Authentic Butter Chicken Recipe (Murgh Makhani)
An easy, delicious, and fully flavored authentic butter chicken recipe that will change the way you think about butter chicken going forward. This butter chicken recipe is the creamiest, most delicious Indian curry you will make in the comfort of your own kitchen. You’ll even be able to achieve the bright bold orange-red color for the curry.
This butter chicken is slightly spicy, full of flavor, and just outright easy to make. I’ve made this recipe plenty of times, and it turns out delicious every single time!
I can’t wait for you to give this recipe a shot and blow away your family and friends. My friends have gone from using a ready jar of butter chicken gravy sauce to now making this authentic butter chicken recipe in their homes. When I say it’s a game-changer, it really is!
What is Butter Chicken (a.k.a Murgh Makhani)?
I’m sure most people in the world have tried delicious Butter Chicken at least once in their life. But in case you haven’t, Butter Chicken is one of the most popular curries served at most Indian restaurants around the world. Pieces of chicken are marinated in yogurt mixed with spices and are first cooked off in a tandoor which gives it a beautiful flavor like no other. The pieces are then tossed through an aromatic, buttery, creamy curry sauce bringing you the most incredible flavors you can imagine.
Butter Chicken is also known as Chicken Makhani or Murgh Makhani, Murgh meaning chicken, and makhana meaning butter. The dish originated in North India but is now famous all over the world.
There are numerous versions of Butter Chicken recipes. In this post, I share the most authentic butter chicken recipe. This delicious, restaurant-style butter chicken recipe is a family favorite, one that’s been cooked in our household for years. You’ll love how easy it is to put together in the comfort of your own home. You’ll never want to order Butter Chicken once you’ve tried this recipe. It pairs perfectly well with freshly cooked Basmati rice or fresh homemade Naan Bread.
What spices do you use to make authentic butter chicken?
I’ll admit when you look at the list of ingredients, it does seem like a lot of ingredients but all the spices required for this easy butter chicken recipe are easy to find in your local supermarkets or Indian grocery stores. You most likely have some of them in your kitchen pantry. You’ll need chili, cumin, coriander, garam masala, and turmeric powders. Salt and a bit of dried fenugreek or Kasuri methi to finish off.
How to make homemade authentic butter chicken?
Butter Chicken is one of the milder Indian curries. It’s the perfect Indian curry for kids. You can choose to add as much or as little chili when cooking the curry. The level of spiciness is totally in your control.
There are two parts to making this delicious butter chicken recipe; marinating the chicken and making the gravy.
The Marinade
It all starts with marinating the chicken thighs in a yogurt marinade made from scratch. Trim the fat off the chicken and cut it into 1-inch pieces. You’ll use yogurt, freshly grated ginger and garlic, lemon juice, chili powder, and salt. Typically, you would use chicken with bone-in, but I tend to use boneless skinless chicken thighs. However, if you don’t have chicken thighs on hand, you can use chicken breasts. Just be cautious not to overcook the chicken breasts.
It’s best to marinate the chicken for a few hours or overnight if you are organized enough. The longer you leave the chicken marinating, the more tender and flavourful the chicken will be
Now if you are fortunate enough to have your own tandoor (clay oven) at home, you can cook the chicken off in there. However, for most people, including myself, fry the chicken in a pan or grill it in the oven or on the barbeque till it’s fully cooked. You’ll then want to finish it off by adding the cooked chicken to the delicious creamy gravy sauce and coating it completely.
Once the chicken is fried, put it on a plate and set it aside. Use the same pan to make your gravy sauce as it will contain all the delicious flavors left behind from the fried chicken.
How is the butter chicken sauce made?
Authentic butter chicken is all about the sauce. It’s amazing how quick and easy this butter chicken sauce comes together.
You’ll need ginger, garlic, chopped tomatoes (or a tin of chopped tomatoes), tomato paste, salt, sugar, cream, ghee, and butter. Of course, you’ll need to add your spices to get that aromatic authentic butter chicken flavor. You can use evaporated milk as a lower-calorie option.
The key to getting a rich creamy butter chicken is to be generous with the butter and cream. Of course, if you want a healthier version can you choose to add less of both.
The beauty of this dish is that you can make it ahead of time. Just allow it to cool completely before putting it away in the fridge. You can store this authentic butter chicken recipe for up to 48 hours in the fridge.
So if you are entertaining or having an Indian curry night during the week, it’s definitely a dish you can make ahead of time. Honestly, it tastes better the next day!
Serve this dish with basmati rice or freshly made garlic naan and you’ve got a winner on your hands. If there’s any Indian recipe you want to try out, this should be it. Easy, delicious, and quick to put together, this authentic butter chicken recipe is bound to become one of your family favorites.
Tips for grilling or cooking the chicken
Stove Top: Add a tsp of ghee and fry on high. You’ll notice a lot of moisture in the pan. This is fine at this stage of the process. The moisture will eventually evaporate leaving you with perfectly cooked chicken. Just make sure you stir the chicken every now and then and don’t burn or overcook the chicken (especially if you use chicken breast).
Grill: Preheat the oven to 180 deg Celcius. Add the chicken pieces to a wet wooden skewer and place them on a tray lined with foil. Grill for about 20 minutes or until the chicken is done. Flip the skewers once during the cooking process. During the last 5 minutes increase the temperature to 200 deg Celcius and turn to the grill setting to get that lovely charred flavor and color. Watch the chicken and make sure you don’t burn it.
