Finger Lickin’ Butter Chicken (Murgh Makhani)
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Delicious restaurant-style butter chicken made right at home with simple ingredients. This recipe is exactly how they make butter chicken in restaurants — and I’ve had people tell me it’s actually better! Trust me when I say it’s finger-lickin’ good!
Finger-Lickin’ Butter Chicken! That’s a little too much fun to say.
Doin’ a little throwback Monday right here with some Indian food.
Last week I had this crazy intense craving need for creamy and spicy homemade butter chicken. I mean, it was so crazy that I could practically taste the butter chicken in my mouth. My heart started racing, my hands started shaking — okay, it wasn’t quite that dramatic but you kind of get the idea. I dug down deep into the LSJ files (this is actually one of the first recipes I ever posted on the blog!) It was time to retake some of the pictures and reintroduce you to my finger-lickin’ butter chicken recipe.
Not only am I replacing some of my old (and not so great) photography, I also reworked the recipe to make the ingredient list a little shorter without compromising any of the flavors. I made the instructions a little more easy to follow AND AND AND I am adding in tips, like, how to make some of the components ahead of time and just general advice on how to make this the best butter chicken you’ve ever had.
So about that BUTTER chicken. Ironically enough my butter chicken recipe doesn’t contain that much butter. And I used what’s called ghee (also known as clarified butter). If you’re wondering where in the heck you are going to find that, try Trader Joes or Whole Foods or here. Or if you prefer to use regular butter, I suggest you use a mix – ½ butter + ½ oil because butter can burn super easy.
This recipe is super simple. No need for you to grab whole spices and grind them up. I skip them and replace it with tandoori masala. Just follow the step by step directions, and you’ve got creamy butter chicken right at home that’s better than your favorite Indian take-out. It’s a combination of spices all blended together and it’s perfect for this restaurant-style butter chicken. It’s usually available in powder/paste form in the international aisle. The one I use and LOVE can be found here.
I can’t say I take all the credit for this recipe. I got the recipe from my mom, who got it from her sister, who used to work at an Indian restaurant once upon a time. So there. It’s authentic, restaurant-style butter chicken, for reals. <– Just tweaked a bit to make it easier for us everyday people, like you and me, without compromising flavor!
It’s all about that sauce when it comes to an authentic butter chicken recipe. No really. Like with most curries, this butter chicken actually tastes better with time. If you’ve got your life together, and you’re one of those people that recipe plan and prep food ahead (first of all, power to you!) then this butter chicken can be even better for you. Make the gravy portion of this recipe, blend it and allow it to cool completely before popping it in the refrigerator for 24-48 hours. Let those flavors really get together.
You can also marinate the chicken in the ginger, garlic, yogurt, and tandoori masala and let it sit for 12-24 hours, covered in the refrigerator. The yogurt, ginger, and garlic really help make the chicken more tender. As always, I’m a fan of white meat chicken, so I used boneless skinless chicken breasts, but you could go the dark meat route and use chicken thighs as well. Some may even tell you it’s more flavorful that way, I’m not one of those people though. ???
Also, with a little weekend prep work, this recipe can be made weeknight friendly. Just make the sauce (and freeze it beforehand) and marinate the chicken on Sunday and pull it together in about 20 minutes on a Monday. That’s faster than ordering take-out and trust me, it tastes better too.
This is kind of a big deal for me. I usually leave the Indian food to mom or the Indian restaurants. But if there’s any recipe that’s worth making at home, it’s butter chicken. AM I RIGHT? I could eat this all week long. And yes, I’m going to say with confidence that this is the BEST butter chicken recipe you’ll ever make. A big thank you to all those that have tried it/loved it/commented/added it to your dinner rotations. <– Let me make the directions a little more clear and the recipe a little easier to follow for you!
Butter chicken, it’s what my dreams are made of.
Original recipe posted Dec. 20, 2013. Updated on Feb 22, 2016, with new pictures, minor recipe adjustments, and easy to follow directions.
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Finger Lickin' Butter Chicken (Murgh Makhani)
Delicious restaurant-style butter chicken made right at home with simple ingredients. This recipe is exactly how they make butter chicken in restaurants -- and i've had people tell me it's actually better! Trust me when I say it's finger lickin' good!
