If you’re a child of immigrants in the U.S., you were probaaaably made fun of for what was in your lunch box that day. Maybe you were one of the lucky ones that convinced your mom to allow you to take a Lunchables to school.
I always complained about being made fun of for my Indian food and I would get caught throwing out my untouched lunch. The show Fresh Off the Boat even had an episode on this exact same thing! Thanks to my stanky lunch, my mom learned how to adapt in the best way ever - Indo-American fusion food.
Instead, she did things like mix our leftover curry from the night before with regular marinara pasta. Enter: Butter Masala Pasta. Now, I’m sure there are a few desi people whose parents made a variation of this.
One day, I was stuck in meetings and boiled pasta before I realized I had no sauce. I grabbed the butter chicken I made the night before and threw some of the curry onto the pasta and called it a day. It just made sense! The tomato base with cream is very similar to Italian pastas and butter masala requires just a few extra ingredients, namely some spices.
Why You’ll Love this Recipe
This flavorful pasta is incredible a quick lunch! Here’s why you’ll love it:
This recipe encapsulates the delicious flavor of Butter Chicken, but only uses four masalas instead of the hefty ingredient list for an authentic recipe. It’s ready in under 30 minutes for a quick homemade lunch or to add into your weeknight dinner rotation. While this recipe is vegetarian, it’s extremely friendly for adding your protein of choice. Readers have reported successfully adding chicken, lobster, shrimp, sausage, and tofu. A protein pasta would also be a great source of protein!
If you’re a fan of makhani sauce, you should also definitely check out these Butter Chicken Wings!
Ingredients - Notes and Substitutions
I realize that Indian cooking is very new territory to some people, so you may not have all the masalas at first. The ingredients for making Butter Masala are almost the same as a creamy tomato-based pasta. You’ll just need a total of four spices, all in equal parts.
Pasta - You can use any dry or fresh pasta for this recipe! I used a protein-heavy pasta. Onion - Use half of a medium yellow onion. A red onion also works. We cook this until it’s browned significantly to develop more flavor. Butter - A makhani sauce needs makhan, or butter! Ginger Garlic Paste - Or as I call it, gigi paste! This is simply a 50/50 mix of ginger and garlic that’s blended into a paste. You can easily make ginger garlic paste at home in a mortar and pestle or blender, or purchase it readymade. Tomato Paste - For a deeply concentrated tomato flavor without needing to cook down tomato puree. You can definitely use fresh tomatoes and puree them, but you’ll need to simmer them for 10-15 minutes for a thick sauce. Heavy Cream - Balances out the tang from the tomato paste and also makes the pasta super creamy. Spices - We’re using equal amounts of garam masala, ground coriander, chili powder, and cumin. Just under a teaspoon of each for 2 servings.
Note: You can also marinate and cook chicken according to this butter chicken recipe if you choose not to use a protein pasta. I’ve also had readers report back saying they used shrimp, lobster, sausage, and tofu!
Step-by-step Instructions
Making the makhani sauce is super similar to making a vodka sauce. Just axe the vodka, and add spices!
Expert Tips for the Best Makhani Sauce
This butter masala sauce is inspired by murgh makhani, known as Butter Chicken. Makhan means butter in Hindi. Butter chicken gets a lot of the bold red color that’s so visually striking from the marinated chicken cooked in a tandoor before adding it to the orangey-red curry. Most people say “you know it’s good butter chicken when the color is a beautiful red” and it’s so true! For a video, check out the Story on how to make the butter masala sauce.
Fry half a cup of a yellow onion in unsalted butter to a deep golden brown before putting it through the food processor. It’s key to getting the perfect flavor (trust me, I tried without). Add only as much water into the food processor as you need to turn the onion into a paste. The sauce is ready for spices when the butter starts separating from the tomato paste and the color has darkened. The sauce will be dry and darken even more after adding in the spices and allowing the sauce to simmer. When you add the heavy cream it’ll retain a nice orangey-red color. The butter masala is done simmering when there are streaks of butter in the sauce. I like to add a dollop of ghee at the very end and let it melt into the pasta. Add more hot water if the sauce is too thick to evenly coat the pasta. If you like it super saucy like I do, simmer the sauce until it thickens up to your preferred consistency.
More Indian Weeknight Dinner Recipes to try
If you love Butter Chicken, be sure to check out these Butter Chicken, Butter Chicken Wings, and Butter Chicken Garlic Naan Pizza recipes!
Recipe
This recipe was updated on May 26th, 2020 and February 20th, 2024 to include more process photos and additional details. I’d love to know what you thought of this recipe! Don’t forget to leave a comment and ⭐️ star rating below! Thinking about making this recipe? Enter your email and I’ll send it straight to your inbox to save for later. Plus, get new recipe inspiration from me every week! By submitting this form, you consent to receive emails from Masala and Chai.
