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??
Hi
I made this tonight and the flavours are delish.
I just want to make the sauce a bit thicker. What would you suggest?
Hi Ann, you can gently simmer a little longer to thicken the sauce – be careful not to boil it though or it may split. N x
Just made this today for my husband and 2 tweens. It’s good thing i doubled the recipe because it was wiped out! Used sour cream in place of yogurt and added a bit more cayenne pepper and cumin. SO GOOD
Butter Chick(peas)! I thought I would share a variation for a vegetarian option as I was so jealous of my family devouring this dish so this time I wanted to enjoy it too. I pan fried some firm tofu so it was slightly browned (personal preference) then when it cooled, I marinated it as I did the chicken. From there I added the tofu and marinate and a bit of butter to a saucepan and added the cream, passata, sugar etc along with a tin of rinsed chick peas, a carrot chopped, cauliflower florets & green beans – which is what I had floating around in the fridge. I let that simmer as per the recipe while I was simmering the chicken version. So finally last night I was able to enjoy my butter chick(peas) with everyone else. I am keen to try a vegan version too so I will report back…
Great idea Bec – you can also do it with paneer too: https://discountspot.info/how-to-make-paneer-fresh-indian-cheese/%3C/a%3E N x
Definitely 5 stars – thanks Nagi x
Another hit! I didn’t have any heavy cream on hand, so I used coconut milk instead and it was very good (though a little different than real butter chicken). I will definitely try again with heavy cream!
A good sub though Mike, you’ll love it done with cream 🙂 N x
Was absolutely delicious! in the recipe, ghee is put in the pan to cook the chicken, video at 43 seconds in the video, something is being added to the pan..is it ghee? leftover marinade? Thank you!
Hi Sherri, it’s the leftover marinade – thanks for picking that up, I’ll amend the instructions now! N x
Thanks Nagios. So delicious, I was just worried I was leaving something out.
This is soooo good! I’m curious why it’s not recommended to add the marinade to the sauce, though. Seems like it would only enhance the flavor, Delish and I can’t stop getting into the leftovers!
This recipe remains a family favourite!! Made a double batch for supper last night, enjoyed some as leftovers for lunch and added the last few chicken pieces to our home made Friday night pizzas this evening – all super delicious! Many thanks Nagi!
Perfect Lydia, Indian inspired pizza – I love it! N x
I cooked this dish tonight myself and my hubby really enjoyed it. First time I have ever attempted to cook butter chicken from scratch thankyou so much for sharing this recipe will definitely cook this again.
Last night I made something new. I used this recipe for the butter chicken and combined it with your…. lasagna recipe xD for the cheese sauce and assembly. I don’t know if you’ve heard of butter chicken lasagna yet Nagi, it sounds like an abomination but it’s absolutely delicious! The cheese sauce on the butter chicken omg. Definitely recommend!!
I don’t know what this sorcery is but I love the idea! N x
What a delicious recipe. Saved it for future use
Thanks so much Marietjie – N x
Made butter chicken for the first time, followed the recipe exactly and it was delicious. Just how I remember it from the best restaurants I’ve tried.
Delicious! My family looovve this recipe. When I write my menu for the week I usually get this requested, I have to try to limit to once/month. I’m lactose intolerant so I sub yoghurt with coconut yoghurt (full fat) and this works. I don’t add the cream at the end and I’ve had no complaints. I also usually add extra veg, i.e.; carrots and green beans. Thank you Nagi, keep them coming. And we all love seeing the photos of Dozer in your newsletter!!
Hi Carla, lactose free cream may also work for you here too! I’m so glad you love the recipe!! N x
I made this recipe for my sons packed lunches for work. Very tasty, he loved it, I would not use as much sauce next time, but still yummy.
YES! At last, THE BEST butter chicken that I’ve ever had – let alone one that I’ve made myself. And that was despite my accidentally using a passata that contained things such as basil and celery😂.
Oh, and thanks Nagi, this was also the easiest recipe of yours I’ve made too.z😁👍🏻
This was amazing and tastes exactly like you get from a restaurant. Another great recipe from you Nagi!!!!!
I’m so happy you loved it Roxanne, that’s great! N x
Hi Nagi,
We love the flavour of the recipe but it always seems to split… Any tips on what we’re doing wrong?
Hi Nagi
I love your receipes especially the Persian love cake as I’ve made it a few times for friend’s birthdays.
My question is can I use cashew cream in the butter chicken recipe instead of yoghurt as I’m lactose intolerant?
Angelique Price
Hi Nagi, would cooking cream be a suitable substitute in this (very appetising looking), recipe please?
Hi Lorraine, yes cooking cream in place of heavy cream is 100% fine here. N x
Hi Nagi, this is the absolute best butter chicken I’ve ever made! How would you go about cooking it in the slow cooker? 💗
Hi Chloe, this one as written isn’t suitable for the slow cooker sorry! N x
This recipe is so easy and quick (lol apart from the overnight marinading). I loved it and so did my boyfriend.