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Keto Butter Chicken

Another Keto butter chicken?

Yes it’s another Keto butter chicken recipe! I first made butter chicken on the show for guitarist Andy James when we were still doing band interviews. The 2nd time was when I baconized it for Bacon tadka. The 3rd time was my special White Butter Chicken which was for my Keto peeps. Today I’m making another version of this Indian classic. So what’s different you ask? Well for starters I’m bringing back the tomatoes (skipped this in my White butter chicken recipe) and I’m also making a sort of cheats/easy to cook version of it. So it’s butter chicken, easy to make, in 1 pot and Keto friendly. You can serve this with some cauliflower rice or my Keto naan. It will be perfect!

Isn’t butter chicken supposed to be red or orange in colour?

Your typical butter chicken has a more orange colour and that’s determined by the ratio of cream to tomatoes. Tomato puree is red and the white from the cream turns it orange. Even though I did add tomatoes in this recipe I added a whole lot more cream and if you noticed, the colour of the puree itself was quite light. When I use tomato puree from a can/box it’s a much darker red which gives it a more orange colour. Of course none of this matters at the end of the day, it’s all about the tastes. Also the kasuri methi or dried fenugreek leaves are an integral part of this dish and the signature flavour of butter chicken. Without that, it’s just a chicken curry really. You can also replace the chicken with paneer in this recipe for a vegetarian version. A quick substitute of tofu, coconut cream, olive oil and you’ll have a vegan version too. So enjoy!

Keto Butter Chicken

Nutrition Info (Per serving)

  • Calories: 676
  • Net Carbs: 7g
  • Carbs: 9g
  • Fat: 49g
  • Protein: 48g
  • Fiber: 2g

This recipe makes 2 servings. Get this recipe on myfitnesspal.

Keto Butter Chicken

Keto Butter Chicken

An authentic butter chicken recipe that's Keto friendly
4.34 from 120 votes
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes
Course Main Dish
Cuisine Indian
Servings 2 servings

Ingredients
  

Instructions
 

  • Blend the ginger, garlic, onion and tomato into a puree.
  • Cut the chicken into bite size pieces and marinate with the kasuri methi, salt, chilly powder, tumeric, garam masala and cumin powder.
  • Heat the olive oil in a pan and fry the chicken, allow the chicken to sit without moving so that you get colour on one side.
  • Flip each piece and while it's cooking add the butter at different spots in the pan. The give it all a good mix.
  • Add in the puree and rinse out the blender with some water. Cover and cook for 10 minutes so that the spices and tomato can be cooked out.
  • Once it's done turn off the heat and add in the heavy cream. (you can also cook it with the cream for a few minutes if you like) and then finish with coriander.
  • Serve with Keto naan or cauliflower rice.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

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81 Comments

  1. Dear sahil Makhija, my wife and I REALLY like your Indian KETO recipes the best!
    However, we like KETO and it’s helped us stay healthy!!
    Thanks SO much for your good work!

    All the best..

    1. I made this tonight. It is absolutely delish! I’m Indian and this is better than restaurant versions! Good job man and thanks for sharing your recipes and techniques.

    2. I absolutely LOVE this recipe; I have made this many many times. Sahil thank you kindly for taking the time to have an unselfish act and make the videos to better everyone. That is truly God send, you are an Angel among us! Thank you again! Love the videos and the music.

  2. This is amazing. I was sooo impressed! As good as any take away curry if not better! Rich and full of flavour. Thank you so much this is now one of my signature dishes for sure! X

  3. I made this with a spinach cauliflower rice and I could eat this everyday. Thank you for the recipe. I cannot believe it. I may have to make it next week as well. I am meal prepping and will look forward to this meal. Issa WAOW!! ????????

  4. Please keep the Indian Keto coming. Kheema is by far the best, but Butter Chicken Part Deux is a close….ummm….second.

    Thank you for the posts and site. Very helpful!

  5. This is hands down one of the best butter chicken recipes – keto or otherwise. Made it for dinner tomorrow but it was so good, had to eat some tonight. Great job Sahil! HORNS UP!

  6. Horns up from New Jersey, USA! I had to adjust the ingredients a bit, since I’m on the Jersey shore and we don’t have everything available. I used tumeric,curry, cumin,paprika, fenugreek seeds, ginger, garlic, onion, tomatoes and a dashes of cayenne. DEEELICIOS! THANK YOU FOR YOUR VIDEOS, MUSIC AND COOKING WISDOM!
    NAMASTE
    NINA

  7. I just made this recipe. I sliced up some green chili and added after taking the chicken off pressure when adding the creme, cooking for a few minutes longer. Served on a bed of fragrant cauliflower rice. It doesn’t get better than this. Thanks for your inspiration and enriching my family’s day and life with your sharing.

