Butter chicken

Butter chicken

By Miriam Nice
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(25 ratings)
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Prep: 15 mins Cook: 30 mins

Easy

Serves 4
Cooked with butter, cashew nut butter, tangy passata and plenty of spices, this chicken curry is rich, indulgent and ready in less than an hour

Nutrition and extra info

Nutrition: per serving

  • kcal358
  • fat18g
  • saturates9g
  • carbs13g
  • sugars8g
  • fibre2g
  • protein34g
  • salt0.3g
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Ingredients

  • 25g butter
    Butter

    Butter

    butt-err

    Butter is a dairy product made from separating whole milk or cream into fat and…

  • 1 onion, halved and finely sliced
    Onion

    Onion

    un-yun

    Onions are endlessly versatile and an essential ingredient in countless recipes. Native to Asia…

  • 4 skinless chicken breasts, cut into chunks
  • 2 tbsp garam masala
    Garam masala

    Garam masala

    gar-am mah-sarl-ah

    Meaning 'warming spice mix', garam masala is the main spice blend used in North Indian…

  • 3 garlic cloves, crushed
  • 1 tbsp finely grated ginger
    Ginger

    Ginger

    jin-jer

    Mainly grown in Jamaica, Africa, India, China and Australia, ginger is the root of the plant. It…

  • 500g passata
  • 2 tbsp cashew nut butter
  • 50ml double cream
  • handful coriander, chopped
  • cooked rice, to serve
    Rice

    Rice

    r-eye-s

    Rice is a grain, the seed of a type of grass, which is the most widely grown and the most…

  • wilted spinach, to serve
    Spinach

    Spinach

    spin-atch

    Used in almost every cuisine across the world, spinach is an enormously popular green vegetable…

Method

  1. Heat the butter in a large pan and fry the onion over a medium heat for 5 mins until soft. Add the chicken and continue to fry until turning golden brown. Add the garam masala, garlic, ginger and passata. Leave to simmer, uncovered, for 20 mins.

  2. Just before serving, stir in the cashew nut butter and cream, season to taste and serve scattered with coriander, and with the cooked rice and wilted spinach on the side.

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Comments, questions and tips

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ClaireMR
1st Jun, 2020
4.05
Lovely recipe, but I did have to adapt it quite a lot. I added an additional tbsp of tomato paste to the chicken and also an additional can of tinned tomatoes to the passata (but I had 5 chicken breasts) so I needed to bulk up the sauce. I also added half a teaspoon of turmeric, ground cumin, ground coriander, a dash of medium curry powder and lots of salt and pepper. I also didn't have the cashew nut butter, so used 1.5 tbsp of peanut butter instead. So quite a different recipe I guess!! It smelled quite quite strong, but didn't taste so. Overall, the whole family said it was just like a take-away and they loved it!
Lorraine Newcombe's picture
Lorraine Newcombe
14th May, 2018
5.05
We love this recipe - for mum who does not like spicy food and a one year old it's perfect. I think my husband would prefer much spicier curry but likes this as it has flavour and I'm sure the spice can be scaled up for those that want it.
leight79
20th Jun, 2017
3.05
Okay, but underwhelming. There are tastier midweek curry recipes on here that take less time.
dragonma5306's picture
dragonma5306
12th Apr, 2017
4.05
We enjoyed this. It was easy and fairly quick to make. I used 6 chicken thighs, as I prefer them, and used smooth peanut butter instead of the cashew (I couldn't bring myself to spend £2.99 on a small jar!). There was plenty of sauce, so I will do another couple of thighs next time so that there are proper leftovers. The sauce was rich and thick so I will probably try it with creme fraiche next time. Much better than the one I normally make from a jar.
Minoo's picture
Minoo
15th Jan, 2016
3.05
This was ok, but maybe a bit underwhelming. Although it wasn't bland it also wasn't as flavoursome as I was hoping, despite the fact that I seasoned it well.
Frantic Flapjack
31st Mar, 2015
3.05
My husband really liked this. It cooked up well but I don't think the cashew nut butter added anything more than a cheaper peanut butter would have.
Linnette
22nd Jan, 2015
The recepie sounds interesting , but hardly defines the title , first of all there are no onions used in butter chicken and many essential ingredients are missing for eg: yogurt,fenugreek,lime,and many spices .
hannahcasey
2nd Mar, 2016
Can this be frozen?
Jenfromtheblock
6th Mar, 2015
Hi there, I made this once and it came out really lovely but quite bland in taste. Are there not supposed to be any added salt or additional spices?
goodfoodteam's picture
goodfoodteam
13th Mar, 2015
Hi Jenfromtheblock, thanks for getting in touch and sorry to hear you did not have success with this recipe. About halfway through step 2 the method states to "season to taste" where you see this in our recipes we are usually referring to salt and black pepper unless otherwise stated so please do add these until you're happy with the seasoning. The recipe also uses 2 tbsp of garam masala which is a blend of spices but feel free to experiement and make the recipe your own.
stooch
22nd Jan, 2015
Can't you use peanut butter - smooth?
goodfoodteam's picture
goodfoodteam
26th Jan, 2015
Hi stooch, thanks for your question. Should be absolutely fine to use smooth peanut butter, or crunchy. Cashew nut butter has more of a subtle flavour but if you like peanut butter we're sure it will still be nice to eat. Let us know how you get on. 
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