This Easy Dairy-Free Butter Chicken is the perfect Indian-style easy weeknight meal that’s made with healthy, whole-food ingredients – and no dairy! Serve it with rice and naan bread for an easy meal that’s better than take-out
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Easy Dairy Free Butter Chicken
This Easy Dairy Free Butter Chicken is one of my family’s favourite weeknight meals lately and I just know you’ll love it as much as we do!
Easy Dairy Free Butter Chicken Meal Prep Tips
One of the ways I solve busy weeknight meal dilemmas is meal prep, and this Easy Dairy Free Butter Chicken recipe is awesome for prepping ahead of time because it’s one of those recipes that tastes even better on day 2! I often make a skillet full of it and place it in containers in the fridge to heat up throughout the week.
If you have an extra big skillet or pot, this is a great recipe to double and then freeze half for later in single or family-size servings.
What to serve with this Easy Dairy Free Butter Chicken Recipe
These are two of our favourite recipes to serve with this butter chicken:
Kitchen items needed for this recipe
One of my absolute favourite kitchen items for prepping easy weeknight meals is my basic cast iron skillet. I use it almost every day and I’ve had it for years – it has never failed me. If you don’t have one and you’re looking to add an inexpensive cast iron skillet to your kitchen, I’d recommend this basic 12-inch Lodge Cast Iron Skillet (affiliate link). It won’t break the bank, it’s easy to use, clean and store, and it’s perfect for searing meats or cooking dishes that go from the stovetop to the oven to the table. It’s truly an essential item in my kitchen!!
We also recommend these kitchen items for this recipe (affiliate links):
- a large heavy bottom frying pan with a lid
- a microplane zester for grating ginger
- a garlic press
- a sharp chef’s knife
- a sturdy cutting board
- a wooden spatula or other similar utensil
- measuring spoons
Looking for more East Asian inspired dishes? You’ll love my Easy Lentil Daal Curry recipe, or this One Pan Coconut Curry Shrimp recipe!
Ingredients for Dairy Free Butter Chicken
- olive oil
- onion
- fresh garlic
- fresh ginger
- ground turmeric
- garam masala
- ground cumin
- chili powder
- red pepper flakes
- ground cinnamon
- lime juice
- carrot
- red bell pepper
- boneless skinless chicken thighs
- salt
- ground black pepper
- canned coconut milk
- canned tomato sauce
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How to Make Butter Chicken (Dairy-Free)
Time needed: 40 minutes
Follow these tips for the perfect dairy-free butter chicken
- Choose the right pan.
Use a large skillet or frying pan with a lid for this recipe.
- Develop the flavours.
The spices in this recipe create the most delicious flavour. Toast them well as you cook the veggies to bring out their flavours.
- Choose chicken thighs.
Chicken thighs are the best cut of chicken for this recipe because they won’t become tough or dry as they cook in the sauce – they’ll stay tender and juicy.
- Choose a high quality coconut milk.
Choose a can of coconut milk that’s high quality with a high fat content (don’t use light coconut milk for this recipe). This will ensure the butter chicken sauce is creamy and thick and full of flavour.
- Serve with rice.
Choose your favourite rice to serve with this butter chicken recipe – we love basmati or jasmine rice!
Is butter chicken spicy?
When you make butter chicken at home you can control the heat and make it as spicy or mild as you prefer. If you want a mild butter chicken, choose a mild chili powder and skip the red pepper flakes.
What is butter chicken?
Butter chicken is a traditionally Indian curry typically made with butter or yogurt as a base for the creamy curry sauce.
Is butter chicken healthy?
Butter chicken CAN be healthy – especially when you make it at home. This butter chicken recipe is a healthy homemade alternative to restaurant butter chicken because it contains less fat and no dairy.
I hope you love this delicious recipe as much as we do! Let me know in the comments below, what’s your favourite easy weeknight meal? I’d love to know!
Looking for more delicious recipes like this? You’ll LOVE these:
LOOKING FOR MORE EASY WEEKNIGHT MEAL IDEAS?
Get my Quick and Easy 4-Week Meal Plan Guide!
Easy Dairy Free Butter Chicken Recipe Video
Watch the video below to see exactly how I make this delicious recipe. You can find more deliciously simple recipe tutorials on my YouTube channel.
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Easy Dairy-Free Butter Chicken
Recipe: Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 large onion diced
- 5 cloves garlic finely minced
- 1 tablespoon grated ginger
- 1 tablespoon ground turmeric
- 1 tablespoon garam masala
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons lime juice
- 1 large carrot diced
- 1 red bell pepper diced
- 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs cut into 1-inch chunks
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 15 ounce canned coconut milk
- 15 ounces canned tomato sauce
- chopped cilantro, rice and naan bread for serving
Recipe: Instructions
- Heat a large heavy-bottom skillet over medium-high heat and add the olive oil.
- Once the skillet is heated add the onion and garlic. Saute for a moment, until fragrant.
- Add the ginger, turmeric, garam masala, cumin, chili powder, red pepper flakes, cinnamon and lime juice. Stir everything around to toast the spices.
- Add the carrots and red pepper, and saute until the vegetables are slightly soft.
- Season the chicken pieces with salt and pepper and add them to the skillet with the veggies, stirring everything together well as the chicken begins to cook.
- Add the tomato sauce and coconut milk and stir well to combine.
