Easy Vegan Butter Chicken
Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links.
This gluten-free and vegan butter chicken is made with tofu instead of chicken and wonderfully rich cashew cream instead of dairy. Serve over rice for a hearty, filling and flavourful plant-based meal.
Ingredient Notes
The ingredient might seem a bit long but most of it is spices so don’t be intimidated! Let’s go over a few notes about the ingredients:
- Raw cashews. You’ll need plain, raw cashews to make the cream base for this recipe. Raw cashews are light beige in colour and have no other added ingredients like oil or salt.
- Spices and herbs. You’ll need onion, garlic, ginger, chili powder, turmeric, coriander, cumin and cinnamon. 1 tbsp fresh ginger, minced
- Diced tomatoes. You’ll need 1 28 oz can of diced tomatoes and you’ll be adding the entire can right into the recipe. Choose organic and no salt added tomatoes if you can!
- Tofu. Firm or extra-firm tofu is best for this recipe. For best results you can press it before hand but it’s not totally necessary.
Vegan Butter Chicken Recipe
This dish is rich and creamy, high in protein and packed with nutrition. The creaminess comes from blending raw cashews with almond milk, my typical go-to for replacing cream in recipes.
This recipe is one of my new favourites, the flavour is unreal! Plus it takes less than 30 minutes to make, which is absolutely key for any meal at my house.
I’m actually pretty lazy when it comes to cooking. I get by on the basics and I’m not one to make really elaborate recipes or multi-course meals. I’ve been trying to focus on bringing you simple, plant-based meals lately so I hope you’ve been enjoying them!
More Vegan Curries and Stews
Here are some more delicious recipes you’ll love:
- Best Red Lentil Coconut Dahl
- Red Curry Lentil Cauliflower Stew
- Curried Chickpea Potato Stew
- Chickpea Peanut Stew
- Vegan Panang Curry with Tofu
Easy Vegan Butter Chicken
-
Prep Time: 10 mins
-
Cook Time: 15 mins
-
Total Time: 25 minutes
-
Yield: 4 1x
-
Category: Main Dish
-
Method: Stovetop, Blender
-
Cuisine: Vegan, Gluten-Free, Indian
Incredible, vegan “butter chicken style” tofu ready in less than 30 minutes. This is so easy to make for a quick weeknight dinner!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup raw cashews + 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
- 1 tbsp coconut oil (use vegetable stock or water if you prefer)
- 1 tbsp fresh ginger, minced
- 3 clove garlic, minced
- 1 medium white onion, finely diced
- 2 tsp mild chili powder
- 1 tsp ground turmeric
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tbsp pure maple syrup
- 1 – 28 oz can diced tomatoes, with the juice
- 1 package organic firm or extra firm tofu, pressed and cubed
- salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Press your tofu for at least 20 minutes.
- Place the raw cashews and almond milk in a high speed blender and mix until completely smooth. Set aside.
- In a large pan, heat the coconut oil over medium heat.
- Add the ginger, garlic and onion and cook for 5 minutes while stirring.
- Add all the spices and cook for a few more minutes.
- Add the diced tomatoes, maple syrup, cubed tofu and cashew mixture. Mix well and simmer for 10 minutes.
- Season with salt and pepper, if needed.
- Serve with rice and fresh cilantro.
Notes
- It’s not 100% necessary to press your tofu if you’re in a pinch. However, I would recommend it if you have time. Simply fold a dish cloth around the block of tofu and set a few heavy books or plates on top of it. Let it sit for about 20-30 minutes. This presses all the water out so it’s able to soak up all the yummy Indian flavours!
Keywords: butter tofu, easy, healthy, low-carb
This looks SO good! I’ll have to give this a try for sure! 😀
I love the vegan twist on this! I’m not personally vegan (or even vegetarian for that matter), but I’ve been trying to reduce the amount of meat I eat and this looks delicious! I actually had real butter chicken for the first time ever on Saturday night when I went to one of my Indian best friend’s birthday. SO GOOD!
Try making this dish with Butler Soy Curls which are exactly like chicken once rehydrated and used in any recipe requiring chicken. Absolutely fantastic!!! Oh, and if you are pressing tofu please use paper towels. Most people do not use fragrance-free laundry detergent. Those nasty fragrance chemicals from the dish cloth will get absorbed into your tofu. Stinkmovie.com
Deryn, this is perfect timing! Mark came home from work yesterday and said he and his co-workers went to an Indian restaurant for lunch. He got Tofu Massala and said it was delicious! So now I have to make this for him soon. 😉
Great! Let me know how you like it when you get a chance to try it!
