# Are there any easy butter chicken recipes (preferably not from scratch) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** food-cooking\ **Created:** [July 11, 2021, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-easy-butter-chicken-recipes-preferably-not-from-scratch/946245 "2021-07-11T23:10:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![am77494](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d2c977/32.png) [@am77494](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/am77494)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2021, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-easy-butter-chicken-recipes-preferably-not-from-scratch/946245/21 "2021-07-12T23:06:57Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Huh. I’m exactly the opposite. Fried hard garlic in Italian food tastes not-so-good. It needs to be mellow and sweet. I think we are both saying the same thing. Don’t want to hijack this thread with cooking methods. And thanks for chiming in 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Girlfriend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.girlfriend/32/193_2.png) [@Dr.Girlfriend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Girlfriend)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2021, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-easy-butter-chicken-recipes-preferably-not-from-scratch/946245/22 "2021-07-12T23:13:43Z")
I also like the Spicy Butter Chicken sauce. I do add a couple shakes of Penzey’s curry powder to the sauce just for a little something extra. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2021, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-easy-butter-chicken-recipes-preferably-not-from-scratch/946245/23 "2021-07-12T23:14:29Z")
The dried Shan mixes are surprisingly good (like, I just bought one on a lark once, expecting nothing, and just followed the recipe on the back and it turned out far better than I had expected.) They’re just nice and easy to keep around, don’t take up a lot of space, and when you’re in the mood for some Indian food, you just need a couple pantry staples (depending on what you’re making) to whip something up. They tend to be on the spicy side, too, which I like. I haven’t really had a “simmer sauce” that I’ve really liked, so I’d prefer keeping a couple boxes of Shan products around (in addition to Japanese curry spice cubes for quick dinners.) ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2021, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-easy-butter-chicken-recipes-preferably-not-from-scratch/946245/24 "2021-07-13T02:24:17Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I’ve never had an issue with cooking spices, but you do have to bloom them in hot oil for them to release their flavors properly. I want to emphasize this point - most spices do better with a quick heat in fat that does not burn them. The suggestion I would make, particularly for butter chicken, is to do a quick bloom with ghee (clarified butter). Don’t add a different fat/flavor combo when there’s an easily made (or easily purchased these days in most megamarts) option that is going to match the profile of the final dish. Even if you’re using a pre-purchased spice combo to add to a ready-made simmer sauce, this can add a lot of flavor. Secondly, and I mention this since the OP said they felt like they aren’t a great cook, a lot of restaurants (not all by any means) have a metric ton of salt and/or MSG added to dishes. Which isn’t _wrong_, it will add flavor, but the salt may be an issue with some diets. If you’re using a low-sodium option, consider adding more a small pinch at a time, or, again, MSG. Available very cheaply at most Asian markets, and it can make a mediocre dish okay to good, and a good dish great. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2021, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-easy-butter-chicken-recipes-preferably-not-from-scratch/946245/25 "2021-07-13T02:38:44Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Some of my favorite Indian dishes are finished with a tadka, where whole spices are bloomed in hot fat and poured over the dish before it is served … wonderful stuff. Those ARE yummy. I don’t eat “spicy”, by which I mean capsaicin/hot, so we cook most of our Indian food from scratch. Easy to leave out the hot pepper. I don’t find it a lot harder to add 6 spices than to add one, though. Once you have a well-stocked spice rack, it’s easy pretty easy to add spices. And it’s sort of fun to add some whole spices to the hot oil and watch the cinnamon stick open and the spell of the spices envelops you. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2021, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-easy-butter-chicken-recipes-preferably-not-from-scratch/946245/26 "2021-07-13T03:05:58Z")
> [@ParallelLines](#): > > or, again, MSG. Available very cheaply at most Asian markets, and it can make a mediocre dish okay to good, and a good dish great. It’s also available in most non-Asian supermarkets as “Accent”. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2021, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-easy-butter-chicken-recipes-preferably-not-from-scratch/946245/27 "2021-07-13T03:24:50Z")
> [@ParallelLines](#): > > I want to emphasize this point - most spices do better with a quick heat in fat that does not burn them. The suggestion I would make, particularly for butter chicken, is to do a quick bloom with ghee (clarified butter). Do you actually need clarified butter as opposed to butter? Clarified is more concentrated but seems like should be pretty similar result at least for an Indian food lover that doesn’t have a native palate? Sharma’s various spice mixes have been around for decades. I bought that stuff in Hong Kong in the 1980’s, and methinks you could do worse. 😉 Some of us really dislike MSG and the “furry” mouth sensation it imparts. YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2021, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-easy-butter-chicken-recipes-preferably-not-from-scratch/946245/28 "2021-07-13T03:35:34Z")
> [@China\_Guy](#): > > Do you actually need clarified butter as opposed to butter? Clarified is more concentrated but seems like should be pretty similar result at least for an Indian food lover that doesn’t have a native palate? Need? No, but I prefer to use it since on rare occasions I’ve had issues with the water coming out of the butter sogging my spices prior to the blooming. Using Ghee just removes that minor risk, and of course, controls the water better. Personally, I make my own which makes it cheap, but takes a bit of time rather than the store stuff tends to be pricey. Mostly I was making the point that when you bloom a spice, you should really pick a complementary fat, rather than whatever is handy. Whether than fat be mostly neutral (canola and veggie oil), mildly flavored (most olive oils), or intense (dark sesame oils). So for butter chicken, ghee would probably be best, butter, canola or veggie oil would be fine, but olive oil or sesame oil might clash. And that goes double if you like to use a seasoned finishing oil on top of the dish, for example, I would never want to put a garlic chili oil made out of olive oil on most Japanese/Chinese dishes, but garlic chili _sesame_ oil is a -must- topping for my homemade sichuan style chicken. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2021, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-easy-butter-chicken-recipes-preferably-not-from-scratch/946245/29 "2021-07-13T03:36:31Z")
