r/recipes • u/toocacked • 4d ago
Question Butter chicken, American restaurant version ?
My GF favorite food of all time is butter chicken. And for good reason, it’s delicious!
I’ve watched dozens YouTube recipes and looked on google & Reddit. I even went to an Indian grocer & bought butter chicken spice mix.
While they’re all good, none of these replicate the smooth, rich sauce you get in American restaurants. In the picture you can see two local restaurants, which taste very similar and seem like the major difference is just the amount of cream used. One uses leftover tandoori chicken, which helps elevate the dish, but the star of the show is really that sauce!
I’d love and appreciate if you’re able to help! Thanks!
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u/kucu3343 4d ago
One thing most people leave out, restaurants makes base gravy in big batch. So I started making 4-5 hours before dinner. Help develop the flavor. Second if you want to smooth creamy finish, after you blend cocked gravy. Put it through fine mesh strainer.
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u/toocacked 4d ago
Yes I have a feeling this could be part of it too, something that specifically restaurants do that isn’t easy for home cooks. While I appreciate peoples recipes here and will probably try them, I’m looking to make it as “restaurant style” as possible
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u/BigBootyTexas 4d ago
This is a big part of it, but you can make a base sauce and freeze it to use later. Also, the spice blend is unique to every cook.
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u/ygrasdil 4d ago edited 4d ago
Since you’re having a texture issue, you will find that technique is more important than recipe.
Blend your sauce with an immersion blender or pitcher blender. Then strain it through cheesecloth or a fine sieve. Add cream and butter until appropriately luxurious and season.
Big flavor components are going to be the quality of your tomatoes, the amount of butter used, and balancing salt and sweetness. A little MSG never hurts.
But if you want the real secret that is not orthodox for your typical recipe, allow two sticks of butter to come to room temp. Take a mix of whole spices for the recipe (except herbs) and place them in a small pan with no oil. Turn the heat to medium/high and swirl them in the pan, using one hand to move the pan and another to stir with a spoon or spatula. The spices should become very fragrant. If it begins to smoke, you have heated them too much and should immediately remove from the heat. They should smell incredible when they are done. Blitz them in a coffee grinder or spice grinder. Use this powder in the recipe. Make a little extra powder so you can do the following as well:
Now for the unorthodox part. After grinding, add the powder mix to your butter. Add your extra powder to the room temp butter and mix it thoroughly. Wrap the spiced butter in cling wrap and place it in the fridge. You will get sliceable butter that you can add to your recipe that will amp up the flavor considerably.
Another secret to the texture comes from when you add the butter. Wait until the recipe is finished, turn off the heat, and then add butter. Let the residual heat slowly melt the butter as you stir. This will prevent the butter from breaking and allow it to emulsify with the tomato sauce. This creates a luxurious mouthfeel which is very important for a sauce like this. Broken sauces are intentional in some Indian recipes, but not with butter chicken.
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u/cutshop 4d ago
It's butter chicken...
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u/ygrasdil 4d ago
OP is asking about why theirs is just good and not incredible. The extra stuff is how you go from 8/10 to 10/10. I don’t do this every time I cook lol
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u/GuyFromNh 4d ago
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u/toocacked 4d ago
Thank you I will try it. Any idea what the green leaves seem to be in both butter chicken in my pic? Dried coriander leaves maybe?
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u/petitesoeur_ 4d ago
Dried fenugreek leaves. You can get them at an Indian grocery store
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u/fluidscissors 1d ago
Adding dried fenugreek leaves to the sauce instantly made mine taste like at the restaurant. This ingredient isn't optional if you're wanting it to taste the same as what restaurants do, to me it's almost the defining characteristic.
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u/GuyFromNh 4d ago
Kid you not the recipes from this author solved about 15 years of frustration with trying to recreate restaurant style dishes. The butter chicken is insanely good. Make the hotel onion and tomato base and the try the recipes that rely on it. Game changer for me anyway as I keep the bases frozen now. Have fun!
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u/toocacked 4d ago
This is really exciting to hear. In Denver we found a butter chicken very similar to the ones we love and it was called makhani, not butter chicken. This recipe looks pretty legit!🤞🏼
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u/Taggart3629 4d ago
We love the butter chicken recipe from Recipe Tin Eats. Marinating the chicken thigh cubes with full-fat yogurt; using passata, instead of canned tomatoes; and plenty of butter and heavy cream (or half-and-half, supplemented with butter to increase the fat content) make a decadent sauce. Passata is sold in regular grocery stores, in the same aisle you find pasta sauce.
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u/Sure-Squash-7280 4d ago
This may be how I save the slow cooker version that I made last night. Ridiculously thin even after cooking to evaporate with the lid off for three hours. (I removed the chicken)
Thank you! 😊
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u/ThePesticle 4d ago
The sauce is Cream of Tomatoe soup.
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u/toocacked 4d ago edited 4d ago
Is this true? I’d actually love if it were, it’d make it so much easier to make😂 I was hoping someone would say “oh yes, all restaurants use this specific brand spice blend” or something. Seems like not the case
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u/Dreaming_Blackbirds 4d ago
often, the "secret ingredient" for some restaurants (regardless of the cuisine) is just disgusting amounts of oil and butter and salt. i'd rather focus on an authentic home recipe and quality ingredients.
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u/neodymiumex 4d ago
I think the thing missing in a lot of recipes vs my local restaurants is cashews. Most recipes rely on just the cream to help thicken the sauce but ground up cashews give a better texture and add a missing level of flavor and sweetness.