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??
This recipe is amazing! It is my favourite dish to cook and eat and is always a hit with hubby and guests. I serve it with the easy flat bread, spinach and rice, using the flatbread as a mini tortilla and filling with the deliciousness!
Thank you for such amazing recipe 😊
Just made this for dinner last night. I swear I’m becoming a better cook all thanks to you Nagi!
Your instructions are so clear and easy to follow – I followed this one exactly and it turned out perfect. Very authentic flavour and texture. And super easy too!
Thanks again for another hole-in-one!
I’m no cook, far from it but I have this a go last night & it was amazing!
Nagi your recipe was so easy to follow & the outcome was just Yum!
Thank you so much
Can I use coconut milk instead of cream.
I used 2% milk instead of cream (because I didn’t have any) and it turned out fine. Next time, I’m going to try coconut milk.
\Dunking papadoms!
Chapatis yes, papadoms? Certainly not.
Hi Tony, the beauty of cooking is that you can do whatever you please! I love dunking mine for texture! 😉 N x
Good Golly this is amazing! Decided to cook at the last minute. Dissapointed to find I had no lemons but found grated zest in freezer so used a bit less than a tsp of zest instead. With only marinating for 10 minutes and the zest instead it was simply amazing. Yummo, thank you 😋
Just made this for the 2nd time and its amazing!!
I did omit the salt this time though as I used salted butter when frying the chicken as the 1st time I made this it was quite salty
Hi Maureen – were you using table salt? If so, I imagine that was the reason – I use cooking salt which has a larger grain – N x
I used sea salt the 1st time.
Just need to make it again!!
I have cooked this so many times for my family and since then they have begged me to make it again and again, it’s delicious! I was just wondering if the nutrition (calories) included the rice in it? And if the nutrition is done with the thickened cream? Thank you in advance!!
I made this dish countless times with chicken and chickpeas. Came out absolutely fantastic! This became my to go menu. As I make often, I mix spice in advance (use up to 3months) and use it when I want to make it quickly without thinking too much. I gave my friends with the spice mix with this recipe. They all loved your recipe.
I cooked it exactly as listed. We ate with Basmati rice cooked with a bay leaf, teaspoon of oil and salted to taste and warmed naan. It was not spicy. It was easy and my hubby, myself and our 9 year old couldn’t get enough. Delicious!
WOOT!! Perfect Brandi! N x
OMG! My grand children just love your butter chicken recipe. Also its quite a hit with my friends. Tks for this.
Hello Nagi,
Some time ago ( long before
Coronavirus pandemic ! ) I ate
a simply delicious Butter Chicken. Both my husband and
I enjoyed eating that dish enormously . To our regret , shortly after the Chef changed his ( restaurant’ s menu ) and this tasty East
Indian dish was no longer
available. Imagine my delight
when I saw your recipe for the Butter Chicken. Thanks you very much , Nagi ! All the best to you and yours.
Oh. My. Gosh. I’m so glad I found this! So tasty!
I cut out the chilli since I’m trying to find recipes for my fussy toddler, and I used half a whole chicken that had to be eaten instead of the thighs and shredded it. But still worked! And she smashed two bowls! It’s a win! Thanks so much Nagi 😍
Hi Nagi, my chicken is marinating in the fridge now for tomorrow but I’m just wondering – do you think this recipe could work in a slow cooker?
Can this be frozen?
OMG I think this was the best butter chicken I’ve ever eaten. Now, what next in the Nagi repertoire? 😍
Could I give this one more than 5 stars? I wish I could! This was so easy and delicious!!! We loved this and can’t wait to try the chicken masala or biryani. This and the garlic shrimp are my favs so far. Thanks, Nagi. I am becoming a good cook, thanks to you.
I loved this butter chicken recipe; I’ve tried several before from other sources that didn’t work out. I made mine without the chicken actually, and used it as a dip/sauce for vegetables as members of my family are vegetarian, so I wanted to comment on making this vegetarian for anyone who might want to do the same. I made the marinade still of course and then just added it to the rest of the sauce. The only change I would recommend is putting less salt in, and salting to taste instead of using the recommended amount. The salt amount noted in the recipe is too much when you don’t have chicken to absorb it, but besides that no changes had to be made and it turned out lovely!
Hi Heather. Did you just incorporate all of the marinade ingredients into the sauce ingredients and simmer?
Hello Nagi! I can’t express my gratitude enough to you! My daughter loves this butter chicken dish. I’m always in desperate need of how to fatten her up. She’s 11, very active, and too thin for my comfort (I grew up poor) so her weight is a reflection of my ability to be a good parent. (Very pathetic!) I love your recipes!
Hi Nagi. After enjoying so many of your recipes, I am making this one for the first time today. Looking closely at your video, it looks like you scrape out the remaining marinade (glass bowl) into the pan after you’ve browned the chicken in batches and added the cream and tomato puree but the method does not refer to this. Could you please clarify? Thank you!