Fatima's Fabulous Kitchen

I don't eat to live. I live to eat.

Butter Chicken Pasta

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This recipe is a combination of what TikTok seems to love the most – Butter Chicken and Gigi Hadid’s Penne Pasta without the Vodka.

A couple things I do differently here than my standard Butter Chicken Recipe –

  1. I add a good helping of tomato paste. Tomato paste enhances the flavor and it’s what Gigi Hadid uses in her viral pasta.
  2. Cashews are optional. While I love the nutty flavor in butter chicken, for this pasta I think you can omit them and save yourself the trouble of pulling out the immersion blender.
  3. Pasta water. This thickens the sauce nicely.
  4. Cheese! This is self-explanatory.
  5. I went a bit lighter on the amount of spices. You can certainly double up on the spices measurements if you’d like. But since I’m putting this in pasta with cheese, I added less garam masala which made for a more sweeter sauce.

This Butter Chicken Pasta is nothing short of comfort food at its finest!

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Butter Chicken Pasta

A cross between Butter Chicken and Gigi Hadid's Penne Pasta.

Servings 4 people

Ingredients

  • 1 lb pasta of your choice
  • 1/4 cup grated mozzarella cheese

Chicken

  • 1 lb boneless chicken
  • 2 tsp ginger-garlic paste
  • 1 tsp turmeric
  • 1 tsp chili powder
  • 1/4 tsp garam masala
  • 1/2 tsp salt

Pasta Sauce

  • 3 Tbsp butter
  • 2 small onions (diced)
  • 2 tsp ginger-garlic paste
  • 3 Tbsp tomato paste
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • 1.5 tsp cumin
  • 1.5 tsp coriander
  • 1/4 tsp nutmeg
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • salt (to taste)
  • two 8 oz cans of tomato sauce
  • 1/4 cup yogurt
  • 1 cup reserved pasta water
  • 1 cup half and half (may substitute with heavy cream)
  • 2 tsp kasuri methi

Instructions

Chicken

  1. Dice your boneless chicken into small cubes. Combine the chicken, ginger-garlic paste, chili powder, turmeric, and salt. Let it sit in the fridge for a few hours. If you do not have time, you can skip the marination and jump straight to sauteeing.

  2. In a large pan, add a tablespoon or two of oil. Sear the chicken on each side until brown. Remove from pan. In the meantime, bring a pot of salted water to boil for your pasta.

Pasta Sauce

  1. In the same pan you pan-fried the chicken pieces you will make the pasta sauce. Begin by melting the butter.

  2. Add the diced onion and cook until transluscent. Then add the ginger-garlic paste and tomato paste.

  3. Allow the tomato paste to really cook down and caramelize. Now add your spices – paprika, cumin, coriander, garam masala, sugar, salt to taste. Cook for a minute.

  4. Now add your two cans of tomato sauce (8 oz each). Stir and bring to a simmer. (At this step you can begin to boil your pasta.)

  5. Once it's simmering on low heat, slowly stir in your yogurt. This will ensure your yogurt doesn't look messy and curdled in the sauce.

  6. Now toss your chicken that you cooked earlier into the sauce. Allow the chicken to simmer in the sauce.

  7. While the pasta boils, take some the pasta water and add it to the sauce. This will help thicken the sauce. Allow it to reduce down.

  8. Add in the half and half (may also use heavy cream).

  9. Toss in your pasta, grated cheese, extra butter (if you'd like), and kasuri methi. Combine. Taste and adjust for seasonings.

  10. Serve and enjoy!