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!

I really think the teaspoon of cayenne really makes this recipe special. Yes, I know it isn’t “traditional” in a butter chicken dish or what have you, but the spice really adds to the finished product. The sauce is a bit loose, which I might simmer down a bit more next time, but there definitely will be a next time for this dish.

This was delicious! Will definitely make it again and again!

Jane loves this. Worked well with cream. Do coco nut milk.

Very nice! As a vegetarian I used a little no chicken bouillon to some cooking water I had saved from boiling ravioli (which adds flavor and thickening that can be used as a base for broth due to split ravioli). And added some sliced garden asparagus. Nice combo.

Delicious. I cut the butter to six tablespoons and used half Urfa Biber and half cayenne for the chile powder. Teen son thought it was too sweet with coconut cream.

Add peas and use crushed tomatoes. More gar masala and air fry tofu

Excellent -- and vegan! I followed the directions exactly, except for using Miyoko's plant-based butter. (IMHO the opening paragraph introducing the recipe -- with its "sorry, vegans" -- hasn't aged well. Maybe it should be revised/updated to accept that vegans -- and the non-vegans I served this to!! -- found the recipe excellent and not wanting for anything with plant-based ingredients only.

Made this tonight for hubby and I. Just used one block tofu, and cut it in smaller portions. It was delicious. Only thing I will say is there is a lot leftover! Hope it is as good tomorrow.

Excellent! Made it with some home made ghee, and the coconut milk. Found it needed an addition of fenugreek, and it was a tad too heavy on the tomato profile, too - next time I will do less than half a can. Other than that, delicious over fluffy basmati rice!

buy a cheap tofu press and use it to extract the water from the tofu. Then freeze and once defrosted use it as directed.

This is more flavorful with coconut milk and if you add a bit of brown sugar and extra salt. Truly delicious.

Made this vegan using a vegan butter block and vegan double cream supplement. It was absolutely delicious

We made this and followed the recipe to the T and honestly it was meh. Surprised it got so many stars.

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.