Butter Chicken with a Blended Tomato Sauce

Gerzsi wanted butter chicken for supper. Mo wanted to read the recipe first. All of it, out loud, slowly, with his spectacles on the end of his nose. Halfway down the page he stopped. “It says here the chicken sits in yogurt for at least three hours,” he said. “Overnight is best.”

So supper became tomorrow’s supper. Gerzsi stirred salt, ginger and garlic into the yogurt, rolled the chicken thighs through it and put the bowl in the fridge. Then he opened the fridge door to check on it. Then again. Mo started counting. He stopped at eleven.

The next evening the kitchen smelled of toasted cardamom and cinnamon, and the tomato sauce bubbled away for half an hour until it was thick and dark. Then it had to go into the blender, still hot. Gerzsi held the lid with both paws and looked at Mo. Mo took a big step back and polished his spectacles, just in case.

Chef Tamás came over, pulled the little cap out of the blender lid and laid a folded kitchen towel over the top. That is the step in the recipe. The steam got out, the sauce stayed in, and Mo’s spectacles stayed clean.

The chicken went under the broiler until it had brown spots, then into the sauce to finish cooking. Butter chicken started out in restaurant kitchens in Delhi, and Gerzsi served his the restaurant way, with rice, warm naan and a handful of cilantro. Mo read the last line of the recipe out loud. It said “serve.” Nobody needed to be told twice.

Why this one works

The yogurt and salt marinade seasons the thighs all the way through and keeps them tender. A few minutes under a very hot broiler gives the chicken browned, slightly charred spots before it finishes gently in the sauce, so it stays juicy. The whole spices toast in butter first, and the sauce is blended smooth, so every spoonful tastes the same.

Butter Chicken with a Blended Tomato Sauce

• Servings: 6 to 8
• Prep Time: 1 hour active
• Cook Time: 1 hour
• Time: 4 hours (includes 3 hours marinating)
• Difficulty: Intermediate
• Print

Yogurt-marinated chicken thighs, browned under the broiler and finished in a smooth, buttery tomato sauce with warm whole spices.

Ingredients

For the chicken
• 1 1/4 cups (300 g) whole-milk yogurt
• 4 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon finely grated fresh ginger
• 2 garlic cloves, finely grated
• 8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs (about 2 1/2 lb / 1.1 kg)
For the sauce
• 6 tablespoons (85 g) unsalted cultured butter, divided
• 1 teaspoon fenugreek seeds
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 green cardamom pods, lightly cracked
• 1 cinnamon stick, about 3 inches (7.5 cm)
• 1 whole clove
• 1 large onion, sliced
• Kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon finely grated fresh ginger
• 4 garlic cloves, finely grated
• 1 1/2 teaspoons garam masala
• 1 teaspoon Kashmiri red chili powder
• 1 can (28 oz / 794 g) whole peeled tomatoes
• 1/3 cup (80 ml) heavy cream
To serve
• Chopped cilantro leaves and tender stems
• Cooked basmati rice and naan

Directions

1. Marinate: In a large bowl, stir together the yogurt, 4 teaspoons salt, the ginger and the garlic. Turn the chicken in it until every piece is coated. Cover well and refrigerate for at least 3 hours and up to 24. Overnight gives the best result.
2. Toast the spices: Melt 4 tablespoons of the butter in a Dutch oven or other wide, heavy pot over medium heat. Add the fenugreek, bay leaves, cardamom, cinnamon and clove and stir for 1 to 2 minutes, until they darken a little and smell strong.
3. Cook the aromatics: Add the onion and 1 teaspoon salt and cook for 8 to 10 minutes, until golden. Stir in the ginger and garlic and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, until the ginger turns golden and starts to catch on the bottom. Add the garam masala and chili powder and stir for about 1 minute.
4. Simmer: Tip in the tomatoes and crush them with the spoon. Bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer and cook uncovered for about 30 minutes, stirring now and then, until the sauce has cooked down by about half. Fish out the bay leaves and cinnamon stick. The small spices can stay.
5. Blend: Let the sauce cool for 5 minutes. Blend it in batches, filling the jar no more than halfway. Take the center cap out of the lid and cover the opening with a folded towel so steam can escape. Add the last 2 tablespoons of butter and the cream and blend until creamy. Pour the sauce into a clean pot, bring it back to a simmer and season with salt.
6. Broil: Move an oven rack right under the broiler and heat the broiler to high. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil and set a wire rack on it. Lay the chicken on the rack in one layer and broil for 3 to 6 minutes per side, until browned in spots. It will still be underdone inside.
7. Finish: When the chicken is cool enough to handle, cut it into 1-inch (2.5 cm) pieces. Add it to the simmering sauce, cover and cook for 8 to 10 minutes, until cooked through. Stir in the cilantro and serve with rice and naan.

