We are big fans of Indian cuisine, but I will admit, I have always been a bit frightened of trying to make any of our favorite dishes. The flavors of India are pretty complex, and a lot can go into making a dish just right and I simply don’t have that kind of time. Well, I decided to throw caution to the wind and after looking at some pretty complicated recipes for Butter Chicken or “Murgh Makhani” I went to my local health food store and purchased a few of the spices that seemed essential in hopes of making my own paleo version. I added coconut milk, not traditionally found in this dish, and stuck to a smaller list of ingredients then what is normally used. The end result? My family was freakishly impressed and my 6 year old even proclaimed that this was the BEST Butter Chicken he ever had. Maybe he was bribed by his dad, or maybe he was being sincere but either way, if you are feeling adventurous and are tired of the same ol’ chicken, this recipe is for you!!
Better Butter Chicken
2 1/2 lbs boneless chicken thighs
1 red onion diced
3 tbsp coconut oil
6 oz can tomato paste
½ can coconut milk
½ tbsp crushed garlic
½ tsp cardamom powder
½ tsp coriander powder
1 tsp fenugreek powder
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp sea salt
4 tbsp ghee (clarified butter)
Cut the chicken thighs into bite size pieces and set aside. In a large skillet or soup pot, heat the coconut oil over medium heat and add the diced onion and saute until translucent. Turn your heat down to low and to the onion and oil mixture, add the crushed garlic, cardamom, coriander, fenugreek, and chili powder and stir well to make a paste. Add the tomato paste to the onions and spices and stir, this mixture will be very thick. Turn your heat back up to medium and add the coconut milk and salt. Use a whisk to blend the tomato paste spice mixture and coconut milk together into a thick sauce. Bring the sauce to a simmer and add the chicken. Return the sauce and chicken to a simmer, turn down to medium low, cover and cook for approximately 15 minutes or until the chicken is done all the way through – make sure you stir occasionally during the cooking process. After the chicken is cooked, add the ghee and mix into the sauce until melted. Serve the chicken over steamed red chard or any other green of your choice.
Enjoy!
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YUMMMMMMM!!! So good to make a curry that tastes amazing but with fewer spices as can get so complicated and take forever! Butter chicken rocks and tastes awesome with coconut milk
Where did you get those spices? S&S, raleys? Also where can you get ghee?
Thanks for the recommendation! I love Indian food too. You should try this one – a Madhur Jaffrey favorite. My now husband cooked it for me 15 years ago when he made me dinner for the first time (aww). We still love it. We’re not from the States tho, and have found the chicken here may give off a lot of water. Feel free to let the sauce boil longer to a paste consistency if your chicken makes it watery (we just use boneless skinless chicken breasts in the recipe). Also the original recipe just calls for regular red peppers, not pickled. You should also cut WAY back on the oil – only a couple of tablespoons is really necessary…
http://www.nibblous.com/recipe/860
Thanks Rebecca for sharing this recipe, it sounds great and I can’t wait to try it!!
Hey Natalie! I buy my spices from S&S produce and I get the ghee there as well!
Thanks for this recipe!! I am going to make this tomorrow and will be attempting to make cauliflower rice to go with it.
The Indian spice shop by me only had the fenugreek seeds. Do you think I can use them as is or should I try grinding them in a coffee grinder?
Hey Liz! I would recommend grinding the seeds first.
Love this recipe, tried it last night with cauliflower rice and it was delicious!!!!!!
Oooh, this looks good. Indian food is the one thing I really miss on my Paleo diet – I grew up eating it and even know, sometimes just have to have some. I am totally going to try this!
Hi i am from India.I am astonished to see you people cook this dishes.Here is a good advice,you can add vegetable oil instead of coconut oil.Coconut oil is a bit heavy for stomach so it can leave you will upset stomach where as vegetable oil is good.Yes don’t forget to add Coriander Leaves when you are about to serve.
I am adding a mint chutney recipe with my post try it with butter chicken,you will love it-
For : Many
Prepration time: 5 mins
Ingredients:
coriander leaves 1 bunches
fresh mint, leaves only 1/2 bunch
green chillies 4
Garlic 4
Sugar 1/2 Tablespoon
tamarind paste 1/2 tablespoon
OR
lemon juice 1 tablespoon
pudina-chutney
How to cook:
* Grind the mint leaves, green coriander, green chillies, garlic in grinder.
* Now add salt, and sugar to the paste
* After that add the tamarind paste or lemon juice into it
* Mix it well.
Do reply back,madam.
Hi Sasank!
Thank you so much for your input and for the chutney recipe, it sounds delicious! I hope I can find tamarind paste here locally and I’ll probably sub the sugar with a bit of orange juice – but I can’t wait to try it. When I do I’ll let you know! Thanks again!
Would using regular butter work instead of ghee?
Hey Kyle,
Regular butter would work just fine!
I just made this dish and it rocks!! I actually could loose the ghee and add a habanero! For me spice is everything. Very easy and filling, I just started the paleo thing a week ago and I am sick of eating broccoli and chicken! Thanks, the pizza is next. E
My wife just made this for us tonight and it was awesome! Thank you so much for this recipe. The red chard is one of our new favorites!
