Warming spices, rich cream, ghee, aromatics and tofu make this vegetarian butter chicken recipe simply irresistible! Toss those take-out menus and make your very own tofu butter chicken at home!
If you’re looking for a homemade butter chicken recipe, you’ve come to the right place!
This vegetarian butter chicken has the flavours of a traditional butter chicken recipe, but is meatless.
Instead of chicken, you’ll find tofu. There’s still all the regular players you’d expect to find, like garam masala, cream and butter.
This recipe is seriously good and a great way to enjoy more meatless meals.
Serve with rice to soak up all that flavourful sauce and you won’t be disappointed.
Also (what I love to do when I make this) is throw on my comfiest clothes, pin my hair up, glasses on, big blanket, wine and turn on whatever show we’re binging on at the moment. It’s seriously makes for the best kinda evening 😉 Who needs take-out anyway??
Why We Love Vegetarian Butter Chicken
- It’s made in about 30 minutes
- Easy to prepare
- Vegetarian
- Gluten free
- Of course, it tastes delicious!
How to Make Butter Tofu
Full details on how to make this butter tofu are in the recipe card below, but here are the basics:
- Start by cooking some onion in a little oil.
- Add garlic and ginger.
- Stir in tomato paste.
- Pour in tomato puree, cream, seasonings and sugar (if using).
- Stir to combine and cook for a little.
- Add the butter chicken sauce to a blender and blend until smooth.
- Pour the sauce back into the pot, along with tofu. Cover and warm through.
- Enjoy!
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Do I Have to Press the Tofu?
Nope! Use firm or extra firm tofu in this recipe. We’re not frying or baking it or anything, so there’s no need to press any moisture out.
If you’re using a softer tofu (or really want to press your tofu), you can do so for about 20 minutes or so.
Pressing tofu just means squeezing some of the moisture out of it. You can use a tofu press (meant specifically for that function) or wrap your tofu in paper towel and place something heavy on it, like a skillet. That’s what I did in this crispy tofu recipe.
Do I Have to Use Tofu?
Not at all!
If you’d rather use something else in lieu of tofu, paneer is a great option.
More Recipe Tips
I didn’t add any cayenne pepper in this vegetarian butter chicken recipe as butter chicken is not overly spicy. However, if you’d like a little kiss of spice, feel free to add some.
Though not traditional, if you want to add a pop of colour (and some veggie factor) to this dish, feel free to mix in/warm through some frozen peas or baby spinach.
Ghee was used as the butter component of this tofu butter recipe. Ghee is basically clarified butter. That just means that the milk solids are removed. You know how when you heat butter, there’s a foamy milk layer that floats to that top? That! Those are milk solids and they are removed. You can use regular butter here, though, if that’s what you have on hand.
This tofu butter chicken reheats wonderfully! Reheat in a pan or pot on your stove top until warmed through. If you need to loosen things, you can add a tiny splash of veggie broth or water (but you probably won’t need to as this dish is pretty saucy).
Butter chicken (or butter tofu) goes great with rice and naan. Quinoa or cauliflower rice would also be yummy sides to soak up all that butter chicken sauce!
More Easy Curry Recipes You May Enjoy
- Chickpea and Lentil Curry – Easy, hearty and a great way to use some pantry staples.
- Fish Curry – Cod with coconut milk and lots of veggies. Totally delicious!
- Chickpea Cauliflower Curry – Delicious and great with rice or quinoa.
Hope you love this vegetarian butter chicken recipe as much as we do!
If you try this tofu butter chicken, please leave a comment below. Love to hear how you enjoyed the recipe! Thank you!
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Vegetarian Butter Chicken Recipe (with tofu)
Ingredients
Butter Chicken Sauce
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 yellow onion , peeled and diced
- 3 cloves garlic , minced
- 1 tablespoon fresh ginger , peeled and minced
- 3 tablespoons tomato paste
- 2 cups tomato puree
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 2 teaspoon garam masala
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon ground turmeric
- 2 tablespoons ghee (clarified butter or use regular butter)
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar , or to taste, depending on your tomato puree/how sweet you want to balance the tomato flavour (optional)
- 400 grams extra firm or firm tofu , cut into small squares, about the size of some dice
- freshly chopped cilantro (coriander) (garnish, to taste (optional)))
- fresh lime wedges (for serving with, to taste (optional))
Instructions
- In a 12-inch skillet on medium heat, add oil.
- Once oil is shimmering, add onion and cook 3 to 5 minutes.
- Add garlic and ginger and cook 1 minute.
- Stir in tomato paste and cook for 1 minute.
- Pour in tomato puree, cream, garam masala, cumin, chili powder, salt, pepper, turmeric, ghee and brown sugar (if using). Warm through about 5 minutes or so until the flavours melt together and the sauce thickens a little.
- Allow to cool slightly and add to a blender, cover and blend until smooth. You can loosely cover the vent in your blender lid with a clean tea towel to allow steam to escape.
- Pour butter chicken sauce back into pan and add tofu.
- Bring to a gentle simmer, cover and cook 10 to 12 minutes.
- Serve with rice (and some naan, if you like). Garnish with cilantro and serve with lime wedges, if desired. Yields 4 large servings or 6 smaller servings. Enjoy!
Notes
- I didn’t add any cayenne pepper in this vegetarian butter chicken recipe as butter chicken is not overly spicy. However, if you’d like a little kiss of spice, feel free to add some.
- Though not traditional, if you want to add a pop of colour (and some veggie factor) to this dish, feel free to mix in/warm through some frozen peas or baby spinach.
- This tofu butter chicken reheats wonderfully! Reheat in a pan or pot on your stove top until warmed through. If you need to loosen things, you can add a tiny splash of veggie broth or water (but you probably won’t need to as this dish is pretty saucy).
- Ghee was used as the butter component of this tofu butter recipe. Ghee is basically clarified butter. That just means that the milk solids are removed. You know how when you heat butter, there’s a foamy milk layer that floats to that top? That! Those are milk solids and they are removed. You can use regular butter here, though, if that’s what you have on hand.
- Butter chicken (or butter tofu) goes great with rice and naan. Quinoa or cauliflower rice would also be yummy sides to soak up all that butter chicken sauce!
Nutrition (estimate only)
