Indian Comfort Food at it’s Simple, Cozy Best
Butter chicken is a modern Indian dish, originating—according to Madhur Jaffrey (and we always defer to her!)—at the Moti Mahal restaurant in Delhi in the 1950s. But in just a few decades, it has fast become a globally beloved dish. After one bite of the generously spiced, savory tomato-cream sauce and the tender chicken that’s cooked in it, it’s not hard to understand why butter chicken has had such a stratospheric rise from kitchen experiment to absolute staple. We’re crazy for this dish. We’ve even adapted the recipe to be made in a slow-cooker. But today, we’re focused on an equally simple way of making this dish—say hello to your beloved butter chicken, cooked quickly and easily in a skillet on the stovetop! The whole thing takes under 30 minutes to make, and (of course) only requires you to dirty one pan.
Easy Butter Chicken Ingredients
Two of the ingredients for Indian butter chicken are probably pretty easy to guess, right? Butter—yes, butter chicken has butter in it—and chicken! But what else? Unlike many Indian recipes, butter chicken can be made quite authentically without having to hunt down any special spices! While we love an excuse to try cooking with new herbs and spices, we also love being able to easily recreate our favorite restaurant recipes at home, and butter chicken has a really approachable ingredients list for those of us who are new to making Indian food at home. Here’s everything you’ll need to make our creamy butter chicken recipe:
Olive oil
Garlic
Ginger
Yellow onions
Chicken stock
Tomato paste
Cinnamon
Cumin
Garam masala
Turmeric
Boneless, skinless chicken breast
Lemon juice
Heavy cream
How to Make Butter Chicken on the Stovetop
Grab yourself about 30 minutes and your favorite skillet, and get ready to make the best butter chicken ever! We mention this tip a lot, but it’s a good one—it’ll be easier to cut that chicken into cubes if it’s just a bit frozen. So, if you can remember to pop the chicken breasts into the freezer about an hour before you start cooking, yay! If not, no biggie. Oh! And one more thing! If you’d like to make this butter chicken recipe dairy-free—or are simply looking to cut back on animal fats—you can swap coconut oil for the butter and full-fat coconut milk for the heavy cream and still get a delicious version of butter chicken. Whether you use heavy cream or coconut milk, here’s how easy it is to make our stovetop butter chicken:
Sauté onions, garlic and ginger for a few minutes.
Stir in butter, stock, tomato paste, all of the spices—the flavorful base of the butter chicken sauce!—followed by all of the chicken pieces.
Pop a lid on the pan and simmer until the chicken is done.
Stir in lemon juice and heavy cream, and simmer on low for just a few minutes to let everything cohere.
You’re done! We love this with plain, steamed basmati rice, and serve some warm naan on the side if you’ve got it!
Tools You’ll Need
More Quick, Easy One-Pan Chicken Breast Recipes
Just a Gosh Darn Easy Butter Chicken Recipe
Who isn’t crazy about butter chicken? Fragrant, warmly spicy, ultra-creamy tomato sauce enveloping tender pieces of chicken—this comforting stovetop version of everyone’s Indian takeout fave only takes 30 minutes, and is guaranteed to yield pure weeknight dinner bliss. If you make it, let us know how you like it! Share a photo and tag us on Instagram using @themodernproper and #themodernproper so that we can see your stuff! Happy eating!