No cultured butter? Use regular unsalted butter plus 1 tablespoon buttermilk.
Kashmiri chili powder is bright red and only mildly hot. Indian and Asian grocers carry it.
Thighs stay juicier than breasts here. The marinade does most of the work, so do not skip it.

🛒 Worth buying for this recipe

• Le Creuset Signature 5½-Quart Round Dutch Oven. America’s Test Kitchen’s winning Dutch oven. Wide and heavy, so the spices toast evenly and the sauce can simmer down without scorching. See it on Amazon
• Vitamix 5200 Blender. The winner of America’s Test Kitchen’s blender test. Turns the cooked tomatoes and spices into a completely smooth sauce. About $445 at the time of their review. See it on Amazon
• Breville Fresh & Furious Blender. America’s Test Kitchen’s midpriced pick, a strong all-rounder that blends a little less finely than the Vitamix. About $150 at the time of their review. See it on Amazon
• Nordic Ware Naturals Half Sheet Pan. The rimmed baking sheet America’s Test Kitchen recommends. It holds the rack and catches the drips under the broiler. See it on Amazon
• Checkered Chef Cooling Rack. America’s Test Kitchen’s favorite half-sheet wire rack. The chicken sits above the pan, so the broiler browns it instead of steaming it. About $28 at the time of their review. See it on Amazon
• Microplane Premium Classic Zester/Grater. America’s Test Kitchen’s best rasp-style grater. Turns ginger and garlic into a fine paste that melts into the marinade. About $19 at the time of their review. See it on Amazon
• Zojirushi 5.5-Cup Neuro Fuzzy Rice Cooker. The winner of America’s Test Kitchen’s rice cooker test, for fluffy basmati on the side. About $224 at the time of their review. See it on Amazon
• Toshiba 6-Cup Rice Cooker with Fuzzy Logic. America’s Test Kitchen’s budget winner among rice cookers. About $160 at the time of their review. See it on Amazon

How Chef Tamás makes it

Chef Tamás thickens the sauce with cashews or almonds. He toasts the whole spices in a dry pan first, with no butter. He also makes a spiced butter: he warms whole cumin and cardamom in butter over low heat until they smell fragrant, then takes the pan off the heat and stirs in the ground paprika, so it doesn’t burn. For a Hungarian twist he adds a little sweet Hungarian paprika and a pinch of smoked paprika.

🧰 Tools we use

Tamás didn’t name brands for this one. The linked models are America’s Test Kitchen’s picks for the same jobs.

• A cast-iron Dutch oven for the sauce. See the ATK pick on Amazon
• A high-powered blender to make the sauce smooth. See the ATK pick on Amazon
• A rice cooker for the rice. See the ATK pick on Amazon

💡 Chef Tamás’s tricks

• His main trick: he browns the chicken separately under a very hot broiler and cooks the sauce smooth on its own. That way the meat gets a little char and the sauce stays silky.
• Marinate the chicken overnight.
• Add a smoky note, from charcoal or smoked paprika.
• Balance the sauce with a little honey or sugar.
• Stir part of the butter in at the very end.
• The most common mistakes he sees: the marinating time is too short, the sauce stays too sour, and the sauce isn’t smooth enough.
• How he serves it: with pickles or kovászos uborka (Hungarian naturally fermented cucumbers), with paprika or a lecsó base for a Hungarian touch, and with sour cream in place of the yogurt. Or with nokedli or galuska instead of rice, which makes it a properly Hungarian, saucy dish. A little fresh parsley on top works too.
• He cooks the sauce ahead. It keeps for 3 to 4 days in the fridge.

Adapted from The Best Butter Chicken by Food Network Kitchen on Food Network. Cooked our way at the inn.

Sources

• Food Network: The Best Butter Chicken (Food Network Kitchen)
• America’s Test Kitchen: The best Dutch ovens
• America’s Test Kitchen: The best blenders
• America’s Test Kitchen: The best wire racks
• America’s Test Kitchen: The best rasp-style graters
• America’s Test Kitchen: The best rice cookers
• TechRadar: Best ereaders (Kobo Clara BW, best budget ereader)