Ingredients
Chicken Marinade:
- 1 lb. boneless chicken breast, cut into 1 ½ inch cubes (see notes)
- 2 tablespoons tandoori masala (see notes)
- 1 teaspoon EACH: ginger paste and garlic paste (I used Gourmet Garden)
- ½ cup yogurt
- 1 tablespoon oil
Butter Chicken Sauce:
- 2 tablespoons ghee (clarified butter) (see note)
- 1 large onion, thinly sliced
- 1 ½ teaspoon EACH: ginger paste and garlic paste (I used Gourmet Garden)
- 1 (14.5 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
- 1 teaspoon chili powder (see notes)
- 1 1/2 teaspoon coriander powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
- 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1/2 teaspoon garam masala
- ¼ teaspoon dried fenugreek leaves (crushed between fingers)
Instructions
Chicken:
- In a medium bowl, combine the tandoori masala, ginger, garlic, and yogurt. Whisk until smooth, adjust seasonings to preference. Add the chicken and allow to marinate for at least 20 minutes and ideally for 12-24 hours, covered in the refrigerator.
Butter Chicken Sauce:
- Heat the ghee in a dutch oven or heavy bottom pot over medium heat. Add the onions and sauté until they turn translucent and start to sweat, about 5-7 minutes, don't allow the onions to brown. Add ginger and garlic paste and let cook for 30 seconds, stirring so it doesn't burn. Add the can of crushed tomatoes along with the chili powder, coriander powder, and cumin powder and continue to cook for 5 minutes, if the mixture starts bubbling rapidly, add about ¼ cup of water and continue to cook.
- Remove from heat, add the mixture to a blender and blend until smooth, you may need to add a couple water to help it blend (up to ¼ cup). Depending on how powerful your blender is, you may want to blend the mixture in two batches. Remember to hold the lid of the blender down with a kitchen towel when blending, to avoid accidents.
- MAKE AHEAD OPTION: At this point you can cool and refrigerate the sauce for 24-48 hours (or freeze it for up to 3 months), it will help blend the flavors even more, just remember to bring the sauce back to room temperature (use the microwave) before proceeding with the recipe OR you can continue on with the recipe immediately.
Assembly:
- Heat the remaining tablespoon of oil in the dutch oven over medium heat. Add the marinated chicken (discard any excess marinade) and cook for about 5-6 minutes, stirring as required to brown all sides. Add the butter chicken sauce to the pot and heat everything through. Once it starts to bubble, add the cream and garam masala. When the sauce regains a simmer, add the crushed fenugreek leaves. Serve over basmati rice or with naan.
Notes
- Fan of dark meat chicken? You can replace the cubed chicken breasts with cubed boneless, skinless chicken thighs for more added flavor.
- GHEE: If you can't find it you replace it with 1 tablespoon butter and 1 tablespoon oil.
- TANDOORI MASALA: is available in powder/ paste form. I prefer the powder but some of my readers recommended Patak's brand tandoori paste. You'll need about 2-4 tablespoons of the paste (to preference).
- CHILI POWDER: optional! If you prefer milder food, you may want to leave it out as the tandoori masala already has heat. Traditionally, a spicy pepper similar to cayenne is used. If you can't find Indian or Pakistani chili powder (usually sold at Indian stores), replace it with cayenne. 1 teaspoon can be a lot so if you prefer a milder flavor, replace with 1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon.
IS THIS A GOOD CHOICE FOR YOU?
*Please note: the nutritional facts calculated are an estimate based on the ingredients i’ve used. If you’d like a more accurate count, please calculate them using the ingredients/brands you’ve used to prepare the recipe. The nutritional information provided is for 1/5th of the butter chicken recipe. This does not include naan or basmati rice.
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If you like this butter chicken recipe, you might also like:
instant pot chicken tikka masala
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273 Comments on “Finger Lickin’ Butter Chicken (Murgh Makhani)”
I was recently on the hunt for a butter chicken recipe and had no idea where to start. There are so many recipes out there and they’re all so different! I eventually settled on this one because it sounded the most interesting and because I already had the proper amount of cream in my fridge. This recipe did not disappoint! It was delicious. I don’t have an immersion blender so instead of crushed tomatoes I used a can of tomoato sauce as some other recipes had called for sauce. It worked as a great substitute and I will definitely making this again and soon!
Hello!
