Quick Butter Chicken Recipe
This quick butter chicken recipe is really fast to put together and can be on the table in under half an hour. To make life simple, I’ve used the all-in-one method I often prefer for making pasta sauces, curries, stews and so on, and yet it’s packed with flavour.
On a busy weeknight this is ideal – though only two of us eat it I make enough of this quick butter chicken to feed four so we can freeze half. Making dinner is thus even more speedy the second time around.
I’ve even made this with clotted cream after a tip-off from a friend, and it works just as well as butter. I’m all for using whatever is at hand while avoiding food waste (and wasting money), so this recipe for butter chicken isn’t only easy, it’s also flexible. Feel free to add some veg – such as mushrooms or spinach – if you want to make it healthier.
This easy butter chicken is as tasty as the one I first tried – in Sydney of all places. It was new to me back in the 1990s, even though I can now buy a chilled ready meal version at several of my local supermarkets.
In the interests of health I’ve made this easy butter chicken sauce with just enough butter to give it that gloriously smooth mouth-feel. Otherwise the ingredients are pretty good for you, I promise!
You can use fresh or ‘lazy’ garlic or ginger if you like – I just state paste as it’s simpler and smoother.
This quick and easy butter chicken serves 4
Quick butter chicken recipe ingredients
- Oil, for frying (such as rapeseed)
- Onion, 1 large, chopped
- Chicken breasts, 4, cut into chunks
- Chicken stock pot or cube
- Tomato puree, 4 tbsp
- Garlic paste, 2 tsp
- Ginger paste, 2 tsp
- Garam masala, 2 tbsp
- Turmeric, 2 tsp
- Cardamom pods, 8
- Butter (or clotted cream), 75g
- Coriander, fresh, a few stems, chopped
Equipment
How to make easy homemade butter chicken
- Heat a saucepan and add a splash of cooking oil. Add the onion and chicken chunks and cook, stirring often, over a medium heat until they start to turn golden.
- Meanwhile, make up the chicken stock cube or pot with 400ml of boiling water.
- Once the chicken and onion are browning add the chicken stock, the tomato, ginger and garlic pastes, the garam masala, the turmeric and the cardamom pods. Stir well and simmer for around 10 minutes, stirring now and then, until the chicken is cooked through.
- Add the butter and fresh coriander, stir and heat through until the sauce is well combined and piping hot.
- Scatter over a few coriander leaves before serving, if you like.
Serve this quick butter chicken sauce with basmati rice.
Related recipes:
- Slow cooker creamy chicken curry
- Slow cooker chicken jalfrezi
- Thai yellow chicken curry
- Panang chicken curry
- Chicken tikka masala
- Chicken dhansak
- Chicken saag
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