Butter Chicken (Murgh Makhani) is one of the most popular curries in the world and yet happens to be one of the easiest! No hunting down hard to find ingredients, this chef recipe that makes the most incredible curry sauce.
This is a reader-favourite recipe included by popular demand in my debut cookbook “Dinner”!
Butter Chicken – a chef recipe!
As someone who loves food with big, BIG flavours, it’s no surprise that Indian is one of my favourite foods. A good curry and binge watching Netflix is pretty much my idea of a perfect Friday night. #NanaAlert! 😂
As much as I love making Indian food at home, sometimes I find the list of ingredients daunting. It’s easy enough to make once I gather all the ingredients, but that’s where I usually fall short because it requires a trip to an Indian grocery store – and my closest one is a fair drive away.
Butter Chicken is one of the few exceptions. I was elated when I discovered a Chef recipe for Butter Chicken and realised how easy it is. But more importantly, you can get all the ingredients from any supermarket. Yes!
Is Butter Chicken really Indian??
YES it is! It’s called Murgh Makhani and it hails from Northern India. It’s quite a mild curry compared to many Indian curries, and outside of India, it’s become just about everybody’s favourite curry!
How to make Butter Chicken – in 3 Simple Steps
Make Butter Chicken Marinade and marinate chicken for 3+ hours (overnight is best)
Cook chicken
Make sauce in the same skillet
The secret to the tender, flavour infused chicken is a spice infused yogurt marinade made with fresh ginger, garlic, lemon juice and spices. The spices in Butter Chicken are turmeric, garam masala, chilli powder and cumin.
Did you know….You don’t need copious amounts of butter for a great Butter Chicken!
The beautiful Butter Chicken Sauce mostly gets its richness from cream. While some restaurants take it over the top by stirring in a (very!) generous amount of butter into the sauce at the end, I find that it’s rich enough as it is. The Butter Chicken flavour and experience – but less oily than restaurant versions!
The sauce will initially be a pale orange colour but as it simmers and thickens, the colour will deepen to a rich orange colour.
What to serve with Butter Chicken
To make a proper Indian feast, sides and starters are essentials! Because every curry needs papadums for dunking and naan to scoop up the sauce with, right?
No-fry quick papadums – just microwave them! Place the papadums around the edge of the microwave turntable and cook on high for 45 seconds to 1 minute or until they are puffed up. They’ll be soft while warm but as soon as they cool down, they crisp up. They don’t expand as much as when deep fried, but neither will your thighs. 😂
Samosas! The ultimate Indian appetiser. Leftovers make great snacks or even lunch!
Proper naan – A recipe in the works for 5 years, I’m thrilled to finally share my proper naan recipe that can be easily made at home (no tandoor needed!)
Shortcut “naan” – For a simpler, no-yeast flatbread that’s just as good, my Easy No Yeast Flatbread looks and tastes very similar to real naan (except it’s much faster and easier!). Try telling me this doesn’t look like it belongs in this feast!
And it’s MADE for dunking in that creamy Butter Chicken Sauce!!
Sides for Butter Chicken
Readers have also asked for Vegetable Side options – to add some greens to a meal. Indian food doesn’t really have fresh side salads like in Western cuisine. Partly because so much Indian food is vegetarian, so you get plenty of veggies in your diet!
But here are some Vegetable Side Options you can add on the side of Butter Chicken:
Indian Tomato Salad – with a refreshing minted yogurt dressing;
Cucumber salad with lemon yogurt dressing – another great refreshing salad that goes perfectly with curries;
Just some sliced cucumber and wedges of tomato – not dressed. Nice cool, refreshing side
South Indian Thoran-style Cabbage and Carrot Salad with Coconut is fresh, crunchy and shot through with gentle spices and coconut!
For a simpler cabbage salad, try my Everyday Cabbage Salad
I hope this has inspired you to try your hand at making an Indian feast at home! You will honestly be amazed how much depth of flavour there is in the Butter Chicken despite how few ingredients are in it. – Nagi x
PS Don’t miss the new streamlined oven version: One-Pan Baked Butter Chicken. Readers are loving it!