You can call this anything you want, and I’ll still take a giant bite. I love tofu, and it looks so tasty!
What a great mix of spices! Can’t wait to make it myself!
This looks so delish! Will be trying this one soon!
★★★★
Tried your recipe tonight and it worked out really well. Before going vegan chicken butter massala was one of my favorite dishes and I think this comes really close. We all loved the sauce but are still not big fans of tofu, maybe that will come eventually. I made vegan naanbread with garlic and coriander to go with it, we ended up dipping the naan in the leftover sauce in the pan. Definitly will make this again, thank you for the recipe.
Finally made this and it is so so yummy……..definitely a do again
I’m actually writing this as I’m eating it and dear god. There are no words… Just…Wonderful. It is a bit spicy so next time I’ll tone down on the chilli powder but holy crap this is good.
Made this tonight, yummy! Thanks for the great recipe.
A go-to recipe in our house. We are not vegan, but can’t have dairy–we have used this sauce on chicken and it is tasty. Another fave variation includes potatoes, cauliflower, peas, and spinach. Thanks for the awesome recipe!
This is incredibly delicious and really easy too. My husband said it was was better than any butter chicken he has ever eaten before our vegan life.
★★★★★
Just tried this and would recommend 1/2 Tbsp of maple syrup because the full amount is very sweet (and make sure to buy unsweetened almond milk). Apart from this really yummy and easy to make!
This was really nice! I dry-fried the tofu a bit before adding to the sauce but otherwise followed it to the letter and it was very quick and tasty, thanks for posting!
★★★★★
You’re so welcome!! Happy you enjoyed it!
Did you soak cashews or blend as is!?
I blended as is but soaking will result in a smoother sauce, make sure you’re using raw cashews either way. You can also do a quick soak in boiling water for 10 minutes.
I made this last night and it was delicious. Even my husband loved it and he’s not vegan.
This looks amazing! Roughly how many does this recipe serve? Thinking of making it for my boyfriend!
I believe it makes about 4 servings, it’s been a while since I made it!
Hi, the recipe does not list any curry! I added two tsp of curry. I also doubled the cashews, cumin and coriander and blended the entire mix after sauteeing everything. I think that blending everything made the mix more tomatoey, not in a good way, so next time I make this I will use 40-50% less tomatoes to start and add until I get the right flavor. This was my first attempt at butter chicken sauce and it was not bad!
★★★
Just made this recipe and it is delicious! Next time i’ll reduce it down to 1 tsp of cayenne pepper because I like to pair curries like this with spicy and tangy South Asian pickles. Thanks for the recipe.
★★★★★
Oh yum, sounds amazing with pickles!! So glad you enjoyed the recipe. Thanks for the comment!
Just WOW!! I recently tried several of your recipes and each time I was shocked at how much flavor you pack in while keeping the recipe really simplistic! This was phenomenal. I did half the diced tomatoes on accident, but it actually turned out great since we’re not huge tomato lovers. This will definitely become a staple in our home.
★★★★★
Thanks so much for all your comments. I haven’t made this recipe in a while, it’s a good reminder to make it. You made my day with all your feedback, thank you so very much!
I would try using sunflower seeds or some other type of seed in place of cashews.
I have tried this recipe and it’s “just wow”. I have added the Raizada Spices and sauces along with your ingredients and it adds the perfect flavor to the recipe. Keep Sharing such tasty recipes.
★★★★★
This was so good! I just reduced the spices a bit, and I didn’t have diced tomatoes so I used some tomato sauce instead. Nice and creamy.
★★★★★
Awesome! So glad you liked it.
This was easy and delicious:) I used non-sweetened soymilk as that is what I prefer and the result was very creamy and so good! Mine turned out a little darker as my onion and spice mixture got pretty brown. Next time I might use an immersion blender for a few seconds to give it a better color before putting in the tofu (I used tempe- not as pretty but very good). I served with a side of roasted broccoli. So colorful in the bowl:)
★★★★★
That is so great to hear! It sounds great with tempeh too. Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks a lot for the feedback.
Wow! This looks amazing! I would try making these easy vegan butter chicken for sure! Can I post it on my blog?
★★★★★
You can definitely post an image and a link back to the recipe, but please don’t post the recipe in full. Thanks!