This Vegan Butter Chicken is made with chewy marinated tofu pieces cooked in a spiced tomato creamy sauce. The best vegan Indian curry recipe for cold days.
This vegan butter chicken is a vegan curry adaptation of the popular Indian butter chicken. Below are all the tips and tricks to make the best vegan butter chicken with chewy, tender pieces of vegan protein, and a creamy, buttery tomato sauce.
The classic butter chicken sauce is not vegan because, as it names suggests, it contains butter and heavy cream. But making a vegan version is super easy, just like I did with my Vegan Bolognese, Vegan Stir Fry, or Vegan Chickpea Curry.
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Tofu – I prefer to use extra-firm organic tofu. This tends to keep its consistency when cooking whereas soft or silken tofu can disintegrate.
- Olive Oil – For the marinade.
- Cornstarch – This creates a coating around the pieces of tofu, making them a bit crunchier on the outside, similar to how chicken cooks.
- Garam Masala – This is the essential Indian spice for the butter chicken flavors.
- Garlic Powder – Garlic adds a bit of zing to the dish.
- Turmeric – Turmeric adds both flavors and a lot of color to the dish.
- Coconut Oil – You can use refined coconut oil to avoid any coconut flavor or olive oil.
- Vegan Butter – There’s no butter tofu without butter. You can use vegan butter or even margarine.
- Onion – for the sauce, white or yellow onions can be used.
- Fenugreek Powder – This is optional but it’s a typical Indian spice that creates all the difference in this butter chicken sauce recipe, so highly recommended!
- Ground Cumin – for more balanced spice flavors.
- Ginger and Garlic – I used ground ginger and fresh garlic, but you can also use fresh ginger.
- Tomato Paste – Tomato paste gives the sauce its richness and flavor.
- Coconut Cream – You can also use canned coconut milk to decrease the saturated fat in this recipe, but the sauce won’t be as creamy and buttery. You must use canned coconut cream or coconut milk, not long-life milk, or the sauce would be too thin!
How To Make Vegan Butter Chicken
This easy Vegan Butter Chicken recipe is made in two steps. First, you need to prepare the tofu. Then, you make the vegan butter chicken sauce. Finally, you can assemble the dish and serve it with your favorite side dishes. Let’s see each step in detail with the ingredients needed to make this easy vegan curry recipe.
- To create a chicken-like texture in your vegan curry, you need to use a firm tofu block or an extra firm tofu block. Drain the tofu block for 30 minutes to remove excess water. The simplest technique consists of wrapping the tofu block in absorbent paper and then placing it between two wooden chopping boards.
- Add pressure on the top board. It can be done by stacking books or a bowl filled with tap water. Set it aside for 30 minutes to give time for the tofu to drain.
- Since you want to mimic chicken texture to its best, it is recommended to cut the tofu into irregular pieces. To do so, first cut thin tofu slices and then pull apart each slice into chunks of tofu.
- To make the marinade, you need to add all the marinade ingredients below in a medium mixing bowl. Then, add the tofu pieces into the bowl and stir to cover with marinade evenly.
- Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C) and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Lay the marinated tofu pieces in a single layer on the tray and bake for 20 to 30 minutes, flipping them halfway.
- The best vegan butter chicken sauce is made of a spiced curry paste cooked with coconut cream. The sauce is super easy to make in 10 minutes. First, melt coconut oil and vegan butter over medium heat and cook the onion until soft and fragrant.
- Then, add all the curry spices along with tomato paste and cook for 1 minute. In fact, frying the spices and tomato paste is the trick to creating the most fragrant Indian curry, so don’t skip this part.
- Finally, stir in canned coconut cream and cook for 2-3 minutes until the sauce is smooth and creamy.
- Now, stir the baked tofu pieces into the vegan butter chicken sauce, cover, and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes until the sauce thickens.
Spicing It Up
A classic butter chicken recipe is mild in flavor, which means that it doesn’t include chili powder. However, if you love spicy curry, follow the rules below to adjust the curry spiciness:
- Mild curry – don’t add chili powder. Follow the recipe as is.
- Medium – add 1/4 teaspoon of chili powder to the sauce.
- Spicy – add 1/2 teaspoon of chili powder to the sauce.
Serving Suggestion
You can serve this Indian curry with many different side dishes like:
- Classic Jasmine Rice or Coconut Jasmine Rice.
- Brown Rice or Quinoa – for a healthy high-fiber side. You can cook your quinoa in the rice cooker.
- Cauliflower Rice – for a low-carb vegan meal.
