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!!
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
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’ve made this several times and admittedly it isn’t easy to get full fat yogurt within a 5 miles distance. I use sour cream instead but reduce the lemon juice to 1/2 tbs unless I’m feeling tangy then I use the full 1tbs. Tastes just as amazing.
My husband always requests this dish after he returns home from his work trips.
This recipe turned me into a cooking genius. My husband raved about. You are some kind of magician with food. A life long supporter. And we adore Dozer!
Made this last night and it tasted wonderful but it separated. I used carnation milk instead of cream and perhaps that was the reason. Had I warmed the milk slightly perhaps it might not have separated. Will make it again with the real deal next time. 🤨
Hi Nagi,
I just finished making this and it turned out excellent! So, so easy to make.. My husband thought it tasted great. Thanks so much for another winning recipe!
The house smells so good, and this is perfect.
Yum! Love your recipes Nagi. Sooo foolproof and damn delicious.
The butter chicken – like all your others – was so delicious and easy to make.
Another to keep up my sleeve. Thank you!
Fantastic! Made multiple times without fail. Hubby requests this so this dish is on our family rotation. I make as written with American Tomato Sauce, coconut sugar, and add a pinch of Hing. My toddlers love it too! Thanks for the recipe!
I love this recipe so much. You are my go to for any recipe that I’m looking for now Nagi. This is probably the best butter chicken I have ever had. I served it with your fluffy coconut rice and garlic naan and it went down an absolute treat. Even my picky 2 year old absolutely loved it. I will definitely make this again!
Hi, love the butter chicken. Is it ok to freeze?
I’ve frozen it before as pre-made meals but please don’t microwave it in plastic reheat.
Delicious and so easy to make! Paired it with the easy soft flat bread recipe and mwah!
Delicious and so easy to make! Paired it with the easy soft flat bread recipe and mwah!
Nagi knocks another out of the park! I’ve been making Indian Butter Chicken for years, another recipe, but my partner was picking a recipe from her new cookbook for his birthday meal and landed on this one. Challenge accepted! So easy AND flavorful. Will definitely make again – you know it’s good when it replaces an old stand-by!
Added some very heavy shakes of cayenne because we both like a little heat. Otherwise, didn’t change a thing and it was absolutely delicious.
Deliciousness for the winter blast which came through. A happy dance with this recipe – and no need to get takeaway. I did marinate the chicken overnight.
I took on some comments from other people. Simmered for 45/60 minutes. I did add a good heaped tablespoon of almond meal to help thicken the sauce up. I did use lime juice as I had fresh limes on hand. Green beans added in the last ten minutes and next time I will reduce the cream to half a cup. Nagi and Dozer you’ve done well. I also love that the recipes can be scaled down for those who may live alone and want another meal for a separate time.
Tip for young players, the curry does freeze well. I didn’t freeze the rice and did a low reheat over the stove top (insert chef’s kiss).
I have made this numerous times and its an awesome recipe.
I purchased ‘Dinner’ recently and this is the first recipe I made from it. Was so so good. So tomatoey and creamy. The whole family loved it.
This is definitely one of my favorite Nagi recipes. I’ve lost count how many times I’ve made it. I always double the recipe for our family of 5 and the minimal leftovers never go to waste. It is amazing as written, but it is also great when I needed to substitute. I’ve used tofu in place of chicken…the sauce is so good it could make nearly anything taste amazing. I’ve used canned coconut milk or evaporated milk in place of the heavy cream and both worked well. For the rare people commenting that this recipe didn’t work, I have to assume you aren’t doing something right… maybe get better quality spices or for those that say the sauce split or is too thin, you just need to simmer it a little longer! It initially looks split but it all melds together after simmering long enough.
Anyways, just had to comment and say thanks for the amazing recipe, Nagi. You are my favorite recipe site!!!
As good as our favorite local Indian spot
What an amazing recipe!! Thank you Nagi!! So delicious, just made it for dinner and just can’t get over how great it is. The balance of flavors is wonderful.
I cooked your Butter Chicken and Rogan Josh Lamb for dinner last night. It was delicious and everyone raved about it. I cooked the dishes a day in advance to let the flavours develop even more.
I now want to cook for a crowd of 50 using your Indian recipes of chicken, lamb, lentil, a beef dish and a vegetarian curry. There will also be rice, salads, breads and condiments. Bearing this in mind what number of servings should I adjust the recipes to?
PS – I love the scale option that adjusts the recipe accordingly- thank you.
I found this recipe in Dinner and set to making it. As my family filed in from various activities they sniffed the air and excitedly asked “what’s for supper?” I told them to look at the open page in the cookbook, but all they kept saying was how good it smelled! And once we tasted it we all decided it’s even better than it smells!