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??
Would this recipe work with chicken breasts instead of thighs?
Can’t believe such an amazing dish takes only a few stops to make!!
Love the big flavour of the sauce 🙂
Only problem was that my sauce curdled, looking grainy and not as smooth as the one in your photos! Is this because of the yoghurt marinade?
I’d appreciate your input! because I’d love to make this again, next time without curdling!
Your sauce will split/curdle if it’s cooked to hot, a gentle simmer and you shouldn’t have this problem or try using cooking cream
Hi just wondering if this recipe can be adapted to cook in a slow cooker?
I love spicy food so found I needed to add a lot more garam masala, chilli and cumin to get the flavour I wanted.
Super easy to make
Easy recipe to follow, loved it
First time cooking an Indian Recipe, and it turned out pretty great. Really happy with it though I thought the sauce would wind up thicker,
I have made this loads and it’s always a hit. Taste is amazing. However when i make it the sauce is a bit thin does anyone have tips to make it thicker?
I added about a tablespoon or so of corn flour to water to make a paste and then added it to the sauce to thicken it. Worked well
instead of tomato sauce, I like to use tomato paste so i don’t have to simmer it for so long and can dig in lol.
I made this last night with the flat bread. My husband doesn’t like many Indian dishes but he loved this which is great cause I really like Indian food but don’t get to eat it much. I have tried many of Nagi’s recipes and yet to find a bad one. Thanks for sharing all of your great recipes!
I love this recipe! So good so easy and so tasty just made it again! 😋 If there is only one recipe to try from Nagi I would vote it to be this one!
The only way in my opinion how I can ruin this (slightly) is by choosing the wrong tomato puree. It’s a bit of a mission to find a good tasting brand in woolies and coles that is not too sour. Any suggestions by someone here who has found a go to brand? 🙂 (Alternatively I’m gonna have to buy them all and try them all and then choose my go to.😅)
Mutti brand! It’s the absolute best!
Tomato passata is different to tomato puree. Passata comes in big glass jars and looks like smooth, liquidy pasta sauce – Mutti is the best brand to use IMO
I cook a lot and I look for recipes online a lot. I have NEVER left a review. But after making your butter chicken recipe, I had to!!!! Just, WOW. Soooo tasty. My kids and partner and myself devoured it and were blown away by the flavors the whole time. Perfectly seasoned. Truly incredible! Thank you so much for sharing!!!!!
Honestly this is the best butter chicken recipe I’ve ever tasted outside of a restaurant!
My only regret is I should of marinated the chicken longer than the 6 hours we did. But even at 6 hours this meal was hovering on gastronomic ecstasy.
Thank you very much Nagi for posting this recipe, your site is my go to as you seasonings and flavour balances are always spot on!
I made this for my adult grandson and his fiancé who were visiting. They both loved the curry so much that they went and bought Nagi’:s cookbook for themselves.
This is absolutely wonderful! Dairy allergies in family, made it with non-dairy plain yogurt and plant-based heavy cream. Doubles easily. Grandchildren loved it with rice and Naan. Love your recipes Nagi!
I have a dinner party for 8 but want to cook the day before or earlier in the day to avoid any stress. Would this be OK? Thx Dena
It tastes even better the next day! I just warmed up some from two nights ago, YUM!
it would be even better – flavour develops further. it will be to die for!!
I’m making this now to take to a 60 Birthday tomorrow – it will taste even better tomorrow as do all curries the next day
Can we replace the yogurt with santan (coconut cream)
Hi – can this be prepared the day before and re-heated on the day of my dinner party?
Curries in my opinion are even better made a day or so ahead
Curries in my opinion are even better made a day or so ahead Dena
I continue to use this great recipe. I make once or twice a month and my kids love it. I do roast the marinaded chicken pieces in the oven though on a cookie sheet then add them to the passata mixture. It avoids the mess of browning yoghurt covered chicken. Thanks for running such a great blog!
Probably the only recipe I have tried on the internet and I feel like I would cook it again 🤤 the flavours are crazy. Instead of using cream I used Creamy Mashroom Soup
Would love a dairy free version of these curries! Or a note on how to make them dairy free. Will experiment tonight.
Cooked this one lots of times..awesome and so easy.
I use coconut cream instead of cream…and if you use olive oil you can make it dairy free..
Enjoy the ride
Its absolutely fine with coconut yoghurt in the marinade and coconut milk or cream instead of cream.
Definitely adding this to the rotation! Made the sauce with light cream and it was perfect- tasted just like a bought one. I made it vegetarian by substituting chicken with air-fried firm tofu coated in the marinating spices (sans yoghurt). Added frozen cauli for a bit of extra veg.