Rich, flavorful and a recipe that will satisfy your tastebuds with every bite. Indian Butter Chicken is a must try!
This post was created in partnership with our friends at Kalona SuperNatural™.
A one-skillet recipe.
Indian Butter Chicken, also known as murgh makhani, is a traditional comfort food dish from India that’s made of chicken and a mildly spiced curry sauce made of cream, yogurt, tomato paste and spices. If you’re a longtime reader of The Real Food RDs, there is a good chance that you know just how much I love the flavor of curry! This recipe, might just be one of my new favorites and was inspired by one of the meals I tried on the Let’s Dish menu. Let’s Dish is a Minnesota company that offers convenient meal kits and meal delivery. If you’re in the Twin Cities area, I highly recommend you check them out.
In our version of this yummy and flavorful Indian dish, we loaded it with veggies and made it all in one skillet. I like to add even more veg by serving it over steamed cauli-rice and a handful of greens. Now if good ol’ plain white rice is your jam, that’s an option, too. The final step of this dish that adds even more flavor is to top it with fresh cilantro, green onions and a squeeze of lime juice. Is your mouth watering yet?
Made with Organic Whole Milk Plain Greek Yogurt and Organic Whipping Cream.
The richness of this recipe comes from the thick, whole milk Greek Yogurt and delicious heavy cream. We are thrilled to partner with our friends at Kalona SuperNatural for this recipe and use their Organic Whipping Cream and Organic Whole Milk Plain Greek Yogurt. Kalona Supernatural is committed to helping small midwest Amish and Mennonite farmers make organic farming a viable lifestyle. They’re committed to the providing the highest quality organic, non-homogenized, low-temperature pasteurized dairy products from grass-fed cows. Because of the high quality, Kalona SuperNatural is one of our go-to dairy products and one we recommend.
For a fast & easy 30 minute meal, use rotisserie or leftover chicken.
You’re going to love that it’s quick to make and perfect for weeknight dinners. Better yet, it’s freezer-friendly and reheats nicely so we recommend that you add this Indian Butter Chicken to your weekend meal prep rotation. Oh and you may want to consider doubling this recipe depending on how many mouths you’re feeding…you’ll want leftovers, trust me!
Indian Butter Chicken can be made in less than 30 minutes with the use of rotisserie or leftover chicken. One kitchen hack I practice is to always have cooked chicken on hand. I cook up a big batch of chicken (3-5 lbs.), cube or shred it, and then divide it into 2-3 cup portions and freeze it in zip-top bags. That way I always have chicken on hand to throw into soups, salads, or recipes like this one which saves a considerable amount of time when life gets busy. Additionally, to speed up the time it takes to make this recipe you can pre-chop the veggies a day or two before. Having the carrots, peppers and onions chopped and ready to go is a major time saver. As you can guess, I’m big on saving time. Now if you can chop like a pro (like Jess), more power to you. I, on the other hand, need to work on my knife skills so I like to have as much of the recipe done as I can.
Give this rich and flavorful Indian Butter Chicken a try! #glutenfree @kalonaSN Click To Tweet
I can’t wait for you to give this recipe a try! When you do, we’d love for you to report back in the comments below and let us know how you liked it!
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Indian Butter Chicken
Rich, flavorful and a recipe that will satisfy your tastebuds with every bite.Indian Butter Chicken is a must try! Serve it over steamed cauliflower rice or cooked rice and top it with fresh cilantro and a squeeze of lime for a tasty and hearty gluten-free meal.