I am so excited to make this dish! we don’t have any indian restaurants close and i am 6 months pregnant and have been CRAVING Indian food, particularly my favorite, butter chicken! I was wondering if you could make this in the slow cooker? If so, how would you recommend doing so? I was thinking this would also make the flavors nice and developed slowly cooking all day.
Thanks!!
Haven’t tried this in the slow cooker, so not sure on how that would go, sorry!
Hi there. I’m about to try this recipe, but I can’t find whole fenugreek leaves ANYWHERE. I can only find the powdered spice. Can I use that, and what would you estimate the measurement I should use?
Thank you!
Fenugreek powder will work, you’ll want to start with 1/8 teaspoon. Give it a taste, if it needs it, you can add an additional 1/8 teaspoon of the powder.
Can you use fenugreek powder instead of leaves? If so, how much powder?
Sure, I think that should work just fine. I’d start with 1/8 teaspoon and adjust with a little more if necessary.
Oh my goodness, thank you so much!! I’ve been going crazy trying to make butter chicken and after 2 failed attempts (because of BAD recipes! Well, they resulted in a tasty chicken curry, but it was certainly nothing like restaurant style butter chicken) I have found success with yours. Phew! I was about to lose heart! I’m currently living in Mexico and there is not a single Indian restaurant in my city! Nor do they sell any of the spices I need, but those are easy enough to bring in my suitcase. I knew I would have to master butter chicken, or face the unbearable reality of living without it! One question, did you really intend for it to be 1.5 tablespoons of coriander powder instead of teaspoons? It seemed a little odd when I saw the amount – I don’t think I’ve seen a curry recipe call for such a large amount. But I hadn’t seen anyone else comment on this, and all the reviews here were positive after having followed your recipe to a T, so I just held my breath and dumped in 1.5 tablespoons of coriander powder into the curry. Honestly, while I’m thrilled with the final result, I’m a serious perfectionist about my cooking and baking, and it did taste a little unbalanced in the direction of coriander…so I think next time I’ll try 1.5 teaspoons, and add in some fresh coriander garnish if I find it lacking… Oh! One final note! It’s become a pet peeve of mine when recipes call for “chilli powder”. There a zillions of different chillies and powders which can be made from them. Both paprika and cayenne are chilli powder. Just looking at paprika alone, there is sweet paprika, smoked paprika, hot paprika, spanish or hungarian, etc etc etc. My research in my obsessive quest of the perfect butter chicken recipe lead me to the suggestion that ideally, one would use Kashmiri Mirch or Deggi Mirch (I then fell down an internet rabbit hole of what exactly the difference was between these chillies, and the fact that Kashmiri chillies are relatively scarce, and so suppliers often use different, more readily available chillies and falsely label them as Kashmiri, etc etc. Sheesh!) But yes, please do specify what type of chilli powder you find works best – as Deggi Mirch is mild with regard to heat, but still lends a rich color and additional flavor, it would probably be the best choice for those who don’t wish to add any more heat to the dish. Cheers!
I was wondering the same thing about the coriander! You answered my question. Thank you!
Hi, made this recipe today. Came out fabulous. I made a few variations to cut calories. I added cashew nuts during the gravy grinding stage. I mixed in thick yogurt while bringing it all together. Didn’t heat it much so the yogurt didn’t split. Both of these added richness and creaminess to the dish. Finally could get away with adding just a spoon of cream at the end.
Hi Marzia thank you for the amazing recipe. I was wondering if this could be made by baking the marinated chicken pieces? Thanks
Tina
Hi Tina! I’m glad you enjoyed the recipe! Yes, you should be able to marinate and bake the chicken pieces. I haven’t done this before so can’t really suggest baking temp or times though. Let me know how it goes if you decide to try it!
Hey…. I made butter chicken exactly the way you have shown….. It comes out the best dish I have ever made…. Other day I have invited few guest they are from IHM… They all just loved my butter chicken…. Even ask for the recipe….. Butter chicken was the star dish of the day… Thank you, thank you so much for sharing such a wonderful recipe with us….
Awesome finger-licking recipe truly.. made it for friends and when my family tasted it, they demanded it to be made again for them.. just yummy..!
P.s. I used fresh tomatoes without boiling or peeling the skin .. it still tasted good to devour.. wondering how good it would have been if I followed it with can crushed tomatoes
Hi Marzia!
