This Keto Butter Chicken is a delicious and easy low-carb skillet dinner that’s ready in less than 30 minutes!
We absolutely love Indian food, it’s definitely one of our favorite types of cuisine and this Keto Butter Chicken is our current favorite Indian recipe to make at home! Unfortunately, we didn’t discover how much we loved Indian food until sometime in late 2015…that’s too many years of our life wasted.
I guess you could say now we’re making up for lost time. During my final semester of student teaching, I would each lunch in the teacher’s lounge with some of the other teachers in the school. On the days I packed some sort of Indian dish, they would always stare curiously at my plate for several minutes, before the 7th-grade science teacher/baseball coach would finally speak up and ask, “what the hell are you eating?”.
After explaining what it was (and how to pronounce it), I would usually offer a bite to anyone who was willing. I never had any takers. I will concede that sometimes a saag or even this keto butter chicken, if not presented well, can look a little gross, but the taste is unrivaled.
This may be a little of a curve-ball, but if you want to make the most (nutritiously speaking) out of this butter chicken, forgo the butter. Wait, what? Yeah, you heard me, substitute ghee in its place.
What is Ghee?
If you haven’t tried ghee before, it is like concentrated butter and it kind of has a nutty and a more butterier flavor, but with even more nutritional benefits. This is great for those following a keto diet. Since ghee is essentially concentrated butter (without the milk solids), the nutrients and vitamins in regular butter are condensed in ghee. This makes it a nutritional powerhouse.
For more information on the nutritional benefits of ghee and how to make it, check out the links below.
- Dr. Axe – Are Ghee Benefits Better Than Butter?
- Organic Facts – 7 Impressive Ghee Benefits
- Downshiftology – How to Make Ghee
How to make keto butter chicken:
- First, you’ll start by cutting the chicken into 2-inch pieces and place in a large bowl with 2 tablespoons garam masala, 1 teaspoon grated ginger, and 1 teaspoon minced garlic. Add in the yogurt, stir to combine. You’ll then refrigerate it for at least 30 minutes but this can be overnight as well taking a bit of the prep time off you come dinner time!
- For the sauce, place the onion, ginger, garlic, crushed tomatoes and spices in a blender or food processor, and blend until smooth. Refrigerate until ready to use. This can also be done ahead of time!
- Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large skillet (10.5″ or larger) over medium-high heat. Place the chicken along with the marinade in the skillet, browning 3 to 4 minutes per side. Once browned pour in the sauce cook 5 to 6 minutes longer.
- Stir in the heavy cream and ghee, continue to cook another minute. Taste for salt and add additional if needed. DONE!
What should I serve this with?
We like to serve this keto butter chicken with sliced jalapeños, minced cilantro, and cauliflower rice. Sliced cucumbers are also delicious with this recipe as well! Also, our Keto Naan is perfect for soaking up the butter chicken sauce!
Can I make butter chicken dairy-free?
Yes, you can! Simply use a butter substitute in place of the ghee or butter and swap the heavy cream for coconut milk. Miyoko’s vegan butter is a great dairy-free option.
Is this recipe spicy?
A touch but it’s pretty mild, especially if you leave out the sliced jalapeños.
Keto Butter Chicken
Ingredients
- 1.5 lbs chicken breast cubed
- 2 tablespoons garam masala
- 3 teaspoons fresh ginger grated
- 3 teaspoons minced garlic
- 4 oz whole milk plain Greek yogurt
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil
Sauce:
- 2 tablespoons ghee or butter
- 1 onion
- 2 teaspoons fresh ginger grated
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 14.5 oz can crushed tomatoes
- 1 tablespoon ground coriander
- ½ tablespoon garam masala
- 2 teaspoons cumin
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- ½ cup heavy cream
- Salt to taste
Optional for serving:
- minced cilantro
- cauliflower rice
- sliced fresh jalapeños
Instructions
- Cut chicken into 2-inch pieces and place in a large bowl with 2 tablespoons garam masala, 1 teaspoon grated ginger, and 1 teaspoon minced garlic. Add in the yogurt, stir to combine. Transfer to the refrigerator and chill at least 30 minutes.
- For the sauce, place the onion, ginger, garlic, crushed tomatoes and spices in a blender, and blend until smooth. Set aside.
- Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Place the chicken along with the marinade in the skillet, browning 3 to 4 minutes per side. Once browned, pour in the sauce cook and 5 to 6 minutes longer.
- Stir in the heavy cream and ghee, continue to cook another minute. Taste for salt and add additional if needed. Top with cilantro and serve with cauliflower rice if desired.
This was tasty. My sauce was quite thick and there was a ton of it. Probably could have supported 2.5 -3lbs of chick with the amount of sauce i had. I think the whole onion was driving volume and thickness and i would have called it a medium onion – we definitely get larger onions come through the store. I thinned with chicken stock which didnt help the volume thing though. Will be a repeat.
Just an FYI…Turmeric comes out of clothes if you leave them in direct sunlight.
Awesome, good to know!!!
I cooked for a lot long than it said about 20 more minutes. Next time I will cook the onion before putting them in the blender, they were a little to crunch for me but overall it was very taste and will cook it again.
