This nut free butter chicken has the same delicious, authentic flavour as the ubiquitous restaurant style original, and comes together in 40 minutes.
I used to live in Delhi and our family were frequent diners at the Moti Mahal restaurant, home of the now famous butter chicken recipe. In those days butter chicken was not a famous dish and was only available at this restaurant and a few other copycat restaurants in the city.
We would travel with friends all the way across town from New to Old Delhi a few times a month for their delicious butter chicken which was always rich and tangy, smoky and slightly sweet, accompanied with some hot garlic nan.
Butter chicken is now a world famous dish but often it is either bland, too creamy or too sweet.
This is my recipe for butter chicken which I feel gives a pretty accurate version of the original and as we have family and friends with nut allergies I developed this nut-free butter chicken recipe with the same authentic flavour - it is always a hit with adults and kids!
Allergy Note
🥜 Nut-Free
This recipe is free from cashews, almonds and other nut pastes, using butter and cream instead
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What is butter chicken?
This restaurant favourite had very practical beginnings. It dates back to the 1950's, when three Punjabi cooks from the popular Moti Mahal restaurant in old Delhi, came up with a way of making their tandoori chicken last longer.
The restaurant was already famous for their tandoori chicken which was marinated in a spicy masala paste and cooked quickly at a high temperature in a tandoor.
However, when a surplus was made, the leftover chicken became a little dry a day or two later.
To counter this the three cooks developed a way to re-use the chicken, cutting it up into small bite sized pieces and adding it to a rich and flavoursome gravy.
So leftover chicken reheated in this tasty sauce is how the famous butter chicken came about.
Butter Chicken is typically made by adding small pieces of tandoori chicken to a rich, buttery, spiced and slightly sweet tomato based sauce.
Without nuts
The original recipe was made using quite a large amount of butter to create a very rich and creamy sauce. However restaurants now mostly use cashew paste or ground almonds in place of large amounts of butter to enrich the sauce, giving the sauce its characteristic smooth texture.
This version skips nuts entirely, relying on butter and cream (or yogurt) instead so it is safe for anyone with a tree nut allergy while still delivering the same rich, creamy sauce.
Don't have tandoori chicken?
This recipe shows you a simple way of preparing the chicken.
Tandoori chicken and chicken tikka are not entirely essential for this dish.
It can also be made with leftover boiled chicken or even a simple rotisserie chicken.
This sauce adds a good deal of flavour, so any mildly flavoured cooked chicken, on or off the bone, would work.
Whatever chicken you are using, make sure it is not strongly flavoured with any possible conflicting flavours.
Warmed over flavour
If you are worried the reheated chicken may have a warmed over flavour, don't!
As long as the leftover chicken has been stored correctly, this curry sauce being richly spiced and absolutely full of flavour, will make your leftover chicken delicious!
Notes on ingredients
The essential ingredients to make this sauce are mace, tomatoes, butter, butter and dried fenugreek leaves.
- Why no nuts? Traditional restaurant-style butter chicken is often thickened with cashew paste or ground almonds. This version skips nuts entirely, relying on butter and cream instead.
- Use ground mace sparingly, too much will ruin the dish.
- Use good quality canned tomatoes which are not too acidic and have a good rich flavour. I always use Cirio tomatoes as they have a wonderful flavour even straight out of the can.
- Salted or unsalted butter is fine.
- If you don't have enough butter, crème fraîche, cream or full fat yogurt will also work.
- Dried fenugreek leaves (Kasuri methi) are an extremely pungent herb with a bitter citrus flavour. Used sparingly, it adds a whole new layer of flavour, however too much will overwhelm the dish.
Kasuri methi is available from local Asian grocery shops.
Serving
Butter Chicken has a good amount of sauce, so serve it warm with a fragrant basmati rice, or fresh nan.
Storing
Butter Chicken will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Freeze it in zip-loc bags for up to a month. Then allow it to thaw in the fridge overnight and reheat in a saucepan over a low-medium heat.
