Restaurant-Style Butter Chicken Vegan
You will love this delicious, restaurant-style butter chicken recipe! Marinated and crisped Tofu is our “chicken” in a creamy, decadent Indian butter curry sauce. Find out how to make vegan butter chicken tofu! (gluten-free with nut-free and soy-free options)
Servings: 4
Ingredients
For the Tofu Chicken
- 14 ounces extra firm tofu pressed for at least 15 minutes, then torn into 3/4” bite-sized pieces
- 2 tablespoons non-dairy yogurt or non dairy cream
- 1 tablespoon ginger garlic paste or use 3 cloves minced garlic and 1/2” ginger, minced plus 1 teaspoon lemon juice.
- 1/2 teaspoon garam masala
- 1 teaspoon dried fenugreek leaves (kasoori methi)
- 2 teaspoons Kashmiri chili powder
- 1/2 teaspoon chaat masala blend or use 1/8 teaspoon Indian sulfur salt (aka kaala namak or black salt)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch or other starch
- 2 teaspoons oil
For the Butter Chicken Sauce
- 2 teaspoons oil
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1 teaspoon coriander seeds or use 1 tablespoon ground coriander (add later, with the garam masala)
- 1 1/2 cups chopped red onion
- 1/2 teaspoon salt divided
- 2 tablespoons ginger garlic paste or use chopped 6 cloves garlic, 1 inch ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon turmeric
- 2 teaspoons Kashmiri chili powder
- 1 teaspoon garam masala
- 1 teaspoon dried fenugreek leaves
- 10 ounces canned tomato puree (or unseasoned tomato sauce/ passata)
- 3 tablespoons raw cashews
- 1 cup coconut milk
For the Spiced Oil
- 1 teaspoon vegan butter or oil
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 green cardamom pods partially opened
- 2 whole cloves
- 1" or 2" cinnamon stick
- 1/2 teaspoon dried fenugreek leaves crushed
For Garnish
- chopped cilantro, lemon juice, chopped green chili such as Serrano, cayenne or pepper flakes
Instructions
Make the tandoori tofu chicken.
- Press and tear the tofu, if you haven't already, and add to a bowl. (To press the tofu, use a tofu press or wrap in kitchen towel, and place some books or cutting board on it and let sit for 15 minutes. Then tear into bite size pieces). Add in the non-dairy yogurt and ginger and garlic paste and toss well to coat the tofu. Then, in a small bowl, mix all the spices, salt, and cornstarch really well, and sprinkle it all over the tofu. Toss well to coat. Now, you can pan fry, bake, or air fry the tofu.
- To pan fry, heat the oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Once the oil is hot, spread the oil on the skillet and then transfer the coated tofu onto the skillet, and spread into a single layer. Let this tofu sit undisturbed for 2 to 3 minutes, so that the bottoms can crisp, and it can release from the pan. Once the tofu is releasing from the pan, flip the tofu and continue to cook the other side, and repeat 2 to 3 times, until the tofu is golden and crisp on most of the edges. This can take anywhere from 6 to 8 minutes. Set aside for now.
- To bake, sprinkle the oil over the tofu, then spread that onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake at 400° F (206° C) for 20 to 30 minutes, until some of the edges are crisp.
- To air fry, drizzle the oil over the tofu, and place onto a piece of parchment paper inside your air fryer. Air fry at 370° F (188° C) for 8 minutes, then move it around, and then air fry for another 2 to 4 minutes, until some of the edges are crisp.
Make the sauce.
- Reduce the heat to medium, and add the oil to the same pan you used for the tofu. Once oil is hot, add the cumin seeds and coriander seeds and mix, and let the cumin seeds start to change color significantly and get fragrant. This will take anywhere from 30 seconds to 2 minutes, depending on your pan.