I tried this recipe tonight and it was fantastic! I made a few changes. I used fresh garlic and ginger instead of the paste, and used cauliflower, potato, and peas as I am vegetarian. I also have been making my own naan which is an absolutely necessary companion to Butter Chicken in my opinion. (http://www.onceuponachef.com/recipes/homemade-naan.html)
Thanks so much for the recipe! It’s the best!
Ryan
Help! I love this recipe and make it all the time. However, my guests are vegetarian so would like to substitute the chicken for butternut squash. Should I cube the butternut squash and perhaps dust with tandoori masala powder then fry first before adding to the curry sauce or just add as they are. Any advice would be really helpful.
Hmm. That’s a tough one. Not too sure how you’d go about adding butternut squash in place of the chicken. I think paneer or tofu would work well, but squash has me stumped. Worried the tandoori masala might burn when you fry the squash. I’ve got a recipe for Butternut Squash Red Curry where I add red curry paste to the sauce, maybe you can do that with the tandoori masala. It may taste a little different, but I think that may be the way to do it. Hope that helps!
This was an incredible recipe. I used Chicken Tikka (leftovers from takeout), instead of marinating the chicken. The sauce is extremely creamy and delicious. I’m so glad to come across your blog.
This recipe was absolutely amazing, it just melts in your mouth. I was caught off-guard with the somewhat spiciness since most of Butter Chicken does not have an ounce of spiciness, but this butter chicken has a very pleasant spicy, which made enjoy and love this dish so much more.
Hiya I want to have a go at making this . I saw you mentioned that you removed some spices and replaced it with tandoori masala. What were those spices and what amount of each do I use ? I don’t mine if it takes longer.
It would be helpful if you could still keep a post about the long way of making it with all the individual spices please.
Thanks so much
Hi Kam, the post states that I’ve reduced the ingredient list, however this isn’t referring to the spices. The tandoori masala is what I used in my previously posted recipe as well. The only thing i’ve removed is how to make your own ginger and garlic paste as you can easily find this in most grocery stores now. If you’d like to do that, it’s ¼ cup each ginger and garlic + 1-2 tablespoons vinegar. Pulse it all in a blender or food processor. Hope that helps!
I have made this recipe several times and it is my favorite. Since I live in a remote location in Northern Canada I have a hard time getting the right ingredients. The FenuGreek leaves are impossible to get up here.?
I served this to a coworker who has traveled the world and spent a considerable amount of time in India. She said it brought her back to her time in India and claimed this recipe was as good as any she has had.
In a pinch I substituted Sour Cream for the yogurt and heavy cream. It added a nice tang and still maintained the texture.
Any suggestion for a traditional Indian vegetable dish that could be served with this?
I’ve ordered mine through Silk Road Spices. They are based out of Calgary and their spices are about as fresh as you can get short of growing them yourself!
Thank you so much for this awesome recipe!
It tasted Devine!
I was just wanting to tweak my finished product a bit. It ended up very runny (very liquid like in consustency), how could I go about preventing this?
Also, it is a tad bit more tomato flavoured than I am used to in my butter chicken, what would help to tone down this flavour without making it too spicy?
Tamarind paste… adds a nice tangy sourness. I’ve used it to bring back overly sweet chili, that also seemed to be missing something, from the brink. Adds just the right tang that is missing from some dishes.
You also may want to add less tomato and more cream next time.
This sounds absolutely yummy!! My boss took me to and Indian restaurant and let me tell you shed had me obsessed ever since! Also, I have ginger garlic paste combined. What measurements should I use for this mixture? Thanks in advance!
You’ll need 2 teaspoons of the ginger garlic paste for the marinade and 1 tablespoon for the butter chicken sauce. Hope you enjoy it! 🙂
I am definately making this!!!
Can I use bay leaves in stead of fenugreek leaves? Or what will be a suitable substitute?
Bay leaves have a different flavor profile than fenugreek so unfortunately, I don’t think it makes for a good substitute. You can simply omit the fenugreek if you’d like but it does add that ‘authentic’ indian food flavor to the butter chicken recipe. Really not sure of any other substitutes for it.