- Prep Time: 15 min
- Cook Time: 20 min
- Total Time: 35 min
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Category: Main Entree, Gluten-free
Ingredients
- 1 lb. chicken, cooked & cubed (about 2–3 chicken breast)
- 3/4 cup Kalona SuperNatural heavy cream
- 1/2 cup Kalona SuperNatural Greek yogurt
- 1/2 cup chicken broth
- 2 Tbsp. tomato paste
- 3 Tbsp. curry powder
- 1 tsp. garam masala
- 1/2 tsp. chili powder
- 1/2 tsp. sea salt + more to taste
- 1/2 lemon, juiced
- 1 tbsp. butter or coconut oil
- 2 medium carrots, peeled and diced
- 1 red bell pepper, diced
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tsp. fresh ginger, minced
- 2 green onions, chopped (white and green parts divided)
- 1/2 cup cilantro, roughly chopped
- Steamed or sautéed cauliflower rice or cooked white rice and/or greens of choice + fresh lime wedges
Instructions
- In a small bowl make the sauce by combining the heavy cream, Greek yogurt, chicken broth, tomato paste, curry powder, garam masala, chili powder, sea salt and lemon juice. Stir to combine. Set aside.
- Heat the butter or coconut oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Once hot add the carrots, bell pepper, and onion and sauté for 5 minutes. Then add the garlic and fresh ginger and sauté for another 2-3 minutes. Next stir in the sauce, chicken and white parts of green onions. Combine and let simmer for 10 minutes or until carrots are tender stirring occasionally. Add additional broth if too thick.
- Serve over cauliflower rice or white rice and/or greens of choice. Top with green parts of green onions, fresh cilantro and a squeeze of lime.
Notes
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Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/4 of recipe
- Calories: 415
- Sugar: 9g
- Sodium: 400mg
- Fat: 24g
- Carbohydrates: 20g
- Fiber: 5g
- Protein: 32g
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This looks super yummy! Do you have any tips or suggestions if I wanted to attempt this recipe in my slow cooker, beginning with raw chicken instead of pre-cooked? Would I skip the second step and just throw all veggies and garlic in the slow cooker with the chicken and sauce, and slow cook for 4-6 hours? Any tips would be greatly appreciated. 🙂
Hi Kelly! I apologize but I have not made this in my slow cooker. But you’ve intrigued me to give it a try! I’ll have to work on a slow cooker version of this recipe. Let me know if you do make it in a slow cooker and how it turns out.
Thank you for your response, Stacie! I currently have this recipe in the slow cooker, and I will let you know how it turns out. I essentially kept everything the same, except I omitted the second step. Instead I threw the mixed up sauce (including the garlic and ginger), raw chicken, and the raw chopped veggies all in the slow cooker set for 4 hours. Fingers crossed it turns out just as delicious as your skillet way!
The finished product was absolutely delicious!! My husband and my toddler loved it too! 🙂 I ended up adding an additional 1/2 tsp sea salt and a 1/2 lime juiced after the 4 hour slow cook time was up. I shredded the chicken and mixed it up with the sauce, and let it sit on warm for 2-4 hours. The finished product was so flavorful! Thank you for yet another creative and yummy recipe that the whole family can enjoy! 🙂
SO great to hear that it worked! Thank you so much for sharing the feedback with how it turned out and the changes you made to make it in the slow cooker!
I find that some of the recipe’s like this one have way too many ingredients. I love your crock pot recipes that just have 3 or 4 ingredients.
Hi Gloria, thanks for the feedback! This recipe was hard to keep the ingredients down to less than 10 with the homemade sauce, spices, all the veggies, etc. But yes, we’ll keep your feedback in mind for future recipe creations 🙂
Hi Stacie,
How can I make this compliant for Whole30. What can I use as a substitute for yogurt and whipped heavy cream. Would like to try your recipe.
Thank you
b
Hi there! I have not tested this recipe another way than it is written. We are actually working on a slow cook Indian Butter Chicken that is Whole30 compliant. For the sauce, we will probably use a mixture made up of canned coconut milk, ghee, lemon juice or lime juice, broth, and the spices. You could also use a jar of Yais Thai Coconut Curry Sauce which is Whole30approved. Let us know if you do make it Whole30 compliant and how it turns out. Thanks!
When do you add tomato paste? Does it go in bowl with yogurt and cream and spices?
Hey Clare, sorry about that. Yes, with the yogurt, cream and spices. I updated the directions to include that. Thanks for the catch.
I have read various posts for butter chicken recipe but this one is the best. Unique & Easy!