Keto Indian butter chicken

Keto Indian butter chicken

Namaste! We have a confession to make. Butter chicken is one of our favorite Indian dishes, and we know we're not the only ones! Luckily, we have Jill who invites you to try her keto version of this fabulous butter chicken, served with oven-roasted cauliflower.

Keto Indian butter chicken

Namaste! We have a confession to make. Butter chicken is one of our favorite Indian dishes, and we know we're not the only ones! Luckily, we have Jill who invites you to try her keto version of this fabulous butter chicken, served with oven-roasted cauliflower.
USMetric
6 servingservings

Ingredients

Indian butter chicken
  • 1 (4 oz.) 1 (110 g) tomato, choppedtomatoes, chopped
  • 1 (4 oz.) 1 (110 g) yellow onion, choppedyellow onions, chopped
  • 2 tbsp 2 tbsp fresh ginger
  • 2 2 garlic clove, choppedgarlic cloves, chopped
  • ½ tbsp ½ tbsp dried coriander (cilantro) leaves
  • 1 tbsp 1 tbsp tomato paste
  • 1 tbsp 1 tbsp garam masala seasoning
  • ½ tbsp ½ tbsp chili powder
  • 1 tsp 1 tsp salt
  • ¾ cup 180 ml heavy whipping cream
  • 2 lbs 900 g boneless chicken thighs, cut into bite-sized pieces
  • 3 oz. 85 g butter or ghee
  • ½ cup (¼ oz.) 120 ml (8 g) fresh cilantro, for serving (optional)
  • ¼ cup 60 ml heavy whipping cream, for serving (optional)
Oven-roasted cauliflower
  • 1 lb 450 g cauliflower, chopped into bite-sized pieces
  • ½ tsp ½ tsp turmeric
  • ½ tbsp ½ tbsp coriander seed
  • ½ tsp ½ tsp salt
  • ¼ tsp ¼ tsp ground black pepper
  • 2 oz. 55 g butter
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Instructions

Indian butter chicken

  1. Add tomato, onion, ginger, garlic, coriander, tomato paste, and spices to a food processor. Mix until smooth. Add the cream and mix for a couple of seconds.
  2. Marinate the chicken in the mixture for at least 20 minutes, but preferably more, in the refrigerator.
  3. Heat a third of the butter over medium-high heat in a large frying pan. Remove the chicken from the marinade (reserve the marinade), and fry in the butter for 5 minutes.
  4. Pour the marinade over the chicken and add the rest of the butter. Simmer over medium heat for 15 minutes or until the chicken is fully cooked. Season with salt to taste.
  5. Garnish with fresh cilantro and drizzle with a splash of cream.
Oven-roasted cauliflower
  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
  2. Spread the cauliflower out on a large sheet pan into an even layer.
  3. Season with spices and butter. Bake for 15 minutes.

Tip

If you have time, you can marinate the chicken the day before you're actually cooking it. The chicken will be incredibly soft and it's going to taste even more heavenly!

Slow cooker

This stew is an excellent dish to make in a slow cooker. Place fried chicken in the cooker and add the marinade and butter. Cook for 4–6 hours on low temperature. Season with salt.

On the grill

You can also grill the chicken instead of frying it. To do so, thread the marinated chicken cubes onto skewers and grill over medium heat, turning occasionally, for about 15 minutes, or until the chicken is done.

Put the marinade together with the butter in a frying pan and let simmer for about 15 minutes. Serve the sauce with the grilled chicken and cauliflower.

Dairy free

You can use canned coconut milk in place of heavy cream to make this dish dairy-free.

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💬 Have you tried this recipe?

What did you think? Please share your thoughts in the comment section below!
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111 comments

  1. Jacqueline
    I was a bit disappointed in the texture of this recipe - the photo suggests more liquid than is actually the case. Ours turned out a bit dry. Any suggestions?
    Reply: #102
  2. Kerry Merritt Team Diet Doctor

    I was a bit disappointed in the texture of this recipe - the photo suggests more liquid than is actually the case. Ours turned out a bit dry. Any suggestions?

    Was there perhaps not enough marinade?