FAQs
Yes, this version is made entirely without nuts or nut-based pastes, unlike many restaurant recipes that use cashews or almonds to thicken the sauce. As with any allergy, double-check your spice blends and any store-bought ingredients for cross-contact warnings if the allergy is severe.
Many restaurant versions use cashew paste or ground almonds to add richness and thicken the sauce without needing much butter. This recipe achieves a similarly rich texture using butter and cream instead, so it works for those avoiding nuts.
Most of the heat comes from the green chillies and cayenne, both of which can be reduced if you prefer a gentler dish.
Butter chicken is traditionally made using leftover tandoori chicken in a rich butter and tomato smooth sauce which is mild, creamy and slightly sweet. Chicken tikka masala is made with boneless chicken in a tangy and spicier sauce.
Yes, swap the butter and cream for a plant-based butter and coconut cream, though the sauce will taste noticeably different from the classic version. For a lighter, but still dairy, version reduce the butter and use yogurt instead of cream.
Yes, any mildly flavoured cooked chicken works well - just avoid chicken with strong competing spices or flavours.
There is no perfect substitute for fenugreek leaves with its distinctive bitter, citrusy flavour, but a teaspoon of fenugreek seeds in the first step can give a similar flavour. It is worth looking out for fenugreek leaves at a local Asian grocer if you cook Indian food often.
Yes, it freezes well for up to a month in a sealed container. Thaw overnight in the fridge then reheat gently on the stove.
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⭐️ Are you making this Nut Free Butter Chicken recipe? Let us know how it turned out in the comments and please give it a star rating below!
Recipe
Butter Chicken - No Nuts
Ingredients
Chicken and stock
- chicken - (1½ kg) cut into small pieces 3 lb
- bay leaf 1
- ground cumin 1 teaspoon
- ground coriander 1 teaspoon
- ground cinnamon ¼ teaspoon
- salt 1 teaspoon
Sauce
- oil - or ghee 1 tablespoon
- green cardamom 4 pods
- garlic - chopped small 2 cloves
- ginger - chopped small 1 teaspoon
- green chillies - roughly chopped 3
- tinned tomatoes - (800g) 28 oz
- ground mace ⅛ teaspoon
- cayenne powder 1 teaspoon
- salt - to taste 1 teaspoon
- ground cumin 1 tablespoon
- ground coriander 1 tablespoon
- butter - (75g) cream or yogurt ⅓ cup
- butter 3 tablespoon
- honey 1 tablespoon
- dried fenugreek leaves - (kasuri methi) 3 tablespoon
Instructions
Chicken and stock
- In a large saucepan add 3 lb chicken with enough water to just submerge it, add 1 bay leaf, 1 teaspoon ground cumin, 1 teaspoon ground coriander, ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon and 1 teaspoon salt. Bring to a boil then lower heat to simmer for 15 minutes. Remove the chicken and set aside, strain the stock and set aside for the next step.
Sauce
- Add 1 tablespoon oil, 4 pods green cardamom 2 cloves garlic, 1 teaspoon ginger and 3 green chillies to a medium saucepan and heat till fragrant, take care not to let the garlic burn.
- Stir in 2 cups (500ml) of chicken stock, 28 oz tinned tomatoes, ⅛ teaspoon ground mace, 1 teaspoon cayenne powder, 1 tablespoon ground cumin, 1 tablespoon ground coriander and 1 teaspoon salt, cover and simmer for 5 minutes.
- Blend the tomato mixture till smooth then stir in ⅓ cup butter till melted.
- Add the cooked chicken mixing well till fully coated in the sauce and cook for 3 minutes.
- Stir in 3 tablespoon butter, 1 tablespoon honey and 3 tablespoon dried fenugreek leaves then cook for a further minute. Remove from the heat and serve with warm basmati rice.
Notes
Only you will see your notes and you can edit them anytime.
Equipment
Nutrition
Nutritional information calculated automatically per serving, accuracy cannot be guaranteed.
Kilomax says
Great recipe! Thanks from the folks at Villalunga!
Neha says
Yummy Nicole! What a great recipe. I fancy this now with some garlic naan
Nicole Shroff says
Thank you so much Neha, it's a family favourite they can't seem to get enough of!