This is a streamlined version of everybody’s favourite butter chicken, designed to make right now! So easy it’s unbelievable – just put everything in a pan then pop it in the oven. All the flavour, with a fraction of the effort. This is a one-pot meal game-changer!
Dear readers – Before jumping into today’s recipe, just a quick thank you for all the lovely messages of support and congratulations on the new food bank kitchen for RecipeTin Meals. Today was the teams’ first day cooking in the new kitchen – all the space was a luxury! We are so excited about the possibilities, the ability to increase the number of meals we make and people we can help. Here are some snaps from today. – N x ❤️
Butter chicken – in just a few steps!
Butter Chicken has been one of my most popular recipes from the moment I published it. Readers tell me they love it because it tastes “totally legit” yet you can get everything from regular grocery stores and it’s very straight forward.
Well, your Butter Chicken loving life is about to get even better because here’s a one-pan baked version that’s even easier! It’s one of those “dump and bake” recipes. I hate that phrase because I feel like it undermines the recipe. But that’s exactly what this recipe is. You put everything in a baking dish – curry slathered chicken and the sauce – then you put it in the oven.
The end result tastes just as good as regular Butter Chicken. Some would say better, because whole chicken thighs are juicier than bite size pieces!
Ingredients in butter chicken
The ingredients in this one-pan baked version of Butter Chicken are the same as the original Butter Chicken, though quantities are different for a couple of items which is explained below.
CHICKEN AND MARINADE (BUT NO MARINATING REQUIRED!)
I will continue to call this the butter chicken marinade even though you don’t need to marinade for this baked version! Why? Because the chicken is baking in the sauce for 45 minutes during which time enough flavour infusion happens. But, you can marinade overnight if you’d like, to get even more flavour into the flesh!
Chicken – The best chicken to use for this one-pan baked version is bone-in chicken thighs. This is because they remain juicy for the 45 minute bake time required for the sauce to thicken and develop flavour. We remove the skin (it’s easy, just peel it off) to prevent the sauce from getting too greasy.
Other chicken options – Drumsticks (excellent), boneless thighs (not as good but will work), breast (bite size chunks, my least preferred). I’ve included directions for each of these in the recipe notes.
Yoghurt – This is what makes the spices stick to the surface of the chicken. Use any plain yogurt. Not sweetened and certainly not flavoured! Full fat is best, though low fat will work too.
Lemon juice – For a touch of tang. Apple cider vinegar will also work (or other mild clear vinegar – white wine vinegar etc).
Ginger and garlic – Fresh, finely grated so you don’t have lumps in the sauce. Using paste out of a jar is not the same – it’s sour and the flavour is nowhere near as good!
Chilli powder – Pure & spicy, not the US tex-mex chili blend. Else, use cayenne pepper. Butter chicken isn’t spicy, we only use 1/2 teaspoon for a fair amount of sauce. But if you’re concerned, leave it out.
Garam masala – An Indian curry spice mix widely available at regular grocery stores these days. Doesn’t cost any more than regular spices!
Other spices – Turmeric and cumin powder.
Salt – My original Butter Chicken recipe doesn’t need salt in the marinade because it’s seared then simmered in the sauce. Because we plonk-and-bake in this recipe, salt in the marinade is needed else the surface of the chicken is a bit bland.
Butter chicken CURRY sauce
Butter chicken curry sauce doesn’t call for many ingredients because the curry flavour comes from the chicken marinade.
Ghee is a type of clarified butter that is commonly used in Indian cooking, for intense buttery flavour. Kept in the pantry not fridge. Sold at regular grocery stores, or make your own, or just use butter.
Tomato passata – Pureed, strained pure tomatoes, sometimes labelled “tomato puree” in the US (here’s a photo of Mutti brand sold at Walmart). It’s readily available in Australian supermarkets nowadays, alongside pasta sauces. Passata is excellent for making thick, smooth sauces. More on tomato passata here.
Cream – Thickened / heavy cream is best because it is thicker than regular cream. But regular cream will work too and if your sauce is a bit thinner than ideal at the end, just pop the pan back in the oven with just sauce in it for a few minutes (it thickens quickly).
Sugar – Just 1 1/2 teaspoons, to achieve the right flavour tone in the sauce.
How to make One-pan Baked Butter Chicken
As I said from the outset – put everything in the pan and shove it in the oven!!! OK, OK, there’s one or two minor little details to add to that. 🙂
Coat chicken – Mix the marinade ingredients in a bowl then toss to coat the chicken.
Mix the sauce ingredients in a baking pan.
Place the chicken in. Scrape out all the residual marinade and dab onto the skin. Don’t waste any of it, that’s all butter chicken flavour!
Bake for 45 minutes at 200°C / 400°F (180°C fan-forced), basting at the 30 minutes and 40 minute mark. We need a slightly hot oven to get good colour on the chicken and reduce the sauce.
