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”!
Hungry for more? Subscribe to my newsletter and follow along on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram for all of the latest updates.
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 recipe was fabulous!
I’m so glad you loved it Sandra! It’s one of my favourites!
Another winner! Your recipes are so reliable. Thank you!
Thanks so much Susan!!! ❤️
Where’s Dozer?
Hi Nagi, is plain yoghurt the same as Greek yoghurt or is it something different? Thanks!
Nagi, could you use chicken breast instead of things ?
Hi Tracey! Yep you sure can 🙂
Is the ‘cream’ a heavy whipping cream, half & half cream or some other cream I am not thinking of? Sorry, not much of a cook over here!
Since I’m an Indian and make this a lot with both chicken and paneer, I have to tell you a butter chicken gravy or the makhani gravy is incomplete without dried fenugreek Leaves (Kasuri Methi). Try putting them just before adding cream to the curry and you’ll know what i mean 🙂
Hello Shweta, how much fenugreek would you add to a batch this size??
Can you use coconut milk or coconut yoghurt as a dairy free version
I’m afraid I am not sure Hannah, sorry 🙂
Hey =) I love this recipe, we eat it almost weekly [some months, it IS weekly]. I’d love to share it with my MiL but she’s found she has a very negative reaction to cumin in other dishes [she learned the dish had cumin because of that, sometimes]. Is there another spice we could substitute for cumin so I can introduce her to this wonderful dish?
Thanks!
Hi Nagi
Have the chicken marinating to cook tomorrow.
I’m making a double batch. Can I freeze it?
That should be fine Karen! The yoghurt will probably separate when thawed but it doesn’t matter once cooked 🙂 N x
This was by far my favorite butter chicken dish ever! Amazing flavor and texture, will definitely be making this one again. I didn’t have (and here we go haha with the alterations..I know, I know) cream, so I put a combo of full fat sour cream and yoghurt in with the milk and it was seriously delicious. Next time I will try it with the cream if I have it, it’s nice to know that you can make substitutions and still have it taste amazing. Also I always add a little cinnamon to my curries which give them a little extra warmth 😉 Your easy flatbread recipe worked out great used as naan bread too 😀
Thanks for all your hard work and dedication!
What do we do with left over marinade left in bowl!
Hello! Could I substitute coconut milk for the cream?
You sure can! It’s lovely – a handful of readers have done the same! N x
Hi Nagi
I’ve made this many times, but my sauce curdles. Any ideas why and how to rectify it please?
Thanks,
Kim
Don’t let the cream boil. Pop it in literally just before serving.
Thanks, I used this method
can you omit or replace yogurt?
Can i use tomato Paste instead?
Sorry Alysa, that will make it too sour 🙂 N x
I made this recipe last week and my husband couldn’t get enough! I currently have another batch (double recipe) marinating now. The first time I made it though, I cut back on the garam masala (2 tsp. seemed like a lot to me), since I always think it adds too much cinnamon and clove flavors. I put in only 1 scant tsp of the garam masala, but doubled the turmeric. I think that’ll be my way of making it every time. When I was putting the individual chicken pieces into the frying pan using tongs, there really wasn’t that much sauce left in the bowl, so next time, I won’t be so slow and careful about it. The recipe says not to use all the sauce, but I think I’ll just scoop it all out with a spatula. But I don’t mean to sound critical about it. It’s really my new favorite butter chicken!
I don’t take it as critical at all! Recipes are made for adjustment to people’s own tastes 🙂 I myself hardly ever follow a recipe strictly!! N x
Hi Nagi.
This recipe is a winner! We enjoyed it so much and my son who is a butter chicken enthusiast gave it high praise.
It was so easy to cook.
Thank you for the tip on making passata from tin toms (genius!)
I used Carnation Lite Cooking Cream which worked really well and (hopefully) saved some calories 🙂.
My search for a butter chicken recipe is over.
Suzie x
Terrific to hear you enjoyed this Suzanne!! Thanks for taking the time to come back and let me know – N x
Hi Nagi!
Thanks for sharing the recipe! I was wondering if canned coconut milk & coconut cream could be used in place on the cream? Also, I’m doubling the recipe but my sauce seems to be a bit runny. Should I let it simmer longer to reduce?
Thanks!
Hi Tanya! It sure can, others have used it 🙂 Yes just simmer longer to reduce, if you double the recipe there’s a lot more sauce to reduce, the times in the recipe are for a single batch 🙂
Can this be frozen? Thank you!
Hi Jo! It should be fine – give the sauce a good mix once reheated! 🙂