"Just take a look at Julianne De Witt's crockpot butter chicken recipe - instead of using butter, De Witt relied on heavy cream (which has far less lactose) to get the signature velvety richness. Still too much dairy for you? Give it a splash of full-fat coconut milk instead. For the price of precisely zero grams of lactose, you'd get all the flavor and creaminess you'd expect from this dish."
"Made from the flesh of mature coconuts, rich with fat and oil, coconut milk is the perfect non-dairy substitute for cooking. Its texture, being a perfect match with dairy cream, provides the perfect body to this dish. Meanwhile, the subtle sweet-nuttiness can further deepen all the spices in it - ginger, garam masala, paprika, cumin, and so on - to make them pop even more on your palate."
"Perhaps the best thing about this swap, though, is how fuss-less it is. You might expect the thick milk to curdle and refuse to soak into the basmati rice you've prepped, while not sticking to your chicken thighs. Nope - the sauce has a nice balance between thickness and liquidity, clinging to the chicken thighs while being able to soak nicely into the rice to flavor it. Some might even find this version even tastier than the traditional one!"
Butter chicken can be made lactose-free by replacing butter or heavy cream with full-fat coconut milk, which contains zero lactose while matching cream's richness. Heavy cream has less lactose than butter but still contains dairy. Coconut milk's high fat and oil content provides a body and texture similar to dairy cream and its subtle sweet-nuttiness enhances spices like ginger, garam masala, paprika, and cumin. Use one 14-ounce can per 2–3 pounds of chicken. The sauce balances thickness and liquidity, clings to thighs, soaks into basmati rice without curdling. Coconut milk and coconut cream differ in taste and texture and will change the dish.
Read at Tasting Table
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