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??
Sounds and looks delicious!
Wondering if I can use ¾ cup coconut milk and ¼ cup milk instead of the 1 cup cream?
Thank you!
Hi Maggie! That will be tasty but it won’t be Butter Chicken as such! But honestly, it will still be yum!
Hehe, okay. Got it! Thanks, Nagi!
Made this dish for dinner tonight and it was pretty darn good!
Boyfriend and I both loved it!
First time making curry chicken of any kind from scratch and it was SO easy! 😀
Will be my go to recipe for butter chicken most definitely!
Thanks again, Nagi!
Fantastic to hear Maggie! I’m so glad you enjoyed it, thank you for taking the time to come back and let me know! N x
Hi Nagi,
I’m always looking for quick meals!
I’m wondering if I can throw the chicken in the freezer after it is combined in the marinade ingredients so the butter chicken can be made at a later date?
Thank you, Nagi!
Hi Maggie! Yup, that will work just fine! The yoghurt will probably look a bit separated when you take it out of the freezer and defrosted, but that doesn’t matter, it will turn out fine once you cook it!
Awesome. Thanks, Nagi. 🙂
Made this for dinner tonight after seeing a friend post a picture of theirs, claiming it was easy and delicious. I was dubious that an Indian dish could be easy, but it really was! It tastes just as good as butter chicken I’ve eaten out and will save me a fortune on take out! Even my unadventurous, spice hating boyfriend had some and said he would eat it again if I cut down on the cayenne for him. I think the heat level is perfect as is and get to have all the leftovers! Served with basmati rice and your flatbreat, which was also fantastic. Thanks so much for sharing this recipe!
Thank you Elizabeth! I’m so glad you enjoyed this!! N x
Amazing! I love Indian food but have always been too afraid to try it on my own. After reading your “promises” that this was easy, I decided to take a chance. Although butter chicken is something that my husband and I both love, it wasn’t a dish my young daughters had ever had the opportunity to try and I was hoping I could give them a good first impression. It was a huge hit. The girls loved it, my husband was impressed and I finally satisfied my craving for curry. Thank you for giving me the confidence to try cooking a cuisine outside of my comfort zone. This will now be a regular in our home.
Ooops – totally forgot to rate it, I wish I could give it 10 stars. 🙂
WOO HOO!!! So glad it was a hit Kathryn, thank you for letting me know! 🙂
Made this and Qeema Indian Curried Beef with basmati and papadum for dinner. Everyone loved it, most especially my son. Will make this again tomorrow. This is one of my favorite Indian dishes and I’m so happy I can make it at home 🙂 Thank you so much!!!
Oh WOW!!! What a spread! 🙂 Thank you so much for coming back to let me know you enjoyed it Johanna! 🙂
This was fabulous! Easy to make but very authentic tasting. My husband and I loved it.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it Nancy! Thank you! 🙂
I am making this tomorrow. I have the chicken marinating as we speak. Am I supposed to throw the marinade out or does it go into the sauce?
Just tip the chicken in, most of the marinade will stick to the chicken 🙂 Then discard the rest
Made it tonight. It was absolutely wonderful and full of flavor. My sauce did not come out as dark as in the photo, however. It was a pale orange color instead.
YAY! So glad you loved it Shantay! The colour of mine might be affected by the lighting in the photo 🙂
I live in Southern California and my entire family loves frozen “Butter Chicken” from Trader Joe’s. But their portion is too small for teenage boys. I’m so glad to find this recipe! It’s so simple, easy yet tasty!! Thank you, Nagi-san.
I’m so glad you enjoy this Junchan!!! Better than frozen, hmm?? 😉 N x
Thank you soooo much for this recipe! My English husband was having a hankering for Indian food and there is no curry houses near us where we live in Louisiana. I’ve tried other recipes before but this was so much easier with ingredients that are readily available. Perfect!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it Bri! Thank you for letting me know!!
Nagi, I normally don’t “favorite” cooking blogs, but I have done so with this one. I’ve made butter chicken in the past, but was looking for a simple recipe and came across this one. Just finished eating this with the family and they loved it! Next attempt with the the flat bread.
Nagi, check out the .99 cent chef blog. He’s a chef who makes meals out of items bought at a local .99 cents store. It’s the only other food blog I have favorited. Yours shall sit beside his in my favorites. Looking forward to more of your dishes. Take care.
Woah! What an awesome sounding blog, thanks for the tip Chuck! And I’m SO GLAD you and your family enjoyed this! 🙂 Hope you had a wonderful weekend – N x
Thank you for this recipe. I’ve never been able to make a proper Indian-style dish from scratch. I made this and it turned out PERFECTLY (if I’m allowed to say that about my own cooking, haha). Thank you for such a simple, but excellent recipe. It’s bang on. Cheers!
WOO HOO! I’m so glad you enjoyed this Erin, thank you for letting me know!
Hello, I’m making this dish tonight but need help! I made the marinade, but accidentally added 2 tablespoons of garam masala instead of 2 teaspoons (rookie mistake!). I tried to take some of it out, and then increased the amount of other spices, but do you think it will still turn out okay?
Hi Autumn! I think it will still be yum! 🙂 It will have a slightly stronger “curry” flavour than the original recipe but it will still be tasty, don’t worry! If you increased the other spices as well, another idea is to increase the tomato and cream in the recipe 🙂 That way overall the flavour should be pretty similar to the original recipe. Besides, one can NEVER have too much curry sauce!!!