Basting – Basting just means spooning sauce over the chicken. After the 2nd baste at the 40 minute mark, I like to put the chicken back in so it browns nicely.
Done! When you pull it out of the oven, the surface of the chicken should be golden and the sauce will have transformed from the unremarkable looking pink watery mixture you mixed up at the beginning into your favourite butter chicken sauce!
SAUCE THICKNESS TROUBLE-SHOOTING
The rate at which the sauce will thicken and darken in colour will differ depending on variables including the accuracy and heat distribution of your oven, the pan you use (and how it conducts/retains heat) and the juiciness of your chicken (frozen-thawed chicken can be more watery inside, and some economical chicken can be pumped up with brine which also means more water comes out when it cooks).
But tweaking at the end is so easy. Just take the chicken out – it needs to rest for 5 to 10 minutes before serving anyway – then pop the pan with the sauce back into the oven. It will thicken quickly, so keep an eye on it.
Serving baked butter chicken
While the chicken is in the oven, steam some basmati rice to serve it with. Place a juicy piece of chicken on top then smother with a generous amount of sauce (I never skimp on sauce, so there is plenty!).
For a splash of fresh green colour, add some coriander/cilantro leaves (whole or chopped). Then dive in. To make everyone even happier, add naan for mopping the bowl clean. If you’re yet to try homemade naan, it needs to be pushed to the top of your list!! The dough doesn’t requiring kneading. It’s extremely straightforward.
Love to know what you think if you try this Baked Butter Chicken. Oh, and did I mention the option to assemble tonight to pop into the oven tomorrow? The ultimate meal-prep. – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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One-pan Baked Butter Chicken
Ingredients
- 1.2 kg/ 2.4lb (6 pieces) bone-in chicken thighs , skin removed (Note 1)
Butter chicken marinade:
- 1/2 cup plain yoghurt , full fat
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp ginger , finely grated
- 2 cloves garlic , finely grated or crushed
- 1 tsp turmeric powder
- 2 tsp garam masala (Note 2)
- 1/2 tsp chilli powder (pure, not US blend) or cayenne pepper powder
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1/2 tsp cooking salt / kosher salt
Butter chicken curry sauce:
- 2 tbsp/ 30g melted ghee or butter (Note 3)
- 1 cup tomato passata (US: tomato puree) (Note 4)
- 3/4 cup heavy / thickened cream (or regular cream, or coconut milk)
- 1 1/2 tsp white sugar
- 3/4 tsp cooking salt / kosher salt
Serving:
- 1/2 cup coriander leaves (cilantro) , for garnish (optional)
- Basmati rice or other plain rice
- Naan (easy – no kneading required!)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200°C / 400°F (180°C fan-forced).
- Coat chicken – Mix the marinade ingredients in a bowl, then add the chicken and toss to coat.
- Optional marinade – overnight. (Note 5)
- Assemble – Mix Sauce ingredients in a 23 x 33cm / 9 x 13" baking dish. Place chicken in, smooth side up. Scrape residual marinade out of bowl and dab onto chicken surface.
- Bake 45 minutes, basting with sauce at the 30 minute and 40 minute mark. The sauce will change from pink to orangey-red (Note 6 for sauce thickening).
- Serve – Rest for 5 minutes. Then serve over basmati rice, garnished with coriander if desired! Naan for mopping would make everyone extra happy. 🙂
Recipe Notes:
- Drumsticks will also works, use a bit more.
- Boneless thighs – get the sauce going first for around 20 min then add the chicken and bake for a further 15 – 20 min until just cooked through.
- Breast – personally don’t recommend, flavour result won’t be the same (it’s so lean!). But if you insist, here’s how I’d do it! Cut ~650g/1.3lb into big bite size pieces, cook per boneless thighs above (I’d spray the chicken).
Nutrition Information:
Life of Dozer
I wasn’t at RTM today. I was back in the office, schlepping away on the computer writing up today’s post. I want to tell you here’s Dozer, consoling me because I’m feeling left out. But actually, he just wants that treat on the table. 😂
Holy cow. I love everything about this recipe. Your instructions and photos were perfect and the results were AMAZING! I stood over the dish when it came out if the oven and kept taking little “tastes”. I had to five myself to stop or there may not have been anything left for the family! I used boneless thighs which I’m not a huge fan of but dang, they were good! I used heavy whipping cream (US) but next time I’ll try coconut milk. Never knew about tomato puree but that a winner too. Lots of leftover sauce but totally fine by me! Thank you!
Nagi – your butter chicken is my go to so this was a much welcome easier/quicker recipe to follow just in time for Diwali. And at 34 weeks pregnant, it was just the amount of effort I could deal with! I did end up thickening the sauce on the stove as I found it was a bit slow going in the oven and I needed 20 more minutes in the oven for my giant chicken thigh cutlets at woolies to cook through. Winner winner butter chicken dinner praised by both Aussie and Indian family alike!
