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??
Sprinkles says
Just had this for dinner tonight, Yum! After I browned the chicken, I sautéed some diced onion, with some garlic and ginger, added some extra cumin, garam marsala, and cayenne pepper, then ran it through the blender and added it to my sauce. I’m sure it would have been fine without, but I wanted the extra spice. I also added chickpeas and cauliflower. I used half and half and left out the butter and sugar. Didn’t miss it at all! Love the recipe. It’s so easy to customize and less work than others, with all the taste!
Guy Morosini says
This was fantastic! Marinated overnight and served with Basmati Rice. Made the ghee and used tomato purée. Thank you for this wonderfully delicious and easy recipe!
Brandy says
At the very end of the video, did you add the leftover marinade???
Giving this a try for dinner tomorrow. 🙂
Catherine says
Wondering this myself. Did you end up adding it?
kaley says
made this .turned out wonderful. say hi to dozer .he is so cute . upload more photos of him
ASTRID WHITLAM says
easy to make, authentic taste.
Ann says
Very easy to make yet very delicious. My son loves it.
Kim says
Love the way you present and explain your recipes. Excellent advice on roasted potatoes..love dogs say hi to Dozer
Nagi says
Thank you SO much Kim!!! 🥰 N x
Isabelle says
Hey Nagi, just wondering if you need to marinade this, or it would go fine without. I’ve made it a couple of times with marinading but I don’t really have enough time tonight. It’s delicious by the way, by far my favourite meal to make!
Nagi says
It’s definitely better after marinading the meat Isabella! N x
Renee says
Made this tonight and it was a hit! So flavourful and delicious paired with a cucumber raita and roti. Will definitely make again!
Kristine says
Thanks, this was delicious! I don’t eat meat anymore so I roasted some cauliflower and carrots, then added them to the sauce along with paneer and spinach. Even though you said not to add the leftover marinade to the sauce, I was worried the sauce would be lacking with no marinade ingredients at all so I decided to use half of all the marinade ingredients except for the yogurt (skipped that) and just mixed them into the sauce. Yummy! Who knew butter chicken was so easy to make?
Nagi says
Great idea Kristine, I’m so glad you enjoyed it!!! Love the vegetarian idea! N x
James says
Can this be cooked in the slow cooker?
Nagi says
Hi James, not this recipe as written sorry! One to add to my list though. N x
Amy Nicholas says
Please please a slow cooker butter chicken
Connie says
Delicious and taste. Quick and easy to make. The family enjoyed it. All of your recipes are 5 stars.
Mary Parsons says
Oh wow, this is just amazing. I have never eaten butter chicken as I always go with tikka masala, but I am now a convert. My other half who dislikes hot and spicy food said he would eat this again and scraped out the sauce pan with a naan. As ever, your recipe is easy to follow and there will be no more nights of him getting fish and chips and me a curry! We can now share a curry together. Thank you.
New Fan in NY says
Do you think this would work with tofu, or does the sauce depend on the juices and fat from the chicken?
New Fan in NY says
Never mind; answer just a few comments down
Fiona says
Hi great recipe …. can you freeze it?
Richard says
Hi Nagi,
Thanks for this recipe!
Just one question: do you add the rest of the marinade to the sauce after you cooked the chicken?
Thanks!
Lee says
This is my go-to website, so many dishes i have now tried! Bit confused on the recipe as the video shows the chicken being tipped in from the bowl with all the sauce not being taken out as per the recipe?
Barb says
I love your recipes, I’ve made a few but this is the first time I post a review. I just HAD to write this so you can feel as good as I do. I was telling my son I would make Guinness Beef Stew for St Patrick’s Day and invite them (wife, in-laws, kids) to eat. I said the recipe was from the website I use for Butter Chicken, and he said “Mom, since you made it for us, I have had it twice in restaurants and yours is hands down the best, no comparison!” That’s how good this is! Btw I also love the Guinness Stew which I can’t wait to share with them!
Thank You Nagi!!!
Fabi says
Hi can I use chicken breast instead of things?
Nagi says
Hi Fabi, i prefer thighs for this recipe as they have more flavour and don’t dry out when cooking. N x
Cat Lincoln says
Hi Nagi, I’ve made this many times and my family love it but now we have a vegetarian. If I sub paneer for the chicken do I marinade the paneer just as I would the chicken?
Nagi says
Hi Cat – yes you can use paneer or even tofu here and it will be delicious!! N x
GG says
I’ve made this one multiple times, at least once a month and we always love it. With rice and home made naan, it’s just delicious. When preparing this recipe, as with any food, please make sure you use good quality spices. What you’ll find at the local supermarket is usually not good quality. If you live in a medium sized or bigger city you most likely have access to south asian stores and/or markets where you can find fresher and better quality spices. It will make a big difference in how your food is going to taste.
Thank you for this recipe Nagi.