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??
Love this recipe Nagi. So satisfying to make the marinade from scratch. We also made your naan bread to go with it (SO great!) We had this last Sunday night (in Auckland) while watching the rugby game being played in Perth 🙂
Is the plain yogurt just plain Greek yogurt? That’s all coles or woolies seem to have. What brand do you use?
Yes, that or natural yogurt Sarah! N x
Omg! This was a game changer best butter chicken recipe so far kids love it. Thank you 😊
That’s awesome Amanda, I’m so glad it was a hit!! N x
This is by far the best butter chicken recipe I have found. I substituted 18% cream for the full cream and it tasted amazing still. Thank you for sharing this!!!
I’m so glad you love it Hosha, that’s awesome!! N x
This was amazing!! My husband is not a huge fan of curries but went back for seconds. Served it with cucumber &yoghurt, pappadums and your yeast free naan bread. (Yum)
Omg so simple soo tasty!
I have tried several of you recipes lately and none have failed me yet!! ❤️
I did this with thigh cutlets though cause I didn’t read it properly, so cooked them a little longer in the “ browning “ stage and served with your flat bread recipe!
Nice Tenescsam! N x
Excellent, I made this with my 8 year old daughter today and loved the flavours. A mild curry that works for all the family – will have to try the naan recipe next time
Hi Nagi, absolutely love all your recipes they’re my go to!
Quick question, I’ve marinated the chicken but won’t be able to make it tonight, how long can the chicken be marinated for till it goes bad?
Hi Jade, I would either freeze until you’re ready to use or leave up to 2 days in the fridge. N x
If I lived close I couldn’t be your check but would love to be your clean up the mess grandmother
This was a hit with my family – I multiplied the recipe by 2 and made Nagi’s Naan recipe to go with this – was lovely 🙂 Thank you!
Always must have Naan Rachelle, I’m so glad you loved it!!! N x
Thanks so much for posting this Nagi, my super fussy 10yo asked for more! She has anaphylaxis to nuts so being able to make this safely at home is just amazing.
That’s awesome Bec, I’m so glad you all enjoyed it! N x
I made this last night as hadn’t done a chicken meal this week 🤪. I sometimes make a quick version of butter chicken using tinned tomato soup & Curry paste etc. Last night the family all agreed this was better – my husband said it had “more going on” 😂. I only had time to marinate the chicken for an hour & used chicken breasts but it wasn’t dry and had lots of flavour! Definitely will make this one in future 🤓👍 – Thanks Nagi!
Hi Nagi, just wondering if you can slow cook this recipe? Pan fry the chicken (whole pieces) first and then transfer to the slow cooker with the balance?
Not for this one sorry Bree, you need the sauce simmering to reduce. N x
Can I sub the lemon for lime?
Any replacement for the Yoghurt… cant get that where I am…
I’ve used sour cream before (it’s a 1:1 ratio). This is my go to curry, make it all the time!
Amazing recipe, don’t change a thing! 😍
Sooooo good! My husband always complains about how sweet butter chicken is from take out places. This was just right! The whole family loved it! I’ll def be trying more of your recipes. Thank you!
Super yummy! Made it today, since I used Greek yogurt I only used half tomato paste and the taste was quite tangy already. I also added zucchini and carrots. Thanks Nagi for beautiful and easy recipe 😙
This was exceptional! Absolutely delicious and also enjoyed by our 1.5 year old. Trying the vegetable lasagne tonight. Thank you for all your awesome recipes, Nagi!
Hello Nagi,
This recipe looks amazing! My 5-year old loves butter chicken from her daycare and she’s been asking me to make it at home. Is there any recipe for non-spicy or mild butter chicken?
Thank you.
Maggie