Watch How To Make It
This is a reader-favourite recipe included by popular demand in my debut cookbook “Dinner”!
Hungry for more? Subscribe to my newsletter and follow along on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram for all of the latest updates.
Butter Chicken
Ingredients
Marinade
- 1/2 cup plain yoghurt , full fat
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp tumeric powder
- 2 tsp garam masala (Note 1)
- 1/2 tsp chilli powder or cayenne pepper powder (Note 2)
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tbsp ginger, freshly grated
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1.5 lb / 750 g chicken thigh fillets, cut into bite size pieces
Curry
- 2 tbsp (30 g) ghee or butter, OR 1 tbsp vegetable oil (Note 3)
- 1 cup tomato passata (aka tomato puree) (Note 4)
- 1 cup heavy / thickened cream (Note 5)
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 1/4 tsp salt
To serve – choose
- Basmati rice
- White rice
- Coriander/cilantro (optional)
Instructions
- Optional blitz: for an extra smooth sauce, combine the Marinade ingredients (except the chicken) in a food processor and blend until smooth. (I do not do this)
- Marinade: Combine the Marinade ingredients with the chicken in a bowl. Cover and refrigerate overnight, or up to 24 hours (minimum 3 hrs).
- Cook chicken: Heat the ghee (butter or oil) over high heat in a large fry pan. Take the chicken out of the Marinade but do not wipe or shake off the marinade from the chicken (but don’t pour the Marinade left in the bowl into the fry pan).
- Place chicken in the fry pan and cook for around 3 minutes, or until the chicken is white all over (it doesn’t really brown because of the Marinade).
- Sauce: Add the tomato passata, cream, sugar and salt. Also add any remaining marinade left in the bowl. Turn down to low and simmer for 20 minutes. Do a taste test to see if it needs more salt.
- Garnish with coriander/cilantro leaves if using. Serve with basmati rice.
- The Butter Chicken is pictured with my very easy No Yeast Flatbread and no-fry papadums (Note 5).
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Originally published July 2015. Updated for housekeeping matters and a new video added January 2019. But most importantly, Life of Dozer section added!
For Indian Curry Lovers
- Chicken Tikka Masala – kind of like Butter Chicken on steroids!
- Palak Paneer – Indian cottage cheese and spinach curry
- Rogan Josh – fall apart lamb in a rich creamy sauce!
- Dal – the highest and best use of lentils, ever. Period.
- Biryani – the world’s best Chicken & Rice. Full stop!
- Qeema: Curried Ground Beef (Mince) – the fastest way ever to get a real Indian curry fix
- Curry lovers, head here -> Curry Collection
Life of Dozer
Flashback: Dozer’s first time in water. Look at those wild eyes!!! 😂 Fear? Excitement??
Best recipe I have tried by far! I didn’t have the time to marinade so I placed it all together after I cooked the chicken and slow cooked for 40 minutes.I only had sweet Greek yoghurt in the fridge so I alternated and I did add another 1/2 teaspoon of salt at the end. The spices in the recipe were perfect 👌🏻
This was absolutely delicious. I let the chicken marinate for the full 24 hours. There was a nice mild heat to it, and good depth. I feel perhaps if people use old spices it will lack flavour. I let mine simmer a little longer as it didn’t thicken enough in 20 minutes. We enjoyed ours with plain white rice. I am so pleased with how it turned out this is the first comment I’ve ever left and I’ve loved recipes from Nagi for years. Give it a go!
YUM. Yum. YUMMMM. Added an extra 1/4 tsp chilli powder.
The whole family absolutely inHALED it
Oops 🙊 forgot the rating 🥰
Just made the butter chicken.
But no butter or cream, I subbed coconut cream. Absolutely delicious! Thank you 🥰
Hi Nagi can you explain to me each time I do your butter chicken for what reason does it curdle I never seem to get a Lovley smooth sauce
I would appreciate any help about what I am doing wrong
Absolutely love all your recipes thank you
Kind regards Hazel
Every single recipe of Nagi’s is sensational. Including this one.
