Healthy Butter Chicken is a delicious Indian dish with tender chicken pieces swimming in an amazing, creamy tomato curry sauce that’s packed with spices and flavor. This easy recipe is ready in 30 minutes!
What a weekend we had!
Soccer, sleepovers, play date, symphony, bike riding, and of course lots of time in the kitchen cooking and testing recipes.
I'm a bit wiped out, but also feeling revived and refreshed and ready to tackle the week ahead. And I'm so excited to share today's new recipe with you at last!
You guys know I love my curry dishes, especially when they’re quick, easy and on the healthier side.
I’ve shared my quick chicken curry, 20-minute coconut chicken curry and my quick and easy vegetarian curry.
Today, I’m so excited to share one of my favorite easy Indian recipes: healthy butter chicken!
I’m so in love with this dish. The aroma, the spices, the sauce, the simmering deliciousness that bubbles away and has you drooling as you wait to dive in.
It’s a classic for a reason!
First things first though.
What is butter chicken?
- Butter chicken is an Indian dish of chicken in a mildly spiced tomato sauce.
- It’s also called murgh makhani or chicken makhani.
Funny enough, it’s not uncommon to not actually use butter in the sauce for this butter chicken recipe.
And it's not needed. My version uses no butter, is made without any cream and you don’t miss it one bit.
(The creaminess comes from the Greek yogurt.)
It’s got such a rich, creamy tomato sauce that’s begging to be spooned greedily over all of the chicken and rice on your plate.
In fact, this is slightly embarrassing, but I have actually put the sauce in a bowl and spooned it up all by itself.
See, I was doing my vegetarian month and was making this dinner for the rest of my family. So I couldn’t have the chicken. But that didn’t stop me from missing out on the sauce!
And once you smell it and taste it, you’ll know just what I mean!
Seriously scrumptious!
I've also got this Instant Pot butter chicken recipe if you want to check out that version. Or try slow cooker butter chicken for a hands-off meal.
Plus, it’s really easy to make and takes just 30 minutes! (Plus some time for marinating the chicken, if you can swing it. See the notes below.)
Dinner winner right here!
OK, let's get cooking.
I've got a few notes and substitutions below. Feel free to scroll on down to the recipe card if you'd rather.
Recipe Notes:
- Marinade time: I think this tastes best when you let the chicken marinate for at least 45 minutes to an hour. If you’ve only got 30 minutes, that’s good too. If you don’t have time to marinate it at all, just mix it all together first and then start cooking. It’ll still taste great!
- Garam masala is a tasty blend of ground spices often used in Indian cooking. If you don’t have any, you can substitute curry powder.
- Greek yogurt: I use a nonfat or 2% Greek yogurt to stir into this dish at the end. You could try substituting half and half or heavy cream, but I’ve not tested it that way.
- Like it spicy? You can increase the amount of cayenne up to ½ teaspoon.
Oh, and I never have an issue with curdling, but milk and yogurt can curdle if it heats too quickly, or if it comes to a boil.
You may want to lower your heat or briefly remove the pan from the stove when you add the Greek yogurt in this recipe to help prevent curdling.
As for serving, we love this over steamed brown or basmati rice. You could also use cauliflower rice for a low-carb option.
I love this with peas and sometimes mix them right in with the chicken and sauce to warm them and get them all coated in the sauce. So yummy!
You could also use steamed broccoli or asparagus as a veggie side to round out this meal.
Last thing, let's talk about how to handle any leftovers. Cause this saves really well.
Tips for Leftovers:
- Leftover butter chicken, once cooled, can be kept in a covered container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
- Reheat over medium low in a small pot on the stove or reheat individual servings in the microwave.
- You can also freeze leftover butter chicken. Label, date and freeze it for up to 5-6 months in a freezer-safe ziptop bag or container.
- Defrost in the refrigerator overnight and then reheat on the stove or in the microwave.
There you have it! You can make butter chicken at home any time you like. And I think you’ll fall in love!
Enjoy!
XO,
Kathryn
P.S. Check out all of my other 30-minute chicken recipes for more quick and easy dinner inspiration.
Easy, Healthy Butter Chicken
Ingredients
For the marinated chicken:
- 2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch cubes
- ¼ cup tomato paste
- ¼ cup plain Greek yogurt
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 2 teaspoons cumin
- 2 teaspoons garam masala (see notes)
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- ¾ teaspoons black pepper
- ½ teaspoon turmeric
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
For cooking:
- 1 tablespoon canola oil
- 1 small onion, diced
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons light brown sugar
- ½ cup plain Greek yogurt
- ½ cup water
Instructions
- Place the cut pieces of chicken in a bowl or tiptop plastic bag. Combine all of the marinate ingredients in a bowl and stir well. (It will be very thick.) Pour the marinate ingredients over the chicken and stir to coat all of the chicken. Let marinate for at least 30 minutes and up to 8 hours (see notes).
- Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add canola oil.
- Add onion and cook for 2-3 minutes, until softened. Add garlic and cook for an additional minute.
- Add the marinated chicken (along with all of the marinade) to the pan. Sprinkle with brown sugar and cook for 2-3 minutes.
- Add the yogurt and water, reduce the heat to medium or medium-low, enough to maintain a steady simmer. Let cook for 8-10 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through and sauce is thickened.
