Butter Chicken Recipe

A bowl of butter chicken with a small bowl of steamed white rice next to it. — Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik

Why This Recipe Works

Toasting whole spices before grinding improves their aroma and flavor.
Coating the chicken in a spiced marinade and broiling it produces tender, juicy chicken morsels with a little bit of char, which boosts the final flavor of the dish.

Butter chicken is inherently delicious—even in its most streamlined and simplified form, it's tasty. But with just a little more effort, it becomes superlative. The goal of this recipe is to hit all the characteristic notes of butter chicken—mildly spiced tomato-based sauce; tender, charred chicken pieces; a mother’s love’s worth of butter and cream folded in at the end—while developing flavor at every turn. It may be a little more complicated than just placing all the ingredients in a pressure cooker and then blending them, like some other, very popular butter chicken recipes, but the extra effort is worth it.

Still, this recipe isn't difficult, despite the long ingredient list. The yogurt marinade for the chicken comes together in seconds, and whiletoasting and grinding whole spicesimprove their flavor and aroma considerably, you can use pre-ground spices for a small tradeoff in flavor. It may seem complicated to cook the chicken and sauce separately, but the reality is that it's dead easy, and the extra flavor you get from that char is absolutely worth it. For the sake of clarity, the recipe was broken up into two parts, but the chicken can be broiled as the sauce simmers, then set aside as you finish the sauce.

This is a stovetop adaptation of ourpressure cooker butter chicken recipe, which you can refer to for the full recipe-testing notes. While this recipe takes about 40 minutes longer to prepare than the pressure cooker version, most of that time is hands-off, and the flavor is even better than the already-great pressure-cooked version.

March 2020

Prep15 mins

Cook75 mins

Active30 mins

Total90 mins

服务4 to 6 servings

The sauce for this butter chicken is simmered on the stovetop and takes on a rich tomato flavor, while broiled marinated chicken adds char to the final dish.

For Marinating the Chicken:

1 tablespoon kasuri methi (fenugreek leaves) or, alternatively,2teaspoonsfenugreek seeds(see note)
1/4cup(60ml)plain Greek yogurt,store-boughtorhomemade
1tablespoongaram masala, store-bought orhomemade
2teaspoonsDiamond Crystalkosher salt(if using table salt, use half as much)
1teaspoonkala namak (black salt) (optional, see note)
One 1-inch piecefresh ginger(1/2 ounce;14g), peeled and finely grated
2 pounds (900g)boneless, skinless chicken thighs(about 4), cut into bite-size, 1-inch pieces

For the Makhani Sauce:

1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons kasuri methi (fenugreek leaves) or, alternatively,1tablespoonfenugreek seeds(see note)
2wholedried chiles de arbol(see note)
1podbrowncardamomor, alternatively, 1 pod green cardamom (see note)
1wholeclove
1tablespoongaram masala, store-bought orhomemade
1tablespoonDiamond Crystalkosher salt(if using table salt, use half as much by volume or the same by weight)
One 28-ounce (800g) canwhole fire-roasted tomatoeswith their juices (see note)
1 ounce (28g)raw cashews(about 12 to 15)
1 1/4cupswater(295ml), divided
2tablespoons(30ml)canola oilor other neutral-flavored oil
1mediumwhite onion, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch dice
1/4teaspoonbaking soda
One 1-inch piece ofginger(1/2 ounces;14g), peeled and thinly sliced
4medium clovesgarlic, smashed and roughly chopped
1/2cup(120ml)heavy cream, plus more for drizzling
4tablespoons(60g)unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
Warmlong-grain rice, for serving

To Marinate the Chicken:在一个小锅,烤胡芦巴叶(或沼泽ugreek seeds, if using) over medium heat, tossing them constantly, until quite fragrant, about 30 seconds. Transfer toasted leaves to spice grinder or mortar and pestle and grind to fine powder. Set aside.
In the center of a rimmed baking sheet, create a roughly 9- by 13-inch aluminum-foil boat with 1-inch sides, and set aside. (Alternatively, if you have a 1/4 rimmed baking sheet, use that instead, omitting foil.) In a medium mixing bowl, stir together yogurt, garam masala, salt, black salt, grated ginger, and ground fenugreek leaves.

Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik
Add chicken thigh pieces to bowl and, using clean hands, toss with marinade until evenly coated. Transfer chicken to prepared baking sheet, arranging pieces in a single, even layer in the aluminum-foil boat.

Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik
For the Makhani Sauce:Add fenugreek leaves (or seeds, if using), chiles de arbol, brown cardamon (or green cardamom, if using), and clove to small skillet and place it over medium heat. Toast, tossing frequently, until spices are quite fragrant, about 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer spices to spice grinder or mortar and pestle along with garam masala and salt and grind to a fine powder. Set aside. (See the note section for instructions on a shortcut spice mix using pre-ground spices.)
In a small, microwave-safe bowl, combine cashew nuts and 1/4 cup (60ml) water. Microwave on high until cashews look plump and have softened slightly, about 1 minute. Set aside.

Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik
In a Dutch oven, heat canola oil over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add onions and baking soda and, using a wooden spoon, stir to coat onions in oil and distribute baking soda. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onions have completely broken down, most of their moisture has cooked off, and they begin to brown, 14 to 17 minutes. If at any point onions seem to be browning too quickly or unevenly, add a tablespoon (15ml) of water and scrape up any brown bits that form on the bottom of the pot.
Reduce heat to medium low. Add ginger and garlic to pot and cook, stirring constantly, until quite fragrant, about 1 minute. Using a wooden spoon, push onions into center of pot to form a mound. Add ground spice mixture to the mounded onions to prevent spices from scorching. Cook, stirring constantly, until onions are coated in spices and mixture is very fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add cashews and their soaking liquid, scraping up any bits stuck to the bottom of the pot. Add tomatoes and their juices plus 1 cup (240ml) water and, using the back of wooden spoon, crush tomatoes.
Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to maintain gentle simmer. Cook, stirring occasionally, until tomatoes are completely broken down and liquid has reduced, about 40 minutes.
Meanwhile, adjust oven rack to about 3 inches below broiler element and preheat broiler on high. Transfer chicken to broiler. Cook, checking the chicken frequently to ensure it's not burning, until chicken is charred in spots and is fully cooked through, about 14 minutes (time will vary depending on the strength of the broiler). Remove chicken from broiler and set aside.

Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik
Using an immersion blender and off the heat, blend contents of Dutch oven until completely smooth, about 2 minutes. Alternatively, transfer contents of pot to blender and blend until completely smooth, about 2 minutes. Add butter and cream, and blend until completely smooth and emulsified, about 2 minutes. At this point, you may remove 1 1/2 (360ml) cups of sauce and reserve it for another use.

Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik
To Finish:Add reserved broiled chicken along with any juices in the sheet pan to sauce and stir until chicken is well incorporated and warmed through. Ladle chicken and sauce into serving bowl and drizzle with additional heavy cream. Serve immediately with rice alongside.

Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik

Special Equipment

Dutch oven;spice grinder;immersion blenderorblender.

Notes

If you cannot find kala namak, or black salt, you can substitute a 1/2 teaspoon of Diamond Crystal kosher salt. (Read more about black salt in ourguide to salt).

If you'd prefer to forego toasting and grinding the spices yourself, you can use pre-ground spices. You can substitute 1 tablespoon of ground fenugreek for the 2 teaspoons of fenugreek called for in the marinade, and 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon of ground fenugreek for the 1 tablespoon of fenugreek seeds called for in the sauce; you can substitute 1/4 teaspoon of ground cardamom for the 1 green cardamom pod called for in the sauce; you can substitute 1/8 teaspoon of ground clove for the 1 clove called for in the sauce; you can substitute 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper for the chile de arbol (more, if you like it spicier).

Brown cardamom is sometimes called black cardamom, but note that it's not the same as Chinese black cardamom (also sometimes called red cardamom).

Fire-roasted whole canned tomatoes are preferred, but plain whole canned tomatoes can be used as well.

Make-Ahead和存储

Sealed in an airtight container, butter chicken will keep for up to a week in the refrigerator.

Nutrition Facts(per serving)
404	Calories
27g	Fat
13g	Carbs
32g	Protein

Nutrition Facts
Servings: 4 to 6
Amount per serving
Calories	404
% Daily Value*
Total Fat27g	35%
Saturated Fat 11g	55%
Cholesterol172mg	57%
Sodium1519mg	66%
Total Carbohydrate13g	5%
Dietary Fiber 4g	16%
Total Sugars 5g
Protein32g
Vitamin C 19mg	93%
Calcium 112mg	9%
Iron 4mg	22%
Potassium 722mg	15%
* %每日价值(DV)告诉你多少营养ent in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.

(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)

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Special Equipment

Notes

Make-Ahead和存储

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