I created this recipe for Butter Chicken Soup, and boy, am I glad I did. Imagine everything you love about butter chicken but in a soup. It's creamy, a little spicy, and loaded with flavour. It is the exact thing that we all need to get us through this last little push of winter. So, won't you join me as I walk you through how to make what is sure to be your new favourite soup? Let's get to it.
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Butter Chicken Soup Ingredients
The ingredients list for this Butter Chicken Soup may seem intimidating at first. I'm not going to lie to you; it's kind of long. But other than one or two of the spices, there is nothing in this soup that should be unfamiliar to you.
The soup starts with an onion, a few cloves of garlic, a Thai red chilli, and a piece of ginger. You can leave the red chilli out, but it does contribute to the flavour of the soup. The next ingredients are two potatoes, one cup of tomato puree, a pound of diced boneless skinless chicken thighs, and half a cup of frozen peas. Coming in at the end is one cup of whipping cream, a quarter cup of chopped cilantro, two tablespoons chopped mint and 1 tablespoon fenugreek leaves (aka Kasoori Methi) which are optional. There is also a teaspoon of lemon juice and three cups of water.
Spices
The Butter Chicken Soup spices are:
- 1 tablespoon garam masala (you can buy it or make it)
- ½ teaspoon Kashmiri chilli powder (or ¼ teaspoon cayenne)
- ¼ teaspoon each of cumin, coriander, ground cardamom and black pepper
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon sugar
I'm sure some of these are unfamiliar to you, but you can find most if not all at your local grocery store or specialty Indian market. If you don't want to buy all the spices, I get it. It can get expensive. Most grocery stores now sell butter chicken spice blends. You can buy that and use it instead. I'm not sure what the measurements would be, though. I would say start with a tablespoon, and if you need to add more, you can. For a deeper dive into spice blends, check out my post on understanding cooking terms.
Prepping The Ingredients
To prepare the ingredients, start by dicing the onion. Next, mince the garlic and ginger. Slice the chilli as thin as you can. And dice the potatoes, then rinse them in cold water until the water runs clear.
Cooking The Butter Chicken Soup
Heat a large pot over medium-high heat. Add two tablespoons of olive oil to the pot, then the chicken. Cook until the chicken starts to brown, then add in the onions and cook for about three minutes or until they start to soften. Next in goes the garlic, ginger, and chilli. Cook those for a minute before adding a tablespoon of butter and the spices. Cook the spices for about a minute, then add the tomato puree, water and potatoes.
Bring the pot to a boil, put a lid on it, turn the heat to medium-low and cook for ten minutes. Add the peas into the pot, put the lid back on and cook for another five minutes or until the potatoes are tender.
Finishing The Soup
To finish the Butter Chicken Soup, add the cream and cook for two minutes. Take the pot off the heat and stir in the cilantro, mint, fenugreek leaves and lemon juice. Taste the soup and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper as needed.
Recipe
Ingredients
Spices
- 1 tablespoon garam masala
- ½ teaspoon Kashmiri chilli powder or ¼ teaspoon cayenne
- ¼ teaspoon cumin
- ¼ teaspoon coriander
- ¼ teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 tablespoon sugar
Main Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons canola oil
- 1 pound diced boneless skinless chicken thighs
- 1 ½ cups diced onion
- 1 tablespoon minced ginger
- 2 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1 minced red Thai chilli
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 cup tomato purée
- 3 cups hot water
- 2 cups diced potatoes
- ½ cup frozen peas
- 1 cup whipping cream
- ¼ cup chopped cilantro
- 2 tablespoons chopped mint
- 1 tablespoon fenugreek leaves optional
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
Instructions
- Mix all the spices and set aside.
- Heat a large pot over medium-high heat. Add in the oil and chicken thighs, then cook for about 5 minutes or until the chicken is browned.
- Put the onion in the pot and cook for 3 minutes or until the onions start to soften. Add the ginger, garlic, and chilli and cook for 1 more minute.
- Add the butter and spices to the pot, cook for 1 minute, then pour in the tomato purée and water.
- Bring to a boil, then add the potatoes. Put a lid on the pot, turn the heat down to medium-low and simmer for 10 minutes.
- Add the peas, put the lid back on and simmer for another 5 minutes.
- Add the cream, cook for 2 minutes, then taste and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper as needed.
- Take the pot off the heat and stir in the cilantro, mint, fenugreek leaves, and lemon juice. Serve.
The Wrap Up
I'd been thinking about this soup for weeks before I finally made it, and it absolutely lived up to the hype in my head. If you're looking for something warm, creamy, and bursting with flavour, this Butter Chicken Soup should be at the top of your list.
Bonnie says
I made this yesterday, and we really enjoyed it. It was so easy to make! Being post-pandemic reclusive (I know I need to work on that), I used skinless, bone in chicken thighs and had to leave out the mint. It was still delicious. My husband objects to super spicy food, so I timidly split, seeded and soaked the hot pepper, then drained it and tossed it in, and pulled it out at the end, along with the chicken bones. He never saw the pepper and really liked the bit of 'warmth' he detected. I only had cereal cream, but will make sure that next time I have the whipping cream.
Thank you for a delicious recipe!
Chef Ben Kelly says
Thank you Bonnie. I'm very happy to hear that you enjoyed the soup. I like what you did with the pepper. I would have done the same thing with the substitutions.