- Season to taste with salt and pepper (it may not need any).
- Serve the chicken hot with extra sauce spooned over top.
Clare
I’m just finishing off a bowl of leftovers now! I love the mix of spices - this is really delicious!
I’m also not the speediest cook - sometimes I get lost in the chopping 😁, but the marinade was super quick to put together, and I left the chicken doing its marinade thing for the afternoon, and then had the meal on the table in no time that evening. I’ll be adding this to one of my regular meals. Thank you!
Kathryn Doherty
Oh I'm so happy to hear you love it Clare! Thank you so much for sharing! 🙂
Stacey
This is super yummy!!! Only changes I made were I used chicken stock instead of water and a sugar substitute (monk fruit sweetener) instead of the brown sugar to cut down on calories. But this will definitely be added to the rotation. Great recipe, thanks!
Kathryn Doherty
Oh yay, I'm so glad you loved it! Thank you for sharing - and thanks for sharing those substitutions too!
JKAdams
My kids and I love this recipe. So simple and so delicious.
If you have a moment, can you comment on how you would recommend increasing the amount/quantity of sauce in the end without compromising the spice quality too much? Would doubling the water, tomato paste and greek yogurt quantity be adequate. Thank you!
Kathryn Doherty
I'm so happy to hear you all enjoyed this! (I've actually got it on our menu for this coming week!) You could certainly double those ingredients to create more sauce, but the flavor/spices may be a bit more diluted overall in the final dish. I haven't tried it myself but would love to hear if you do!
Menna
I LOVE this recipe! It's so delicious and turns out great every time! Since I make it for only me and my husband I tend to use only 1lb of chicken but I use the same amount of marinade and yogurt to maximise the sauce 😋 but I'm going to be making it for 5 people soon so I'm going to have to double everything and I'm a bit nervous about that because greek yogurt has become very expensive here in Egypt. Was wondering if I could use regular yogurt instead?
Kathryn Doherty
I'm so happy to hear you love this recipe! I just made it at the beginning of the week myself 🙂 You could use regular yogurt, but it's a lot more runny. You can either strain it first or just be prepared for the sauce to be a bit more watery. Hope that helps!
Patti Goodman
I made this last night and it sure hit the spot! My husband and I love Indian food, so I was thrilled to find this slimmed-down version! I didn't have any other oil on hand other than a very strong olive oil and coconut oil, so I opted for the coconut oil to cook the chicken in. Keeping with the theme, I added a splash of unsweetened coconut milk along with the yogurt....adding those two items did make the flavors lean a little towards chicken curry, but that's ok, we love that too! It was delish!
Kathryn Doherty
I'm so happy to hear you loved this! And thanks for sharing those subs - so helpful! 🙂
Isabella Anne
I made this for the first time last weekend, and it was SO good!!! I was nervous that it wouldn't taste like butter chicken, since the ingredients are a lot different from other recipes I've used. I found that it tasted the same!
Personally, I found that the 1/2 cup water added at the end was too much, and it left my sauce a bit too runny, even after simmering. I would add in the water gradually to prevent this next time.
I served this with fresh rice, store bought naan, and roasted broccoli. I will definitely be remaking!! I was excited for leftovers all week 🙂 Thanks for the great recipe, Kathryn
Kathryn Doherty
I'm so happy to hear you loved it!! Thank you so much for sharing!
Isabel
/Thanks for the recipe. I thought the onion was part of the marinate for the chicken however I see under instruction to fry the onion. Not understanding, could you please clarify? Thank you.
Kathryn Doherty
Hi there! In the ingredients list in the recipe card, the onion is listed underneath the "For cooking" heading (not under the "For the Marinated Chicken" heading). The diced onion gets sautéed in a pan before garlic and eventually the marinated chicken are added to the pan, as written out in the instructions. I hope that helps!
Denise
I have made my own curry powder minus the cinnamon. How much curry powder should I use for this recipe? thanks
Kathryn Doherty
Hi Denise, this recipe doesn't call for curry powder, it's a mix of a variety of spices listed in the recipe card. I don't think substituting curry powder, homemade or store-bought, would achieve the same flavor.
Denise
Hi,
If the chicken is marinading over the requested time {say overnight} does it affect the recipe?
Kathryn Doherty
The only possible downside would be whether the citrus starts to break down the chicken if it marinates too long.
Susan
Very tasty but my yogurt separated. How can I avoid this?
Kathryn Doherty
Hi Susan! I don't usually have an issue with curdling in this recipe but yogurt can curdle if it comes to a boil or heats too quickly. You may want to remove your pan from the heat for a minute when you add the yogurt to help prevent curdling. Also, a higher fat yogurt - such as a 2% or 5% Greek yogurt - will be less likely to curdle than a non-fat yogurt. Or you could try substituting half and half or heavy cream, but I’ve not tested this dish that way. I hope that helps!
Margarita
I like that this recipe removed the heavy cream but I dislike that there's no crushed tomatoes... What happened to the tomato flavor?
I'm not sure about the appearance because I'm used to a certain way Indian food looks like... I was embarrassed to show my Indian friend. He said it tastes like diet Indian food lol. But since he has arthritis and can't eat greasy food he still was thankful I gave him some.