Nagi – if you read this I just want to say a massive thank you. A few months ago I left work, burnt out, fed up and lost… my husband was happy to support us but did keep dropping hints about when I might return to work.. Then I discovered YOU… I cooked your recipes, I fell back in love with cooking – husband now does NOT want me to go back to work and is happy for me to keep making amazing food and can see I am enjoying every minute of it. Nothing fails, Everything works. it’s super tasty.. its a massive hit so thank you for all of this and sharing your passion.
Just as good as the stove version. However, with this recipe you can slam it in the oven and use the cooking time to do something else like have a hot bath or perhaps a glass of wine with company.
Incredible recipe. Made this with drumsticks and omitted chilli powder as I was making this for my 2 year old. Marinated chicken overnight and this dish was so delicious and easy to make. My toddler devoured it and will definitely add this to our dinner rotation.
I love your original Butter Chicken but this one is phenomenal! The whole family loved it wiping their plates first with nan bread and then with their fingers! Thank you Nagi!
Do I put in oven covered with Alfoil or uncovered ?
Just leave uncovered. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
If I use drumsticks should I still remove the skin?
Great recipe that I plan to make often. So delicious!!
I made this for dinner tonight. I did marinate overnight, skinless thighs, bone-in as recommended. The meat was fall off the bone tender. So delicious. I could eat the sauce with a spoon!
TO DIE FOR! Didn’t have cream, used coconut milk…also had pasta sauce left overs..(not just passata) and butter instead of gee (need to buy some!) it was still amazing. Used huge ,marylands so increased cooking time a little …
Vika – I’d highly recommend buying 500g of unsalted butter and making your own jar of ghee! It’s so so very simple and so so cheap compared to buying ready made ghee! Best of all, Nagi has a recipe on the blog to make your own 🙂
This was so delicious, I ate too quickly and was disappointed to find I’d finished!
Quick question … Do you still need to remove the skin when using drumsticks?
Butter chicken recipe was delicious and easy however the sauce had to be thickened. Will definitely make again. Thank you Nagi
One-Pan Butter Chicken: Haven’t made this yet Nagi… noticed you mention basmati rice as a side. A few years ago we went to a Persian restaurant here in Scottsdale Arizona where they served a very long white rice on the plate that was lighter than usual. Found out later at the attached Middle Eastern grocery that it is Extra Long Basmati rice that comes from India. Not long after we were in our local Costco warehouse and found they carry 20 pound bags of this rice for about US $17, so we purchased a bag (can find/purchase online too); comes out very nice in our Zojirushi rice cooker…. just thought I’d throw that in.
Hi Nagi,
I would give this 10 stars! We made it for dinner last night and we are still raving about it this morning. We followed your directions to a T using greek yogurt and it was AMAZING!! Thank you for such a flavorful, easy, dinner. Easy enough for a weeknight, fancy enough for company!
WoW! I made this last night as a trial before we have company for dinner. Fabulous! And so easy. My Basmati Rice came out a bit sticky – I saw your recipe for it after dinner -next time! I used the instructions on the bag which called for too much water. I’ll also try your Naan Bread recipe. Thanks, Nagi – I won’t make Butter Chicken any other way from now on.
Hi
I only have boneless chicken thigh chopped piece. Would this be ok to use in place of whole pieces?
I did exactly that by mistake! Worked well but the result is more like a creamy curry
It should work well because Nagi mentions cubed chicken breast as well in the recipe. It’s her least favoured option though because chicken breast could dry out. Cubed thighs would be great.
I made it with my cubed chicken thigh pieces and it was delicious. I marinaded overnight. I had never had butter chicken, but we will definitely make again using the chicken thigh pieces. Yum
Amazing Nagi, I love you!
Loved this recipe. I used coconut milk instead of cream otherwise followed the recipe as written. Easy to prep and cook. Served with basmati rice and oven roasted cauliflower. Will definitely be making this again. Thanks Nagi.
Thanks for the reminder to add a suggestion to use coconut milk instead of cream! Glad you enjoyed this Cathy 🙂 N x
Is there a way to make this with vegetables instead of chicken? I made this recipe with chicken and it was fantastic! I tried to modify it by using diced potatoes, onions, and carrots, but that didn’t work so well. Perhaps I should have pre cooked them? Any ideas to make this with a potato or tofu base would be greatly appreciated!
Hi Larissa! So, the thing is that the sauce gets a lot of flavour from the chicken. If you switch it for vegetables, you’ll lose flavour unfortunately. To make a vegetarian butter chicken, I’d default back to the original stove method so you can pan-fry the vegetables and get colour on them 🙂 N x
Quick, easy and SO TASTY! We loved it – and that’s high praise from my husband who is a butter-chicken-snob