- Add in the chopped onion and 1/4 teaspoon of the salt and cook until the onions are starting to turn translucent. Add a splash of water in between to help the onions cook evenly. (We don't want the onions to reduce too much, because we're also using the onions as some of the volume of the sauce). Once the onion is translucent, add a splash of water and the ginger garlic paste. Mix well, then add in all of the ground spices and remaining salt. Mix and cook this for 30 seconds if you’re using ginger garlic paste, and cook this for up to 1 minute for minced ginger and garlic. Add a splash of water or oil to help the minced garlic cook. Then, stir in the tomato puree and cook for 2 minutes. Then, mix in the cashews and coconut milk. Bring that to a boil, then let this simmer for 4 to 5 minutes, then switch off the heat and let the sauce cool for 5 to 10 minutes.
- Add the cooled sauce to a blender with a cup of water, and blend until smooth. I usually blend it for a minute, and then let it sit for 4 or 5 minutes, then blend again for half a minute. If this doesn't make it smooth enough, then I blend it again for half a minute.
- Make the spiced oil: Then, in the same skillet, heat the vegan butter or oil over medium heat. Once the oil is hot, add in the bay leaves, cardamom, cloves, and cinnamon stick, crushed fenugreek leaves, and mix in. If your sauce is not red enough for you, add in some more Kashmiri chilli powder here, and then carefully add your blended sauce back to the skillet and mix well. Bring the sauce to a boil for about 2 minutes, then taste the flavor of the sauce and adjust the salt, heat, and flavor. You can add in 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of sugar, if you want the sauce slightly sweeter. Also adjust the consistency at this time, adding more water or non-dairy milk, if you want a thinner sauce. Continue to simmer for another 2 to 3 minutes, then fold in your crispy tofu. Just lightly toss, because you don’t want the coating to come off of the tofu. Let it simmer another 1 to 2 minutes, then switch off the heat and garnish with cilantro, lemon juice, green chili and pepper flakes. Crush the fenugreek leaves with your fingers, and sprinkle them all over the dish, as well. Serve with Naan or rice or quinoa. Best served with a side salad of cucumber onion tomato tossed in salt pepper and lemon juice!
Video
Notes
For truly a restaurant flavor, smoke the butter chicken sauce before serving. To smoke the sauce, use a small, food grade charcoal and heat it on a flame until it is red hot, then place it in a small, heat-proof bowl. Add 2 teaspoons of oil over the charcoal and immediately nestle the bowl into your sauce and cover the pan with a lid. Let this smoke for 5 minutes or so, and then remove the bowl from your butter chicken. If you don't have charcoal, you can use a cinnamon stick to smoke the butter chicken instead. See my chicken angara recipe for photos and more details on this method for smoking the sauce.
For Dhaba style or food truck style butter chicken, follow all of the steps until adding the tomato puree. When you do that, also mix in 1/2 cup chopped tomato, and cook this mixture for 4 to 5 minutes, until the tomatoes are cooked through. Mash the large pieces of tomato. Meanwhile, blend the cashews with the coconut milk until smooth. Blend for 1 minute, let it sit for 5 minutes, repeating this until the cashews are completely blended in. Add this blended cashew mixture to the skillet and mix well. Rinse your blender with 1/4 cup of water, and mix that into the skillet, as well. Bring that to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium low, and continue to simmer for another 5 minutes. Taste and adjust the flavor, then fold in the tofu. Continue with step 4 to make the spiced oil, and pour that over before serving.
This recipe is naturally gluten-free. To make it nut-free, use nut-free non-dairy yogurt and vegan butter, omit the cashews, and use more coconut milk or use a mix of hemp seeds and pumpkin seeds instead. To make this soy-free use a soy-free non-dairy yogurt and vegan butter as well as a soy-free vegan chicken substitute, like chickpea tofu, pumpkin seed tofu, or seitan.
Nutrition
Calories: 282kcal | Carbohydrates: 27g | Protein: 12g | Fat: 14g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 5g | Trans Fat: 0.02g | Sodium: 657mg | Potassium: 678mg | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 8g | Vitamin A: 1015IU | Vitamin C: 13mg | Calcium: 114mg | Iron: 4mg