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My Best Butter Chicken Ever!

Best Ever Butter Chicken Recipe by Quirky Cooking, Gluten Free, Grain Free, Dairy Free

I’m so excited about this recipe, as you’ve probably heard! I was cheeky enough to call it the ‘best butter chicken ever’ because my 16 year old son insisted it was the best he’d ever tasted, and said that I HAD to call it ‘the best ever’, and I HAD to teach him how to make it so he could make it any time he liked!! (Don’t you love it when your teenage kids rave about a recipe you’ve made up?? It means so much more than a few likes on Facebook, as nice as that is!)

I know what you’re thinking. “It can’t be the best, it’s too simple. It just can’t taste amazing and authentic when it has so few steps and such basic ingredients.” All I can say is, TRY IT! Ok, it’s not cooked the traditional way, with chicken marinating for hours and then simmered slowly in a big pot for ages… but believe me, it tastes amazing. 

I developed this recipe for my Quirky Cooking for Gut Health online program (which will be released soon – you can register here if you want to know more) and the criteria was as follows: 

  • not too spicy so it’s suitable for kids, but FULL of flavour so that when you eat it with cauliflower ‘rice’ the flavour doesn’t get lost
  • super simple so even kids can make it
  • dairy free, gluten free, grain and starch free (suitable for GAPS and Paleo diets)
  • basic ingredients anyone will have on hand or can easily buy at the supermarket
  • quick to make, perfect for those last minute dinner decisions
  • and so delicious that you’ll want to invite some friends over to share it with you!

It worked out to be soooooo delicious I couldn’t wait for my program to be finished to share it – I had to share straight away! So I popped the recipe into my newsletter (as I often do with recipes I can’t wait to share) and it went a bit viral, so I thought I’d better just get it up on the blog! So here it is. 

Best Ever Butter Chicken Recipe by Quirky Cooking, Gluten Free, Grain Free, Dairy Free

 

P.S. If you want to see some feedback before you try it, here’s a few comments:

“Very fussy about butter chicken BUT this was sensational. Thank you”

“Amaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazing Jo! Recipe was super easy to follow, quick and totally delicious. Thank you, you’re a total ‘good food’ superstar. Oh and yes agreed – best recipe ever!”

“Made it tonight and it was such a delicious comfort food. It’s now in the rotating menu, big complement from our 5 and 3 year olds. You should have seen my son checking with everyone if it was now their favorite. Thanks for generously sharing Jo!”

“Jo, I think your butter chicken recipe has probably been made or will be made by nearly every Quirky fan! It looks as if it’s one of your most all time favourite recipes! The only other recipe I can think of that equals this is the macadamia lime cheesecake!”

Let me know what you think – I hope you love it too!

Note: You can find Fine sea salt, Aussie Kibble Pepper and Organic Garlic for this recipe in my online store!

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My Best Ever Butter Chicken

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star

5 from 3 reviews

  • Author: QuirkyJo

Ingredients

Ingredients:

Cauliflower ‘Rice’

  • 800g cauliflower, (cut into small florets)

Butter Chicken

  • 4 garlic cloves
  • 3cm fresh ginger, peeled
  • 1 long red chilli, deseeded and halved
  • 1 brown onion, halved
  • 100g ghee or coconut oil
  • 3 Tbsp Quirky Cooking Butter Chicken Spice Blend, OR
    • ½ tsp ground cinnamon
    • 2 tsp ground paprika
    • 3 tsp garam masala
    • 1 tsp ground cardamom
    • 2 tsp ground coriander
    • 2 tsp ground cumin
    • 2 tsp ground turmeric
  • 500g coconut cream
  • 3 Tbsp lemon juice
  • 200g tomato paste
  • 3 tsp sea salt
  • 1 kg chicken thigh fillets, cut into 3-5cm pieces (or up to 1.3kg for TM5 or stovetop)

Instructions

Thermomix Method:

