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??
I made this tonight for dinner and it was wonderful! My picky kids and husband even approved! Thanks so much for a simple to follow plus delicious recipe!
Great to hear Londe! Thank you for taking the time to let me know! N x
Nagi
What would the amount of ingredients be for a party of 40 people it’s for a surprise 50th birthday and I think they would love your recipe.
Yours Sincerely
Stuart
Hi James! Just use the recipe scaler – click on Servings and SLIDE!
Hi Nagi,
Can you make this in the crockpot?
Nagii can I use coconut milk instead of cream?
Sure thing! 🙂 N x
Hi Nagi,
Am I able to slow cook this recipe? I like when the chicken falls apart but I’m assuming you can’t really with the yogurt?
I’ve made it before and it was delicious!
X Shae
OMG Nagi this is the best butter chicken I’ve ever tasted …. Finally cooked his for dinner tonight (had the chicken marinated yesterday). So delish. – was finger licking good. Will never buy the butter chicken sauce in a jar anymore. Both hubby & son were impressed and praised my chef’s skills hahahaha. Thanks so much for sharing all these good recipes. So easy to make.
Hi Nagi, can i use Greek style yoghurt instead of cream for the curry?
Hi Angie! It won’t have the same rich finish you get in Butter Chicken but it’s a great low fat alternative! 🙂 N x
This was delicious & SO easy!! I made it exactly as-is, just left out cioriander/cilantro (HATE it!). I used cayenne and it was mild (marinated for 24 hrs). I finished cooking it & had to run out for an appointment, my husband texted within minutes “delicious, keep this recipe & make often”. That says it all!! Passatta – our grocery store carried it (Mariano’s in Chicagoland), so I tried it – a Costco can of tomato sauce & a dallop of paste would’ve worked fine too. Looking forward to trying some of your other recipes!! Glad I stumbled across the Butter Chicken recipe!!
I made this last night and it was amazing! Just wondering for future use, how could I I make this as a sauce with the same spices from the chicken marinade? We love to have extra sauce with our Indian dishes to mix in with rice & naan.
That’s so great to hear Marlene! I’m so happy to hear that! Hmm, that’s a tough one. I would probably make up a small batch of the spices from the marinade and saute that with onions in the sauce 🙂 N x ❤️
Hi Marlene, I agree we love saucy Indian too. I expanded the sauce by adding a can of coconut milk. Then I added a tbls of plain flour to thicken it slightly too.
As a side note I also added 3 cardamom pods and 3 bay leaves. I didn’t marinate overnight, but was still very delicious.
Thanks for your recipe Nag.
This is a truly the most amazing and perfectly balanced butter chicken. Thank you! After years of trying to master it with varying degrees of difficulty- I have now found the most easiest and the perfect Butter Chicken. Thank you to John
That’s great to hear John! Thanks so much for letting me know you enjoyed this! N x ❤️
Hi, i have made this wonderfull recipe twice now it tastes wonderful! I do have a small problem since mine seems so turn out very liquidy which I don’t assume it is supposed to be like that? Any tricks or tips for this?
Just simmer the sauce down! That’s how it is intended to be made 🙂 N x
Delicious curry and super easy to make! I highly recommend trying it.
I added more garam masala, cayenne pepper and ground cumin than the recipe called for. It turned out wonderfully.
I used cauliflower instead of rice too, a great match.
Thank you for the recipe!
Can’t find where you used 1 cup cream OR for a lighter version use 3/4 cup light cream + 1/4 cup milk (full fat or low fat, I used this)
in your instructions? Please confirm
Can anyone recommend a brand of pappadums, they seem to be eluding me at Woolworths?
I saw them in the Indian section the other week! Blue packet? I microwave them for a healthy option!!
I made this for dinner last night. It was wonderful. My 7 year old son ate everything I gave to him ( which is rare unless it’s German food) boyfriend loved it. I will be making this again and again. Tikka masala is next on the list. Thank you for the great recipe.
Wonderful! So glad you enjoyed this Becca, thanks for letting me know! N x
Hi
Can this be cooked in the slow cooker?
Thanks
Not this one Mel, sorry! I’ll share a slow cooker version one day 🙂 N x
Made his last night for my husband and I and also tried your flatbread recipe. They were both amazzzzinnnnnggg 😍 I accidentally added a touch too much cream so it was super mild but my husband is a fussy eater and even he absolutely loved it. He was so impressed that I made bread as well.. thanks for another fantastic recipe xx
This was utterly delicious! Beautiful butter chicken. Thank you, this will become a family favourite.
So great to hear Katya!! Thanks for letting me know you enjoyed this – N x
How do you prevent yogurt from splitting when cooking the chicken?
It’s fine if it does, it all comes together when you make the sauce! N x
Thanks for this great recipie – bookmarked!
I made the flatbread to go with, and it was so easy that I’m now ashamed I ever bought flatbread pre-made.
We don’t do dairy – water sub’ed in worked just fine for both recipies. Trying again tonight with rabbit instead of chicken.
BTW, I am the same way with movies! They invade my dreams, so I always have to pick carefully.