    1. Add green chillies to all my recipes for another level of spice. Most Indian recipes have them but I choose to skip them. Glad you enjoying the recipes.

  8. Dear Sahil,

    Hello from Toronto, Canada! Thanks for the fantastic recipes and fun videos. I’ve made a bunch of your recipes (and always mean to take a photo for Instagram but it’s just too delicious that I usually forget)! The other day I made your butter chicken, palak paneer, and naan. The recipes were easy and so satisfying – I’d been craving Indian food! The leftovers tasted just as good. I have another block of paneer and look forward to trying another one of your recipes very soon! Thanks and keep the recipes coming 🙂

  9. Sahil, I made this last night. So delicious. My family was very happy. Even my non chicken eater loved it.
    I made your Naan recipe too. Yummy.
    Thanks again for yet another fabulous recipe!!!

  10. This was AMAZING – a great mid-week, quick meal.
    Has anyone made this and frozen it? Am tempted to make a huge batch and freeze them (for an even quicker mid-week dinner)!
    Thanks so much for the recipe 🙂

  11. Hi Sahil. Thank you so much for this amazing recipe! I’ve cooked it twice and both my partner and I adore it (we are also both headbangers)!
    It’s officially our weekly meal now :)) And your website kind of opened the door to a whole new world for me.
    Thanks again and keep cooking!

  12. Hello,
    is it possible to substitute the chicken legs/thigh by chicken breasts?
    That’s the only piece i can get at the meatshop, otherwise i need to buy it in the supermarket and the chicken comes with sugar in it :/
    Recipe looks awesome, can’t wait to test it with the naan (obviously creamcheese naan 😀 )

      1. Lots of Indian people in my area, so I should check one of their stores instead of the generic grocery stores. I made my chicken curry tonight, followed your spice amounts exactly, and it’s quite spicey to my wimpy palate. Tasty though. Next time I will reduce the chilli powder by half. I served it with so-called miracle rice. What an odd product that is!

  13. This was absolutely fantastic. My fiance and her kids enjoyed it. We served it with cauliflower rice and it was delicious. Just as good as a restaurant. Thank you so much for sharing, Sahil!

    1. Yes. I generally use Kashmiri red chilli powder which is milder and not really spicy and it’s closer to paprika. I find the regular red chilli powder to be too spicy for me.

    2. It is NOT american style chili powder. You can order Kashmiri Red Chili powder from Amazon or do what I do and mix 1½ teaspoons Paprika & ½ teaspoon Cayenne for this recipe.

  14. Hi, is there anything I could replace the garam masala with, as I am not keen on the taste – tandoori masala perhaps

  15. I’m making this again tonight for the entire family … so good. I’ve tried cooking with these spices in the past with miserable results, but your instructions and recipe produced perfect results! Thank you.. keep it up!

  16. Hi Sahil,
    Thank you so much for sharing your AMAZING recipe! It’s absolutely fabulous! I served it with your cauliflower rice recipe. (I wish I could have made the naan too but I was missing ingredients). My family absolutely loved it. I want to make it again when I have company over! I have always wanted to learn how to cook Indian food. You make it so easy with your step-by-step instructions. You are an incredible chef and an excellent teacher. I am so looking forward to your cookbook! 🙂

  17. This was delicious thank you Sahil, i didnt have the fenugreek leaves, i will try and order them from amazon for when i make it again.

  18. Simmering and nearly ready to go. If the taste is anything like the smell then I’m in for a treat. Thanks.

  19. Does the fenugreek scale correctly I bumped it to 6 servings and it had 15gs I weighed it out it was a huge pile I checked a few other recipes and 6 servings had about 2tbsp. I was hesitant to toss in the giant pile;) have you ever done above the 2 servings and if so did u scale the fenugreek that high?

    1. Very honestly just eyeball it. If it looks too much add half, taste it, if you feel like it needs more then just add some. A lot of Indian cooking is just eyeballing the spices and things because it’s all about personal taste 🙂

  20. I’ve made this three times already, my husband and I can’t get enough of it, I even doubled the recipe (with the use of the handy dandy conversion chart)… It’s just so delicious and mild, plenty of room to spice it up and make it perfect for your pallet! Thank you so much Sahil, rock on!!

  21. I swear by this recipe! I actually prefer it over the butter chicken from most of my local Indian restaurants! Packed with flavor, delicious juicy chicken bits, creamy buttery sauce, I just eat it straight from the pan! SOOOOOOOO DELICIOUS! I also add just a few more tsp of chilli because I like mine nice and spicy! Do you have a recipe for a Keto Vindaloo?

