Let the oven do all the work – marinate the chicken, add in a paste and out comes tender, juicy chicken in a tomato-based creamy gravy.
I’ve always loved butter chicken. And something told me my kids might too. However all the butter chicken recipes I had been browsing, had some complicated steps or rather which I felt was too time consuming for me (though they were good recipes). I wanted something I didn’t have to fuss over too much. And I found one!
recipetineats – which is a website I sometimes scour for inspiration had a brilliant recipe which once I tried early this year, I knew would be on rotation. It called for marinating the chicken (right before chucking in oven which means no need the ‘night before kinda marinating’ planning which really I don’t have the mental energy for), and throwing in some ingredients to form the paste for the butter chicken gravy and placing in oven. To start, you will need a mixing bowl and an oven-proof dish on standby.
I use either bone-in or boneless chicken thighs (I believe I’ve tried these with drumsticks too – but cooking time might need to be adjusted). I start with marinating the fellas with some salt (always hit the raw meat with salt first I feel), ginger + garlic, spice powders and yogurt. Give it a mix and transfer to an oven proof dish – which I usually line with some foil for easier clean up. I then use the same mixing bowl to form my butter chicken paste.
The paste is the biggest difference with this recipe and the one from the original. In that recipe, Nagi (owner of the site) uses tomato passata. When I first tried out the recipe I used this as well but I found the gravy tends to get quite runny. So I improvised and used tomato paste instead and found the consistency of the butter chicken gravy was much better! I also reduced the amount of whipping cream required and altered other measurements which I found worked for us. Together with some ghee, whipping cream, salt and sugar – the paste comes together and is added onto the chicken. Note: Tomato passata is something I use in this recipe instead.
Remainder tomate paste can be frozen and kept for a while. You can use it also as a base for pizza toppings too.
Once the paste is mixed, I slather it on the chicken and chuck it in the oven. As the chicken cooks and releases its juice, it combines with the paste to form a creamy based tomato gravy with added richness from the ghee. Toward the end of cooking time, I add in some frozen peas and remove from oven shortly after. Garnishing with coriander, just brings the dish together. We have this with rice and another side but it would go great with rotis as well. It’s a great dish for kids as the creaminess from the gravy and the succulent chicken will surely be to their liking.
This recipe is for you especially if you have the ingredients already in your pantry. I usually keep a small tin of ghee which I also use for this chicken kurma. Tomato paste is something I also have in my pantry as I add it in my beef stews. If you wish to use tomato passata too (instead of tomato paste) that’s fine too, I usually use it in my bolognese.
Did you try this recipe?
Please do let me know if you've tried it, by leaving a comment or tagging me on IG @thesuddencook.
Baked Butter Chicken Inspired by Recipetineats
Ingredients
- 800g to 1kg Skinless Chicken Thighs Thighs be cut into bite sized pieces or used whole. I usually make slits in the fleshy parts. You could also use drumsticks.
Marinate chicken with:
- 1/3 cup plain yogurt
- ginger + garlic Pounded or minced/grated
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 2 tsp garam masala
- 1.5 tsp chilli powder
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1/2 tsp salt
Butter Chicken Paste:
- 2 tbsp ghee
- 1/2 cup whipping cream / heavy cream
- 120g (About 8 tbsp) tomato paste Freeze what is left. You can use it in beef stews, spread on pizza as the base etc.
- 1.5 tsp white sugar
- 3/4 tsp salt
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 200C.
- In a mixing bowl, marinade the chicken with the ingredients listed above.
- Transfer marinated chicken to an oven-proof dish. In the same mixing bowl (used to marinate the chicken), place all butter chicken paste ingredients and mix.
- Place mixed butter chicken paste on marinated chicken in the oven proof dish and spread out. Transfer into oven for 30-35 minutes.
- Add some frozen peas the last 5 mins. Remove from oven and let sit. Garnish with coriander.
Notes
- You could use chicken thighs or chicken drumsticks. Cooking time may vary but drumsticks might take around 40mins in the oven. Make slits in the thick parts of the flesh beforehand.
- The butter sauce paste will cook out in the oven and turn into a luscious gravy as it cooks with the chicken juices.
- You can line your oven proof dish with aluminium foil for easy clean up.
- I use a temperature of 200C but every oven is different and temperatures may vary.
