Creamy, aromatic spices blend together in this keto-friendly twist on a beloved classic: Butter Chicken.
This mouthwatering Keto Butter Chicken recipe has all the rich flavors of this popular Indian food while adhering to the needs of a low carb diet. Embracing a keto diet doesn’t mean sacrificing taste and this dish is a testament to that. With tender chicken pieces in a luscious sauce flavored with aromatic spices, every bite will leave you wanting more. Whether you’re a seasoned keto enthusiast or simply seeking a delicious, health-conscious meal option, this keto butter chicken recipe promises to satisfy your cravings while keeping you firmly on track with your dietary goals.
Keto Butter Chicken Recipe
I was introduced to this dish when a fellow student made it during one of our nutrition labs. We were cooking up various ethnic dishes and this was the recipe used by her family. One bite and I was in love!
I made a few changes so the finished recipe would have have extra sauce to spoon over cauliflower rice. The original recipe called for heavy cream. But increasing it to create extra sauce also added a lot of extra calories. While the keto diet doesn’t really focus on calories I’m try to keep them in mind when doing ingredient swaps.
Ingredients for Butter Chicken:
- Chicken Breasts – I use boneless, skinless chicken breasts or chicken thighs for this recipe.
- Olive Oil – you will need some oil to sauté the vegetables and chicken. Use olive oil or your favorite light flavored oil for this.
- White Onion – this type of onion is lighter in flavor than yellow onions and it has a touch of sweetness to it.
- Garlic Cloves – use fresh garlic cloves for this recipe. You can also swap this out for ground garlic or granulated garlic. The recipe below will have more information on the swaps you can make.
- Crushed Tomatoes – you’ll need a 14 ounce can of crushed tomatoes.
- Chicken Broth – you’ll need a 14 ounce can of chicken broth
- Jalapeno – you can use a fresh jalapeno, dried jalapeno or even freeze dried jalapeno. I like using dried or freeze dried jalapeno as it’s so much easier to handle.
- Seasonings – these include curry powder, chili powder, salt and ginger. You can use ground ginger, fresh ginger or ginger paste for this recipe.
- Coconut Milk – use coconut milk or coconut cream that only has coconut listed as an ingredient on the food label. Don’t use a canned coconut cream that has added sugar in it.
- Butter – this is what makes the butter chicken sauce so delicious. While you can swap it out for
How to make Easy Butter Chicken:
In a large pot or a large skillet heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion and the garlic. Cook several minutes until the onion starts to become translucent.
Add the diced chicken and cook until no longer pink.
Add the tomatoes, chicken stock, jalapeno, curry powder, ginger, chilli powder and salt. Stir well. Simmer for 5 to 10 minutes or until the chicken is tender.
Add in the butter and coconut milk.
Stir until the butter is melted.
Serve the creamy sauce over cauliflower rice, shirataki rice or other low carb vegetables. For those family members who are not on a keto diet, traditional butter chicken can be served over rice.
You can top each bowl with some finely chopped cilantro.
Ingredient Swaps:
Here are some ingredient swaps that work with this recipe. Swapping ingredients is a money saving way to use what you already have on hand.
- Chicken – don’t have boneless, skinless chicken? You can easily swap this out for cooked ground chicken or even other types of meat such as beef, lamb and pork. It’s also delicious with any type of mild white fish (Cod, Haddock, Tilapia, etc). You can use bone-in chicken but these pieces of meat are thicker and will need to be cooked longer.
- Garlic – while I love using fresh cloves of garlic you can also swap it out for 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder or granulated garlic, 1 teaspoon garlic paste, 1 teaspoon garlic flakes or 1 teaspoon minced jarred garlic.
- Ginger – here are some swaps for the ground ginger. I love the flavor of fresh ginger and keep a piece in the freezer. When a recipe calls for ginger I take it out and use a microplaner to grate the frozen ginger into the dish. You can also use 1 tablespoon finely minced fresh ginger or 2 teaspoons ginger paste in place of the ground ginger (ginger powder).
- Crushed Tomatoes – can be swapped in equal amounts for other types of canned tomatoes such as diced, petite diced, whole, stewed and even tomato sauce. You can swap tomato paste for crushed tomatoes by mixing equal parts of tomato paste with an equal amount of water. This should create tomato sauce. Example, if you need 1 cup of crushed tomatoes mix a 1/2 cup of tomato paste with 1/2 of water or chicken broth to make 1 cup of sauce.
How to store Butter Chicken:
Store any leftover Keto Butter Chicken in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
This also makes a great freezer meal recipe. Check out the step by step instructions below.
How many carbs are in Keto Butter Chicken?
