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Restaurant Style Tofu Butter Masala Recipe – Easy Indian Butter Tofu “Paneer”. Dairy-free Tofu Paneer Butter Masala. Tofu is marinated and baked then simmered in tomato ginger cashew sauce. Vegan Butter Tofu Gluten-free Recipe. Jump to Recipe
You have got to make this Butter Tofu! Butter Tofu, Butter Masala or butter curry or whatever you want to call it. Red butter sauce for everything. Butter masala sauce is a popular sauce used with meats, paneer cheese or vegetables in Indian restaurants (that have a mostly North Indian Menu). It can be called makhani sauce (translates to “buttery” sauce) or butter sauce. Each restaurant can have its own version of sauce. I generally use my makhani sauce to make butter masala with veggies, tofu,chickpeas or fake meat. That makhani sauce is a rich creamy general masala sauce that makes everything taste amazing.
This butter sauce is a simpler and more restaurant like variation and can be used with veggies, chickpeas or any other additions. I use baked tofu to work as “paneer” to make a Butter Paneer. Serve with flatbread, rice, Roti or Vegan Naan. No Butter in this sauce. Feel free to use vegan butter instead of oil.
Video:
More restaurant style Indian Mains from the blog
- Mushroom Matar Masala
- Bombay Potato and Peas
- Tofu Pasanda
- Tofu Matar Masala
- Tofu in Spinach Curry – Saag Tofu
- Vegetable Jalfrezi – Veggies in smoky tangy curry
- Gobi Broccoli Makhani
- Tempeh Tikka Masala with Kale
Like this recipe? Then there are 20 more options in my Indian Kitchen book.
Tips and Troubleshooting:
- Troubleshoot: If the sauce flavor has a bitter after taste, it could be from ginger(over mature ginger can be bitter, use young juicy ginger), from the tomatoes that have not roasted well (cook them longer on medium low heat to roast well), or a larger amount of Kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaves, use less).
- Fenugreek leaves are the only ingredient in this recipe that needs to be either ordered online or picked up from an Indian store. To sub use 1/4 tsp powdered fenugreek (fenugreek seed powder), or 1/4 tsp ground mustard. Do get some fenugreek leaves as they are used in many Indian sauces and have a fabulous authentic flavor profile. Try the Instant Pot Version of Vegan Butter Chicken here.
- Soy-free: This recipe can be easily made soy-free with Chickpeas, seitan, Chickpea tofu or Veggies.
Step by Step Photos:
Marinate the Tofu, then bake.
Baked and ready for sauce.
Some elements of this recipe are inspired by Manjulas Kitchen and Veg Recipes of India Paneer butter masala recipe.
Make the Butter Sauce. I use canned diced tomatoes as they give a deeper color.
Fold in the Tofu, sliced ginger and sliced green chile. Serve hot with Roti or Naan. Let me know in the comments how it worked out! Please also rate the recipes.
What is Butter Masala
Butter Sauce, or makhani or butter masala sauce is a creamy tomato based sauce often found in Indian restaurants. It is a mild savory sweet creamy sauce that is often served with meats or paneer cheese (butter chicken or butter paneer). Versions differ based on restaurants and chefs and i have slightly different versions on the blog and my book too. Try all the sauces with this baked tofu to find the one that you love!
To make more like a restaurant version, add more oil and vegan butter 🙂
Butter Tofu Paneer - Restaurant Style Tofu Butter Masala Recipe
Ingredients
Baked Tofu "Paneer"
- 12 oz firm tofu, pressed between paper towels for 10 minutes, then cubed
- 1/2 tsp each of garam masala, ,paprika, salt, and turmeric
- 2 tsp ginger paste , or minced ginger
- 2 tsp garlic paste or minced, or 3/4 tsp garlic powder
- 2 tsp lemon juice
- 1.5 tsp water, 1/2 tbsp
- 1.5 tbsp cornstarch, or other starch such as arrowroot
- 1 tsp nutritional yeast, optional
- 1 tsp oil
Butter Sauce:
- 1 tsp oil , or vegan butter
- 3 cloves of garlic finely chopped
- 3 large ripe tomatoes , or 1 15 oz can diced tomatoes
- 1 inch cube of ginger, 1/2 inch chopped, 1/2 inch julienned or thinly sliced into sticks
- 1 hot or mild green chile juilenned or thinly sliced, or use very thinly sliced green bell pepper
- Cashew cream made with with 1/4 cup soaked, 15 mins cashews blended with 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 tsp garam masala
- 1/2 tsp paprika , or kashmiri chili powder
- 1/4 to 1/2 tsp cayenne
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 tsp kasooori methi - dried fenugreek leaves
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp sugar or other sweetener, to preference
Instructions
Bake the Tofu:
- Press and cube the tofu if you havent already. In a bowl, mix the rest of the ingredients under baked tofu, to make a marinade. Add tofu and toss well. Let it sit for 15 min (optional). Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F / 200ºc. Place the tofu cubes on parchment lined sheet. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes.
Make the Butter Sauce:
- Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and cook until golden. You can also add in 1 bay leaf and 1 cinnamon stick with the garlic for additional flavor. Remove these before serving.
- Puree the tomato with the chopped ginger and half the green chile. Add to the skillet and cook until the puree starts to thicken and does not taste raw tomatoey. Dont wash the blender.
