BEST BUTTER CHICKEN with the silkiest, creamiest curry sauce

There's a reason why butter chicken is one of the most popular curry recipes at Indian restaurants, and it's this. The ultra-creamy and buttery sauce perfectly balances the bold and rich spices. It's seriously delicious. The chicken is marinated in a spiced yogurt mix, which makes it juicy and flavorful. And after a quick sear, the chicken is served in the oh-so-delicious curry sauce that's a blend of tomatoes, spices, cream, and of course, a little butter. Though I will tell you how to make it dairy-free in the video as well. Serve this butter chicken recipe over rice, sprinkle a little cilantro on top, and you are done. I know you guys are really gonna love this recipe, especially if you love bold flavor, so let me show you how to make it. As I mentioned in the intro, butter chicken has bold flavor, and a lot of that comes from dried spices, which we'll get to in a second. But there's also some simple aromatics you'll need to prep, including mincing some ginger and garlic, and dicing an onion. You'll need about four teaspoons of minced ginger, which will be split between the marinade and the sauce, and six garlic cloves, which will also be split between the marinade and the sauce. If you wanna save a little time in the kitchen, you can also buy a jar of garlic ginger paste, which is already a blend of the two, and add a tablespoon of that to the marinade and a tablespoon of it to the sauce. And if you forget all of that, I've also got it listed on the printable recipe on my website, which is linked below. Now, butter chicken is traditionally made with chicken thighs, so that's what I'm using today. But you could also easily substitute chicken breasts in this recipe. I personally love chicken thighs, as the meat is super juicy, but it's up to you. Either way, you'll need about a pound and a half of chicken, and then dice it up into one inch to one and a half inch pieces. These don't have to be perfect, just think bite-sized. And once you've got the chicken all chopped up, add it to a mixing bowl. To marinate the chicken, you'll need a half a cup of Greek yogurt. And if you're dairy-free, you can go ahead and sub dairy-free yogurt in here. One tablespoon of fresh lemon juice, two teaspoons of the minced ginger, and three garlic cloves that you can mince right into the bowl. Next come the spices, and you'll need one teaspoon of Kashmiri red chili powder. Red chili powder is not the same as American chili powder, which you might use in, say, a chili con carne recipe. That chili powder is a blend of spices, whereas red chili powder is simply ground chili peppers, and it's much more vibrant red in color. I'll also add that there's a difference between plain red chili powder and Kashmiri red chili powder, which is used in this recipe. The former is considered very hot, whereas Kashmiri chili powder is more mild in heat. I accidentally bought the wrong one when making this recipe once before, and let's just say that it definitely got my sinuses going. To that, you'll add a teaspoon of garam masala, a teaspoon of ground turmeric, and a teaspoon of kosher salt. Give that a stir so that the spices get mixed into the yogurt, and then the chicken gets well-coated in everything. Marinate this in the fridge for ideally a few hours or overnight, but if you're on a time crunch, even 30 minutes will add a bunch of flavor and make the chicken ultra-moist. So once your chicken has marinated, add two tablespoons of olive oil or avocado oil to a large saute pan on medium-high heat, and give that a swirl to make sure that the bottom is fully coated. Use tongs to add your yogurt and spice-marinated chicken to the pan, and you may need to work in two batches, depending on the size of your pan. It's best not to crowd the pan, though I'm doing a pretty bad job of that today as I had a little bit more than a pound and a half of chicken. Cook the chicken on one side for about three minutes, then flip it over and cook for another two to three minutes until the chicken is opaque and cooked through. Then use your tongs to remove the chicken to a bowl. I should also note that the chicken won't really brown in this recipe because of the yogurt marinade, so once it's cooked through, you can remove it from the pan. And if there's juices and marinade still in the pan, that's fine, as you can cook the onions in whatever's left. So add the onions to the pan and saute them for about three to four minutes, or until softened and translucent. And if you feel like you need to add a little splash of oil to the pan during this process, go ahead and do that. Then add two teaspoons of minced ginger, three minced garlic cloves, one teaspoon of Kashmiri red chili powder, one teaspoon of garam masala, half a teaspoon of ground coriander, and half a teaspoon of cumin. Give that a quick stir to toast the spices and make them fragrant, then add a quarter cup of raw cashews and one 15-ounce can of crushed tomatoes. You'll also need to add one cup of water, and what I like to do is just fill the tomato can about 2 1⁄3 full with water and add that. Lastly, for a little sweet to balance the spices, add one tablespoon of coconut sugar or honey or your sweetener of choice. Give that a stir, reduce the heat to low, and bring it to a simmer, and let it simmer for about five minutes so that all of the flavors can meld together. The next step is what makes my butter chicken recipe I think the best butter chicken recipe, not that I'm biased at all, but it's the combination of cashews and a high-powered blender because it makes for the most silky, smooth, and luxurious curry sauce. If you guys have ever blended soaked cashews before, you know just how creamy they turn out. So carefully transfer the sauce to a blender, and if you don't have a high-powered blender, you could also transfer this to a bowl and use an immersion blender. Add the lid, then blend the sauce on high for about a minute or until it's ultra smooth and a bright orange color, and then take it back over to the stove. Use paper towels to quickly wipe the pan clean or go ahead and wash the pan as you don't want any remnant chunks because we've just worked so hard to make a silky, smooth sauce. Then add two tablespoons of butter and one cup of heavy cream over medium heat. If you're dairy sensitive, substitute with ghee or oil and coconut cream. Then pour your blended curry sauce into the pan, and I make sure to get every last little bit out of my Vitamix container by using the under blade scraper. Then stir it all together. I honestly love this part, the stirring it all together, because once you blend the butter and cream with the sauce, it seriously becomes velvety smooth. And then all that's left to do is add the cooked chicken back to the pan with the curry sauce and stir it for three to five minutes or until the chicken is warmed through. There's so much to love about Indian food, especially when rich curry sauces are involved, and digging into a bowl of this brings back all of the fond memories I have from traveling India nearly 20 years ago. And side note, I need to go back for an updated trip because time just flies too darn fast. Butter chicken is delicious served on top of basmati rice because the rice soaks up all that liquid gold curry sauce. And of course, I would be remiss if I didn't remind you that this also makes for one fantastic meal prep recipe that you can freeze and easily reheat in the future. You could freeze the butter chicken in a separate container to the rice, or you can freeze the two already combined together. It's up to you. Before serving, top it off with a sprinkle of fresh cilantro, and that's it. The most delicious butter chicken recipe that will definitely have you and your family going back for seconds. I hope you guys enjoyed today's video, and if you did, share it with your family and friends, and give it a thumbs up, especially if you'd like to see more Indian recipes like tikka masala in the future.