Easy Baked Butter Chicken
You're going to love how straightforward it is to get this Easy Baked Butter Chicken on the dinner table! This recipe is still packed with the authentic boldness of Butter Chicken while taking a less traditional, one pan oven-baked approach to develop the flavor in under 1 hour.
Servings: 4 servings
Calories: 367kcal
Equipment
Ingredients
Chicken Marinade
- 4 boneless skinless chicken thighs ~1.5lbs
- ½ cup plain whole milk yogurt
- ½ lemon juiced
- 2 tablespoons ginger garlic paste
- ½ teaspoon garam masala
- ¼ teaspoon ground turmeric
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 tablespoon Kashmiri chili powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
Butter Chicken Sauce
- 15 ounces tomato sauce
- 2 tablespoons ghee melted
- ½ cup heavy cream
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon sugar
- ¼ teaspoon garam masala
- ½ teaspoon Kashmiri chili powder
- ½ teaspoon ground coriander
- ½ teaspoon ground green cardamom
- pinch asafoetida (optional)
- 1 teaspoon kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaves)
- cilantro for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425℉.
- Trim the fat from the chicken thighs. Slice 3 deep slits into the thighs with a chef's knife.
- In a mixing bowl, mix together the whole milk yogurt, lemon juice, ginger garlic paste, garam masala, turmeric, cumin, Kashmiri chili powder, and salt together. Add the chicken into the bowl and toss it with the marinade to thoroughly coat the thighs.
- Now, put together the sauce. In a 9x13 baking dish, stir together the tomato sauce, ghee, heavy cream, salt, sugar, garam masala, Kashmiri chili powder, ground coriander, ground green cardamom, and asafoetida.
- Place the chicken thighs in the baking dish with the sauce. Be sure to scoop all that marinade over the chicken in the baking dish as well.
- Pop the baking dish into the oven for 45 minutes, or until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165℉. Pull it out at 30 minutes and 40 minutes to baste the chicken thighs with the sauce. At the end of the bake time, the sauce should be thick, a bright red, and the ghee will have separated from the sauce.
- Crush the kasuri methi between your hands to extract the flavor and sprinkle it over the baking dish. Garnish the butter chicken with cilantro.
- Serve warm with rice or garlic naan.
Video
Notes
- Thin sauce - The fat from the chicken thighs or high water content from cheaper packaged meat that were brined or defrosted chicken may cause the sauce to be too thin. Remove the chicken after the cook time and let it rest at room on a plate at temperature while you pop the baking dish with the sauce back in the oven to keep thickening for another 5 minutes. Check on it periodically to make sure it doesn't go too far.
- Storage - Store the Baked Butter Chicken for up to 5 days in an airtight container in the refrigerator. The flavors will only deepen over time.
- Make ahead - The dish can be prepped ahead, kept in the refrigerator overnight, and then baked off the next day.
- Scaling - For doubling the recipe, add an additional 20-30 minutes to the bake time. Baste the chicken thighs every 15 minutes.