  22. Sahil, thanks for this! I made it last night and it was absolutely amazing. I added some black pepper to the spices, cooked the meat on the bone for about 1 hour, then removed the bones. The outcome was rich and a bit spicy. I accompanied it with your coconut flour naan. I am now going to invite invite friends unaware of the keto universe and show off my skills (I will refer them to your website of course!)

  23. I love everything about this recipe! I was just wondering if it is okay to substitute the heavy cream with coconut milk? That you for all of your wonderful keto recipes!

  24. Just made this and it is delicious! – fussy husband ate the lot which is amazing in itself and says how tasty it is! thank you for sharing your fabulous Keto recipes:)

  25. This was my first recipe of yours cooked last night to the delight of everyone at my table, Keto (me) and non-Keto. Only came across you yesterday and I think you are going to be such a help as I go on this Keto journey. I am three weeks in and doing well but great food like this helps so much. Thanks.

  26. I loved this and will definitely make it again. I found it very easy to make and the end result was so flavourful. truly delicious. Thank you for sharing.

  27. can I use coconut cream instead of regular cream, or perhaps half coconut cream and half heavy cream?
    ps. you’re amazing, I love your recipes!

  28. Wow, we made this tonight and it was fantastic! Served with the keto Naan, easy one pot meal. Thanks again!

  29. Hi Sahil, I made this recipe last night, and it was absurdly delicious. I never thought I could prepare butter chicken at home. I’ve made the kheema a couple times, which was fantastic as well. I couldn’t stop eating it. Will try the lemon pepper chicken next. Best!

  30. If I meal prepped this how long would it last? With all the cream I wouldn’t have thought more than three days? Better if I froze them I suspect 😉

    1. All these gravy dishes can sit in the fridge for about 5 days easily. For general food safety it’s recommended to freeze it if you’re going to eat it after 4 days.

  31. This is better than the normal butter chicken thing. My entire family agreed on this yesterday when I made this for the third time in a month! Thanks a tonne, this recipe is so easy and effortless, but tastes like a bomb! I made with bone in chicken thighs because that’s what’s available here. They were so tender, juicy and delicious! And I did add green chillies and coriander powder in the spice mix because somehow can’t imagine butter chicken without coriander lol.
    PS I didn’t tell them it was so easy to make. 😜

  32. Metal Andrew (my husband) has made this a few times for me in the last couple of months and I am obsessed. I’ve requested he make this quite often. Had it a couple of times without the fenugreek but finally found some fenugreek and omg. So much better. It gives it that extra nom! Keep coming out with delish keto recipes so I can keep requesting my husband make them!

  33. I cooked this butter chicken for dinner. OMG! Delicious. I couldn’t stop scooping spoonfuls of the sauce. Yum. Even my picky 6-year-old cleaned off her plate. I used fenugreek seeds because I couldn’t find leaves. Not sure if the taste will be different but tonight’s dish was awesome. Thanks for the recipe and I can’t wait to try more of your keto dishes.

  34. Made a double recipe tonight and it was good. Used single cream and should have used double cream. 11 year old ate it! I think I will double the cumin and tumeric. Great for Keto! Made the naan and I have to practice that a bit more.

  35. I’m just used this recipe with keto naan for the week’s dinners. I was licking my fingers! Thank you, Sahil 😊

  36. I am 2 weeks into Keto and craving Indian food as my husband is Indian and makes amazing currys. I thought I would try this butter chicken…wow… he was speechless and gave me a 9/10 which is high praise and I’ve been requested to make it again tonight. He’s even told his sister about it! I had tried a butter chicken before keto and it wasn’t anywhere near as good. I have done a few of your recipes, thank you so much for tasty keto food.

  37. You are making keto much easier for me, thank you! I’ve done your curry chicken and now butter chicken. Both were easy and crazy delicious.

  38. Hello Sahil greetings from denmark. We love youre food here. Keto is life the last years im palastinian and we love the hummus whet cauliflovcer can you do more arabic recepic . Love from Denmark

  39. We LOVE this recipe. We actually like your version better than any restaurant! It is easy to make. Thank you very much for this!

    1. Yes you can but of course it’s gonna miss the signature creamy butter chicken flavor and will have a bit of coconut flavour but no worries will still be delicious.

  40. 5 stars
    So good! It’s a regular favorite here at our house. It cooks up quick and I usually have all the bits in the pantry. If you have some fresh coriander use it for the finishing. It gives it a little pop.

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