There is only one word for this recipe….LOVE LOVE LOVE it. Woohoooo
Hi Marzia,
I tried Butter Chicken for the first time when living in India for a work project, and am now a life long addict. :p Can’t wait to try this recipe. What are the little green peppers you put on top of this?
Hi Kelsey! Glad to hear you’re gonna give it a try! It’s just sliced serrano peppers on top, for pictures 🙂
Hi Marzia!
Thanks for a wonderful, accurate and totally legitimate restaurant style murgh makhani. I am so glad to have found your blog. I made this last night following the measurements closely but with three substitutions – coconut yogurt and lime in the marinade and coconut cream instead of dairy cream (husband has dairy allergy). I also used thighs. I usually never follow spice measurements but I did this time just so I would have no excuse if it didn’t turn out ok. The results were perfect. Beautiful colour and amazing taste. I served it with a green pulao. My husband was thrilled to have butter chicken after more than a decade. We’ll be making this again. =) Thank you. Now I can’t wait to check out your other recipes 😉
xx
sunny
p.s you can see my picture of how it turned out here: https://www.instagram.com/p/BTEga4tFRXC/?taken-by=sunnyallovertheworld
Sunny! Your butter chicken looks perfect! I’m so happy to hear you and your husband enjoyed it 🙂
I would like to double this recipe. Is it as simple as just doubling all the ingredients?
Yes, I think you can simply double it without having to make any adjustments.
The butter chicken turned out amazing! Passed on your website to my relatives..
Thank you.
I was so excited to make this for me and my wife because every couple of weeks we get Butter Chicken delivered from our local Indian restaurant and I wanted to be able to make this at home. I followed the directions to a T (didn’t stray on ingredients, prep, cook time, or measurements), but I must say we were slightly disappointed. It was okay, but not addicting (like we’re used to).
This biggest problem we had was that the texture of the sauce was grainy (like cream of wheat) and not smooth. I used a Cuisinart blender, but perhaps I didn’t blend it long enough? (anyone else have this problem, and if so, how they solved it)? I did add the 1/4 cup of water during the cook-time because of the rapid bubbling, so the blender was definitely working and mixing/chopping/processing well. I used a large white onion, so maybe a yellow onion might be different in terms of both blending and taste? Or maybe I should used tomato sauce instead of crushed tomatoes? (I’ve made a different butter chicken recipe that called for tomato sauce and the texture was better, but didn’t seem as authentic as this recipe).
The other issue was that while it was flavorful, it seemed to lack the addictive creamy/buttery flavor we’ve come to expect from Butter Chicken. Wife thinks I should have added more than 1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream, but I think perhaps at the very end adding some real butter along with the garam masala and cream. Anyone try this?
I really believe this recipe is the closest to authentic butter chicken as one can find online (thanks Marzia), so I’m thinking some minor tweaks or some input could help turn this into an “addictive” butter chicken recipe that meets or beats the one from our local Indian restaurant (btw, they finish with a couple of thinly sliced cooked almonds on top alongside the fenugreek leaves, which is an amazing little touch and crunch).
Hi Peter, thanks so much for your comment. I’m sorry to hear that the butter chicken wasn’t exactly what you were hoping for. There are so many different versions of butter chicken from different parts of India and that makes it difficult to be able to figure out how your local Indian place made it.
For the texture issue, I think it just needed to be blended a bit more. Depending on how powerful your blender is, it may be better to divide the mixture into two batches to blend. Thanks for your feedback on that, i’ll add a little note in the recipe about it. Also, I see that you added water during the cooking time but did you perhaps add a little more water during blending? Sometimes that’s all it need to blend a little easier.
You can certainly add more butter to the recipe as i’m sure that would make it that much more rich and delicious! You can try upping the ghee (or butter) to ¼ cup in the beginning or melt additional butter in a skillet and add it to the butter chicken while it’s still hot (like you said), this is a cooking technique called ‘tarka’ and is traditionally used in many Indian dishes. You can certainly add more cream as well but keep in mind when you up the cream, you’ll also need to up the spices (cumin, coriander, tandoori masala, etc.) as well as the ginger and garlic paste. The cream will mellow out the spices so unless you add enough from the beginning, it’ll leave the butter chicken less flavorful.
Love the idea of adding sliced almonds like your local restaurant does. Thanks again for the comment and I hope this helps!