  1. Place cauliflower florets into TM bowl, and chop 10 sec/speed 5, or until ‘rice’ sized pieces. Place into Varoma dish, poking a hole in the centre to let the steam through. Set aside. Wash and dry TM bowl.
  2. Place garlic, ginger, and chilli into TM bowl and chop 3 sec/speed 7.
  3. Add onion and chop 2 sec/speed 5. Scrape down sides with spatula.
  4. Add ghee or coconut oil and Quirky Cooking Butter Chicken Spice Blend (or listed spices) and cook 5 min/100/speed soft. Loosen mixture from sides and base of bowl with spatula.
  5. Add coconut cream, lemon juice, tomato paste, salt and chicken to TM bowl. Place Varoma dish into position, and cook 25 min/Varoma/reverse/speed soft. Cauliflower rice will steam above, as butter chicken cooks below. Check cauliflower is cooked – if not, add another 5 mins/Varoma/reverse/speed soft.
  6. Place cauliflower rice into a serving dish, and butter chicken into a separate dish.
  7. Serve butter chicken and cauliflower rice with steamed vegetables or a salad.

Stovetop Method:

  1. Process cauliflower in a food processor until chopped into rice sized pieces. Set aside.
  2. Chop onion, garlic, ginger and chilli by hand, then saute in a heavy based saucepan with ghee or coconut oil, until soft.
  3. Add chicken and Quirky Cooking Butter Chicken Spice Blend (or listed spices) and saute over high heat for 5-10 mins, until chicken begins to change colour. (It will finish cooking in the sauce.)
  4. Add coconut cream, lemon juice, tomato paste and salt and reduce heat to med-low. Simmer gently over med-low heat, partially covered, for 20 mins or until chicken is cooked through and sauce is beginning to thicken. Stir now and then.
  5. Meanwhile, fry cauliflower rice in a frying pan over high heat with some ghee or coconut oil over med-high heat for 15 mins or until cooked through.
  6. Serve butter chicken and cauliflower rice with steamed vegetables or a salad.

Notes

  • Cauliflower ‘rice’ can be replaced with Basmati rice if desired, or mix half cauliflower ‘rice’ with half cooked rice if you’re working on transitioning to less grains in the diet.
  • For a vegetarian version, replace chicken with vegetables such as sweet potato, pumpkin, cauliflower and peas and cook for 20 mins in sauce, or until done. Can add chickpeas also if you like.
  • Freezes well. Store for up to 4 months in the freezer.

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395 thoughts on “My Best Butter Chicken Ever!

  1. Sarah says:

    Yum, this butter chicken is so good! I have tried other thermomix butter chickens and yours is the best. So super easy and authentic tasting. No need to look no more, my search is over. Thanks so much for a faultless recipe!

  2. Venny Sarmiento says:

    I just have to say that this recipe was DELICIOUS!!! We love Indian food and this was super good – very tasty, not too spicy and even yummier after a day! I used chicken tenderloins and it was gooooood!!! Thank you!

  3. Leo says:

    Delicious, indeed. Does the thickness of the coconut cream determine the thickness of the sauce? I would like to know how the sauce can be thickened because the consistency of the sauce (first attempt) was not as thick as the standard (local Indian restaurant) we compared this recipe to.

  4. Ely says:

    Can this recipe be halved? Not sure if the family will be keen on it and don’t fancy wasting 1kg chicken 🙂

  5. Nic says:

    This was my first attempt to make butter chicken from scratch – just divine and so easy. Inspired me to make my own Naan Bread to go with it. Just love my Thermomix. Best of all the kids loved it and can’t wait to have the left overs for dinner tomorrow night!

  6. Christine Doyle says:

    Thank-you so much Jo. My husband and three kids all thoroughly enjoyed this, with my 9 year old telling me that I might put the Indian restaurant out of business, it was so good. As a family fairly new to grain free, sugar free, this will become a staple in our house.
    Christine

  7. Vicky says:

    I don’t usually like butter chicken, but I love this one! My kids aged 5 and 6, husband and mother-in-law all loved this recipe. It makes lots, so I froze some and we can have it again next week ;-))

  8. nicole says:

    thank you so much for this recipe. Made it last night everyone loved it. So easy to make and delicious. Everyone asking when we are having it again. Is now my favourite recipe.