- In the same blender, blend the cashews and water until smooth. Blend the cashews for a minute, let it rest for a minute and then blend again for about a minute for a creamy result. Works with unsoaked cashews. Or use premade thin cashew cream (about 1/2 cup).
- Reserve 1 tbsp of the cream for garnish. Add the rest of the cashew cream to the skillet. Add spices, fenugreek leaves, salt and sugar and mix well. Use 1/2 cup water to rinse out your blender and add to the skillet. Mix and Bring to a boil. Taste and adjust salt, heat (add cayenne) and sweet. Add more water if needed for preferred consistency. Add more cashew cream for creamier.
- Fold in the baked tofu. Simmer for a minute. Mix in the julienned ginger and green chile. Alternatively, mix half of the ginger and chile and use half as garnish. Add a drizzle of the cashew cream and other garnishes as pepper flakes, chopped cilantro. Serve over Easy Garlic Naan, rice or roti.
Video
Notes
With soy curls: Add 1 cup soy curls directly to the skillet at step 4 with cashew cream and 1 cup of water. Simmer for 10 minutes. Nutritional values based on one serving Nut-free: Use coconut cream (thick white part from a can of full fat coconut milk) To sub fenugreek leaves: Use 1/4 - 1/3 tsp powdered fenugreek (fenugreek seed powder), or 1/4 tsp ground mustard. No onion garlic; this recipe is already onion free. Use zucchini to sub garlic in the sauce. Add 1/2 tsp more fenugreek leaves to balance the flavor.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Another fantastic recipe! I subbed tempeh since I used all my tofu in a scramble the other day. I really enjoyed the heat of this dish, with the balance of the tomato reduction. I just cannot get over the complexity and layers of flavors that are so intricate in your recipes!! I’m going to try them all; I’m on a mission to. Thanks!! I had it with steamed broccoli, and this meal was filing, but I still feel light. I am not bloated or sleepy, which is usually the case when I eat heavier, starchier dishes. This was just awesome. I can’t stop raving about it. Anyone reading this comment, just do it. Make it. Get cooking!!! Thanks again!!
Thank you Lana. Indian food has a lot of flavor and ranges from simple everyday lightly spiced meals to complex layers of flavors and spices. And anything you put in the sauces and curries gets tasty.
This is one of my favourite recipes ever! It does take awhile to make but it’s totally worth it.
Awesome! it gets faster as you make it a few times!
Richa, I always think of this and it’s nearest neighbor tikka masala as having yogurt. I would be interested in your opinion of using Forager Project cashew yogurt. It’s pretty convincing, yogurt-wise.
Not rating recipe as I haven’t tried it yet. Soon, though!!
Tikka masala does have yogurt. See https://fettabbau-trim.today/2012/05/tempeh-tikka-masala-with-kale-vegan.html%3C/a%3E . I use kite hill almond, so delicious plain unsweetened coconut yogurts. I havent tried forager yet, but unsweetened plain any yogurt will do.
Butter sauce generally uses cream, and cashews work as a better sub for similar flavor profile. Yogurt adds a slight tart flavor, but you can use that as well in this sauce.
Made this and love it, but the best part of this recipe is that I found baked tofu! I’ve had an issue with tofu, especially the consistency, and now I love it! So for all my tofu recipes, I change the spices and then do like in this recipe and it’s a success every time! Thanks for converting me!
awesome!
The recipe looks amazing ! What is that blender you use in the video ?
ninja choper blender
I am excited to try this recipe. I want to marinate chicken, cook it and add it in place of Paneer. May I ask what spices and measurements you would use to make a marinade for chicken for this recipe?
Hi Janusri, I and the blog are vegan for ethical reasons so i cannot recommend using chicken. This recipe tastes equally good without.
More than 9 billion chickens (just in the US) are killed by humans for food; thats 25 million per day, 1 Million an hour, 290 chickens per second.
All the hens are subjected to cruel practices like intensive confinement; routine mutilations without painkiller; deprivation of natural behaviors; severe illness and injury left untreated; horrific transport conditions; and slaughter while still very young(45 days when their life expectancy in the wild is about 10 years).
They are not environmentally sustainable as they need large amounts of grain crops to feed them, which could be used as direct human food instead, many times more land, water and fuel. Please consider the impact of food choices.
Made this for dinner tonight and it was SO delicious! Hubby loved it too. A definite repeat. Thanks for sharing!
Made this the other day and HAD to comment on here to thank you for such a wonderful, easy recipe! Richa, you are amazing x
This is the most amazing recipe! I’ve made other vegan butter tofu/seitan recipes and this one is by far the absolute best I have ever had! The richness of the spices and the creaminess from the cashew cream just made this the best dish ever! My husband thought it was fantastic as well. Can’t wait to order your new cookbook. Doing it today. Thank you for sharing all of your wonderful recipes.
Thats Awesome!! You will love the book! It has lots of fantastic sauces
I just made this tonight and I am in love! So so tasty!! I actually ordered the Indian cookbook earlier today and am now even more excited for its arrival!
Yay! The book has an amazing collection of many typesof recipes, some popular indian dishes, some everyday veggie dishes, dals, curries, regional traditional dishes etc. Take it one recipe at a time!
Kindly share the name of the book and where it is sold. thank you.
My first is Indian Kitchen and the second is Everyday Kitchen. Both are available in most book stores physical or online stores wherever books are sold (in many countries). https://veganricha.com/books