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??
After making this for the first time last month, it has become a family favorite, and is now in the weekly dinner rotation 2x a week. So stupid good. We serve it along with the Naan recipe, too.
I love your recipes. I made the Butter Chicken, Replacing the chicken with Tofu which took half an hour to marinate. It came out so delicious. No words to describe the Joy my friends and I had. ( I also did it with chicken ) same reaction.
Thank You. If Dozer is the one that inspires you, please give him a big hug from an admirer in the USA.
I also bought your book Thumb Up
Also, I only have ‘american’ chilli powder, Can I use that?
I can’t afford pure right now.
I don’t have fresh ginger but I have ginger paste.
How much paste to use please?
Thank you
Yay! Dark meat! The best kind to use.
Can I use extra garam masala?
I once added 1 tbsp instead of 1 tsp in another recipe and it tasted fantastic!
I don’t think one can have enough garam masala…
I love this recipe. Can I ask why the butter chicken is not suitable for freezing?
This recipe is a family favourite.
We always use coconut milk insead of cream.
Also use the whole jar of passata and simmer it for longer to concentrate the flavours.
We toast cumin seeds and then grind. Find this makes a big difference to the flavour compared to store-bought ground cumin.
Your all recipes are great, thanks for all this recipes in one website. I found it helpful and want to try all these recipes in weekends.
Hi Nagi,
I just finished making this and it turned out excellent! So, so easy to make.. My husband thought it tasted great. Thanks so much for another winning recipe!
What would happen if I used 2% fat Greek yogurt? I have a lot of it and no full fat. Will the sauce break?
The house smells so good, and this is perfect.
Yum! Love your recipes Nagi. Sooo foolproof and damn delicious.
The butter chicken – like all your others – was so delicious and easy to make.
Another to keep up my sleeve. Thank you!
Can you cook this in the slow cooker?
Fantastic! Made multiple times without fail. Hubby requests this so this dish is on our family rotation. I make as written with American Tomato Sauce, coconut sugar, and add a pinch of Hing. My toddlers love it too! Thanks for the recipe!
Absolutely love this butter chicken and have made it many times. The only thing is it always turns out runny, any ideas why?
Lauren, I experienced the same thing. To counterman the problem, I add about 3 TBS of chia seeds to the curry. It thickens the sauce up nicely
I will not have to buy butter chicken again! This is so tasty saucy. It is extremely easy to make and has the right amount of spiciness to keep all family members happy. A big thumbs up from us 👍 👌
I love this recipe so much. You are my go to for any recipe that I’m looking for now Nagi. This is probably the best butter chicken I have ever had. I served it with your fluffy coconut rice and garlic naan and it went down an absolute treat. Even my picky 2 year old absolutely loved it. I will definitely make this again!
Have been a lover of Indian food for over 40 years but never liked Butter Chicken until now. So easy and a great tasting curry
Hi, love the butter chicken. Is it ok to freeze?
I’ve frozen it before as pre-made meals but please don’t microwave it in plastic reheat.
Very good. I find it a little lacking in depth compared to what you might get at a restaurant, but the simplicity and speed of the recipe (and the slightly healthier take on it) makes it close enough to make it a weeknight wonder in my book!
Made the Butter Chicken for a family get together. It went down a storm! Combined with your Naans – a meal to remember and an entry in the family recipe book. Thanks Nagi