This Easy Indian Butter Chicken Recipe is the perfect weeknight meal. It tastes better than takeout and is on the table in less than 30 minutes. No complicated recipe or a long list of ingredients thanks to Patak’s® Butter Chicken 3-Step Kit—making your favorite authentic Indian dishes at home is easier than ever!
This post has been sponsored by Patak’s®. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Ever since I was a child, I’ve always been a foodie who loves exploring different cultures and learning about exotic cuisines. My parent instilled my food curiosity, and I’ll try most foods at least once. However, Indian food wasn’t one that I had access to when I was growing up or even for most of my adult life.
The first time I tried Indian Butter Chicken, it was love at first bite. And admittedly, that wasn’t until I was nearly 35 years old!
While I enjoy cooking from scratch, when it comes to Indian recipes, they often require a lot of time and effort hunting down all the required ingredients to make a truly authentic dish. Or does it?
How to Make Authentic Butter Chicken
My authentic butter chicken recipe includes a secret that takes the mystery out of cooking Indian food at home. Plus Patak’s® 3-Step Kit is easy to find at your local Kroger!
They give you the perfect base for easy Indian dinner recipes for beginners and experienced home cooks alike! Not only for my favorite butter chicken but for making a wide variety of easy Indian main course recipes.
If you’ve ever made chicken butter masala from scratch or at least read a few recipes, I’m sure you noticed a long list of ingredients that you’ll need to find at the grocery store. Tomato sauce or tomato puree, garam masala, red chili powder, mustard oil, chili powder, etc are all commonly used in restaurant-style Indian recipes like Indian Butter Chicken.
Using Patak’s® Butter Chicken 3-Step Kit means you don’t have to gather a bunch of butter chicken ingredients or butter chicken spices; they’ve already put together everything you need in an easy, yet delicious 3-step kit!
Each kit contains a spice pack, seasoning paste, and sauce with simple directions on the back of the package.
What is the difference between Butter Chicken and Chicken Tikka Masala?
Trying to figure out what the difference is between tikka masala vs butter chicken can be confusing, especially if you are new to Indian cuisine.
Butter chicken may seem very similar to chicken tikka masala. Tikka masala has more of a layers of complex spice flavors, while butter chicken has a buttery taste with a sweeter, creamier sauce.
Is butter chicken spicy? The short answer is no. When deciding which to eat for dinner, butter chicken vs tikka masala, it really comes down to how much spice you enjoy. Butter Chicken is generally milder than Tikka Masala.
Patak’s also offers a Korma Curry Sauce, too. Korma is a coconut based sauce bringing a bit of a sweeter flavor to your dish. I love how creamy Patak’s
Korma is and that it includes the authentic spices of a traditional Korma to provide true Indian flavor. The best meat choices for a Korma recipe are chicken and lamb, but it also goes well with a variety of vegetables.
Easy Indian Butter Chicken Recipe Step by Step
To get started making this Tasty Butter Chicken, you’ll start with chicken. I prefer chicken thighs, but chicken breast works great too. You can also make into a vegetarian butter chicken dish by ditching the animal protein and choosing halloumi cheese (though the authentic recipe is made with paneer cheese). For a vegan butter chicken, use tofu, cauliflower, potato or sweet potato. Cut up a pound of chicken into roughly 1-inch, bite-sized pieces.
In a skillet over medium-high heat, melt some ghee. If you’ve not used ghee before you’re missing out! Ghee is a form of highly-clarified butter that is traditionally used in Asian and Indian cuisine. If you don’t have ghee, feel free to substitute with butter. Then, add the spice pack from the 3-step kit. Give those spices a quick sauté. Then, add the paste pack and water, reduce it, then add the cubed chicken.
Chicken should be seared before it’s ready for sauce. Add the Patak’s® Butter Chicken 3-Step Kit sauce pack.
Let it simmer for about 15 minutes. This helps to give the chicken that authentic buttery-soaked goodness that we all crave in Butter Chicken. And it’s on your table in less than 30 minutes thanks to Patak’s® Butter Chicken 3-Step Kit!
I like to serve butter chicken with a side dish of basmati rice, naan bread, and some fresh cilantro.
Occasionally, I’ll serve a side of crispy garbanzo beans and a dollop of yogurt on top of my butter chicken if I feel extra fancy or need to stretch this meal out further to fill more bellies.
I loved this butter chicken so much that I ate it 2 days in a row. Not like ate boring leftovers but honest-to-goodness made another batch for lunch the following day when I was writing this post because it was awesome and easy!
The next day, I made my Vegetarian Cauliflower Gnocchi Tikka Masala featuring Patak’s® Tikka Masala 3-Step Kit for lunch because I just honestly love the Patak’s 3 Simple Steps Sauce Kits!
It’s so easy that busy moms can feel confident handing off the cooking to their kids! Giving them a little break before dinner.
If you like this recipe, you’ll also love my Vegetarian Cauliflower Gnocchi Tikka Masala too!
Easy Indian Butter Chicken Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken thighs cubed
- 1 Patak’s® Butter Chicken 3-Step Kit
- 2 cups cooked white rice
Instructions
- Follow the directions on the package.