I love this dish! I’ve made it exactly as is. But was wondering, what would happen if you used 2% or skim milk instead of cream? I usually let my simmer for a long time to thicken, even when I used cream. Do you think it’ll still work. I want to eat this more often that we do, but b/c of the heavy cream, I only make it once in awhile.
I made this tonite for supper. OMG. It was yummo. Im not the greatest cook and i tend to try things but fail miserable. So i was kinda scared to try this but it turned out perfectly and really easy to make. This i got a thumbs up on. Will make this again. Thank you for sharing.
No need to be scared with any of my recipes Kayla, I am very conscious of sharing recipes with a LOW risk factor!!! 🙂 This is one of them. I’m so glad you enjoyed this!! The flavour is fab, isn’t it?? 🙂
Hi Nagi! I just discovered you – and I think I love you already haha!
I’m a beginner cook but I like experimenting with new twists to tried-and-tested traditional recipes using easy-to-get pantry staples. Most recipe blogs I’ve come across like to throw in at least one or two items that I cannot get easily (or cheaply) in Malaysia, so yours was a breath of fresh air.
I want to try everything in your blog! haha!
Anyway, keep up the good work Nagi. And I love your cheerful writing voice!
Cheers
Alex
Awww! Thanks for your lovely message Alexandra, I’m so glad you enjoy my recipes! N x
I was searching all over the internet for a simple, yet delicious butter chicken dish. I’m making this one tonight! My chicken is marinating right now.
Just one question, can I add all the marinade to the dish? Or do you recommend discarding the rest. What is the difference?
So excited to see how it comes out!
Thank you.
Oooh I hope you LOVE IT Tamara!!! I don’t scrape all the marinade in but I don’t wipe it off the chicken. I think if you scrape all the marinade in then the chicken will stew too much. 🙂
ohmygosh – just saw how many times this has been Pinned! #jawDrops No wonder – it looks like a fab family meal. Miss10 would go gaga for this 🙂
I think Miss10 needs to try this, hmmm…??? 😉
I’ve been buying a bit more Indian spices lately because they are much cheaper than they are in the bulk section. Their chile powder is NOT mild in any way at all. I had to buy regular chile powder to tame it down so we could eat it. Just for the record, I happen to like a bit of spiciness in my food-can eat kimchi without it bothering me but the Indian chile is very hot.
Oooh…I bet it IS spicy!! Do you know what type of chile??
Thanks for getting back to me. The package doesn’t say much other than Hot Chili Powder but it does say it’s cayenne. Maybe that should have been more of a clue but the bulk chili powder says hot but it isn’t so I foolishly assumed that this wouldn’t be too hot. Silly me!
I also bought the Turmeric from the same section and from the bit of research that I’ve done it appears to be quite good quality. I’m going to buy more of their spices and try making more East Indian meals.
Cracker recipe. Made jeera rice and the flat bread to go with it. Beautiful flavours. Definitely pays to use passata and blend the marinade for a nice smooth consistency. Also a great introductory curry for kids.
I haven’t made a recipe off Nagi’s blog yet that hasn’t been a success and enjoyable to make.
THANK YOU PAVI! 🙂 So glad you enjoyed it!!! N x
Hi when exactly are you suppose to add the cream.
I only see the cream mentioned on Step 5 after simmering where it says “Do a taste test to see if it needs more salt. Stir through the cream …”
I’m guessing that’s where you add the cream after simmering for 20mins ???
Let me know. I would love to try this dish.
Thanks
Hi Victoria! Yes that’s right, the cream goes in after simmering for 20 minutes. You don’t want to add it before because it has a tendency to split 🙂
Awesome. Thank you.
I’m so excited to try this. It’s marinating right now in fridge ?
Oh my goodness I am so excited I found your website! All three recipes I’ve tried of yours are now my family’s favorites, each one better than the last! This butter chicken is freaking amazing. I followed the recipe exactly except I only marinated the chicken for five hours and it came out phenomenally! Oh thank you thank you for making gourmet food easy to make! Do you have a cookbook? I would love to buy one if you do.
Hi Rose! It is my dream to do a big real cookbook!! 🙂 So glad you enjoyed my recipes Rose!!! Thank you for your lovely message! N x
Hi! I’ve had butter chicken with what seemed like cloves? Whole pieces even. Is that a thing? We loved it but don’t see it often. I’ll be trying your recipe this week and was wondering if adding cloves would be a huge fail? TIA
Hi Jennifer! There are gazillions of butter chicken recipes out there 🙂 I’ve used many in the past but no other since I found this chef recipe!! I really don’t feel cloves are required, there is plenty of flavour in this already 🙂
Ou, this recipe looks pretty easy to follow! Can’t wait to try it out tomorrow night. Quick question – are crushed tomatoes the same as tomato passata/puree? I don’t cook…ever.. and was checking my pantry to see if we had the agreements listed and noticed a can of the crushed tomatoes – not sure if they’re equivalent? If not, I’ll put the passata!
that should read ingredients, not agreement.
Hi Swati! Passata is just pureed tomatoes 🙂 It’s great because it makes a thicker smooth sauce compared to crushed tomatoes which are a bit chunky. You can just puree the crushed tomatoes in a blender! Otherwise most major supermarkets have passata nowadays and it costs around the same as canned tomatoes!!