    Reply: #105
  3. Megan
    This was amazing! Thank you!!
  4. elkoncz
    I've made this dish a few times before and loved it. This time it just didn't taste as good - a bit bland. Is there something i'm doing wrong?
  5. Jacqueline
    I followed the recipe to the letter - not sure what's going on here!
  6. T Fran
    How many cups equals the 1 serving once prepared? Trying to keep my tracker accurate. BTW, made this last night and it was delicious! Thank you for posting.
  7. Hannah
    This recipe is lovely but it should be amended to say that marinade should be kept separate from the meat apart from what you need to cover it. Its not food safe to reuse marinade that the chicken has sat in as a sauce because of the bacteria. People could get sick!
    Reply: #108
  8. Kristin Parker Team Diet Doctor

    This recipe is lovely but it should be amended to say that marinade should be kept separate from the meat apart from what you need to cover it. Its not food safe to reuse marinade that the chicken has sat in as a sauce because of the bacteria. People could get sick!

    This dish simmers for an additional 15 minutes after the marinade is added in.

  9. Sarah Hart
    No, didn't like this at all. The chicken didn't cook even with some extra time in the pan, likewise the cauliflower, which was still undercooked after 10 more minutes in the oven, and way, way too salty.

    Very disappointing, it's in the bin now.

  10. Susan Packwood
    This was wonderful! The chicken was so tender….I had to sub ketchup for tomato paste and sour cream for whipping cream but it was fab!!!
  11. Anna-Carin & Niclas Havrup
    loved it but changed it :-) Had cooked chicken from the day before. - so it was not marinated. Fried the cauliflower florets in butter and then cooked it for appr 10-15 minutes in the wonderfully tasting "marinade". Also added (unsweetened!) coconut flakes to the marinade before blending it. Added chicken at the end to heat up. This way i needed less time and could cook it during my working-from-home-lunch-hour. It tasted wonderful!
    Reply: #112
  12. Kerry Merritt Team Diet Doctor

    loved it but changed it :-) Had cooked chicken from the day before. - so it was not marinated. Fried the cauliflower florets in butter and then cooked it for appr 10-15 minutes in the wonderfully tasting "marinade". Also added (unsweetened!) coconut flakes to the marinade before blending it. Added chicken at the end to heat up. This way i needed less time and could cook it during my working-from-home-lunch-hour. It tasted wonderful!

    Sounds delicious! Glad you enjoyed it!

  13. Rose
    This was superb. Because I mixed up the marinade using my stick blender, not a food processor, I ended up adding a splash of water to make a smooth mixture. I also added in a bit extra cream because the marinade seemed too thick. The end result was perfect. As far as flavour, I used curry powder instead a garam masala and it tasted great. This recipe is a keeper.
    Reply: #114
  14. Kerry Merritt Team Diet Doctor

    This was superb. Because I mixed up the marinade using my stick blender, not a food processor, I ended up adding a splash of water to make a smooth mixture. I also added in a bit extra cream because the marinade seemed too thick. The end result was perfect. As far as flavour, I used curry powder instead a garam masala and it tasted great. This recipe is a keeper.

    Sounds good! So glad you enjoyed it!

  15. Tina
    So, I started out doing this butter chicken recipe, but then it ended up more closely resembling the slow-cooker butter chicken recipe from twosleevers because the additional ingredients and their quantities felt more authentic (plus it was pretty much hands off): https://twosleevers.com/slow-cooker-butter-chicken/ It was yummy, but I did need to add a splash of lemon to give it more fullness.

    This DD cauliflower recipe was one side dish and it was great. But instead of putting everything on a pan and then adding the spices, I put the chopped cauliflower into a bag, poured all the spices over top and mixed well. Then, before putting it in the oven, I melted the butter and poured that into the bag as well, mixing well. Then I poured the contents of the bag onto a tray and put it in the oven. It was fantastic that every piece of cauliflower was seasoned and yummy, and it did cook in about 15 minutes as I had chopped the pieces on the small side.

    For another side dish, I decided to try the Indian cucumber salad from twosleevers because it peaked my interest (it was yummy too): https://twosleevers.com/indian-cucumber-peanut-salad/

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