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??
Thanks a lot for this delicious recipe, it is easy and mouthwatering, I made also your naan recipe , and it was just quick and tasty, I used fresh tomatoes blended in the blender instead of pasta because I don’t have it in my country, the only thing that I want to improve is the consistency of the curry , mine was watery not as thick as shown in the photos.
Have made this a couple of times and it is the best recipe ever! I want to make it again for my friend who can’t have garlic – can I leave it out altogether or is there an alternative I can use?
Hi Sandy,
i make it all the time without garlic and there really is no taste difference at all – we can’t get enough of this butter chicken recipe – it is damn delicious and soooo easy to make!!!
Thanks Amanda for your reply. I can now make it without garlic & feel confident! 😁
Absolutely delicious. I love my butter chicken sauce thick so I added some corn flour.
Also tastes really good with the flatbread. I also like my flatbread crunchy, so I left it on the pan to cook a bit more.
Really tasty combo! Thank you 🙂
Hi Nagi, I want to feed around 16 people. Is it possible to make 4x the quantity by just quadrupling all ingredients or is it not that simple 🙂
Hi David – yes most definitely!!!
I made this for my kids, not expecting I would eat it. It was soooo delicious that I couldn’t stop eating it. My family thought it was better than any butter chicken they have ever had. Yum!
Tried this last night and it was delicious! Looked, smelt and tasted different to the normal restaurant bought Butter Chicken but it was superb. Served with Basmati and your vegetable curry – delish!
Loved this Nagi!! My wife usually gets annoyed when I ask her how it is before she’s even started her meal, but this time there was no need to ask, I got the double thumbs up straight away! Amazingly I managed to make your no yeast flatbreads too. Very pleased with myself! x
Hi Nagi! I made this dish together and I can’t believe it could actually taste so good without any curry powder involved! Mine taste a little sour, not in a negative way though.. and wondering if it’s because I used Greek yoghurt. By the way is there any specific reason why we shouldn’t pour the remaining sauce into the pan?
I once asked the head chef at a popular (Northern Beaches) Indian restaurant what the secret to a good Butter Chicken was? He said that using good quality honey for the sweetness. that in most restaurants to save costs they use sugar, but when you get a really good one or when it is being made for a special occasion the good honey comes out. Do you have any experience with this Nagi? Would like to try it but not sure how much Honey to add?
This is the BEST butter chicken I’ve ever tasted. I cook it for my family at least once a week and have never been disappointed! I use Greek yoghurt instead of natural yoghurt if anyone is wondering if it can be substituted
Instead of fryng the chicken, place everything in a casserole dish and place in oven for fifty mins @160c.
Also serve with Sag Aloo instead of rice.
Hi Andrew, the flavour is better and more authentic when you caramelise the chicken first 🙂 N x
Am trying this recipe tomorrow and can’t wait considering all the comments. Have tried most of your recipes esp chicken…just Amazing:)
Can you use fish instead of chicken?
Can I use Greek yogurt for butter chicken recipe??
Hi Melinda, yes greek or natural yogurt is perfect for this recipe. N x
Omg yum! Followed the recipe religiously, turned out fantastic! Only thing that I added was a bit more sugar + salt to balance out the tartness of the pasatta otherwise wouldn’t change a thing!
Hi Maya, I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Yes the type of passata you use may require a little bit of balancing (depending on brand) N x
This is THE best Butter Chicken EVER
Could not fault this, it was absolutely perfect. Thank you, I will be making this many more times.
That’s awesome Alissa, thanks so much for the great feedback 🙂 N x
Absolutely delicious and very easy to make. Personally I like a thick textured butter chicken sauce so I simply added some corn flour and that just did it for me! Thank you for the wonderful recipe! The videos are very helpful too.
Hi Nagi, made this recipie many times and luuvvvv it…. jus wondering if you have any tips on how it could be done in a slow cooker? thanks!!!
I never write reviews but this is such an easy and tasty recipe, how could I not?! I’ve just finished eating the 3rd rendition of this and added in hald a small cauliflower and a punnet of cherry tomatoes and just upped the sauce mixed ever so slightly (think heavy handed with measurements) and was still so good! Thanks Nagi!