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??
So easy and so delicious!
before the simmer for 20 mins stage i thought i mucked up as it seemed really ‘liquidy’ but it is now the perfect Butter Chicken. hubby barely believes it isn’t from a restaurant
I had been eyeing this for a while and finally made it. Another delicious meal that is quick and easy (except time for marinading-I did about 10 hours).
We made this recipe over the weekend with homemade naan bread and rice. It was absolutely fantastic. We will keep it in the rotation going forward.
Made tonight for a family of 4, including 2 young children.
Made it slightly less spicy, because of my young daughters. 1 said it was OK and 1 said it was too spicy.
I enjoyed it, full of flavours and not just “all spice” without flavour.
Loved that it was a simple dish to make.
This recipe is fantastic! I add one other ‘secret’ ingredient – char-grilled red bell pepper (blended with the tomato puree). It adds an intense sweet, smokey flavor that doesn’t add ‘heat’ to the flavor profile while still providing the Capsicum goodness.
BEWARE! Indian chili powder or Cayenne pepper (i.e. simply powdered chili with no other spices – not the TexMex blend) can be mild – or very hot indeed depending on the chilis used to make it. Test it very cautiously before using it.
I deliberately use one of the hottest, not because I want a lot of heat but because it needs very little and so the taste of the curry is unaffected by taste of the chili powder, merely its heat is increased. This recipe would use a tenth of a teaspoon, or even less, of my chili powder.
Wow! This is my new favourite recipe. I’ve never been able to cook butter chicken that tastes this good before. Bonus is that it’s so simple and easy!
Can I use chicken breast instead of thigh?
I’m confused…do I use Tomato Passata or Tomato Purée in Australia?
This is the best and easiest butter chicken recipe. I hate ginger so I leave it out and it still tastes amazing.
I love this butter chicken recipe, it’s beyond delicious. The compliments I get😊😊😊my head is probably twice its original size
We love this recipe, although we do find the original spice quantities a bit bland/white-people, so I double all of the spices except for the cayenne pepper (if there was no 9yo to feed, I’d double that too!). Once the spices are doubled, the flavours are great.
Hey Hannah I’m sure I speak for a majority here, feel free to leave your racism at the door.
Nagi, the chicken is marinating as I type. So far so good, smells very promising! Big fan of your beef stroganoff as well. Thank you!
Absolutely delicious
Loved this recipe! Chicken thighs were tender and the sauce was very tasty. Will be making again (and again)! 🤩
I’ve made this multiple times now, I normally skewer the chicken and char a little over charcoal before finishing in the curry sauce, its delicious. I’ve also recently been diagnosed with post infectious IBS, so have converted the recipe a little to be low fodmap and still love it..
Hi Corey, wondering if you would share what changes you made for it to suit your diet?
I use lactose free Greek Yoghurt and cream. And substitute the garlic with a decent glug of garlic infused olive oil.
Oh. My. Gosh. This was the best curry I’ve ever tasted. Ever. And I cooked it myself! Top marks, Nagi. This is a great example of a dish that uses exotic spices to give a zing on the tongue without the need to use chilli (I used cayenne pepper). Quite simply amazing, served with your naan recipe; the entire family loved it!
I’ve made this several times and admittedly it isn’t easy to get full fat yogurt within a 5 miles distance. I use sour cream instead but reduce the lemon juice to 1/2 tbs unless I’m feeling tangy then I use the full 1tbs. Tastes just as amazing.
My husband always requests this dish after he returns home from his work trips.
This is a thank you from my granddaughter who’s 9. I made this dish for my son who lives away. With all dishes I like her to taste test and give her opinion. Well she did and she did I knew how much by the sauce on her t shirt when she went back for more. Anyhow long story short her birthday is in November. She came up to me last night and asked that her birthday dinner be the butter chicken. So thank you your recipes are helping broaden Aurellia’s taste buds and interest in cooking.
This recipe turned me into a cooking genius. My husband raved about. You are some kind of magician with food. A life long supporter. And we adore Dozer!
Made this last night and it tasted wonderful but it separated. I used carnation milk instead of cream and perhaps that was the reason. Had I warmed the milk slightly perhaps it might not have separated. Will make it again with the real deal next time. 🤨
Mine separated too😥 I think if I do it again I will add the cream about 5 mins before the end. That’s what I have done with other recipes and seems to work
I’ve cooked this recipe 3 times now. My family absolutely loves the flavour and has zero complaints. I however notice that each time I cook it the sauce splits. I’ve tried:
– Bringing the chicken in marinade close to room temperature before cooking,
– Bringing cream close to room temperature before cooking,
– Adding some of the heated through passata to cream and excess marinade to evenly distribute heat before adding,
– Making a cornflour slurry to emulsify,
– Heat evenly and slowly,
– Don’t over boil/heat.
– Tried ‘cooking cream’,
– Tried adding gravy flour.
I haven’t tried all of these at once, this is what I’ve tried over 3 attempts.
Nothing works! Each and every time, no matter what I do, the sauce splits. It still tastes great but looks gross. What else can I do?
I made the naan bread today as well, it came out great although it was alot of effort for something that is just as good as Mission souvlaki bread heated through with melted garlic butter brushed over it in no time at all.
I have to admit, I love Nagi’s recipes and it’s the first place I go to for great reliable recipes but this one has me stumped.
Nikki, I wonder if the cream maybe isn’t splitting and what you’re seeing is the coagulated proteins from the chicken when it cooks and it’s mixed in with the sauce making the sauce look curdled. Watch Nagi’s video again, especially at the end when she scoops up the sauce with a spoon. Maybe this solves the mystery, otherwise, I’m stumped as well.