  9. Bridget says:

    Thankyou! We loved this. My daughter helped me and learnt the difference betweem tea-spoons and table-spoons. Nearly had a very salty curry! Great to have a nut-free curry recipie. Yum.

  10. Faye says:

    Lovely butter chicken. Use only 400g of liquid/cream as i find 500g too much. Always measure two lots of spices out when cooking this. Soooo tasty.
    (Often don’t use chili. Just add a speck of powder. )

  11. Lilluz says:

    That was amazingly delicious! Thank you Jo 🙂

    Just a quick question: Would it be okay to use only half the amount of ghee/coconut oil? I ended up with a quite a thick layer of ghee/coconut oil on top. When i weighed the ghee/coconut oil, it was in solid form. Should i have melted it first and then weigh?

    Thank you again!

  12. maddie oberoi says:

    Yum yum yum….I have tried many a butter chicken recipes in my thermomix but this is by far the best….loved it….thank you so much jo….hoping to eat the smallest amnt of leftovers tmrw….

  13. Kristie says:

    Insanely good. So simple and turned out fabulous – no tweaking at all. The kids loved it and i added a dollop of a lovely spicy chutney to the side of my plate for some extra heat.

  14. Robyn Covington says:

    Thank you so much for this recipe. It tasted amazing! Just like the takeaway! I am a new thermie user and found that the butter chicken separated and formed a lot of oil on top so one of my experienced thermie friends suggested cooking the cauliflower rice separately and then cooking the butter chicken on 100 after that. Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you!

  15. Sarah says:

    Oh my goodness this recipe is amazing! Both my super fussy 7 & 5 year old boys who never eat this type of food ate it & said YUM!
    I only found out a week ago that I have to go on a super restrictive diet & now have to make everything from scratch. My friend told me about this site & I’m now feeling excited instead of overwhelmed.
    I can’t believe how buttery & delicious this recipe is. Going to make this my Friday night treat!
    THANK YOU!!!!!!!!

  16. Jasmine says:

    A.M.A.Z.I.N.G!! Thank you for a great recipe. So much quicker and tastier than other butter chicken recipes I’ve tried. Kids loved it ?

  17. Gayle says:

    Thanks for this recipe Jo? I cooked it tonight, so yum!!!! I loved how quick this recipe is with no loss of authentic flavour . I may have over done the chilli just a little? hubby was sweating to the point of needing to chamois his head?? are any of the other spices hot in taste too? I added a bit more coconut milk and that helped . He kept telling me how good it tasted, as he dryer his head and face, haha.?????

  18. Jane says:

    Oh my word I made this last night and man was it great. Husband loved it. Do have a question. I needed to spin my cauliflower for longer the suggested and I think maybe because I had to much in the bowl at one (used right amount) but some of it came out mashed, not really rice like. Is this normal or should I do it in batches next time. Never cooked with cauliflower and I’m not a very good cook. Just learning?

  19. Lisa Clark says:

    Hi Jo.
    I’m a thermomix newbie and not sure what to do re veroma if you don’t cook the cauliflower rice. ?
    Lisa

  20. Ilona says:

    This was loved by all in the family! So tasty and simple. Thank you once again for amazing recipes xxxx

    • QuirkyJo says:

      You can use normal rice, but would need to cook it separately, not in the Varoma if doing Thermomix version.

