Stovetop Indian Butter Chicken

The only Indian meal I have ever made was curry. One time. Indian food is not something I'm great at, but I do have to say that this butter chicken recipe was excellent. This recipe was requested by my 14 year old son. He is taking a cooking course this semester and is learning a lot about different countries and wanted to try new foods. The sauce to this recipe was light, creamy and spicy. The chicken was a tad sweet with a thick layer of tandoori masala. The rice and bread soaked up the sauce and balanced out the ingredients perfectly. 

Try this stovetop Indian Butter Chicken with creamy, spiced sauce and tender chicken. Easy, family-friendly, and full of flavor!

Indian Butter Chicken in a bowl next to toasted bread.

• Difficulty Level: Easy-Moderate
• Serving size: For sauce - 3 servings, for the chicken - 4-5 servings
• Total cook time: 30 minutes
Sauce - 30 minutes
Chicken - 7-10 minutes
The sauce simmers for 30 minutes, and while it cooks, you prepare the chicken at the same time—so the total cook time remains about 30 minutes.
• Total prep time:  5-10 minutes
• Family friendly: Yes, we loved it. My son and fiancé love spice - I don't but I cleared my plate
• Rating: 9/10
• Serving suggestions: Serve with rice (we made brown rice but next time we will do a basmati rice) and Naan bread or any type of bread if you have it

Why You Will Love This Butter Chicken

I've had Indian food several times throughout my life and the smell and taste was very close to a homemade Indian meal. It's not just a buttery flavor, it's true seasonings and flavors from India that mesh perfectly with the sauce and the chicken. 

We combined chicken, butter, and sauces with garam masala and tandoori masala. We also added cayenne pepper for extra spice. The sauce itself will be super spicy. If you aren't a huge spice fan like myself, add the chicken and sauce to a layer of rice. You can also omit the cayenne pepper.

My Best Tips

• I suggest using Naan bread as a more traditional side
• Next time we will use a basmati rice instead of brown rice

How This Recipe was Inspiring

This recipe was inspired by AllRecipes - for an easy Indian butter chicken. We did not do the caramelized onions and, instead, added onion and garlic powder to the sauce. We did not add salt (I never use salt in my meals), we did not use heavy cream but milk instead and used half the amount of milk as well as half the amount of tomato sauce. If you want more sauce, you can double the milk and tomato sauce in the ingredient list below. 

We also did not use vegetable oil but just a cooking spray. And we cooked our chicken on the stove as our oven is not working at the moment.

If You Enjoy Authentic or International Chicken Recipes, You May Want to Try

Adjust to Your Liking

  • If you don't want a lot of heat, you can omit the cayenne pepper 

Ingredients for Indian Butter Chicken

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Note: Substitute heavy cream for milk if you prefer a richer sauce. Add chili powder or paprika instead of cayenne for a milder flavor.

How to Make This Stovetop Indian Butter Chicken
You can easily make this butter chicken on the stove in under 30 minutes — here’s how we did it step-by-step.

Ingredients for Butter Chicken, laid out on the countertop.

✓ Step #1: Make the sauce - Heat a pan on the stove on Medium-high heat. Add in milk, tomato sauce, 3/4 cup butter, cayenne pepper and garam masala. Bring to a boil, reduce to low and stir occasionally, for 30 minutes. 

Spicy sauce for Butter Chicken, cooking in a pan on the stove.

✓ Step #2: Add garlic and onion powder – In a bowl, add the garlic powder and onion powder. After 5-10 minutes of the sauce simmering, add in the powders. 

Garlic powder and onion powder in a bowl, ready to be added to a Butter Chicken sauce.

The sauce for Indian Butter Chicken.

✓ Step #3: Cook chicken – Again, while the sauce is simmering, start cooking the chicken. In another pan on the stove, set the heat to medium-high. Add the remainder 2 tbsp of butter and the diced chicken and top with 2 tbsp tandoori masala. Cook until the chicken is cooked all the way through -7-10 minutes. You can also cook the rice at this point if you choose to make rice.

Chicken and tandoor masala on the stove.

✓ Step #4: Serve – Add rice to the bottom of a bowl. Follow it with cooked chicken and sauce. For the bread, we broke apart the flour tortilla pockets, sprayed with PAM, added garlic powder and place on the stove for 30 seconds per side. Dip in the chicken and serve immediately. 

A bowl of Indian Butter Chicken with bread next to it, ready to serve.

Storage Tips

Store chicken and sauce in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. Reheat on the stove or in the microwave, until warm.

About the Author

Abbie Guerrero is the creator of Savvy with Abbie and has been blogging since 2009. She has developed over 800 original recipes and shares thoughtful book reviews and personal reflections. Writing has been a lifelong passion and a meaningful form of self-expression. Recipe and photos by Abbie Guerrero. All photos are original.

What Did You Think?

Did you love this Indian Chicken like we did? What did you think?

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