She is my one stop shop when it comes to home cooking.
My teenage son loves this so much that as soon as I buy the ingredients, he’s constantly begging me to make it. Won’t let me marinade the chicken for more that 5 minutes. He thinks it’s improved with double the yoghurt. I kind of agree.
@Nagi I forgot to cook my marinated chicken after 24 hours so decided to freeze it raw and then defrost and marinate tomorrow , will that be ok 🫣?
no you will fucking burn your whole family will burn an unpleasant death. DONT DO THAT.
no
hi, im nagi’s personal assistant. Do not attempt this. this will lead to severe kidney issues and early on set alzheimers
I have had the chicken marinating for 48 hours. Is it still usable?
A massive favourite in this household. I am allergic to paprika so it was a great find this recipe. I have two sons and cooked this because I was ahem slightly hung over after the Christmas work party. Let’s just say I now cook 2 kilos of this because my boys loved this so much they forgot to leave some for their mother 🥰
Very great recipe. I’m a beginner cook and could have fooled anyone into believing I know what I’m doing. Very easy to follow
Made this for dinner. Omg yum was in a rush and found this recipe, didn’t have yogurt so mixed the chicken and spices with cream instead and only left for half an hour but it was still so yum! Added diced onion and left out the pepper and for the first time in so long my 3 year old finished his whole plate!
I have made this so many times thanks to you, needless to say I don’t need to look at your fabulous recipe anymore. My mum passed away 4 years ago leaving my stepdad all alone and she was a really great cook (I think I’m pretty good as well lol), I made him this and he licked the bowl clean. I just finished marinating the chicken (I am doubling your recipe), and will likely make tomorrow morning and of course I will be taking most of it to my stepdad.
Thank you for your amazing recipes.
I made this for a staff pitch in this past school year and everyone raved about it. I made a batch with paneer for my co-worker who is Indian and she and her family both said it was better than hers that she makes. They actually requested me to make it for them again.
Thank you!
Wow, great flavor and spice, although a bit too strong spice for my family, maybe my chicken masala I get from an indian spice shop locally is very potent, next time only 1tsp, also I used buttermilk marinated for 1hr instead of yoghurt as that is what I had. Did ad a handful of peas the last few minutes and served on basmati with roti, will be making this again for sure.
I wanna add, after I fried chicken, I fried onion, celery green pepper as I cannot cook without those ingredients, added garlic, ginger and spices and then chicken back in pan
that idea is the worst idea ive ever heard of. dont try this, and give up on your dreams on any cooking career you have ever atempted
I would say this is a good base recipe, would recommend coconut milk/cream mixture for the sauce and onion purée to the marinade (bump up the garam masala as well). Cashews wouldn’t hurt either. Finish with ghee or butter. Patience with the reduction is definitely key. Easy af to make though!
First time I made this I felt it lacked a bit of depth and a tomatoey flavour and orange colour that I was really looking for Second time around I made it slightly differently and am so so happy with the result! In the marinade I added about 1 1/2 tsp dried fenugreek leaves, you can get them from any Indian grocer.
In the sauce I did add some extra things. I added 1/2 a red onion, some extra garlic and a fresh chilli. I also put some tomato paste in once the chicken was in and also extra passata. If anyone felt the same way I did I certainly recommend adding the extra stuff! I loved it!
Best butter chicken ive ever had! Rivals any restaurant, and goes perfectly with the home made naan recipe
I am a bone head. I bought bone in thighs. I took the skin off and they are marinating. Show long should I cook them? An hour? Thanks
This is phenomenal! Tasted better than any restaurant I’ve had it at. I marinated for 24 hours. I love that I can break up the cooking in two parts. This coupled with your naan recipe = YUM!
I love this recipe and have made a couple times. I double it to have left overs! I saw a comment about it being runny, just continue to simmer longer than 20 min to get the consistency you want.