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??
I make my own garam masala and all recipes seem to be different. Is this going to affect the flavour so it is as good as yours?
Hi Sus, yes all brands differ in flavour slightly too but it will be fine here – Enjoy! N x
You are slowly becoming the face of our family dinners! We cooked this tonight at it was absolutely delicious! I cooked it with the Creamy Cucumber Salad with Lemon Yoghurt Dressing and some rice and it was just perfect. My 4yo loved it!
Hi Nagi, love your recipes. If I wanted to make this ahead as a freezer meal, could I add the pasata to the marinade? Xx
Can I use single cream instead of yogurt?
Hi J, yogurt is better to use here sorry! N x
Butter chicken is the only curry I ever order at Indian restaurants. Iv made it once before but it underwhelmed me and I figured I’d stick to eating it at restaurants. Then I made this for dinner tonight with your easy flatbreads. One of the easiest but more importantly one of the most delicious meals Iv made. I truly felt like I was eating takeout. Will make this again and again. Another fantastic recipe. Thank you Nagi, you’ve made me excited about cooking again 🤗
My whole family are obsessed with this dish! So much better than ones from a takeaway. So pleased I stumbled across this site! Thank you!
This was absolutely fantastic!! I only marinated for about 4 hours, and it was absolutely restaurant-quality. I can’t wait to make it again.
Lovely recipe! Quick question (might sound dumb) – I’ve always cooked my curries with onion, garlic and ginger as base. Obviously garlic and ginger were in marinade – what would be different if you added onions at the start to fry?
Also, paneer is one of my favourite proteins to have in a butter curry! Any recommendations to substituting paneer in this?
Hi Sadian, I find the flavour in the marinade is enough for this butter chicken. You can definitely sub in paneer here – just use as you would the chicken 🙂 N x
Hi Nagi
I’ve just made this for 12 servings the taste is fantastic but it’s still very liquidy I followed the recipe exactly.
Any ideas? I would normally add cornstarch mixed with water for casseroles but not sure if you do the same for curries
Hi Michelle, it may of needed to reduce slightly here. You could always thicken with a cornflour slurry if you prefer a thicker sauce. N x
I found your website and I making butter chicken for dinner for my husband and I. We are big fans of butter chicken.
Cooking this right now and I’ve done a taste test… WOW; my first attempt at Butter Chicken and I can’t wait to dig in; also having papadums, rice, roti and dhal soup. Suits our “cold” night here in the Fiji Islands. Thank you Nagi for your recipes. I’ve tried a few, and not only are the recipes easy to follow, but my kids are also enjoying meals and desserts.
This was a winner, even when I used 75m of cream and less butter !!! winner winner chicken… lunch !!! hehehe Im going to make it again soon, sooo easy !!!
I will never buy a jar of curry sauce again..it was utterly delicious. The whole family loved it. Next time I will make enough to pop into freezer after marinating..one question would the sauce freeze okay without ruining the taste
Hi Nagi,
can i use greek plain yogurt, instead of the plain yogurt for this recipe?
Thank you
Hi Lindley, yes that’s what I regularly use 🙂 N x
Hi, Nagi. I made your delicious looking recipe without garlic. and do I really need to wait 24 hours for it to marinate. Just asking. Thank you for this recipe.
Hi John – no you don’t have to – but minimum 3 hours as per the recipe 🙂 N x
Hi, Nagi.
I’m making this recipe, but I don’t have garlic. Can the final dish be good without it. And do I really need to wait 24 hours for it to marinate. Just asking .
Do you think this could be made in an Intant Pot. If so, what adjustments would you make?
Not this one sorry Miss A! N x
Hi Nagi , just cooked the Butter chicken recipe for the first time and Wow!!!! Never thought I would be able to make a restaurant quality curry but it was superb. Family loved it and I can’t wait to get stuck into more of your recipes. Thank you x
Awesome Dave, I’m so glad you loved it! N x
I use 2 kgs of chicken and ratio the ingredients to suit, 2 weeks of tasty lunches to follow, love this recipe.
I’m so glad you love it Ed! N x
I am in LOVE with this recipe/ dish! I made 2 batches with all the chicken thighs I had, ate one and froze the other! We also made your No yeast Flatbread recipe as Naan! Delicious!
I can’t wait to eat this again! I’ve made several of your recipes, you have not disappointed! Planning out my meal plan with your recipes for next week!
Why do you disregard the marinade? I add it to the sauce once chicken is cooked to add the extra spice and creaminess from the yoghurt