This butter chicken recipe is so much better than a takeaway curry. It only takes 15 minutes to prepare although you will need at least 30 minutes for the chicken and the spices to marinate. You'll be rewarded with a flavour packed dish.
(1lb 2oz) chicken thigh fillets, cut into bite-size pieces
250g
(9oz) natural yogurt
2Tbsp.
butter, ghee or vegetable oil
2
onions, finely chopped
400g
(14oz) tin chopped tomatoes
fresh coriander, optional, to garnish
Directions
Step 1
With a pestle and mortar, bash open cardamom pods. Pick out seeds and discard husks. Add fenugreek, cumin, cayenne, turmeric, garlic and ginger to the mortar, and pound to make a rough paste.
Step 2
Scrape the paste into a non-metallic bowl, then add cinnamon, chicken, yogurt and some seasoning. Mix, cover, chill for 30min to 24hr.
Step 3
Heat butter/ghee/oil in a large pan and gently fry onions, stirring occasionally, for 15min, until golden. Add chicken mixture and tomatoes. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 15min until chicken is cooked and sauce thickened. Discard cinnamon and check seasoning. Garnish with coriander, if using, and serve with rice or naan breads.
Freeze ahead
Complete recipe, but don’t garnish with coriander. Cool, transfer to a freezer-safe container or bag and freeze for up to 1 month. To serve, defrost in fridge, reheat in a pan until piping hot and complete recipe.
An experienced and highly skilled team of food writers, stylists and digital content producers, the Good Housekeeping Cookery Team is a close-knit squad of food obsessives. Cookery Editor Emma Franklin is our resident chilli obsessive and barbecue expert, who spends an inordinate amount of time on holidays poking round the local supermarkets seeking out new and exciting foods. Senior Cookery Writer Alice Shields is a former pastry chef and baking fanatic who loves making bread and would have peanut butter with everything if she could. Her favourite carb is pasta, and our vibrant green spaghetti is her weeknight go-to. Lover of all things savoury, Senior Cookery Writer Grace Evans can be found eating crispy corn and nocellara olives at every opportunity, and will take the cheeseboard over dessert any time (though she cannot resist a slice of tres leches cake). With a wealth of professional kitchen know-how, culinary training and years of experience between them, they are all dedicated to ensuring every Good Housekeeping recipe is the best it can be, so you can trust they’ll work (and if they don’t – we’ll have the answer for why*) every time (*90% of the time the answer is: “buy an separate oven thermometer”!).
