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??
This is my go to recipe for butter chicken. Never buying the jar again. Yours is so simple and a 100 percent better Nagi❤️
Up there with one of the best curries I have made! Only change I made was to reduce the double cream slightly. I did not have ghee but unsalted butter worked just well. Thank you for the delicious recipe! Curry night is always one to look forward to!
Made this before and it’s delicious! Want to make again but I have a vegetarian friend coming, what do you recommend I replace the chicken with? (For her portion)
You could also put in boiled egg chopped into quarters or mushroom.
Cubed paneer is great in this. You can fry it until lightly golden before putting it in the sauce too, which is even better. Just simmer it for a few mins at the end until heated through
Great, thanks so much!
This was extremely good and easy to make. My wife isn’t a huge fan of thighs, so we used breasts. They came out great.
This recipe is really yummy .mi family loved
This recipe is really yummy .
Would it be a disaster to swop out chicken thighs for chicken breasts?
Hi Mariette, i prefer thighs as they stay juicy and have more flavour – N x
This was so easy and SO good! I’ve made a lot of butter chicken recipes and I think this is my favorite. The sugar takes it to the next level. Thank you!
This is my go to butter chicken recipe. Great flavours and easy to make.
Super easy and sauce tastes exactly like the one that I order from my favourite Indian restaurant.
Dangerously delicious. As with others, my husband was very pleasantly surprised and commented on the similarity of the sauce and that of the one we order from our local Indian restaurant.
Thank you so much Nagi, I won’t be spending so much on take away curry now!
Awesome Patricia!! N x
This was sooooo good. I’ve made quite a few from scratch curries at home and none ever turned out as good as this. It’s such a good recipe!
Once again…….. delicious! (& easy) And loved by the family. Leftovers fabulous!
I’m pretty sure this recipe made my husband love me even more. He could not stop raving about it and gazing at me starry eyed while eating it lol. I can attest, it is truly delicious.
😂 I love this Olivia!! N x
I’ve made this a few times! So so delicious!
Any way or tips to make this in slow cooker?
Not this one as written sorry Ashley! N x
Hi Nagi, is this butter chicken recipe ok to be frozen?
Yes definitely Rose, just thaw in the fridge and reheat gently in the microwave – N x
Luv Luv this recipe, I’m always trying to loose weight so I use coconut yoghurt instead of cream and it’s divine
Hi Lee, sounds amazing!!! N x
Ok I have made this so many times now – always so easy and delicious. The balance of flavour is spot on. I used to make a time consuming very tasty Indian recipe for my butter chicken but would only make it for Indian banquet dinner parties, needless to say my go to butter chicken recipe has been replaced. One of my teenage daughters faves, thanks again Nagi for another great recipe.
My family loved it. Made the naan bread also. Very filling and satisfying. Thank you so much
I don’t normally like Indian food but my daughter wants to have butter chicken so instead of getting a jar from the supermarket since it is locked down. I decide to try to make it myself, it turns out quite nice. My daughter loved it and says she wants to have it every week. 🙂 Thank you Nagi.
I made this as I was craving Indian food and our local favorite was closed during the pandemic… even my mother…who swore that she didn’t like Indian food.. loved it. She told me that’s an make this dish ANY TIME! It was delicious! And so easy to make!!
So easy and absolutely delicious! Thanks Nagi! Made your butter chicken, lamb rogan josh for my son’s 21 birthday and everyone raved about the food. All cooked and frozen two weeks before which made it
much less stressful to feed lots of people. Thank you!!