Easy Indian Butter Chicken Recipe
The number one thing Bart and I miss about Texas is Tejis and their crazy good butter chicken.
Okay, okay, the number one thing we miss are our friends and family there, but the SECOND thing we miss most is Tejis.
We first went there for lunch when I turned 23, after my friend Julie recommended it strongly. At the time, it was about six folding tables set up inside an Indian grocery store and it wasn’t so much that the atmosphere was lacking as much as there was absolutely no atmosphere at all.
You ate your food off a styrofoam plate and looked around at bare walls and linoleum floor. It was fantastic.
By the time we moved away in 2013, it had expanded to a much nicer sit-down restaurant, plus opened a location downtown, we’d met Teji herself, and we’d eaten approximately forty thousand cartons of the best butter chicken I’ve ever had.
Make your own butter chicken
If I lived in Austin, I’d never bother making this butter chicken recipe because I could just go pick it up from Tejis.
But since a fourteen hour drive for Indian butter chicken seems a bit much, this recipe is the closest substitute I’ve found and also, it has a tiny piece of Tejis in it because my garam masala was purchased at the Tejis grocery store many moons ago (and it’s still going strong).
Also, it’s super easy. The only remotely unusual ingredient is the garam masala and most grocery stores sell that these days. If not, you can order it from Amazon for a good price.
If you like this Butter Chicken recipe, check out these recipes too:
Easy Indian Butter Chicken
This Indian butter chicken recipe is so good, you can skip the takeout and enjoy this butter chicken at home, no tipping required!
Ingredients
Marinade:
- 1/2 cup plain Greek Yogurt
- 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
- 2 teaspoons garam masala
- 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 Tablespoon grated fresh ginger
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 2-3 boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into bite-size piece
Sauce:
- 1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 cup tomato sauce
- 1 Tablespoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup whipping cream
- 1 Tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 Tablespoon water
Instructions
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Whisk together the marinade ingredients until smooth and then stir in the chicken until the chicken is thoroughly coated. Let sit for at least 15 minutes or refrigerate up to 24 hours.
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In a large frying pan, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and all the marinade and cook for a few minutes, then turn the chicken pieces so they cook on the other side. Add the tomato sauce, sugar and salt and let simmer on low-heat for about 5-10 minutes, until the chicken is cooked completely through. Stir in the whipping cream. Whisk the cornstarch and water together in a small bowl or cup with a fork then pour into the sauce, while stirring the sauce. Let the sauce come to a simmer again and cook for a minute or two to thicken, then salt to taste and serve with basmati rice and naan bread.
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Enjoy!
Recipe Notes
(slightly adapted from RecipeTin Eats)
I found crushed fresh ginger in a purple square packet that had 24 individual cubes. I put it in the freezer and just pop out the number of cubes I need for a recipe. Can’t remember which store I found it in, but probably Publix or WalMart. It was in the fresh produce section. But I’ve also used fresh and frozen the left over section as you noted.
I used this recipe as a healthy leftover thanksgiving recipe and substituted the chicken for turkey and the whipping cream for half and half and it was delicious!!
Oh that sounds amazing!
As an Austin transplant myself, this recipe satisfied my Teji’s craving in a way that no other recipe has. Thank you so much for sharing!
Oh yay! Any Teji’s lover is welcome here!
So easy (my husband was able to make it while I held a tuckered out babe) and SO SO SO good! Way better than takeout from up the street and our 14month old devoured it!
Yay! I’m so happy to hear it!
We had this for dinner tonight and it was soooo good! Thank you for sharing.
I’m so glad to hear it! Thanks for letting me know.
I want to take a piece of Nan and dip into that sauce! What a gorgeous color and I bet that this dish is absolutely delicious! With more time over the holidays this sounds like a great challenge! We love Indian food, so even if it doesn’t come out as perfect as yours I’m sure we’ll enjoy it. Thanks!
Made this tonight for the first time and I’m mad I waited so long to make it. It was DELICIOUS!! SOOOOO delicious! I’ve tried A LOT of Indian recipes that require A LOT more time and effort and I’ve never made them again because they don’t turn out good enough. This one…I wanted to lick the pan clean. Thank you!
Janssen, I’ve made this twice in the past few months, and it has come out perfectly each time! This is my new go-to Indian butter chicken recipe. I found a perfect naan recipe from gimmesomeoven.com, and it patterns beautifully.
Thank you so much for figuring this out.
I made it even more simply. Season chicken in salt, pepper, turmeric, garam masala, cumin, coriander, and hot paprika. Basically, skip the yogurt portion of the marinade.
Cook seasoned chicken in 4 tablespoons of butter. Once cooked, add one 15 oz. can of tomato sauce, most of a 6oz. can of tomato paste, half cup cream, 1 teaspoon of sugar. Add just a bit more cumin and garam masala to taste.
I followed your recipe to a T the first time, and I honestly think yours has a more Indian flavor than Tejis.
The recipe says serves 3-4. When you multiply it, do you increase the spices evenly? I want to make it for 20 people.
Yes – just 4 or 5x everything.