of one large lemon
- 2 level tsp salt
- 2 tbsp garlic and ginger paste
- ¾ cup mustard oil, heated to smoking point and then cooled to room temperature
- ¾ cup plain Greek Yogurt, whisked until smooth
- 1 ½ Tbsp Kashmiri chilli powder
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- ½ tsp turmeric
- 1 generous tsp chaat masala
- FOR THE SAUCE
- 2 tbsp rapeseed (canola) oil
- 100g butter
- 2 large red onions, blended with a little water until smooth
- 800g tinned chopped tomatoes, blended until smooth
- 20 raw cashews, blended with the tomatoes
- The retained marinade from the chicken
- 2 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder or paprika
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- ¾ cup double cream, whisked
- 1 tbsp kasoori methi
- Salt to taste
- ½ tsp garam masala
Instructions
- Place the chicken in a large mixing bowl and add the lemon
juice, salt and garlic and ginger paste. Set aside while you prepare the
remaining marinade. Whisk the mustard oil, yoghurt and ground spices together until smooth. The yoghurt might look like it has curdled a bit but it will all be fine in the end. - Pour over the chicken. Mix well with one hand to ensure the
chicken is nicely coated and allow to marinate for one hour or overnight. The longer the better. - When ready to cook, prepare your barbecue for direct heat cooking and rub as much marinade off the chicken as you can, retaining the marinade for the sauce.
- Skewer the chicken onto metal skewers. You could also cook the chicken on a lightly greased cooking grate. When your coals are white hot and it is uncomfortably hot to hold your hand at cooking level for more than two seconds, you’re ready to get cooking.
- Place your chicken skewers over the fire and cook
until nicely charred on the underside. This should take about five minutes. Rotate the skewers to cook the other side, again for about 5 minutes. - If serving the chicken without the sauce, you should baste it with melted ghee and continue cooking until cooked through. Transfer to a plate to serve or rest while you make the butter sauce.
- Place a karahi or large pan on the grate over the hottest part of the fire. Add the oil and half of the butter and bring to a sizzle. Then pour in the blended onions and fry for about 6 or 7 minutes, stirring regularly.
- With the onions fried, stir in the garlic and ginger paste along with the chilli powder or paprika, cumin and ground coriander and fry for a further 30 seconds.
- Add the blended tomatoes and cashews and stir well to combine and then add the cooked chicken and reserved marinade and remaining butter. Bring to a simmer and stir in the cream. To finish add the kasoori methi by rubbing it between your fingers. Season with salt to taste and sprinkle with the garam masala.
Wendy
Monday 6th of March 2023
Dan,
Is 3/4 cup of mustard oil in the easy butter chicken accurate? The dish certainly isn’t my favorite given the strong flavor and I’m wondering if I did something wrong. It seemed like a lot of oil, but I went for it.
Dan Toombs
Tuesday 7th of March 2023
I am so sorry but that is a typo. It should be 70 ml or 1/4 cup and even that could be reduced if you wanted to. Thank you very much for bringing that to my attention, I will amend it on the blog. Dan
Mike Driedger
Saturday 30th of July 2022
Hey Dan thanks for posting this recipe! I have been tweaking my own butter chicken, using a combination of a base curry that I learned and a recipe by Chef Harpal Singh on youtube, along with a few of my own tweaks. But I was excited when I read your recipe because you said that you learned it in India and I realized that though there are subtle differences in the way I do mine, that it very closely matches this. So without knowing it, I got close to an authentic version!
Thanks again! I also have enjoyed your authentic Lamb Bhuna as well!
Dan Toombs
Thursday 4th of August 2022
Thanks very much, Mike. I am glad you are enjoying my recipes. Dan
Russell Chamberlain
Friday 15th of July 2022
Hey Dan,
Thanks for this recipe, I'm about to gather the remaining ingredients that I've not got in my pantry, before giving this a whirl.
My question is, you mention double cream 'whipped', do you mean whipped until the cream forms stiff peaks, similar for use on cream cakes etc?
Keep the great recipes coming Dan, my Aussie friends are loving it!
Caroline Toombs
Friday 22nd of July 2022
No just pour it in. Sorry it is confusing, I will amend the recipe. Thanks Dan
Aaron
Thursday 20th of January 2022
This is so different to the recipe book version, I'm really confused as to why they are so different and which one to follow
Dan Toombs
Friday 21st of January 2022
Sorry you find it confusing, you can use either recipe, choose the one you prefer. There are different variations of butter chicken and I have worked on two so people have a choice. They are both great so you won't regret making either. Thanks Dan
Jayne
Thursday 9th of December 2021
Hi Dan
I’ve only recently discovered your recipes, I’ve asked for your bible for Xmas but am perusing now as I want to cook several curry’s for NYE. Do you have any suggestions for an alternative to nuts for the allergy sufferers amongst us? Cashew nuts in this or almonds in tikka masala etc I’m in Leicester so have no difficulty getting some of the more obscure ingredients but the nuts throw me every time!!
Dan Toombs
Friday 10th of December 2021
Hi I am afraid there aren't really any alternatives to nuts, just leave them out is all I can advise. Good luck with your NYE feast! Thanks Dan