Hi there. I did have the same issue with the texture. It was my first time making this so I thought I didn’t blend long enough and I also think I didn’t cook the onion long enough. I added more butter (from a previous comment) after tasting the first time and it did make a difference. I also added more fenugreek spice. I will be making this again for sure and also have passed along to co-workers who thought “Costco butter chicken” was the best!
Just a note that some store bought ghee is grainier than others. This has been my experience. You may have to try a few different brands or attempt to make it yourself.
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Hi Thanks for the recipe it tasted great but unfortunately my gravy was toooo thick. what can i do to make it thin
please reply
It seems like you needed a little more water when blending the tomato gravy portion of the recipe. You can simply add a little water or additional cream to thin it out since it’s already cooked. Keep in mind that the cream will tone down the spices though.
Love this recipe! I’ve tried this with coconut milk as well and it is just as yummy as when I use heavy cream. I also downsize on the Cumin and up the chilli powder to be more to my taste.
Glad to hear it worked well with coconut milk too, Baily! Thanks for taking the time to comment! 🙂
I was really looking forward to this recipe. I had it saved for two weeks while I gathered the ingredients (had to order the tandoori masala you recommended, and also had to order garlic and ginger paste since none of my stores carried them). I followed all the directions, including letting the sauce and chicken marinate for 24 hours, and I can’t tell where I messed up. My sauce was not smooth, despite being blended for well over 4 minutes. The taste was bland and I just couldn’t get excited about it. After reading through the comments tonight to see what other people thought of it, I saw the one reply about discarding the marinade sauce, which I did not do. Besides adding a bit of flavor and some additional sauce, I can’t imagine that minimal amount would make so much of a difference. I’m sorry that my experience isn’t a great one, but it just wasn’t what I was hoping it would be.
Sorry to hear the recipe didn’t work out for you! From what i’m reading, it sounds like the excess marinade may indeed be the culprit. As it may have caused the recipe to thin out too much, thus diluting the flavor. Also, the sauce should definitely be smooth after blending for a whole 4 minutes! I just want to be sure, did you add a bit of water to help it along? These are the only things I can really think of, as I haven’t heard of this happening before.
I made this tonight and it is EXACTLY what I was craving! Simple, delicious, amazing! Thank you. I’m always trying new curry recipes and this is by far my favorite!
Delicious! My husband and I enjoyed this so much, I’m thinking I’ll add it to our regular rotation of meals. I’ll add more chili powder though because we felt like it was missing some heat. Any other suggestions to heat up the dish a little more?
Glad to hear it was enjoyed! You could also bump up the tandoori masala a bit, that’ll help spice it up a bit more!
Hi Marzia,
Thank you so much for this recipe. I have already prepared this recipe several times for my husband and he is totally in love with it. I have made slight changes for marinating chicken since we eat extra spicy curries, we love the flavors and how the recipe comes together 🙂
Hi Uzma,
Could you tell me what you added to make your recipe extra spicy? I love VERY spicy butter chicken in restaurants and am looking to recreate the heat at home.
To make it spicier, I suggest adding cayenne pepper. Start with 1 teaspoon and work your way up to your liking.
It looks divine. You should try it with a ground cashew sauce. Simply soak about two handfuls of raw cashew nuts in boiling water until they’re super soft, then drain and process them in a food processor or blender with just enough water to make a paste. Then you can omit the tomatoes. The colour will be totally different, as will the flavour. I rather prefer the cashew sauce.
This recipe was excellent! Simple to make and tasted just like a dish you would get at a restaurant! Highly recommended!
hey can i skip using dried fenugreek leaves? will it affect the taste of the dish?
Hi Nadia, yes you can omit the fenugreek leaves if you’d like but know that it will be missing that ‘restaurant style’ flavor – still delicious but just a little different 🙂
Wow! This is the best butter chicken we’ve ever had! My hubby loves it so much that he wants this in constant rotation for dinner. Thank you for sharing this recipe!
On another note, if you have a recipe for rogan josh Or if there’s one you can recommend, I’d be so grateful if you could share as well. It’s our second favorite next to butter chicken when we dine out at Indian restaurants.