- Reduce the heat to medium and cover the skillet, letting the chicken cook for about 15 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through completely. Remove the lid and cook for an additional 5 minutes or so, reducing the sauce slightly.
- Serve over cooked rice with some fresh cilantro, and naan bread (optional).
Recipe: Notes
Recipe: Nutrition
Notice: Nutrition is auto-calculated, using Spoonacular, for your convenience. Where relevant, we recommend using your own nutrition calculations.
I have been craving Indian food lately, so thanks for this delicious recipe!
I’ve made this Butter Chicken recipe twice now. So delicious and easy to make.
I’m glad you like it!!
Wonderful recipe! My husband declared it to be his new favorite. Tastes just like restaurant quality, you won’t be disappointed.
I’m SO glad!!
Great recipe! As good as we get in Indian restaurants. Delicious!
Thank you for this recipe! I love curry but never cook it at home. This was even better than ordering in. Next time I’ll double the recipe so there are more leftovers.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!!
I made this last night and it was very tastey.
So glad you liked it! 🙂
Where is the butter?
As this is a dairy free version of the dish, all fats that give the sauce its classic creamy texture come from the coconut milk.
Love the recipes. Too much advertising and pop up freaking cooking videos that I could care less about.
Goodbye.
I’m sorry that you had a bad experience, unfortunately in order to keep offering free recipes to my readers, the ads are necessary to cover the cost of running the website. Thanks for your feedback, as I am always adjusting the frequency of the ads on my website. I hope you stick around and keep enjoying the free recipes!
Could I use a slow cooker to make this?
I’d recommend making it on the stove top and then transferring to a slow cooker to cook on low to finish cooking. The liquid amounts in slow cooker recipes are often different than stove-top ones, so it might end up being very liquidy if you made it in the slow cooker.
Would like it to be a bit more spicy.
Feel free to add some extra spice to your taste!
I was looking for a dairy free chicken recipe that was tasty and easy….this fits the bill, even better than I expected Yummm!
I’m so glad you liked it! Happy cooking!
Seriously amazing. I followed the recipe exactly and this is now my favorite dish 🙂 thank you so much!!!
You’re welcome Kristen!!
I’m looking forward to trying this. Just wondering what you mean by “canned tomato sauce” — do you mean crushed tomatoes, pasta sauce, tomato paste, etc.?
Crushed tomatoes or tomato passata works just fine. Let us know how it turned out!
Made this today for me and my boyfriend’s lunch. Very flavorful! Unfortunately he couldn’t taste it since his normal taste and smell haven’t gone back to normal since getting covid. I kept assuring him it’s amazing haha. Thank you for sharing this recipe : ) <3
I’m so happy you enjoyed it! Thank you for taking the time to leave your feedback! Get well soon!
10s across the board!
I’m so happy you enjoyed it! Thank you for taking the time to leave your feedback!
Hi there, have you tried freezing this after cooking? I could always half the recipe but don’t want to waste the extra ingredients, ie half a can of coconut milk.
Yes! You can keep it for up to 3 months in an airtight container in the freezer!
Hello 🙂 is this gluten free?
As long as the tomato sauce you’re using is gluten free, yes!
Magnificent! This dish was delicious and warm! Perfect flavour combination!
We’re so happy you enjoyed it! Thank you for taking the time to leave your feedback! You can try pairing it with our easy lime coconut rice https://thebusybaker.ca/easy-coconut-lime-rice/
My son helped me make this and it was a success all around. 3 year old loved it too. We’ll definitely make it again!
We’re so happy you enjoyed it! Thank you for taking the time to leave your feedback!
Great recipe, 2nd time making this for my family. Thank you!
We’re so happy you enjoyed it! Thank you for taking the time to leave your feedback!
Sooo good my daughter is a picky eater and ate a bowl serving.
We’re so happy you and your daughter enjoyed it!Thank you for taking the time to leave your feedback!
Delicious and so easy to make. Thanks for the great dairy free recipe! Will be a regular on our rotation.
We’re so happy you enjoyed it! Thank you for taking the time to leave your feedback!
This is beyond delicious. I made this recipe tonight for the second time and used fresh ginger this time. Wow, game changing. This tastes so yummy it’s hard to believe it’s healthy and dairy free. Will definitely make many more times.
We’re so happy you enjoyed it! Thank you for taking the time to leave your feedback!
What kind of tomato sauce do you use/recommend? I think the one I chose was not very good.
We usually use plain old tomato passata
What kind of tomato sauce do you use? Canned chopped tomatoes in a can? Or a jar of tomato sauce? Thanks
We mostly use Tomato Passata
The crowd absolutely LOVED this dish. Trying it again, although I only have chicken breast. So Im thinking to sautee the chx first, then remove from pan, then adding sauce ingredients, letting that cook a bit and then adding the chx back in. We shall see how that goes haha
We’re so happy you enjoyed the recipe! Thank you for taking the time to leave your feedback!
My partner absolutely loves butter chicken but dairy is not his friend. I made this the other night for one of our weekly meal prep meals and I’m so glad I doubled the recipe because it was so delicious! I omitted the red pepper flakes and halved the garam masala and we found the temperature just right (our 10 year old also really enjoyed it)! We also cooked our meat separately from the sauce as we like more protein on hand! Will definitely be in our rotation for meal prep meals! Thanks very much!!
So glad you loved it!