Butter Chicken Meatballs
Total Time
20 minutes
Prep Time
5 minutes
Cook Time
15 minutes
Rating
4.8 out of 5 stars
(46)
Ingredients
4-5 servings
- 1 tablespoon avocado oil or olive oil
- half of an onion, roughly chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, minced (or a garlic paste)
- a small piece of fresh ginger, grated (or a ginger paste)
- 1/4 teaspoon turmeric
- 1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon garam masala
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin
- one 14-ounce can crushed tomatoes or plain tomato sauce
- 1/2 cup water (more as needed later)
- 1/2 teaspoon to 1 teaspoon kosher salt (I use 1 teaspoon, just depends how salty you want it)
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 20 ounces of cooked chicken or turkey meatballs (about 4 cups of meatballs)
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1/3 cup heavy cream (more to taste)
- 1 1/2 cups basmati rice, or precooked rice
- 1/4 cup fresh cilantro
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Preparation
Chef’s notes
Blending methods:
For the silkiest sauce, I like to use a regular blender (we have a Blendtec at home). But an immersion blender can also work and it is the easier option; this works best with a deeper pot like a Dutch oven or the Instant Pot. If you’re using an immersion blender, tilt the pot to one side to pool all the sauce together before using. If you’re getting splatters, you might need to add an extra bit of water to make sure there’s enough volume of sauce to run it through the immersion blender smoothly. I would not recommend using an immersion blender in a shallow skillet where it will splatter over the sides – in that case, best to transfer to a blender!
Instant Pot instructions:
Add all sauce ingredients; cook on high pressure for 5 minutes. Use an immersion blender directly in the Instant Pot to make it smooth; add meatballs and turn it to warm or sauté until heated through (this takes 5-10 minutes). Finish by stirring in the cream and butter.
Instant Pot instructions with regular chicken:
If you’re using just regular chicken breasts or thighs instead of meatballs, add the chicken to the Instant Pot right at the beginning of cooking with the sauce. Cook on high pressure for 12 minutes, then remove and shred or pull apart the chicken. Meanwhile, blend sauce, and then add chicken back in with the cream and butter. We do it this way quite a bit as well!