  21. Susannah says:

    Hi Jo, this recipe looks great, as do ALL your recipes. I am an avid lover of your chicken pot pie recipe. I have been very seriously ill for a long time & finding it more & more difficult to cater to my dietary needs. I was recently diagnosed with a grade 3 cancer on my face, which shortly after spread to my lymphatic system, and it has been an even rockier road since and so is a time when emphasis is being placed on GOOD nutrition as fundamental in fighting and preventing further cancer. I cannot digest fat (this issue sent me to ICU two & a half years ago) of any sorts – good fats, bad fats, saturated or unsaturated etc – therefore, for instance in this butter chicken, what can i replace the coconut cream with?? Tomatoes perhaps? I’d really, really appreciate your help. I love how you always think outside the box and your recipes are always look so wholesome and nourishing. Thanks for reading!

    • QuirkyJo says:

      Oh thank you! Sorry to hear about your health 🙁 Can you have cashews at all? Because cashew cream is a great replacement for the coconut cream! Otherwise I would do mashed cooked pumpkin!

  22. Emma says:

    Without a doubt , the best butter chicken ever!! I added 1TBS of Fenugreek and it was so delicious. I used good quality coconut cream too so it was really thick and creamy (used 300gm not 500gm) Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!

  23. Fiona says:

    Hi Jo,
    The flavour of this is fantastic, but the sauce is always too runny. Does anyone else have this issue? I suppose I could add corn flour, but wondered if anyone has any suggestions to avoid that? I am using canned coconut cream – which is measured in mls and yours says “grams” are you using coconut cream in another form? am I using too much using 500ml? would love thoughts.

    Thanks.

    Fiona

    • QuirkyJo says:

      There is a lot of sauce in this recipe, you can reduce the amount of cream if you prefer, or add more chicken if it’ll fit in the bowl.
      We like to serve it with extra veggies, that’ll use up more sauce.
      Also, grams and millilitres are equivalent. 🙂

  24. Rebel says:

    Omg!!! It’s true – this is the best butter chicken ever!! We’re not dairy free in our house so we all enjoyed a dollop of natural yogurt on top. I was dubious about the kids liking this (8 & 10yrs) because they’re fussy and don’t like a lot of strong flavours but they loved it and so did the big kids!!! Can’t wait to have the leftovers tomorrow. Thanks again Jo

  25. Katie says:

    Thanks for this fantastic recipe, Jo. Would it work if I cooked it in the slow cooker? Thanks for your advice!

  26. Claudine says:

    This butter chicken is soooo good, my family enjoyed it so much we had to go and buy more chicken to make up some more…Thank you!!!

  27. Geraldine says:

    Every time I read reviews about how a dish is devoured even by the most fussiest children, I carry on with that little glimmer of hope that my children will step up beyond the “I don’t like the look of this dish” moment and actually taste the dish. I must say, this butter chicken recipe was a total success! The 6 year old son did raise his eyebrow and pout a bit but he soon got over how quickly looks can be deceiving and actually finished the whole dish last night. The 9 year old declared it nice even though he was half expecting butter chicken to look something completely different. So thank you very much Jo, I have finally found and dare to try a “curry” type recipe that the kids have tried and liked it. If you ever have a lamb rogan josh or similar curry recipe, oh please, oh please post it on your blog. I will certainly make this butter chicken dish again and might throw in some diced carrots since we had the dish with tri colour rice instead of cauliflower rice. Thank you again for coming up with such a wonderful recipe!

    • QuirkyJo says:

      Oh I’m so happy to hear that they liked it!! 😀 I actually have been working on a Rogan Josh – stay tuned! 🙂

  28. Fiona Hughes says:

    Hi Jo, I have twice left a question re this recipe in the last month – about the brand of coconut cream and the runny-ness – but my questions have not appeared?

    • QuirkyJo says:

      We like to use AyAm coconut cream and the consistency doesn’t matter as it depends on the climate 🙂

  29. Jasmine says:

    Great recipe! Devoured by everyone in my family (10 yr old 2 x 8 yr old and 10mth old) will definitely being making again!

  30. Lea says:

    Waaaay too hot/spicy for us, but nice flavour. (Added a whole tub of cream to cool it down a lot)
    I know nothing of spices – just shopped off the ingredients list. Any guesses where i went wrong?
    Is there mild and hot versions of anything that i should have looked for?

