Butter Chicken

A staple in my freezer meal stash!

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My butter chicken recipe starts with making Tandoori Chicken (a recipe that I just shared here on my substack as well)

So this recipe is technically only for the Butter Chicken Sauce. You can make these two recipes separately and even freeze them separately. But I’ll show you how to bring them all together and freeze them as an easy freezer meal that will save you from ordering takeout.

There are three ingredients I needed to get for this recipe that you might not have on hand. The first is Garam Masala. Getting a good quality blend is going to make a difference in your cooking if you want to make a lot of Indian food. I use this brand. The second is Red Kashmiri Chili Powder. American chili powder will NOT work in this dish. I got this large bag of Kashmiri chili powder when I started making this dish and thought I’d never go through it all, but I’ve already bought another bag. The third is Kasoori Methi (dried fenugreek leaves). This was the missing ingredient to get my butter chicken to start tasting like what I had experienced at restaurants. I’ve been using this brand.

BUTTER CHICKEN SAUCE

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• 1 28oz can whole peeled tomatoes

• 1 yellow onion roughly diced

• 3 cloves minced garlic

• 2 tablespoons minced ginger

• 1 teaspoon garam masala

• 1 tablespoon sugar

• 1-2 teaspoons kashmiri chilli powder

• 5 tablespoons butter

• 3 tablespoons heavy cream

• 1 teaspoon dried kasoori methi leaves

• salt to taste

In a large saucepan or sauté pan, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Add the diced onions and cook until beginning to soften.

Add in the minced garlic and ginger and stir, cooking until fragrant.

Add in the whole can of peeled tomatoes and any liquid. Cook, stirring occasionally and breaking up the tomatoes with a spoon until the sauce has reached a simmer. Add salt to taste. (You can use fresh paste tomatoes for this recipe if you like. You will need approx 3-4 cups of chopped tomatoes). Simmer for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, add the garam masala, sugar, and Kashmiri chili powder. Stir and bring back to a simmer. If the sauce starts to reduce too much, add a splash of water. Let simmer for 15-20 minutes.

Take the mixture off the heat and transfer it to a blender (you can also use an immersion blender). Blend the mixture until smooth.

Once blended, add the sauce back into the pan, turn the heat on, and add in the butter, heavy cream, and kasoori methi leaves.

Now the sauce is done and you can freeze at this stage if you’d like.

To finish the butter chicken in the diced tandoori chicken and simmer 5-10 minutes to combine.

Serve over white rice. You can also freeze directly into Souper Cubes. I like the 1-cup tray for this; I find that’s a good-sized portion for me.