OMG … I made this tonight and I wasn’t so sure how “good” it would come out. 1, I had to make it with chicken breasts because that’s what I had on hand. 2, I didn’t have cardamom and used substituted that with an equal ratio of nutmeg & cinnamon. I also made my own ghee for this. Holy Cow!!! This is so freaking delicious!!! I just had some with cauliflower rice and wow … so good. Thanks for sharing this!!!
Stupid question- am I cooking this with the meat still on the bones? Thanks!
BTW, I just found this website, and I absolutely love it! It is one of the best paleo websites I’ve found.
Hey Ollie! Not a stupid question at all! I used boneless chicken thighs but you can for sure use meat still on the bone, it would probably be more flavorful, you just might have to cook it a few minutes longer is all. Let me know how it turns out!
I am new to this and this may be a stupid question, but what is califlower rice?
Hi Chris! Not a stupid question at all. So, for cauliflower “rice”, steam a head of cauliflower and then using a potato masher or in a food processor mash until the cauliflower is the consistency of rice. I add organic butter, a little salt and pepper, and it’s great with just about everything!!
You can use 1 tsp of butter instead of ghee. Fenugreek used in this recipe is not made from the dried seeds but it is dehydrated fenugreek leaves (mustard leaves). If you use the seeds it will get very bitter. The dried fenugreek powder is available in packets where other asian spices are sold. They come in dried leaf form (crush with your fingers – use 1 tb) or buy the powder and use less. Either or is ok depending on what you find.
Regarding the cauliflower rice, you can also steam a couple of garlic cloves with the head of cauliflower and transfer it all to the food processor. Delish.
Awesome idea Javier, I also love seasoning the cauliflower with curry and turmeric and just about any other spices that compliment what we are making… Yummy!
Hey,
I’m not gonna harp on the nightshades, but the fenugreek might be an issue for people with an autoimmune deal because it’s a legume. What tastes like fenugreek and could be substituted?
Hi Matt,
Maybe you could try substituting with a little fresh fennel but if you leave it out entirely, the dish will still be great!
Nina should make it!
I Sarah! I’m making this tonight and I’ve never steamed chard before. Do you steam it like any other veggie? How long do steam it for? Thanks!
Hi Tj,
I steam it just like any other veggie, only takes a few minutes though. I’m sure I’m too late getting back to you – did it turn out ok?? You can also saute it in a bit of coconut oil.
this butter chicken is DELICIOUS! i like it better than when we go out to eat for indian and my husband requests it all the time! love love love it.
Thanks t&b!
My husband made this for me last night out of the cookbook. He NEVER cooks and was able to pull it off. It was delicious and we have a ton of leftovers. Yeah!
Wow! This was utterly fantastic! I made this for lunch today and had to work at not moaning with every bite because I was enjoying it so much. I didn’t have fenugreek so I subbed in turmeric and I cut the chili powder in half because I don’t like much heat. Thank you so much!
Btw, I made your Brussels and bacon recipe from your cookbook two nights ago, and it was also simply fabulous! So double thanks!
Thank you and you are so welcome!
This recipe was to DIE for!!! It was so good. I was surprised how good the sauce was. I made broccoli and cauliflower with it. One of my favorites!!
So glad you liked it Nicki!
Hi Sarah
I just wanted to say I tried this receipe last night and I was nervous about whether I would enjoy it or not. But I LOVED it! It was one of my favourite meals since I started Paleo a month ago.
I couldnt stop myself eating leftovers all evening after this and I cannot wait to have leftovers for lunch!!
You have inspired me to start my own blog targeted at fellow Paleos in Ireland as I think this lifestyle is generally unheard of on this side of the pond!
Thank you for being an inspiration and for being real!
This is cooking in my Le Crueset as I type. Only 1 problem–could not find fenugreek
Hope it still comes out ok!
p.s. Just started Paleo this week after losing 25 lbs on the hCG diet and so far I’m loving it! Your book was the first thing I bought and everything looks great! Made the stuffed portabellos last night and couldn’t stop talking about how great they are. I even had one this morning for breakfast with over-medium eggs on top
It will be fine without the fenugreek but if you have some fennel, that works well as a sub! So glad to hear you are enjoying the book, thank you so much!! : )
Hi, Sarah, I love your cookbook and this recipe is one of the favourites, it is so delicious!!!! I just wanted to say thanks XXXX
Made this last night for dinner and it is one of my new favorite meals! I can’t believe how easy this was to make and how delicious. I used 4 tbsp of curry powder instead of all the spices since I had a hard time finding them. I added a little too much coconut oil, but all in all it was amazing. It’s amazing that this is paleo, love it! Can’t wait to make this again!
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So so so so SO good!
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We this last night for dinner and we all loved it! My 2 and 3 year old girls devoured it, even the red chard! We love your cookbook!! I had fenugreek pills from when I was breastfeeding. I have no idea if it is exactly the same, but I just opened the pills and poured that in. You can get those at Whole Foods or wherever in the supplement section for those having trouble finding it.
This was great but I wish that I had just used the ghee in the beginning rather than the coconut oil. After everything was cooked, I felt guilty adding the extra fat at the end thought it would have been better as a base for the chicken. Either way, it was a hit in the house!
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We made this last night for an Indian-themed dinner, along with cauliflower rice, onion bhaji, and mint chutney. It was great, definitely would do again! Wrote it up here:
http://pamelagoesprimal.com/post/22320141974/paleo-ized-indian-butter-chicken-and-onion-bhaji