Ingredients

1.2 kg/ 2.4lb 6 pieces bone-in chicken thigh, skin removed 

Butter chicken marinade:

• 1/2 cup plain yoghurt full fat

• 1 tbsp lemon juice

• 1 tbsp ginge finely grated

• 2 cloves garlic finely grated or crushed

• 1 tsp turmeric powder

• 2 tsp garam masala

• 1/2 tsp chilli powder or cayenne pepper powder

• 1 tsp ground cumin

• 1/2 tsp cooking salt / kosher salt

Butter chicken curry sauce:

• 2 tbsp/ 30g melted ghee or butter

• 1 cup tomato puree 

• 3/4 cup heavy / thickened cream regular cream, or coconut milk

• 1 1/2 tsp white sugar

• 3/4 tsp cooking salt / kosher salt

Instructions

• Preheat: oven to 200°C / 400°F (180°C fan-forced).

• Coat chicken: Mix the marinade ingredients in a bowl, then add the chicken and toss to coat.

• Optional marinade: overnight.

• Assemble: Mix Sauce ingredients in a 23 x 33cm / 9 x 13" baking dish. Place chicken in, smooth side up. Scrape residual marinade out of the bowl and dab it onto the chicken surface.

• Bake for 45 minutes: Basting with sauce at the 30-minute and 40-minute mark. The sauce will change from pink to orangey-red (Note 6 for sauce thickening).

• Serve: Rest for 5 minutes. Then serve over basmati rice, garnished with coriander if desired! Naan for mopping would make everyone extra happy. 🙂

Cooking Time:

• Prep: 10minutes mins  

• Cook: 45minutes mins  

Servings:

•  5 – 6 people 

Tips For Recipe: 

• Chicken – Best to remove the skin so the sauce isn’t too greasy. Bone-in thighs work best as they remain juicy for the required bake time. 

• Drumsticks will also work, use a bit more.

• Boneless thighs – get the sauce going first for around 20 min then add the chicken and bake for a further 15 – 20 min until just cooked through.

• Breast – personally don’t recommend it, flavour result won’t be the same (it’s so lean!). But if you insist, here’s how I’d do it! Cut ~650g/1.3lb into big bite-size pieces, and cook per boneless thighs above (I’d spray the chicken).

• Garam masala is an Indian curry spice mix widely available at regular grocery stores these days. Doesn’t cost any more than regular spices!

• Ghee is a type of clarified butter that is commonly used in Indian cooking, for intense buttery flavour. Kept in the pantry, not the fridge. Sold at regular grocery stores, or make your own, or just use butter.

• Tomato passata – Pureed, strained pure tomatoes, sometimes labelled “tomato puree” in the US (here’s a photo of the Mutti brand sold at Walmart). It’s readily available in Australian supermarkets nowadays, alongside pasta sauces. Passata is excellent for making thick, smooth sauces. More on tomato passata here.

• Marinating is not essential for this method of cooking because the flesh gets infused with flavour as it bakes! But you can marinade if you want.

• Sauce thickness – If your sauce isn’t as thick as it should be (oven temp accuracy and baking pan heat conduction come into play here) just remove the chicken and return the sauce to the oven. It will thicken quickly.

Leftovers will keep for 3 to 4 days in the fridge, or freezer for 3 months.