    • QuirkyJo says:

      The garam masala could be hotter than the one I used, the chilli also could’ve been a hotter variety.

  31. Michelle says:

    A while ago I bumped into a version of this butter chicken but without the tomatoes. I am very keen to try it but I can’t find it now 🙁 Does anyone know where I can find it? I was fairly sure that it was Jo who posted it somewhere.

  32. Elissa Harrison says:

    Yummy, this is the first butter chicken recipe that I’ve liked! Kids asked for seconds too!

  33. Nicole says:

    Hi Jo, I was wanting to cook this without the cauliflower rice. Will I need to cook it with the MC on and will the cooking time change? Thank you so much, Nic

  34. Tracy Wong says:

    Hi Jo, may I know that tha amount of the ingredients for 1 kg chicken tights could be applied up to 13 kg of chicken meat too? Hope to hear from you soon. Thanks.

  35. Belinda says:

    Hi, just wondering what I can sub the coconut oil or ghee for ? Can you just use butter or would that not work ?
    Thanking you in advance 🙂

  36. Harriet Canwell says:

    Oh dear am I the only person to have stuffed this up?!! What does “speed soft” mean? I decided to use the spoon/mixing i.e. lowest speed, and I did put it on reverse but the chunks of chicken got pretty shredded. This has happened to me previously when I’ve made other chicken curry recipes. Is it because I’m using chicken breast rather than thigh fillets? Is this why you specify thigh fillets? Are they firmer so that they don’t disintegrate? Many thanks if you can offer some guidance as I would like to try this recipe again

  37. Bec says:

    I made this with chicken breast and veggies and it was so full of flavour- the little kids loved it! We dont have any allergies but we all love food with flavour that is really nutritious.

  38. Rebecca says:

    I don’t make a habit of leaving comments, but after trying your butter chicken tonight I couldn’t not comment.

    I purchased my thermomix approximately 7 months ago and butter chicken (from another recipe developer) was the first thing I made in it. It was so horrible, I personally found it unedible. I really didnt want to make butter chicken in my machine again. Then someone suggested the quirky butter chicken! It is probably the best main meal I have made in my thermie to date! I agree with your son, it really is the best butter chicken!

    My extremely fussy 11 year old ate three bowls. I didnt even know he could eat that much!

    I’m so excited to try more of your recipes!

    Thank you!

    • QuirkyJo says:

      Oh wow, thank you so much!!! I’m so happy you enjoyed it! (Sorry for late reply, I’m a bit behind with answering blog comments!!) xx

  39. Kath says:

    Hi Jo, this is a fantastic recipe, thanks for sharing and all you do to help encourage people with dietary restrictions when it seems so overwhelming at first. But i have one burning question… what paprika do you use? I have smoked, hot and sweet and wish I knew which one to use.

  40. Cindy says:

    There’s a lot of salt in the recipe does it function to do something or is it used for flavour? Can I cut it down to 1 tsp?

    • QuirkyJo says:

      You can cut it down, but just be aware that if you serve it over cauliflower rice it will taste quite bland if there’s not enough salt. The cauliflower seems to suck up a bit of the flavour, which is why I make it very strong flavoured. 🙂

  41. Kim says:

    Very delicious very mild, I had my thermie on reverse and slow but most of the chicken ended up shredded. Prehaps next time I will cook the chicken separate and add the sauce.
    Yummy thanks for sharing ?
    Kids loved it too

    • QuirkyJo says:

      Hi Kim, did you use thighs or breasts? I find thighs hold together much better. Another thing we’ve worked out from reader feedback is that the fresher the chicken the better! Glad you liked it despite the shredding!

  42. Aimee says:

    AMAZING!
    I can’t believe it took me this long to try it. Hubby devoured his in about 2 minutes (even though he told me before dinner that he doesn’t like butter chicken) I tried to savour it but found myself shoveling it in haha and my 2 year old loves it too! Definite winner in our household with HEAPS leftover for work lunches ?

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