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Butter Chicken

Course Main Course
Cuisine Indian
Servings 8

Ingredients

  • * See Note 1 re: sauce to chicken ratio
  • 2 Tbsp cooking oil I use grapeseed oil
  • 5 cloves minced garlic
  • 1 onion finely chopped
  • 1 stick + 2 Tbsp 10 Tbps butter
  • 1/2 tsp cumin
  • 1 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp coriander
  • 1/2 tsp ground ginger
  • 2 tsp garam masala
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 1 15 oz can of tomato sauce
  • ~2 lbs of boneless chicken uncooked, cubed (chicken breasts work fine but I love boneless thighs the best)

Instructions

Dutch Oven Method

  1. Heat oil in Dutch oven on medium high heat. Add cubed chicken, season with a couple dashes of salt, pepper and garam masala and saute until about 1/2 way cooked, slighly pink in the middle.

  2. Add in minced garlic and onions until soft and translucent. Add butter and next 5 ingredients (aka all the spices) and let simmer for about 5 minutes.

  3. Add the tomato sauce and heavy cream and mix thoroughly until well blended.

  4. Bring sauce to boil and then reduce heat to low. Let simmer on low for at least 45 minutes up to a couple hours, stirring occasionally.

Slow Cooker Method

  1. Heat oil in skillet on medium high heat. Saute minced garlic and onions until soft and translucent. Add butter and next 5 ingredients (aka all the spices) and let simmer for 2-3 minutes. Add the tomato sauce, stir well and cook for 2-3 more minutes. Reduce heat to low, stir in heavy cream and mix thoroughly until well blended.

  2. Carefully transfer sauce to slow cooker and add in uncooked chicken. Place lid on slow cooker and cook on LOW for about 7-8 hours, MEDIUM for about 5-6 hours or HIGH for about 3-4 hours.

Variations

  1. I often like to add 1 cup of peas, cauliflower, sauteed kale or spinach to the sauce. These can be added in your sauce just before simmering (or when you turn your slow cooker on).

  2. Serve over basmati or jasmine rice with a store-bought or homemade samosa and naan on the side.

  3. Enjoy!

  4. Makes about 6-8 servings.

Recipe Notes

Note 1: My family's been requesting more sauce. They like more for naan dipping and rice dousing so lately, I've been making 1.5x the sauce part while leaving he amount of chicken the same.

Note 2: This is one of those dishes that tastes better the longer it sits. At first, I made this in a skillet and ate it that night for dinner. While it was good, I noticed that it tasted even better as leftovers over the next couple days. That's when I decided to try making it in a slow cooker. Sure enough, letting it simmer together for hours did the trick and tasted delicious right out of the slow cooker.