- Naan or flatbread – like my Vegan Naan Bread or 2-Ingredient Flatbread
Tofu Swaps
You can make this recipe with many different vegetables or vegan proteins. For example, you can replace the tofu pieces with the same amount of canned chickpea. Marinate and cook the chickpeas as for tofu.
Bake them in the oven to make them crispy, or skip the marinade for a quick chickpea curry and add the drained, canned chickpeas directly into the sauce. Other great tofu substitutions for this curry are:
- Chickpea
- Cauliflower Florets
- Steamed Potatoes and Peas
- Green Beans
- Sweet Potatoes
More Easy Vegan Dinners
If you enjoyed this vegan butter chicken recipe, you’ll love these other easy vegan dinners.
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Vegan Butter ‘Chicken’ with Tofu
Ingredients
Tofu marinade
- 1 block Firm Tofu - 14 oz, 400g
- 2 tablespoons Olive Oil
- 2 tablespoons Cornstarch
- ½ teaspoon Garlic Powder
- 2 teaspoons Garam Masala
- ½ teaspoon Turmeric
- ½ teaspoon Salt
Curry sauce
- 1 tablespoon Coconut Oil
- 1 tablespoon Dairy-Free Butter (Unsalted)
- 1 medium Onion - chopped
- ¼ teaspoon Ground Ginger
- 1 tablespoon Garam Masala
- 1 teaspoon Fenugreek Powder
- 1 teaspoon Ground Cumin
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- 3 Garlic Cloves - crushed
- ⅓ cup Tomato Paste
- 14 oz Canned Coconut Cream - 1 can
Instructions
Prepare the tofu
- Wrap the tofu block with absorbent paper and place it between two chopping boards, adding a few books on top of the top board to add pressure. Set it aside for 30 minutes to release all the tofu moisture.
Marinate tofu
- Cut the tofu block into thin slices (about 0.4 inches/0.1cm). Then, pull apart the tofu slices to create irregular pieces—this best mimics chicken texture! However, you can also simply cube the tofu slices if preferred.
- Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Line a baking tray with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine all the marinade ingredients: olive oil, cornstarch, garlic powder, masala, turmeric, and salt.
- Add the tofu chunks into the marinade and combine with a spoon.
- Lay the tofu pieces onto the prepared baking sheet into a single layer, and make sure the tofu pieces don't touch each other or overlap.
- Bake the tofu on the center rack at 400°F (200°C) for 20-30 minutes, flipping them halfway. Meanwhile, prepare the curry sauce.
Curry sauce
- Heat a large skillet or medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the coconut oil, butter, and chopped onions. Stir and cook until fragrant and soft, about 2 minutes.
- Add all the spices: ginger, garam masala, fenugreek, cumin, salt, crushed garlic, and tomato paste. Stir and cook for 30 seconds until it forms a paste.
- Stir in canned coconut cream, stir and simmer for 2-3 minutes.
- Stir in the baked tofu pieces, cover, and simmer for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally until the sauce thickens.
- Serve with jasmine rice, vegan naan bread, or cauliflower rice for a low-carb version.
Loved it!
This butter ‘chicken’ recipe is fantastic. So easy and tastes amazing. I have tried cooking with tofu before but without good results, but this time was different. I you didn’t know you could easily think it was chicken! Will definitely be doing this recipe again!
Thank you! I’m glad you liked it!
This is the best Vegan Butter Chicken I’ve made/eaten. (The only thing I changed was I used arrowroot powder instead of cornstarch because that’s all I had still, really good) Thank you for this recipe!
This recipe was delicious! Will definitely make again.
This recipe is delicious! I added a sliced red pepper with the onion.
So flavorful! My fiancé hated the tofu I made last week but he was impressed with this one!
When mixing the marinade ingredients, the amount of cornstarch called for compared to the amount of olive oil just turned the mix into one glob. Even doubling the olive oil didn’t soften it enough to throroughly toss through tofu pieces without it crumbling into tiny bits.
I imagine the marinade instructions should actually read:
“Mix cornstarch with spices, and gently toss with tofu to coat. Add olive oil and again toss gently.”
No, the recipe is correct, the marinade is thick and liquid like a cornstarch slurry – see my picture above in post. You toss the drained pieces of form tofu in the liquid. If you drained the tofu, it won’t break and get covered with the liquid marinade.
Did not get a pretty pic but maaaan. The flavors were incredible. I should have doubled the recipe! Couldn’t find my garam masala so subbed curry. Served with basmati rice and green beans. Thank you for an uncomplicated recipe.
Yumm!
That’s looks so good made me hungry
I am glad you love the picture, hope you give the recipe a go!