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!!
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
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??
Made this last night was a huge hit, even with my son who so called hates curry!! 😜 loved how easy it was to make and after marinating was on the table super quick. Thanks you xx
Have made your butter chicken recipe several times. Family loves it. Thank you for sharing your thorough recipes. Such a delight to see your ideas!
Why have I ever bought pre-prepared sauce? This is so easy and absolutely delicious , plus I have all the ingredients in my kitchen. My new fave recipe-thanks!! Now to try the flat b readrecipe……
And sooooo much better than anything in a packet!
Why have I ever bought pre-prepared sauce? This is so easy and absolutely delicious , plus I have all the ingredients in my kitchen. My new fave recipe-thanks!! Now to try the naan recipe……
Hi Nagi.
We have been making this curry now for a few months, it never disappoints. I want to make this for family, but one is a veggie… What can I sub in place of the chicken? Would quorn work? Or anything better you can recommend? Would I have to make any amendments? I think I’d do her just a little veggie batch and cook chicken for us meat eaters?. Thanks for your fab recipes! I also would like to ask if you have a good onion ring recipe? 😋
for my vege option I just add chickpeas to the sauce instead of the chicken. Tastes delicious!
Thanks for the veggie ideas ladies! Much appreciated.
FOR A VEGGIE OPTION I LIKE TO ADD PANEER ( IT’S LIKE A CHEESE THAT DOESN’T MELT)THAT HAS BEEN CUBED. IT TASTES GREAT AND IS VERY RICH.
Hi Carys, sorry I haven’t tried a vegetarian option here! I don’t have a recipe for onion rings but pop a request on my recipe request page – I feel this needs to go on the list! N x
Such a great recipe, thank you! I only had time to marinate for 1.5 hours and added small chunks of pumpkin (that ‘melt’ into the sauce) along with carrot. I also added the extra marinade once the other wet ingredients were added (didn’t want the flavour going to waste!). Despite being short on time and my rouge method, this turned out beautifully. I served with your naan (delicious), turmeric rice and shredded baby spinach. Thank you!
Hi Nagi, I was so excited to cook your butter chicken as we love eating butter chicken. I normally use store jar ones. From now on will be using this recipe as my family enjoyed it so much except for my grandkids as it was a touch spicy for them. I made with cheese & garlic naan bread. Definitely a keeper for us. Thank you for another fantastic meal. Never buying store jar ones again.
This was the best marinade I EVER made. I added some spicy ketchup and it gave it the best flavour, added less sugar also. I could eat this FOREVER. I knew Nagi was an excellent cook since I tried the lentil soup recipe, but this completely blew me away. Everyone in my family loved it, I don’t cook very often so this was a shock for everyone how good it tasted. Please try this!! Nagi is the ONLY person I trust from now on with recipes, everything is so good.
Can I substitute coconut cream for the cream due to dairy intolerance?
Hi Linda, sure can! N x
This was so delicious. My son said it was better than the Butter Chicken he had in our local Indian restaurant. Made it with cauliflower rice for extra veg. I will definitely be making this again.
I’m so glad it was a hit Ann! N x
Ah-maze-ing! So good and so easy. I cut up the chicken and marinaded it overnight. My husband went back for 3rds! 😁 thank you, looking forward to trying your other recipes!
Curious as to why you dont use the Marinade in the recipe, lot of nice stuff in there, shame to waste it ?
Good point. I did also wonder this but looked at the video. If you look at the video the left-over marinade is returned to the pan after all other ingredients are used.
Awesome recipe! I used ‘American’ tomato sauce instead of passata and it turned out great. Thanks for the recipe 🙂
I will admit I have never had butter chicken before so I can’t compare but this was super yummy.
So easy and delish! Obsessed with your recipes Nagi!!
Do you think this recipe would work out in a slow cooker?
Hi Emily, not this recipe as written sorry! N x
I make my own garam masala and all recipes seem to be different. Is this going to affect the flavour so it is as good as yours?
Hi Sus, yes all brands differ in flavour slightly too but it will be fine here – Enjoy! N x
You are slowly becoming the face of our family dinners! We cooked this tonight at it was absolutely delicious! I cooked it with the Creamy Cucumber Salad with Lemon Yoghurt Dressing and some rice and it was just perfect. My 4yo loved it!
Hi Nagi, love your recipes. If I wanted to make this ahead as a freezer meal, could I add the pasata to the marinade? Xx
Can I use single cream instead of yogurt?
Hi J, yogurt is better to use here sorry! N x
Butter chicken is the only curry I ever order at Indian restaurants. Iv made it once before but it underwhelmed me and I figured I’d stick to eating it at restaurants. Then I made this for dinner tonight with your easy flatbreads. One of the easiest but more importantly one of the most delicious meals Iv made. I truly felt like I was eating takeout. Will make this again and again. Another fantastic recipe. Thank you Nagi, you’ve made me excited about cooking again 🤗
My whole family are obsessed with this dish! So much better than ones from a takeaway. So pleased I stumbled across this site! Thank you!