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??
Why is my sauce so runny and not thick like it looks in the photo
Absolutely delicious! A huge hit at our house 🙂
Have you ever put all the ingredients in a clip bag – freeze then when you want to cook – defrost the bag in fridge overnight & next dump in slow cooker on low 4-5 hrs?
I freeze this all the time. I like the slow cooker idea, never thought of that! I just follow the recipe after the chicken defrost, turns out amazing every time!
How much chicken will this marinate? I have looked all over the recipe. Watch the video check the comments and I have no idea. Please help.
This dish was sooo yummy, I would recommend putting in a little spoonful of flower to thicken it up just a teensy bit, but other then that this recipe is amazing! Although it did take me a lot longer that 35 minutes to make, might just be a problem on my end though lol
Tastes amazing! Booked it at least ten times but can’t figure out why my sauce is so much paler in colour?!
This is delish – made it many times – never going to buy a simmer sauce jar again!
I put a tablespoon of Kashmiri red chilli powder in & it made it a deep orange colour
Natasha, I had the same thought so I added extra tomato paste and it improved the colour of mine. 🙂
There’s no tomato paste in this recipe to give the aded colour.
This was a delicious recipe! Served over rice, garnished with cilantro and green onion, and a tomato and cucumber salad on the side. Loved it and will make again!
Loved this.
Unusual it doesn’t have onion.
Loved it anyway 😊
Butter chicken NEVER has onion!
I found this butter chicken was mild and delightful. It wasn’t as banging as I had hoped (or am used to), but perhaps butter chicken is simply a mild and delightful dish. Perhaps next time I’ll add 1.5x the spices and see if that increases bang factor. I paired it with the Indian salad (carrot/ cabbage) and it all went down pleasantly.
Very easy/ low effort.
Wonderful recipe , how many minutes to cook
I wanna give it a try!!
Fab!!!
THIS WAS AMAZING! My husband loved it. It will definitely be in our dinner rotation! Thank you!
I am prepping this for the second time this week. It was delicious, simple and tastes just like our favourite Indian restaurant. I would give this 20 stars if I could!!
Hi,
Would this recipe be good for freezing? Or would the sauce split? Currently heavily pregnant and looking for freezer friendly meals to prepare in advance.
Thanks
Hi! I absolutely love this recipe and have made it many times – I’m wondering if it would be freezer friendly so I can meal prep it. Thanks!
This is so good! I added a cup of frozen peas and am thinking of adding even more veggies in the future. Love the flavor!
Can I cook this in my crockpot (slow cooker) if so..how long for?
no you cant silly question
I use this to get vegies into a fussy toddler! Instead of the chicken I chuck the marinade ingredients in with a bunch of veg (chopped up so small as to be undetectable by the boss), then do the rest as per. Pour it over rice, call it awesome sauce, smashes it every time 😄 Thanks!
I need that sauce as my new base for soup, as in soup with crackers. Delicious!
Chicken came out perfectly tender, by the way. Added a sliced onion and some chickpeas to bulk it out. Very tasty indeed. Thanks!
Oh Nagi, this has to be the best Indian dish I have ever made and eaten. I made it a bit to spicy (for me). My family loved it that much I have been asked to make it again tonight. I can’t thank you enough for this and all your amazing recipes.
This was absolutely delicious! Dialed back the cayenne pepper to about half of the recipe and used a full jar of pasatta as otherwise it goes to waste in the fridge. Was perfect!