Tips to make the most authentic butter chicken
- Use chicken thighs if possible. Chicken thighs are more forgiving than chicken breast which can often dry out and overcook when added to curries.
- Marinate the chicken. This ensures the chicken remains tender, succulent, and full of flavor. Don’t skip this step as the yogurt tenderizes the chicken.
- Use Kashmiri chili powder to get that bright red color. If you can’t find this, normal chili powder will do.
- You’ll find some recipes that use onion but traditionally no onion is used in the dish. Onion changes the flavor profile completely.
- Ironically enough, my recipe doesn’t contain that much butter. I use ghee otherwise known as clarified butter (you can find this at Indian stores and some supermarkets). If you prefer to stick to butter make sure you use a mix of ½ butter and ½ oil because butter can burn super easy.
- Don’t skip the cream completely. If you need to reduce the amount that’s ok but having the cream gives it a rich, luxurious texture.
Authentic Butter Chicken Recipe
Ingredients
For Marination
- 500 gm boneless chicken thighs
- 1 tsp grated ginger
- 1 tsp grated garlic
- ½ tbsp lemon juice
- ½ tsp Kashmiri Chili
- ½ tsp garam masala
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ cup Greek yogurt
Butter Chicken Sauce
- 1 tbsp ghee (clarified butter)
- 1 tsp grated ginger
- 1 tsp grated garlic
- ¼ tsp Tumeric
- 1 tsp each of these powders: Kashmiri chili, garam masala, corriander and cumin
- ¼ tsp cardamon powder
- 1 tsp tomato paste
- 4 large tomatoes, chopped (or 1 tin tomato puree)
- 15 cashews soaked in water (optional, for creaminess)
- ½ tsp fenugreek leaves
- 1 tbsp sugar (adjust according to how sweet you want it)
- 30 ml cream (optional)
- 2 tbsp butter
- corriander to garnish
Instructions
Marinate the chicken
- Trim and cut your chicken thighs into 1 inch pieces.
- In a large bowl add all the ingredients for the marinade; grated ginger, garlic, lemon juice, salt, chili powder, garam masala and yogurt. Once the marinade is ready, add the chicken into the bowl and toss it so that it's fully coated.
- Cover the chicken and let it marinate for a minimum of 4 hours. If you are short on time and want a quick meal, marinate the chicken for 30 minutes. If you plan your meals in advance try and marinate the chicken for about 12 hours or overnight. The longer the chicken rests the more tender it will be after cooking.Tip: You can marinate the chicken in the morning before heading to work so it will be ready to cook for dinner.
Grilling or cooking the chicken
- Add two tsp of butter and 1 tsp of oil to a pan. Place your chicken in the pan but do not overcrowd as the chicken will boil instead of fry. You want it to fry well with some black marks on the chicken. Fry the chicken on a high flame to achieve this but make sure you are watching the chicken. There's a fine line between charring the chicken and burning it. Set the chicken aside once cooked.(If you have a tandoor, you’ll get the best flavor by cooking the chicken in it. If not simply grill the chicken in the oven or barbeque or cook on a stovetop.)
Making the butter chicken sauce
- Add a tablespoon of ghee to the pan the chicken was cooked in. Add the grated ginger and garlic and cook for a minute till fragrant. Your flame should be nice and low so you don’t burn the ginger and garlic mixture.
- Next add the tomato paste and all the spices, and salt and mix well for about a minute.
- Now add the chopped tomatoes or tomato puree and the sugar and give it all a good stir. Let it cook until everything has incorporated well and the mixture looks nice and thick. You’ll also notice the mixture will start to leave the side of your pan. At this point, your kitchen will start to smell unbelievable. Switch the stove off and allow the mixture to cool down for a few minutes.
- Once cooled, transfer the contents to a blender along with the cashews and blend to a smooth paste. (the mixture needs to be cool enough so the blender doesn’t explode). If the sauce is too thick add a tablespoon of water and blend.
- Transfer the sauce back to the pan and bring it to a soft simmer. Add ½ cup water and simmer for about 5 minutes.
- Add in your cooked chicken and let it get coated with the beautiful gravy you’ve just made. Simmer for another 5 minutes.
- Finally, add the cardamon powder and sprinkle the Kasuri methi. Give this about 2 to 3 minutes before you switch off the stove and add the cream.
- Add butter to finish off the dish and garnish with chopped coriander leaves and a tablespoon of cream to serve.
Notes
Serving Suggestions
Serve this authentic Indian butter chicken with some basmati rice, jeera rice, or homemade garlic naan. It’s delicious no matter how you choose to eat it.
What I love about this butter chicken recipe is if you do some weekend prep, this recipe can be used during the week for a meal. Make the sauce and marinate the chicken on the weekend. If you are going to use this for a Monday or Tuesday night dinner, just leave it in your fridge and whip it out about 15 minutes before dinner time. While you fry the chicken, heat the gravy sauce in a separate pan. Finally, add your fried chicken to your gravy sauce. And voila, you’ll have an authentic butter chicken meal ready for the family in no time. Those days of ordering take-out butter chicken will be well behind you.
This is literally the best butter chicken recipe you will make. So far everyone who has used this recipe has loved it. This is the ultimate comfort food your entire family will love. It’s the perfect butter chicken for kids. My kids can handle this level of spice but you can always adjust the amount of cream to cut it down a bit. I certainly hope you’ll give this recipe a shot. I have no doubt it will become a regular in your household too.
Bon Appetit!
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