My sister lives across the street and close with neighbors so we take turns cooking dinner weeknights since with the exception of my sisters family (husband and 2 teen boys) we are all single. Hard to cook for just one. She and her husband eat Butter Chicken at a local place and rave about it. In a money saving effort of not eating out as often, I am trying to cook stuff we eat out. This was excellent and easy. Followed exactly but did not have the leaves to garnish. I used 2# breasts and still had plenty of gravy. Thanks for the recipe.
Recently made butter chicken using this recipe..and it turned out awesome…got compliments from my friends too!!!…:-)
Thank you!!
Made this for my boyfriend and he absolutely LOVED it! He thought it is only possible to eat such in an Indian restaurant….bravo, well done and thank you for sharing! 🙂
This turned out amazing!! I was looking for a recipe to use the tandoori masala my old roommate left when she moved out, and I ended up bookmarking this recipe. I was snowed in today so I made some naan from scratch and whipped this together. I didn’t have any chili powder on hand and there was nearly a foot of snow outside, so I subbed half a teaspoon of cayenne pepper. That made it a bit hotter than I was going for, but not unpleasantly so.
Wow!! I started this recipe yesterday morning…cooked it this morning at 0900…my husband walked in the house and next thing you know we are having a butter chicken snack for breakfast. It tastes just how I ‘needed’ it to…it’s an amazing recipe. I am especially glad you put this on the web because my favorite Indian restaurant shut down…the owner made the best butter chicken I’ve ever had…this is the closest to her recipe I’ve found…and I made it myself lol. Thanks so much.
Dear Marzia, firstly, congrats on your beautiful photography.That’s what attracted me to click on your recipe. I was astounded with your honest soul. i tried your BUTTER CHICKEN recipe, and having been in restaurant business for thirty years, i could tell you left nothing out, First honest recipe on internet. I applaud you Marzia. NAZ,
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Authentic restaurant style butter chicken! Thank you so much for posting it. I am Indian and I have always wanted a good recipe and now I finally have one that is amazing! My family loved it!
Finally, thanks to your recipe posting I got the colour and flavour I was looking for with ease. The only thing I did different was use fresh ginger and garlic as I didn’t have the paste form. Another thing I did differently was fry in the pan was the garlic, ginger and onions for the sauce. Then I ground them up in a food processor to make things easier. There’s no need to grind up canned crushed tomatoes. Every other step I followed and it was perfection! This butter chicken recipe is a keeper, thank you so much for posting! Next time I’m going to try to add some sliced green peppers to the recipe and finely chopped almonds after I learn how to do it properly. I’ve had those ingredients included in the recipe that some restaurants add and it’s delicious as well.
Hi, can I substitute garlic and ginger paste combo instead of the separate pastes? It would be more budget friendly for me if I bought the combo. Thanks!!
Absolutely!
How long should I leave it to simmer at the end?I’m worried my chicken isn’t cooked through.
The chicken should mostly be cooked through (step #3) before adding in the butter chicken sauce. Once you add the sauce, you’re really just bringing it to a simmer before adding the cream and the garam masala. You can allow the chicken to simmer in the sauce until it cooks before proceeding with the remaining recipe if it’s not cooked though. It really shouldn’t take more than 1-2 minutes if the pieces are 1 ½ inches.
Hi,
I tried your recipe for the portions stated and it was very easy and fantastic. I am now about to attempt an increase in the proportions by 15X for a school fair!!!! Is there any advice in regards to the proportions of spices etc i.e. do you reduce for the bulk cook or just go with the same ratios. BTW I will cook the chicken once marinated on a rotisserie charcoal grill then add them to the mixture.
Kind regards
Sandy Tasmania Australia
Unfortunately i’ve never really made that much before so I really couldn’t say how much the recipe would need to be changed. Rotisserie chicken from a charcoal grill sounds amazing!
This was perfection! The recipe was easy to follow, and the ingredients were available at my local grocery store. Two kids, ages 4 and 10, ate every bite. Will definitely make this again often.
Made your Butter Chicken recipe.. it turned out yummy.. my relatives and family enjoyed the dish.. thanks for the great recipe..?
Hi there, when you say yogurt…are you meaning greek plain yogurt? I am so excited to try this!
I just used plain yogurt (not Greek) but yes, Greek yogurt will work just fine for this recipe. 🙂
Thank you!! I just made this recipe and it’s great!
I was wondering what to do with the extra marinade sauce? I put it in with the chicken but was not sure if I should have ?