🇮🇳 Indian
FREE PREVIEW
Easy Butter Chicken (Murgh Makhani)
⏱ 40 min
🍞
🍽 6-8 (family pot — the way Indian families cook it) servings
⭐ 5/5
⚠️ Estimates only — not medical advice. Carb counts vary by brand and portion. Always verify with your endo or CDCES.
🌍 Cultural note
Butter chicken was invented in 1950s Delhi at the Moti Mahal restaurant — a clever way to use up tandoori chicken in a creamy tomato gravy. It's the gateway Indian dish for nearly every American kid. In Indian homes, *makhani* is a Sunday dish: you make a big pot, you call the cousins, you serve it over a heaping bowl of basmati for the family and the leftovers feed weeknight dinners. The ginger-garlic paste, the kasuri methi, the tomato-cream gravy — that's the dish. Below, we break out the kid carb math so your T1D baby gets a real plate.
🍽️ Kid's plate — the carb math
From this pot, build your child's plate:
| Kid portion | Carbs |
|---|---|
| ¼ cup basmati + ¼ cup butter chicken + sauce | ~14g |
| ⅓ cup basmati + ¼ cup butter chicken + sauce | ~18g |
| ½ cup basmati + ⅓ cup butter chicken + sauce | ~26g |
| ½ cup cauli rice + ¼ cup butter chicken + sauce | ~6g |
| ¼ cup basmati + ½ cup cauli + ¼ cup butter chicken (sweet spot) | ~15g |
Adults take their full plate (¾-1 cup basmati + ½ cup butter chicken). The whole family eats from the same pot.
Why this recipe is T1D-friendly
- Sauce itself is moderate-carb (tomato + cream + butter) and uses no added sugar — all the carbs are visible
- Protein-heavy base means slower glucose rise; the cream and butter help too
- Real basmati is the right pairing — the kid just gets a smaller measured scoop
- Freezes beautifully — see Dash's tip
Ingredients
- 2½ lb boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into bite-size pieces
- ¾ cup plain Greek yogurt
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tsp garam masala, divided
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 5 tbsp butter
- 1 large yellow onion, finely chopped
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 1½ tbsp grated ginger (or use 2 tbsp ginger-garlic paste in place of garlic + ginger)
- 1 (28-oz) can crushed tomatoes
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp paprika
- ½ tsp cayenne (kid-mild — adults can add at the table)
- 1½ tsp salt
- 1¼ cups heavy cream
- 1½ tbsp dried fenugreek leaves (kasuri methi) — the magic
- Fresh cilantro to finish
To serve
- Basmati rice cooked separately (so each plate gets its measured scoop)
Directions
- Toss chicken with yogurt, lemon juice, 1 tsp garam masala, and turmeric. Marinate 20 minutes (or up to overnight).
- Heat 2 tbsp butter in a large Dutch oven over medium-high. Sear marinated chicken in batches until browned (about 4 minutes per batch — it doesn't need to cook through). Transfer to a plate.
- Reduce heat to medium. Add remaining 3 tbsp butter, then onion. Cook 7-8 minutes until soft and golden. Add garlic and ginger; cook 1 minute.
- Stir in crushed tomatoes, cumin, paprika, cayenne, salt, and remaining 1 tsp garam masala. Simmer 12 minutes until thickened and deepened in color.
- Use an immersion blender to smooth out the sauce (or skip for rustic texture). Return chicken plus any juices to the pot, add cream and kasuri methi. Simmer 10 minutes until chicken is cooked through.
- Taste and adjust salt. Top with cilantro. Serve at the table, basmati first then a ladle of butter chicken — kid's plate built first.
Dash's kid tips 🐆
- Batch-freeze single-serve butter chicken (without rice) in mason jars. It reheats like a dream — pour over fresh basmati or microwaved cauli rice for an instant weeknight T1D meal. Indian dishes are made for this; the sauces deepen as they sit.
- Dash's pro mom move: make a double batch of sauce, freeze half — weeknight dinner unlocked
- If your kid is sauce-shy, serve the chicken pieces "deconstructed" first and let them dip into the sauce on the side
- The kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaves) is what makes restaurant butter chicken taste like restaurant butter chicken — grab a jar at any Indian grocery (or Amazon)