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 added more sugar and salt to cut the “bite” a bit. Definitely has heat. Some people speak of it being runny, I did not find this at all. Simply, simmer a little longer, it will thicken up.
Hi Lesly, yes I find that depends on the tomatoes used – ours are quite bitter here & always require salt/sugar to balance. N x
Made this a week ago and it was AMAZING! Super easy to make as well.
I could drink this sauce I love it that much Meera!
Love your recipes. Can you tell me if the butter chicken is ok to freeze. Thank you
Was wondering if this is spicy for kids?
Yes definitely Sarah!
The flavors are incredible, and what a nutritional powerhouse. Garlic, ginger, turmeric, chili/cayenne, yogurt, I feel no guilt eating this dish! I did try substituting whole milk for the cream and it’s not as rich but still Delicious. Your recipe is rapidly becoming one of my favorite meals, thanks for sharing!
I’m so glad you love it Yvette!
I have already made this 4 times with my boyfriend and one time I made this for my family, they all loved it so much, gonna make it again tomorrow, all your recipes are amazing!
That’s so great to hear Vicky!
II am so tempted to try this as i love butter chicken but i am very nervous about using cream in my cooking. I’ve never successfully added cream without it splitting and now avoid recipes that call for cream. Any advice on how to avoid a split sauce would be greatly appreciated!
Hi Coralie, fear not, you’ve got this!!! Just don’t let the sauce boil – a gentle simmer is all it needs!
But is that enough to render it safe, since it has touched raw chicken. What’s the amount of time the sauce should cook?
I read the recipe that you’ve cooked the chicken fully before adding cream in final stages of finalising they sauce, so think it should be fine!
That looks delicious. We love curry – definitely going to give this a try soon!
Love to know what you think once you try it!!
Hello,
I have drained my chicken after sauteing to get all the extra moisture out at that point and it has helped make my sauce thicker.
Another thing you can do is add corn starch slurry to tighten up the sauce.
Thank you David and Nagi . Will try both.
Sure can David 🙂
Hi Nagi. I have just cooked this recipe. It was just great. However can you tell me why
my sauce was very runny and what can I do to make it not so runny. I adjusted the recipe for 6 servings. However it definately was very tastey!! Thank you so much.
Hi Naomi, sounds like you may need to simmer the sauce a little more to thicken it up – N x
This recipe is just AWESOME!!! Came out perfect 👌!
WOOT!!! Thanks so much Melissa – N x
Thank you Nagi❤️ Your recipes have been so helpful, my kids love this buttered chicken so much👌
That’s awesome to hear Myla!
Hi Nagi,
Just made your better chicken recipe and it’s fabulous. I used De Cecco pasata so the color ended up more of a salmon pink color rather than the yellowish in your video. A little odd looking but the flavors are there.
Can I substitute tomato paste for pasata to get a deeper richer color? If so, how much. Thanks
Hi Johara, no tomato paste is too concentrate, you need pasta for this recipe 🙂
This recipe is amazing!!! My family love this dish and this is the first time I’ve attempted it from scratch , thumbs up from everyone
Sounds like you nailed it Kristina!
I make this at least once a month. It is SO good. My son loves it he says what’s for tea? I say butter chicken and he says yum my favourite.
Oh that’s lovely Michelle!
So amazing!! This is my favourite recipe for butter chicken!
Hey I am just wondering I might be blind but how much chicken can you put with the sauce if this recipe (do you recommend thigh or breast). I cannot see the measurement for chicken above. Thanks for the great looking recipe!
Hi Ryan, it’s the last ingredient under the marinade heading – N x
Hello! Thanks for all the recipes – I’m wondering if I can cook this in the slow cooker? If so what time would you recommend on slow or high? Thanks 😍
Hi Sarah, this recipe as written wont work in a slow cooker unfortunately – N x
Tried this today! A little bit watery not as creamy or thick as i expected! Im from Asia and im so used to having diff cuisine curries. So maybe its just my tastebuds. But overall the recipe is easy and its okay 6/10!
Hello, can you use a slow cooker for this recipe?
Hi Maebee, not for this recipe sorry!
I have started to make Butter Chicken in large amounts. Leftover gets made into Pies, vacuum packed and stored in freezer for lazy days. Yum. I freeze them before vacuum packing to prevent the pies getting squashed
Great idea Kaiza!