Butter Chicken

And please pre-order Eat Happy Italian!!

Cover for my upcoming cookbook Eat Happy Italian, published by BenBella Books.

Buckle up, dear Happy. For the next 3 weeks, I am going to be screaming to the hills about pre-ordering my next cookbook, Eat Happy Italian.

Why?

Because the book is has a long lead time on printing, the publisher needs an accurate count on ordering. If not enough are pre-ordered, not enough will be printed for the launch, which would really stink.

Since it’s soooooo early before the release date (8 whole months!!), I thought, lemme come up with some great bonuses to thank you all for making an early commitment.

SOOOOOOOO…

I’m making some amazing bonus recipe PDFs and will ONLY release these to the people who pre-order books.

Click through to this site to find all the places to order the book—and to upload your receipts to qualify for the bonuses.

This is a make-or-break time with my publisher and for the success of the book, so I thank you ALL for your early support. The deadline to quality for the early bonuses is March 15th.

I swore after Amazon messed with the release of Eat Happy too, I would never put myself through the cookbook debacle ever again.

But here we are.

I wrote another book. I cannot WAIT for you all to have it. It’s gorgeous and the recipes are DELISH!!

Please pre-order, you will love it.

The last time I released a book, I made a bonus recipe PDF that was so good, people were pissed I removed the PDF from circulation as I promised I would.

I honor pre-order bonuses. They are for the people who support my work. Without you guys, I wouldn’t be able to do what I do.

This recipe for Butter Chicken is from that 2019 bonus PDF. So if you didn’t get that bonus recipe PDF, then congrats on waiting out the almost 5 year waiting period to get your hands on this gem. It’s worth the wait and one of my favorite curry recipes I’ve ever written.

As always, a downloadable printable version of this recipe lives here.

For your diary free peeps, I give you all you need in the recipe to adapt this one to be deliciously dairy free.

And as always, you can replace the tomato sauce component of this recipe with 2/3rds of a jar of Eat Happy Kitchen Marinara because why wouldn’t you.

Let’s cook…

Butter Chicken, recipe and photo by me, Anna Vocino

BUTTER CHICKEN (Slow Cooker and Instant Pot)

(Serves 4)

Tomato Sauce

• 1 tablespoon olive oil

• 1 teaspoon minced garlic

• 1 (14-ounce) can diced tomatoes, puréed

• 1 tablespoon tomato paste

• 1 teaspoon salt

Heat the olive oil in a sauce pan to medium high heat and cook the minced garlic until fragrant, about 1-2 minutes, being careful not to burn the garlic. Add tomatoes, tomato paste, and salt, stirring until smooth. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and let simmer 7-10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat.

Spice Mix

• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground coriander

• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt

• 1 teaspoon ground turmeric

• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

• 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom

• 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

In a small mixing bowl, whisk together all ingredients.

Butter Chicken

• 2 tablespoons butter (or use olive oil for dairy free)

• 1 sweet onion, diced

• 1 tablespoon minced garlic

• 1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger root

• 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1” pieces, seasoned with salt and pepper

• Spice Mix (see recipe above)

• Tomato Sauce (see recipe above or use 2/3 jar Eat Happy Kitchen Marinara)

• 2 red bell peppers, de-stemmed and deseeded, cut into 1” pieces

• 1 green bell pepper, de-stemmed and deseeded, cut into 1” pieces

• 1/2 cup heavy cream (or use full fat canned coconut cream for dairy free)

• 1 tablespoon fresh cilantro, chopped for garnish

Slow Cooker Instructions:

Using the sauté setting of the slow cooker (or in a flat-bottomed pan on medium high heat on the stove top), heat the butter until melted. Cook the onion until soft, about 4-5 minutes. Add in the garlic and grated ginger and cook another 1-2 minutes until fragrant, but being careful not to burn. Add the chicken pieces and cook until the edges start to brown, about 2 minutes, flipping pieces with tongs to make sure the pieces are browning on all sides. Sprinkle the Spice Mix all over the chicken pieces and toss the chicken to coat. Pour in the Tomato Sauce, and stir gently. Cover the slow cooker (or pour the contents from the pan into the slow cooker), switch to the “High” setting, and cook for 4-5 hours. With one hour remaining, add in the red and green bell pepper pieces. When done cooking, turn off the heat and stir in the heavy cream until evenly incorporated. Serve the stew in bowls, garnished with fresh chopped cilantro.

Instant Pot Instructions:

On the Instant Pot Sauté setting, heat the butter until melted. Cook the onion until soft, about 4-5 minutes. Add in the garlic and grated ginger and cook another 1-2 minutes until fragrant, but being careful not to burn. Add the chicken pieces and cook until the edges start to brown, about 2 minutes, flipping pieces with tongs to make sure the pieces are browning on all sides. Sprinkle the Spice Mix all over the chicken pieces and toss the chicken to coat. Pour in the Tomato Sauce, and stir gently. Cover the Instant Pot with the vent set to “Sealing.” Let it cook on the Manual setting to 10 minutes. Let the Instant Pot pressurize, cook, and the depressurize for 15 minutes. Flip the vent to “Venting” and let the steam release. Remove the Instant Pot lid when the metal float valve has fully descended. Switch to Sauté setting and add the red and green bell pepper pieces. Let cook for 10-15 minutes, stirring often, until the bell pepper pieces are soft and making sure the sauce doesn’t burn. Turn off the heat and stir in the heavy cream until evenly incorporated. Serve the stew in bowls, garnished with fresh chopped cilantro.