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This Whole30 Indian butter chicken is super flavorful and comes together quite quickly and easily. One of my favorite Whole30 Indian recipes, this Whole30 Indian butter chicken is a family favorite that even my toddler will eat! Whole30 Indian recipes are a great way to break up the Whole30 heaviness, and you’ll love this Whole30 Indian butter chicken for sure.
My Indian butter chicken recipe has always been a family fave. In fact, I made it for my father in law the first time I ever cooked for him. I stressed over the right recipe to make, rolled out naan from scratch, dashed to the Indian market days before the day, picking up tiny jars of asafoetida and fenugreek leaves and coriander chutney.
If you don’t know, my husband is half Pakistani, his dad born and raised abroad. I wouldn’t quite consider him a foodie; he’s been focused on his work as a research doctor for way too long to care, I think. But I knew I had to make the dinner feel somewhat authentic – as authentic as I could get it at that early stage in our relationship.
I’ve always been drawn to Indian cooking; I’ll always remember that time I was studying for an exam in college and decided to make homemade samosas instead. I didn’t have a rolling pin then, so I stretched the dough out with a can of tomatoes on its side, dipped the misshapen triangles stuffed with potatoes in peas in oil, started a grease fire, freaked out, and still somehow managed to get an A on the exam. It was one of the times that catapulted my obsession with cooking further than the day-to-day cooking borne out of necessity.
No, it was: I’m making art and I can freaking eat it.
So when my father in law came over for dinner for the first time, I knew I had to impress. My Indian butter chicken recipe is easy and flavorful but not heavy, and my perfect naan recipe is, well… perfect.
The meal started a little awkwardly, him wondering, I think, why in the world we wanted him to eat at our house, and ended with him asking for seconds, leaning back in the chair with his hands on his belly, laughing and lingering. Success.
So I knew I had to create a Whole30 Indian butter chicken version of my beloved dish! It’s quite easy as Indian goes, comes together quickly, and is full of flavor. You don’t miss too much from the original recipe, and the addition of coconut cream makes it so rich and so creamy.
We serve this over plenty of cauliflower rice, and it’d be delicious with a quick dairy-free raita on the side, subbing almond or coconut yogurt for regular yogurt. Or serve it with this Indian sautéed spinach! I’ve made this recipe several times and love it.
To make this Whole30 Indian butter chicken, I used…
Whole30 Indian Butter Chicken
Ingredients
- 6 tablespoons ghee divided
- 2 pounds chicken thigh filets cut into bite-sized pieces
- 2 teaspoons garam masala
- 2 teaspoons sweet paprika
- 2 teaspoons ground coriander
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped ginger
- ¼ teaspoon chili powder
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 6 cardamom pods bruised with the flat side of a knife
- 15 ounce can tomato sauce
- 1 tablespoon coconut aminos
- 1 cup coconut cream only the solid white part
- 1 ½ tablespoon fresh lemon juice plus more to taste
- plenty of salt to taste
- fresh cilantro chopped, for garnish
- cooked cauliflower rice to serve
Instructions
- Heat a wok or large skillet until very hot. Add 1 tablespoon ghee and swirl to coat. Add half the chicken and stir fry for 4 minutes, or until lightly browned on all sides and no longer opaque. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside. Add remaining tablespoon ghee and stir fry the remaining half of chicken until browned. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside. Pour out used ghee.
- Reduce the heat to medium-low. Add 1/4 cup ghee to skillet and melt. Add garam masala, sweet paprika, coriander, ginger, chili powder, cinnamon stick, and cardamom pods and stir fry for 1 minute or until fragrant. Return the chicken to the skillet and mix to coat in the spices.
- Add the tomato sauce and coconut aminos and simmer, stirring, for 15 minutes, or until the chicken is tender and the sauce has thickened.
- Add the coconut cream and lemon juice and simmer for 5-10 minutes or until the sauce has thickened slightly. Add plenty of salt to taste; using enough will cut the heavy spice flavor and round out the entire dish. Serve over cooked cauliflower rice with chopped fresh cilantro.
Approximate Information for One Serving
Nutrition Disclaimers
Number of total servings shown is approximate. Actual number of servings will depend on your preferred portion sizes.
Nutritional values shown are general guidelines and reflect information for 1 serving using the ingredients listed, not including any optional ingredients. Actual macros may vary slightly depending on specific brands and types of ingredients used.
To determine the weight of one serving, prepare the recipe as instructed. Weigh the finished recipe, then divide the weight of the finished recipe (not including the weight of the container the food is in) by the desired number of servings. Result will be the weight of one serving.
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Hi! Planning to try this recipe this weekend! Any tips for converting it to a crockpot recipe? Thanks!
Hi, Paige! We have not tried making this in the crock pot, so we can’t say for sure how it would turn out. Let us know if you tried it!
I really like this recipe!
We are so glad! Thanks for sharing, Mary 🙂
Okay, this recipe is fantastic. The first time I followed the directions exactly, and it turned out perfectly. A few days later, I was craving butter chicken again for lunch and wanted to make this, but obviously didn’t have time for the crockpot. So, I cut up some chicken and cooked it in the pan, took it off, cooked the onions and sauce, put the chicken back in, and let it all simmer for about 15 or 20 minutes. It still turned out just as delicious! I feel like butter chicken recipes all have slightly different variations of spices, but in my opinion this one is the best!
Love that, Tara! So glad you enjoy this recipe! Thanks so much for the review!
Can I use ground cardamom instead of pods? If so, how much would you recommend using? Thanks in advance!
Hi Tara! This recipe calls for 6 cardamom pods, which would be 1 teaspoon ground cardamom. Hope you enjoy it!
Love this butter chicken recipe but the original one I had printed out called for tomato paste and I felt the flavors were better than with a fan of tomato sauce.
You can definitely swap the tomato sauce for tomato paste if you like! Glad you enjoyed the recipe. 🙂
This is one of my family’s favorite recipes! I always hope we have left overs but everyone “fights” for the last scoop! My daughter leaves for college tomorrow and when I asked her what she wanted as her “last supper” at home she asked for this. So as you can see it’s a total winner!
Your daughter wanting this as her last meal at home before leaving for college is the highest compliment! So glad you and your family love this dish. 🙂
Thanks For Sharing this Amazing Recipe. My Family Loved It. I will be sharing this Recipe with my Friends. Hope They will like it.
Hi! I’ve made this several times and its amazing. All 5 of my little kids even like it! That said— how would I go about making this vegan— thinking chickpeas instead of chicken (ha!) but it already calls for coconut cream, so not sure how to sub out the ghee. Maybe just remove? Suggestions appreciated! Xo
Ohhh, love that idea! Chickpeas would be delicious. You could substitute the ghee for coconut oil or a vegan butter?
We made this dish over the weekend and WOW! It was a hit! Only change I would make is to double the recipe as there was only the teeniest spoonful left over! This will definitely be added to our family rotation.
Thanks for the kind words!
Wow! What a fantastic dish!
Taste was so yummy and pretty easy to make. Sadly, I never used cardamom pods so not sure I used them correctly. But I will definitely make this again!