Though less cheaply. 🙂 (Seriously, though, it’s insane how much they charge for a little thing of Accent. My Mexican grocery has generic spices and it sells an Accent sized bottle of MSG (marked simply as MSG) for 99 cents, whereas the accent is something like four or five bucks. And it’s even cheaper in Asian markets where you can buy in larger quantities.) ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2021, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-easy-butter-chicken-recipes-preferably-not-from-scratch/946245/30 "2021-07-13T03:44:43Z")
> [@China\_Guy](#): > > Do you actually need clarified butter as opposed to butter? Clarified is more concentrated but seems like should be pretty similar result at least for an Indian food lover that doesn’t have a native palate? Butter chicken usually is finished with regular butter, as far as I know, but typically Indian foods – at least the cuisines I’m familiar with, because there’s a lot – are cooked on either ghee or a neutral oil (though sometimes something like mustard oil may be used to flavor a dish.) But ghee is not exactly the same as clarified butter – it has a different flavor. It’s nuttier with maybe caramel notes? and cooked longer than regular clarified butter is, and in some dishes, that flavor is different enough to be noticed. Just see what you like. ETA: Oh, and the other thing about ghee/clarified butter is that since there’s no milk solids, you can heat them up hotter. With butter, too high a heat will cause the milk solids to burn. No such worried with ghee or clarified butter, which is partly why they’re useful culinarily. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2021, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-easy-butter-chicken-recipes-preferably-not-from-scratch/946245/31 "2021-07-13T04:14:43Z")
To clarify, Patak’s pastes tend to be better than their sauces, and their spicy butter chicken sauce is their best one. I have a couple jars in the kitchen, like and use it. It is convenient. The spicy one is far better than the mild, but is still not piquant. But it doesn’t compare to grinding and toasting individual spices, and I only discovered the delicious Zaika blend a few weeks ago. How widely it is distributed - or any US equivalents - I do not know. Indian restaurants and groceries are suddenly popping up all over my small city. ---
**Author:** ![am77494](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d2c977/32.png) [@am77494](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/am77494)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2021, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-easy-butter-chicken-recipes-preferably-not-from-scratch/946245/32 "2021-07-13T06:06:29Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > the cinnamon stick open and the spell of the spices envelops you. Totally relate to that feeling. A light fragrance wafting through the air. BTW, there are two types of cinnamon : Cassia Cinnamon and Ceylon Cinnamon (the latter is also called true cinnamon). Cassia has an “intense smell and taste” whereas the Ceylon Cinnamon is sweeter and lighter. I think you are using the more expensive Ceylon cinnamon (it is the type that opens with heat), which I prefer too. > [@China\_Guy](#): > > Do you actually need clarified butter as opposed to butter? Butter is a mixture of water + fats. When you heat butter, the temperature doesn’t go much above the water boiling point, until all the water has evaporated. When all the water has evaporated, it has essentially become ghee (clarified butter). For blooming spices, a short contact with high temperature fat (or oil) is desirable , just like stir frying. So a oil or fat with a high smoke point like ghee is preferable. Try avocado oil sometime and you can bloom the spices at a higher temp, and it will give you a better taste. > **[Smoke Points of Cooking Oils](https://www.jessicagavin.com/smoke-points-cooking-oils/)** > > Knowing the smoke point temperatures of cooking oils and fats is important. This informational guide lists when common oils begin to break down and degrade. Making the right selection will help optimize nutrition, taste, and safety in the kitchen.... ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2021, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-easy-butter-chicken-recipes-preferably-not-from-scratch/946245/33 "2021-07-13T13:47:24Z")
Oh, I know! I was just pointing out that if someone really wants it and doesn’t live near an Asian market, it is sold in regular groceries. But it’s definitely cheaper at the Asian markets (where I typically buy it as well). ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2021, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-easy-butter-chicken-recipes-preferably-not-from-scratch/946245/34 "2021-07-13T13:50:34Z")
> [@China\_Guy](#): > > Do you actually need clarified butter as opposed to butter? Clarified is more concentrated but seems like should be pretty similar result at least for an Indian food lover that doesn’t have a native palate? I’d just use vegetable oil instead of the ghee. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2021, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-easy-butter-chicken-recipes-preferably-not-from-scratch/946245/35 "2021-07-13T14:29:07Z")
I typically use a splash of peanut oil. It has a high smoke point and a mild flavor. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2021, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-easy-butter-chicken-recipes-preferably-not-from-scratch/946245/36 "2021-07-14T03:14:46Z")
thanks for the replies on clarified butter. Now I get it. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2021, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-easy-butter-chicken-recipes-preferably-not-from-scratch/946245/37 "2021-07-14T18:06:44Z")
I personally like Patak’s. I usually add bell peppers to it to help it out. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2021, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-easy-butter-chicken-recipes-preferably-not-from-scratch/946245/38 "2021-07-14T18:29:31Z")
Bell peppers? But they have no heat. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2021, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-easy-butter-chicken-recipes-preferably-not-from-scratch/946245/39 "2021-07-14T18:31:59Z")
Maybe it just me , but I think that red bell peppers have just a little zing perfectly mixed with sweetness. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-easy-butter-chicken-recipes-preferably-not-from-scratch/946245.md?page=1)