Home » mains » (Extra Creamy!) Butter Chicken 🍛 gluten free, keto & paleo
by Paola van der Hulst
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This keto butter chicken is ridiculously tasty, aromatic, and a breeze to whip up! Plus, it just so happens to be a naturally low carb dish (and we’ve since added a dairy free and paleo option too!).
Oh, and be sure not to forget the keto naan!
Paleo & Keto Butter Chicken
Suuuper Creamy (& Easy!)
Butter chicken might just be the most famous curry export from India, wow-ing palates wherever it goes. Plus, it also happens to be incredibly easy to get just right!
And while there are a myriad of versions out there, it’s in essence a yogurt-with-spices-and-lime marinated chicken, cooked up in a mildly spiced and incredible curry sauce. And for a paleo version, coconut yoghurt and cream work wonderful with the flavors!
Said curry sauce is also a breeze to make. Think sautéed onions cooked up with the incredibly aromatic ginger, garam masala, cumin, turmeric and just a hint of cinnamon. All naturally keto ingredients, whoop whop!
Oh! And be sure not to forget to whip up a batch of our keto naan (with yeast!).
The Method🔍
For exceptional butter chicken, browning each ingredient before adding on the next is paramount. You see this over and over again in cuisines worldwide: from Mexican mole, toAmerican chili, Italian ragù, or Frenchbourguignon.
The one thing all these stellar dishes have in common?Browning each ingredient fully before you add in the next one. The complexity of flavors that you get by doing this, simply cannot be replicated any other way.
So repeat after me: browning is truly essential.
The good news? This keto butter chicken ain’t mole or chili! i.e. you won’t need to leave it cooking all day. Think an hour tops, but more like 45 mins or so.
Serving Suggestions
If keto or low carb, I cannot recommend enough to serve it up with cauliflower rice. It’s wonderful this way, trust me. Just keep in mind that I prefer to rice our cauliflower slightly bigger here, so you get more of a ‘mouthful’ and it doesn’t completely blend into the butter chicken.
And once again, don’t forget the naan!
Paleo, Low Carb & Keto Butter Chicken
This keto butter chicken is ridiculously tasty, aromatic, and a breeze to whip up! Plus, it just so happens to be a naturally low carb dish (and we've since added a dairy free and paleo option too!).
4.86 from 61 votes
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Prep Time 15 minutes mins
Cook Time 45 minutes mins
Total Time 1 hour hr
Course Main
Cuisine Indian
Servings 6
Calories 367 kcal
Ingredients
For the chicken marinade:
- 1 cup plain full-fat Greek-style yogurt or plain coconut yogurt
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon garam masala
- 2 teaspoons ground turmeric
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- kosher salt to taste
- 900 g boneless chicken skinless chicken, diced into bite-sized pieces*
For the butter sauce:
- 60 g butter or ghee
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil such as avocado
- 1 medium onion peeled and diced
- 3 cloves garlic ran through a press
- 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
- 2 teaspoons cumin seeds optional
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 14-ounce can diced tomatoes or 2 medium-sized tomatoes diced
- 1 jalapeno pepper seeded and diced
- kosher salt to taste
- 1/2 cup chicken stock
- 1/2-1 cup heavy cream or coconut cream/full-fat milk, to taste
- 2 tablespoons almond flour
To serve:
- our keto naan (with yeast!) brushed with garlic-infused ghee
- 1/2 bunch cilantro leaves roughly chopped
- cauliflower rice
Instructions
Mix in a bowl yogurt, lemon juice, garam masala, turmeric, cumin, and season with salt to taste. Stir in chicken pieces. If possible, cover and refrigerate for a couple of hours (or up to a day).
Melt butter with oil in a large pan over medium heat until bubbly. Add in onion and cook, stirring often, until translucent. Add in garlic, ginger, cumin seeds and cinnamon. Continue to cook until onions are browned, stirring frequently.
Add in tomatoes, chili and season with salt. Cook until the tomatoes are fully cooked and the chili soft, about 10 minutes.
Add in the chicken with the yogurt marinade into the pan and cook for 5 minutes. Pour in stock and bring the mixture to a boil, lower the heat and simmer for 15 minutes.*
Stir in cream and almond flour and continue to simmer for 10-15 minutes until chicken is fully cooked. Season to taste.
Serve right away over a bed of cauliflower rice and garnished with cilantro leaves.
Notes
*Feel free to use bone-in (skinless!) chicken, you'll just have to cook it a little longer in the sauce (think around 30-45 minutes).
Please note that nutrition values for this dish may vary widely depending on the brands and amount of fresh produce you use (think onions and tomatoes).
Nutrition
Calories: 367kcal | Carbohydrates: 7g | Protein: 36g | Fat: 22g | Saturated Fat: 12g | Cholesterol: 146mg | Sodium: 266mg | Potassium: 666mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 610IU | Vitamin C: 6.1mg | Calcium: 67mg | Iron: 1.1mg
Keyword dairy free, gluten free, keto, low carb, paleo
Whip up this recipe?Comment below or drop me a line @gnomgnom._ and tag #gnomgnomyum!
