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”!
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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??
I’ve heard my daughter comment several times about making Butter Chicken for dinner. Her 7 yo daughter loves it. So, I thought I’d give it a try! Oh my goodness!! Yes, delicious!! When I told my daughter about Nagi’s recipe, she said “you made it from scratch?!” I was surprised by her reaction. I asked her how did she make it…. “from a jar!”
I told her how simple this recipe was, but when you’re a working mama with little time, I guess a jar will do. Lol!
This was soooo good. Thanks for another amazing recipe!
Have made this, good that it has no onion and it tastes great. But has anyone made it using Zymil cream? Need to know if it will work.
I have made it with zymil cream but o have also used plain coconut yogurt both excellent results
I never made butter chicken at home and I was wondering why… I think it’s because I loveeeee it so much at my favorite indian restaurant that I was unconsciously thinking I could not do a butter chicken as good as theirs… And honestly? IT IS ALMOST IDENTICAL! It’s a restaurant quality dish! I’m soooo happy, especially since my indian restaurant is far away from my house… thank you thank you thank you!!!
I made this and it was so delicious and so fast to cook. Thanks Nagi 👏
This recipe is amazing! super easy and kid friendly, with plenty of flavor.
I made Butter Chicken for the first time ☺️….turned out delicious!!! Thanks Nagi. Could you freeze the leftovers (if any) .
Sandra, I’ve made this and froze it for my son at college. After doing a little research, I did cook it down a little longer as I read that when defrosted it can be a bit more watery and the texture may change because of the cream (i.e. cream may split). My son reported he and his roommates loved it and he didn’t notice anything significantly different than when made fresh, although when you’re hungry and are at college, I think you’ll eat anything. Side note-one of his college friends reached out last month asking for the recipe as they were in withdrawal. Hee Hee! Nagi now has another follower. Yay!
Hi Wendy, thank you for a good idea about freezing the cooked portion for your son at college. My son is sharing an apartment with a roommate this year and he will appreciate this dish!
Thank you, Wendy. My son loved it too. I’m glad I made extra, gave me lunch for 2 days. I will definitely try and freeze it. I love Nagi recipes (like everyone else) can’t fault any of them. 🙂
My 10 year old grandson calls this “A Big Bowl of Yum!
This is such a delicious dish and I also subbed sour cream for the yoghurt. Thank you for sharing this recipe!
Excellent recipe!
Can I use kishmiri chilli powder or is it still advisable to use Ceyenne pepper as a substitute?
I subbed out the cream for coconut milk (220ml) for a dairy free option. Tasted soooo good
Thanks for commenting this!! I was wondering what it would taste like if I subbed cream for coconut milk. Glad to know it tasted yum!!
Can I leave out the yoghurt? Or use something else?
Thanks for commenting this!! I was wondering what it would taste like if I subbed cream for coconut milk. Glad to know it tasted yum!!
I used sour cream as that is all i had on hand, you can also use buttermilk or coconut cream with more lemon.
Hope this helps!
Made this twice now, everyone loves it. Already had it a bit spiced up, but in the last 5 minutes I seperate it and add chilli to one half as I love spice and the other one doesn’t…I also doubled the recipe and it froze brilliantly. Great recipe…thank you
Easy recipe and very tasty. Will definitely make this recipe again.
Made this tonight and it was a hit with the whole family! I left out the chilli powder and was glad I did (my kids can detect that a mile away!). My only regret it not using your Naan recipe, because packet Naan tastes like crap!
How would you adapt the cooking time for bone in chicken thighs rather than tenders? I find them more flavourful.
I fry chicken thighs until they firm up and are no longer sponge. Brown them on both sides on medium-high, then reduce to low heat and cook for about 20-30 mins. Will take less time if you cut them up.
Hi, just curious why you haven’t added any spices to the curry sauce? Is the flavour of the sauce derived from the chicken marinade?
Made again tonight for dinner and as usual it was fantastic. I did add a couple of handfuls of fresh green beans from our garden this time because I just cannot get enough veggies and hey, I grew these beans myself, but it turned out great.
Homegrown produce always tastes the best!
I make this recipe a lot. It was my kids introduction to Indian food and now they are wanting to try other dishes. I have made them the green curry from this site and they like that one too. I do make a small variation in that I lay the marinated chicken out on a cookie sheet and bake it rather than fry/sauté it. Then I add it to the tomato curry. I find it to be less messy. Thank you again!