Tofu Makhani (Indian Butter Tofu) Recipe (2024)

The most efficient way to get excess water out of tofu blocks is to freeze and defrost them. The water pours right out with defrosting, and all you need to do is blot with a towel. The tofu is very absorbent after this, soaking up lots of tasty sauce.

Take the cinnamon stick out when you blend it unless you want to clean sauce off the kitchen ceiling. This is a delicious dish. I made it with coconut milk and really enjoyed it. Fun to cook too.

Oh, wow -- this was good. I played with quantities -- only one package of tofu and cut the butter in half, used crushed tomatoes so I didn't need the blender, and increased the tumeric and added a generous amount of garam masala.

If you want that restaurant style aroma, I highly recommend looking for "kasuri methi" - a type of fragrant dried fenugreek leaves that is crushed and added to butter chicken.

Followed the recipe almost exactly but held back on the tumeric a little and used one red and one yellow onion. Had ghee on hand and used a combo of full fat coconut milk* and cream. Outstanding. My husband who is not a tofu eater thought it was great. Adding to my meatless Monday repertoire.*learned from a NYT commenter that you can freeze coconut milk when you don’t use a whole can.

You can easily reduce the butter by half and use light cream or low-fat coconut milk. Make it to your own taste and enjoy! And ignore the peanut gallery.

I made this using coconut milk and love the flavors. 1-inch cubes of tofu is too large, however, in my opinion. One gets a bite of a lot of tofu with a bit of sauce and it ends up tasting rather tofu-y and somewhat bland. I attempted to cut the tofu down in the pan for eating tonight. I will cut in 1/2 or 1/3 inch squares next time.

That is the dish. If you want lighter, eat something else.

"1 teaspoon ground chile powder, such as cayenne"?? Since when are they equivalent? Cayenne would add significant heat to this dish, while chile would add a particular flavor, without all that heat.

Made it. Delicious. It also turned a white plastic mixing bowl bright yellow! Suggest that the cumin/tumeric paste for the tofu be mixed in a glass bowl...

This is very tasty. One big suggestion for working with tofu however: Put the tofu on a slanted board wrapped in paper towels, put another board over it and then 1-2 soup cans or some wieght to allow excess water to drain from the tofu. If you do this before the marinade step it absorbs the marinade much better.I also used ghee and coconut mik.Delicious!

I like my tofu with a crispier texture. After pressing the water out, sprinkle the cubed tofu with corn starch and then put it in the air fryer at max heat for 20 minutes. Then add it to the sauce. Personally, i wouldn’t use frozen tofu in this kind of dish because I’m not wild about the spongey texture it gets.

I was surprised to see that some folks considered this bland. That wasn't the case here. I did towel dry the tofu for a couple of hours before marinating (for 8 hours) and used ghee and coconut milk. This was spicy and was great with the naan, rice and cuke slices. I forgot to pick up cilantro, so went without. Also, the tip about cutting the tofu in smaller cubes was a winner.

Great recipe as-is. I chose the coconut milk option & really loved it. I added some frozen green peas for some added fiber. Next time I might squeeze some lime juice on it.

I'm glad Diane replied with gentle encouragement...and at the same time I kind of get where Mark's coming from, too. Sometimes it seems that SOME commenters here would rather just kind of "trash" what they don't like about a recipe (I don't think you were doing that, Peg!) rather than just not make it, or maybe experiment with substitutions, as Diane suggests. I'm a vegetarian, for example, but I either just walk on by the meat-heavy recipes or I try them with something else, like tofu. Enjoy!

X & K: This was great! We halved tofu and should have halved the sauce, but didn’t. Next time would reduce cayenne. Not all of the butter is needed, either. We stirred in peas at the end! Overall really good and easy.

Swaps I made:Paneer instead of Tofu.Coconut Cream instead of Heavy Cream.Two 14 oz cans of petite diced tomatoes instead of one 28 oz can of whole peeled.Added a teaspoon of Garam Masala.Added a teaspoon of Ground Cinnamon (initially put in the stick but didn't trust my blender to properly pulverize it).Added a can of chickpeas.Added a little bit of sugar.I thought this recipe was delicious and will absolutely make it again.

Don’t bother cutting the onions pretty, it’s getting blended later. Used a couple mild chile pods from a sampler (1/2 Piment D’Espelette and 1/2 tsp Aleppo). Next time be brave and trade one for 1/2 tsp habanero.

Simply excellent! Subbed one can of chickpeas for one of the blocks of tofu. Everything else, as written. Loved it!

So which is it chile powder or cayenne? Those are vastly different?

This was delicious. Spicy but tasty. I added a can of green beans just to get some veggies in. I’m adding this to the rotation!

So good! I followed the recipe exactly, I used a powerful blender (vitamixer) so glad that I kept the cinnamon stick in and also the coconut milk option.I like flavor in my food. This had so much flavor—think comfort foods, yummy!

We used puréed tomatoes instead of whole, and because of that we were able to skip the blender. Delicious and very aromatic! Would probably use chickpeas instead of tofu next time.

Cut the recipe in half (stayed generous with the spices and coconut milk, though!), added a couple cardamom pods with the cinnamon stick and around a cup of frozen petite peas at the end with the tofu! Great recipe!

As another reviewer suggested, I put the tofu in an air fryer for 20 minutes. That was a good move, but don’t make my air fryer rookie mistake—spray the air fryer basket with oil or your tofu will stick to it!

Not sure what the hype is about this one. It's convenient, it's fine, but I'm not sure the people raving about the flavor have had a good butter chicken. It's a decent weeknight wish with basic ingredients that you probably have or have easy access to.

This recipe worked for me but I found it a bit bland. Will salt more generously in the future & be heavy-handed on the spices.I used diced instead of whole tomatoes (that's what i had!) -- it worked fine but came out a bit watery, probably because of the tomatoes. If using diced, I recommend pouring out a little of the liquid first, and/or turning the heat high for a little before blending to let the mixture evaporate.

Made as directed in recipe, except added a bit of garam masala and more lemon juice right before serving. It was good, but didn’t have the strong flavors I usually associate with Indian food. I also find the tofu needed a bit more texture, so next time I will coat in cornstarch and bake before adding to sauce. Other people have commented about fenugreek, so I will try that also. Overall, a good recipe but needs a little tweaking.

Made as written no alterations. not sure if anyone who made this had already made any other vegetarian versions before. In comparison this has more tomatoes - even adding the last 3 ounces of coconut milk, the ratio was a bit off. while I will make Tofu Makhani again, It will be with significant alterations: decrease butter, turmeric, lemon juice, and tomato, add garam masala, methi and yogurt - rendering it a completely different recipe.

It was delicious, everybody enjoyed it. Though the next time I would add garam masala to balance out the heavy tumeric flavor.