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Butter chicken over rice
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5 from 2 votes

Butter Chicken

This is THE meal to impress! The complex seasonings in this dish bring a flavor to the table your guests will crave again and again. Very simple to make, too.
Prep Time5 minutes
Cook Time1 hour 40 minutes
Total Time1 hour 45 minutes
Course: Main Dish
Cuisine: Indian
Servings: 8 people
Calories: 312kcal
Author: Sally Humeniuk

Ingredients

Instructions

  • In a heavy-bottomed stock pot, sauté 1 diced onion in ½ cup (one stick) butter until soft. Add 8 minced garlic cloves, 3-4 chicken breasts, 1 ½ teaspoons salt, 1 teaspoon pepper, ¼ to ½ teaspoon cayenne, ½ teaspoon coriander, ½ teaspoon cumin, ½ teaspoon cardamon and juice from 2 limes. Cook about 10 minutes.
  • Add 2 14.5 ounce cans tomato sauce and 2 14.5 ounce cans diced tomatoes. Heat to boiling, then lower heat to low, cover and simmer for 30 minutes.
  • Remove lid, increase heat just to maintain a good simmer and cook for additional 60 minutes or more to allow sauce to cook down further. You don't want it soupy. Add ¼ to ½ a cup whipping cream (I have successfully used light cream or half-and-half also) and ½ a cup of cilantro just before serving over 4 cups or cooked, Basmati rice.

Notes

  • For even deeper flavor, the original recipe recommends adding all the spices with the cut up chicken and placing in a ziplock bag, then refrigerating for two hours before cooking. It does deepen the spices in the dish, but I've made it many many times without this step with excellent results.
  • Adjust the cayenne pepper to your taste. I usually add 1/4 teaspoon and it is perfect for all tastes, kids and grown ups.
  • Don't leave out the cream, it's an important part of blending all the flavors together.
  • Continue to cook down the sauce until it's nice and thick like in my pictures. I promise the chicken will not dry out, but just become more tender with time.
  • Serve over white rice, basmati is our favorite. I use brown rice in many recipes but this one is not the dish for that. The combination of the floral basmati (or other long grain white rice) is perfect with the Butter Chicken. Save your brown rice for another time.

Nutrition

Calories: 312kcal | Carbohydrates: 24g | Protein: 20g | Fat: 14g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Cholesterol: 84mg | Sodium: 639mg | Potassium: 373mg | Vitamin A: 380IU | Vitamin C: 3mg | Calcium: 24mg | Iron: 0.7mg