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 great recipe …. can you freeze it?
Hi Nagi,
Thanks for this recipe!
Just one question: do you add the rest of the marinade to the sauce after you cooked the chicken?
Thanks!
This is my go-to website, so many dishes i have now tried! Bit confused on the recipe as the video shows the chicken being tipped in from the bowl with all the sauce not being taken out as per the recipe?
I love your recipes, I’ve made a few but this is the first time I post a review. I just HAD to write this so you can feel as good as I do. I was telling my son I would make Guinness Beef Stew for St Patrick’s Day and invite them (wife, in-laws, kids) to eat. I said the recipe was from the website I use for Butter Chicken, and he said “Mom, since you made it for us, I have had it twice in restaurants and yours is hands down the best, no comparison!” That’s how good this is! Btw I also love the Guinness Stew which I can’t wait to share with them!
Thank You Nagi!!!
Hi can I use chicken breast instead of things?
Hi Fabi, i prefer thighs for this recipe as they have more flavour and don’t dry out when cooking. N x
Hi Nagi, I’ve made this many times and my family love it but now we have a vegetarian. If I sub paneer for the chicken do I marinade the paneer just as I would the chicken?
Hi Cat – yes you can use paneer or even tofu here and it will be delicious!! N x
I’ve made this one multiple times, at least once a month and we always love it. With rice and home made naan, it’s just delicious. When preparing this recipe, as with any food, please make sure you use good quality spices. What you’ll find at the local supermarket is usually not good quality. If you live in a medium sized or bigger city you most likely have access to south asian stores and/or markets where you can find fresher and better quality spices. It will make a big difference in how your food is going to taste.
Thank you for this recipe Nagi.
I love this recipe and have made it several times. The only thing I was wondering is how to make the sauce a little thicker? Maybe tomato paste instead of tomato passata?
I put a teaspoon of cornflour in to thicken it a bit more and it worked well.
Thank you Mary!
Hi Karen, the sauce should be thick enough with this recipe – you can always simmer gently for a little longer to thicken though if you prefer 🙂 N x
thanks Nagi! willl try that out!
Hi Nagi, I made your butter chicken at the weekend, never cooked a curry from scratch always used jars…….NOT no more, this recipe was AMAZING!!! My husband absolutely loved it, definitely going to do it again!!! I’m going to try your char sui pork next….thankyou for sharing 🙂
Excellent.
My daughter felt it was the Butter Chicken she has ever had.
The youngest, 2 yrs old, licked his plate!
It is delicious.
Love this recipe! I could just eat the sauce with Naan bread.
NAGI! This recipe is DELICIOUS!! It’s so easy – just too good to be true! Thank you for being the best chef and teaching us how! I have made 19 of your recipes so far and have loved every single one!
Best homemade curry I’ve ever made 👍😘
Loved this! So easy to make and the whole family were pleased.
Would coconut cream work in this recipe? Or alter the taste too much?
I used coconut milk instead of heavy cream the 2nd time and it came out amazing, more fragrant IMO.
Hi Carla, it will change the flavour unfortunately. N X
I made it last night, we love it. How simple, delicious and amazing dinner.
Oh my goodness baby Dozer 🥰🥰
Does the remaining marinade get discarded altogether?
In search of the best Butter Chicken recipes, I made this one. Hands down, this is the best Butter Chicken recipe I have ever made! So yummy. Thank you!! Made this with the flat bread recipe suggested as well. So good. Thank you for another amazing recipe.
Wow this is absolutely mouth watering delicious. My 14 year old son said it was ‘the best’. Had it alongside rice and one of Nagi’s lentil curries, and made the minty yogurt dressing on the side. Oh, and the flat bread which is a must for sopping up all of the yummy sauce. I also did the sauce in the food processor and it was suuuuper creamy and smooth.