If you like a LOT of sauce in your butter chicken, then this is the recipe for you - healthy, thick and delicious Clean Eating Butter Chicken.
A kid pleasing, happy faces, more-please-Mom family dinner. This recipe makes a MASSIVE, family sized pot of butter chicken that is surprisingly low in calories and packed with flavor.
Serve it with a side of steamed brown rice and these two ingredient, soft naan bread sub.
I'm sitting at my desk in the middle of a heat wave. There is no air con this side of the house. Just me and the cat. He seems surprisingly chill considering every inch of him is covered in a fut coat.
All I'm thinking right now is - thank goodness I made this Butter Chicken this morning. Because there is no way I'd be in a hot kitchen right now.
The family doesn't know how lucky they are that they are getting dinner tonight. It was so nearly egg on toast.
How to make Homemade Butter Chicken
There are two parts to this recipe.
- Marinating and grilling your chicken breasts
- Make up your Butter Chicken Sauce
Marinated Chicken pieces.
Chicken Marinade Ingredients
Grab a large mixing bowl and mix these ingredients together:
- ¼ cup plain yogurt
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon garam masala
- 1 tablespoon tumeric
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon chilli powder (this is where you decide how hot you want your chicken. Anything above 1 teaspoon will take it into the 'medium' kind of spicy)
Marinated Chicken Instructions
Mix all the marinade ingredients together to form a smooth paste.
Add your raw chicken breasts to the bowl.
Stir to coat the chicken entirely with marinade.
Cover and pop the chicken in the fridge for no less than 1 hour (3 hours is best). The longer you leave it, the more flavorful the chicken at the end.
{3 HOURS LATER.....}
Preheat your oven to 200'c / 400F.
Line an oven tray with baking paper and lay out your marinated chicken breasts.
Pop your chicken in a hot oven for 12 -15 minutes. Remove from the oven and cut into bite size pieces.
Your chicken will be still slightly undercooked and edges should have blackened a little. You can choose to grill your chicken instead as this will result in more blackened edges. Just be sure to keep an eye on it so that it doesn't burn.
How to Make Your Butter Chicken Sauce
The best time to make your sauce is while your chicken is grilling/baking in the oven as it takes roughly the same time to cook.
Ingredients for the Butter Chicken Sauce
- 2 tablepsoons olive oil
- 2 medium onions, finely sliced
- 2 teaspoons garlic, crushed
- 2 teaspoons ginger, minced
- 1 tablespoon garam masala
- 2 cups chopped tomatoes (fresh or canned, 250ml)
- ½ cup fresh cream (125ml)
- ¼ cup fresh coriander, chopped
Instructions
Heat a large pot on the stove top. Add olive oil and onions and fry for 5 -6 minutes to soften. Stir frequently to prevent onions burning before they soften.
Add ginger and garlic...
and a tablespoon of garam masala spice.
Stir in 2 cups of chopped tomatoes.
Cover and simmer on medium heat for about 15 minutes.
Stir in your fresh cream
To blend or not to blend .... this is totally up to you. I generally don't blend my sauce as I like a more textured butter chicken sauce where I can see the onion pieces. But when my kids were little, the smooth sauce won every time.
To make your sauce smooth, you can either use a stick blender or transfer to a blender fro a few seconds.
Once blended, it will look like this:
Add your chicken pieces to the sauce and stir through. Return to the heat and simmer for 5 -10 minutes uncovered. The sauce will thicken slightly. Remove from the heat and stir through your fresh coriander.
Serve with a side or brown rice and homemade naan bread (I use this two ingredient recipe for this) to scoop up the sauce. YUM!!
Clean Eating Butter Chicken
Clean Eating Butter Chicken
Ingredients
- 4 chicken breast fillets 800g
Chicken Marinade
- ½ cup yogurt 125ml
- 2 tablespoon lemon juice freshly squeezed
- 1 tablespoon garam masala
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon tumeric
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 tsp chilli powder
Butter Chicken Sauce (in order of use)
- 2 tablespoon olive oil or ghee
- 2 med onions finely sliced
- 2 teaspoon crushed garlic 4 cloves
- 2 teaspoon minced ginger
- 1 tablespoon garam masala
- 1 teaspoon brown sugar optional
- 2 cups crushed tomatoes 500ml
- ½ cup cream 125ml
- ¼ cup coriander fresh, chopped
Instructions
Marinated Chicken
- Mix all the marinade ingredients together to form a smooth paste. Add your raw chicken breasts to the bowl. Stir to evenly coat the chicken in marinade.Cover and place in the fridge for 3 hours.
- Heat an oven to 400F/ 200C.
- Line an oven tray with baking paper and place your chicken breasts on the tray. Bake for 15 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and slice your chicken into bite sized pieces. Set aside.
Butter Chicken Sauce
- Heat a saucepan on the stove: Add olive oil and sliced onion. Fry for 5 - 6 minutes, stirring frequently, until onion has softened.
- Stir in garlic, ginger, garama masala and tomatoes. Bring back to a simmer, cover the pot and simmer for 10 minutes.
- Remove from the heat and stir in cream. If you want a smooth sauce, then blend the sauce at this point using a stick blender or transferring the sauce to your blender. It will only need a few seconds of blending.
- Add your chicken pieces to the sauce and bring back to a simmer. Simmer for an additional 5 - 10 minutes (to make sure chicken is cooked through)
- Serve with brown rice and naan bread
Nutrition
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