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Butter Chicken (Fast & Slow)
This Instant Pot version of classic Indian butter chicken is rich and flavorful, but its creaminess is supplied by just 2 tablespoons of butter along with pureed cashews, not by glugs of heavy cream, as often is the case. For best flavor, use roasted salted cashews rather than raw. The cilantro is used at the very end, so to save time and ensure it remains fresh and fragrant, prep it while the chicken cooks. Serve with basmati rice or warm naan.
4 to 6
Servings
Tip
Don't bother washing out the blender between pureeing the tomatoes and cashews; you can leave the cashew puree in the blender jar until ready to use to avoid dirtying another bowl. After adding the chicken and tomatoes to the pot, stir well to ensure the spices in the marinade are distributed throughout.
FAST: 1 hour
Slow: 3½ to 4½ hours
25 minutes active
Ingredients
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1
28-ounce can whole peeled tomatoes
-
1
cup roasted salted cashews
Directions
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01In a blender, puree the tomatoes with their juices until smooth, about 1 minute; transfer to a medium bowl and set aside. Add the cashews and ¾ cup water to the blender, then puree until smooth, about 1 minute; set aside if pressure cooking or cover and refrigerate if slow cooking. In a large bowl, whisk together the garam masala, cumin, ginger and 2 teaspoons salt. Add the chicken and toss to coat; set aside. On a 6-quart Instant Pot, select More/High Sauté. Add the butter and let melt. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in the chicken and tomatoes, then distribute in an even layer.
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December 31, 2022
Delicious
This is my favorite butter chicken recipe. I love that it doesn’t contain much dairy (lactose intolerant kid). It is easy and consistent. It’s hard to mess this one up!
August 11, 2022
Butter chicken goodness!
First time having butter chicken. It was so flavorful and the chicken was very tender. I love the warmth from the spices and the little bit of heat you get at the end of each bite. Great recipe. I will tweak it a little next time and cut back a little on the cumin (I'm just not a huge fan of it) but other than that it was fantastic. My dad loved it also.
March 13, 2024
Butter Chicken
I can’t believe how smooth the puréed cashews made the sauce for this recipe. I used the fast version and it turned out perfect. I used smoked paprika instead of cayenne and chili seasonings and it was amazing. No need for rice - served it with steamed kale as a side so it was grain free.
January 25, 2024
Fantastic
This is one of the best Butter Chicken recipe I have come across - everyone wants the recipe
January 19, 2024
Excellent
I use my slow cooker for this as I don't have an instant pot. Started and finished on the stove and it was fantastic.
We continued to get a “burn” error on our instant pot ultra with this recipe, even with dumping the contents out and scraping the bottom clean between errors. Any suggestions?
I got the same. This is not unusual with tomato-based sauces. In my case, I tried it again and it worked OK the second time. I would suggest adding maybe 1/2 cup of water before pressure cooking. That should thin out the liquid enough to stop it from burning. Then you can cook it on low saute (or medium saute) for longer than the recipe says -- maybe 10 minutes instead of 4-5 min, to reduce the sauce enough.
I'm wondering if the instructions are missing broth or water. Having tomatoes as the only liquid typically isn't enough. My pressure cooker was unable to get up to pressure. It is a delicious recipe though!
Hi Donee,
One of the tricks we use here at Milk Street to concentrate the flavors of our stews, braises and etc. is to use less liquid.
Best,
The Milk Street Team
I totally appreciate that, but the liquid level was too low to allow the instant pot to reach pressure. Is it possible something was left out?
I totally appreciate that, but the liquid level was too low to allow the instant pot to reach pressure. Is it possible something was left out?
This is absolutely delicious! I followed the recipe exactly and it produced so much flavor and was so rich without being heavy from being loaded with cream and butter like other recipes. I made this in a 6qt Instant Pot and it never fully got up to pressure during the pressure cooking time, however, the chicken was still cooked all the way through between the pressure cook time and the additional sauté time at the end.
Milk Street! Wowza, thanks for yet another fab recipe. I did get the burn error (I was using an 8 qt IP) - I hit cxl, reset the time and it started cooking just fine although I had two areas of slight scorching on the pot when done. Loved making the cashew cream and how it thickened the sauce. I threw in some red pepper flakes and served each bowl with a large wedge of lime - PERFECTION!
would love to see a Milk Street tikka masala recipe some time
Awesome recipe, Milk Street. I followed the recipe as it was stated and it came out perfectly. It was better than the Indian food we had out last week! Please keep coming up with these recipes. I find that I turn more and more to you for that "what's for dinner tonight?" question. Thanks again!
Somewhat Bland and Disappointing. I’ve made this recipe twice and the stove top version twice as well. On the first run of each version it turned out bland and just lacking. I figured the error was my part and my deep desire for yummy Indian food at home caused me to persist and remake each recipe again. I painstakingly followed the recipes, stove top and instant pot. Again just a bit bland, and flat. I made my own naan and added a dollop of yogurt and that helped a bit. Overall I will not be making it again. Still searching for a recipe that comes close to our local family take away restaurant.
I made this last night and had no issues with reaching pressure levels in the instant pot. My family loved this and they are real Butter Chicken lovers. I did actually saute the onion, garlic and mix the chicken and tomatoes on the stove in a dutch oven with a greater surface area, which I usually do when asked to saute in a 6-quart instant pot. Another pan, I know!! But the flavors were complex and delicious!!!
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I need a stovetop instruction.