There are 6 servings with each serving having 8 grams of net carbs. This is calculated by subtracting the grams of fiber (3 grams) from the total carbs (11 grams). Net carbs are the carbs that will impact your blood sugar level.
For more information about carbohydrates (carbs) check out these pages on the keto diet:
Ultimate Guide to the Keto Diet
What to serve with Keto Butter Chicken:
Butter chicken is traditionally served over rice. To keep the carbs low and make this a keto-friendly version of butter chicken you can serve this over cauliflower rice.
You can also serve this with keto naan or over other vegetables. I’ve included some vegetables and vegetable blends that I’ve used before. This will only add in the following for net carbs:
- Cauliflower Rice 1 cup = 5 grams carbs, 2.1 grams fiber, 2.9 net grams carbs
- Broccoli 1 cup = 5.8 grams carbs, 2.2 grams fiber, 3.6 net grams carbs
- Bird’s Eye Broccoli, cauliflower and carrot mixture 1 cup = 5 grams carbs, 2 grams fiber, 3 net grams carbs
- Bird’s Eye Italian Blend 3/4 cup = 5 grams carbs, 2 grams fiber, 3 net grams carbs
- Bird’s Eye Normandy Blend (broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, zucchini and yellow squash) 3/4 cup = 3 grams carbs, 1 gram fiber, 2 net grams carbs
- Bird’s Eye California Blend (broccoli, cauliflower, carrots) 1 cup = 4 grams carbs, 2 net grams fiber and 2 net grams carbs
- Bird’s Eye Pepper Stir Fry (blend of bell pepper, onions) 1 cup = 5 grams carbs, 1 gram fiber, 4 net grams carbs
You can make this dish using various forms of chicken. The original dish calls for boneless skinless chicken breasts that have been diced but you can easily make it with whole chicken breasts or try using these Curry Chicken Meatballs instead.
Can you freeze Butter Chicken?
This freezes well but I doubt that you will have any left over because it tastes delicious so be wise and double or triple the batch! It makes a great lazy keto meal. Wondering what lazy keto is then check out this post.
Place the onion, garlic and diced chicken into a freezer bag.
In another quart sized bag add the tomatoes and spices for this recipe. Rather then freezing chicken broth I used chicken bouillon. Then I wrote on the bag how much water to add when making it.
On another freezer bag write the name of the recipe, the date and instructions to add in coconut milk. Place the bag of chicken and the bag of tomatoes into the marked freezer bag. Add in the butter (still wrapped). Seal the bag.
Your freezer meal is ready to be frozen until another day.
When you want to use the meal take it out the night before and allow it to thaw in the refrigerator. Follow the directions here to prepare the butter chicken.
Try this recipe and love it? Review it by clicking the star rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ on the recipe card! This helps other readers to find this recipe since the recipe rating will encourage search engines, such as Google, to suggest it to others. This helps support Remake My Plate as we are a reader supported publication.
Keto Butter Chicken Recipe
Equipment
- Large Stockpot
- Mixing spoon
- Sharp knife
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 large White Onion chopped
- 2 cloves Garlic minced
- 14 ounce crushed tomatoes
- 14 ounce chicken broth
- 1 jalapeno seeds removed, chopped
- 2 tablespoons curry powder
- 1 teaspoon Ground Ginger
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 stick butter
- 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into 1 inch pieces
- 14 ounce coconut milk
Instructions
- In a large pot or a large skillet heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion and the garlic. Cook several minutes until the onion starts to become translucent.2 tablespoons olive oil, 1 large White Onion, 2 cloves Garlic
- Add the diced chicken and cook until no longer pink.2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- Add the tomatoes, chicken stock, jalapeno, curry powder, ginger, chili powder and salt. Stir well. Simmer for 5 to 10 minutes or until the chicken is tender.14 ounce crushed tomatoes, 14 ounce chicken broth, 1 jalapeno, 2 tablespoons curry powder, 1 teaspoon Ground Ginger, 1 teaspoon chili powder, 1 teaspoon salt
- Add in the butter and coconut milk. Stir until the butter is melted.1/2 stick butter, 14 ounce coconut milk
- Serve the creamy sauce over cauliflower rice, shirataki rice or other low carb vegetables.
Nutrition
If you are looking for other low-carb/keto recipe ideas, be sure to check out our growing Recipe Index full of low-carb/keto recipes!
Want to get new recipes sent directly to your inbox? Then subscribe to our newsletter (see below) and be the first to know when we post a new recipe as well as get weekly shopping, cooking and meal planning tips. Follow me on Pinterest where you can find links to our recipes as well as other recipes you and your family will enjoy.
This post may contain affiliate links. Please see our disclosure policy. If you click on the banner below you will be taken directly to my Etsy shop to see the digital items currently listed.
