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??
What kind of cream? Heavy cream?
Can you substitute coconut milk/cream for regular cream for a non dairy alternative?
can we add cashew nuts to the sauce & then blend it?
This butter chicken was delicious and tasted most like the butter chicken we buy from Indian restaurants. I was surprised by the sweetness the tomato gave it. Will definitely be making it again!
Easy to follow recipe that the whole family loved. I made the recipe without any chilli then added chilli flakes for the adults when serving. Served with coconut rice and was definitely a big tick from everyone.
Can I freeze this?
Just made this recipe and it came out great! first time making butter chicken and any Indian dish. was pleasantly surprised. I also used the Naan recipe and they came out perfect!
Wonderful flavour. Great recipe. I like to cook the chicken similar to your donor kebab recipe first before putting it through the sauce.
This is undoubtedly a delicious – and easy to make – curry but butter chicken …? From my (UK) experience it’s more of a chicken tikka masala.
Going to try he Massaman lamb shoulder next.
Does the nutrition information include the rice and just wondering what ratio’s plz and thankyou
I use coconut cream to replace the cream and yoghurt as I can’t eat dairy.
It is simply delicious 😋
Love this recipe! Made it for my girlfriends & they loved it!
thats my gguyyyyyyyyyyyyy
Lovely and simple
This is a great recipe, equivalent or better than restaurant. As a more healthy option, used less cream, substituted with yoghurt – taste just as good. Also added fenugreek leaves to the marinade. Used honey instead of sugar.
No onions amongst other items. Ill give it a miss.
Yuuuuum! I’ve been wanting to do more crockpot recipes and this is definitely a keeper. Making again next week 🙌🏻
Wow I have been making this recipe for years and I’m can’t believe how good the butter chicken tastes. Tonight instead of using a passata I used a can of Lego’s tomato purée and garnished it with spring onions. It was beyond good. Thanks Nagi
I have probably made this recipe for guests a dozen or more times, and each time we’re licking our plates. I double the recipe and there’s never leftovers… I may have to quadruple it! Seriously perfection.
Very delicious recipe! The whole family was exclaiming “Yum!” as soon as they started eating. I made it together with the dal recipe from this website and the Indian tomato salad. Thanks for another great recipe!
I had a question regarding the calorie count on this.
Recipe says it makes 3-4 servings with a serving coming in at 310g.
I’m currently tracking and manually counting up the calories comes up to over 500 per serving if splitting into 4 servings and over 700 if splitting into 3 servings…
Considering how simple the ingredients were I was sceptical. More complex recipes have produced pretty bland curries in the past for me but gave it a shot.
I mixed the passata and cream and sugar and salt in a measuring jug and got concerned as it basically resembled a strawberry milkshake.
I added a tablespoon of raw tomato paste to the pan after browning the chicken just to be sure, cooked it out a bit and then added the milkshake.
It slowly started turning more yellow and looked more like a curry, so I put the lid on and walked away simmering it. Came back 10 mins later to stir it and voila, it looked like a curry should.
I sprinkled on fenegreek to finish. Didn’t need to add any more salt or anything.
The spice is mellow and mild but there’s a surprising depth to it, but more importantly this is very, very addicting to eat. The whole “just one more spoonful” vibes.
Will definitely make this again.