Made exactly as directed-I thought the timing was perfect to end up with still juicy but cooked breasts. It made for a delicious dinner that I’ll definitely make again. Plenty of sauce and Plenty of flavour.
Wow SO GOOD!!!! And SO simple and fast! Not too spicy and incredible flavours. I left out onion from sauce but it is still delicious. Wasn’t sure what to put it on as we’re keto but was out of cauliflower. So cut up cabbage with spinach to the rescue. Will be making this one again!
Thank you!
Glad to hear you enjoyed it!
Very nice mate, enjoyed! (as did my two boys, which for one of their dad’s
weirdketo dinners is a little unusual ;)) They didn’t even ask for rice! I was actually just looking for a quick curry idea to use up frozen (ready roasted) chicken breasts as I have a ton of them vacuum sealed. This will be my go to curry for using cooked breast.Hey Matt, great to hear that! This is definitely one of my favorites.
Can you recommend a reliable site for carb contents in spices? Googling Garam Masala I found it ranging from 45g to 6 to 0 on several different sites for the same serving size…
The best I can find is this chart on Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com/pin/537406168006686516/
hey sorry but i`m new here and will be trying quite a few of these recipies, but can i ask when you show the macro breakdowns is that for a single serve? and what is a single serve?
Sorry if this is mentioned elsewhere.
Anthony
Hi Anthony, yes macros are for one serving. Hope this helps!
Sooooo amazing! Liked it on cauli rice – can’t wait to try your other recipes!
Michele
Just made this. Absolutely wonderful. Shouldn’t tell you this but husband scraped the last of the sauce out of the pan. Lol
Never leave the sauce behind! Thanks for sharing!
My family devoured this! Thanks so much! Keep these amazing recipes coming!
This recipe is awful. I was so hopeful after reading the comments, but this really miss the mark for me. It doesn’t taste anything like authentic butter chicken, at all. Very disappointed with this recipe. Happy the others enjoyed it but its a no from me
Hi Crystal, thanks for sharing your thoughts. We’re sorry that you didn’t care for our Keto Butter Chicken like the majority of our readers. We’re all different with different tastes. We hope you give another CIK recipe a try soon!
Ghee is butter….Clarified, Fat is skimmed out of any butter while simmering, resulting in ghee. The nuttiness comes from the light cook. Friendly Chef 🙂
I never leave reviews…but this certainly needed a special mention! I follow keto and have been trying to find a nice curry recipe for ages!! Wow…absolutely gorgeous!! This will be my new Saturday night treat…cooked for me and the girls, we were all blown away. This tasted better than any Indian takeaway. 10 out of 10
So, the spiced yoghurt in which the chicken is marinated is not included in the final product? I saw no instruction in the recipe to add it.
Hi Denise, thanks for pointing that out – it’s a bit confusing as written but you add the yogurt marinade to the skillet with the chicken when browning. I’ve updated the post to reflect that.
How much would you say a single serving is? Like the weight or cup amount?
To get the 6 net carbs?
Hi Stephanie, most recipes don’t include this type of information. The serving size is simply 1/6th of the recipe.
Why! Sooooo good. Here’s what I had on hand: Lava plant-based yogurt (original flavor), Vanilla Oat Milk Creamer (I would have used a non-flavored but it’s what I had) and threw in some frozen peas and kale. So rich, so good…and I’m on my 3rd plate (ma belly’s smiling…I bet my gut is too!). Thank you for this, cast iron keto!
Are you including the onion and ginger in the carbs per serving. I know both are very high in carbs and I am a bit nervous to make it.
Yes, all of the ingredients are always included in our nutritional information.
Can you make this without the yogurt? My boyfriend doesn’t like Greek yogurt
You could try sour cream, it needs the yogurt to create the sauce. Sour cream would work though, just a tad bit different in flavor.
Love this recipe! So much so we are having it twice this week. The only change I made was to cook it slowly for about 2 hours and it tasted better than our favourite Indian takeout 🙂
Great to hear that, thanks for sharing Rachel!
This meal was AMAZING! My husband and I are on the Keto diet and are always looking for something new that the whole family will enjoy. Everyone went back for seconds and my husband even asked that I add this meal to our normal rotation of dinners. Only problem was, there weren’t any leftovers for me to enjoy! You nailed it Cast Iron Keto. Thank you!
We really loved this recipe! But could I ask how many grams are in 1 portion?
Hi Sharon. Unfortunately, unlike a packaged food product recipes can’t really provide this information accurately. This is due to variances in different branded ingredients and how folks cook (for example cooking the chicken for more or less time will change the final weight of the chicken). To grab a weight amount for each serving you’ll want to weigh your final dish then divide that number by the number of servings. Hope this helps!
Can i use sour cream instead of yogart?
I wouldn’t, the flavor just won’t be quite right.
Hi, excited to try, sounds delicious!
Absolutely delicious and so simple. Thank you!
The recipe at the end does not include how much ghee to use so I guessed. Sauce tastes pretty good. added some shrimp and diced red and yellow peppers into the mix for some more veggies. Served over cauliflower rice. Will make again!
Hi Christine, the recipe does state that 2 tablespoons of ghee are called for. Glad you enjoyed the recipe!
I won’t use another recipe after using this one. Perfection – spicy but not “blow the lid off”. My son and husband are huge butter chicken fans and they declared this the best!!