Murgh Makhani (Butter Chicken)
Butter chicken is a creamy, tomato-based and spice-laden chicken curry and it’s probably one of the most popular Indian recipes ever. The best and most authentic butter chicken is made with tandoori chicken, butter, with tomatoes, whipping cream and various Indian spices.
You can make homemade butter chicken on a stove top.
Butter Chicken Curry Sauce
The creamy sauce calls for ingredients such as tomatoes, whipping cream and various spices like red chili powder, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, etc.
The rich and creamy flavors come from the tomatoes and the cream, making the taste absolutely delightful to the palate. The butter chicken sauce is amazing with steamed basmati rice or naan.
Adding Vegetables to Butter Chicken
Authentic butter chicken has no vegetables and if you want authentic flavors, do not add vegetables. The creamy sauce is made with fresh tomatoes so it’s loaded with nutrition.
How Do You Cook Indian Butter Chicken
First, you prepare the chicken by marinating the chicken with ginger, garlic, chili powder and lime juice. Cook or grill the marinated chicken until the chicken turns brown on the surface.
To make the butter chicken sauce, use fresh tomatoes and cook until they break down, about 5-7 minutes. Add the spices (cardamom, cloves cinamon), ketchup, sugar, chili powder, butter and heavy cream. Remove the butter chicken from the heat, top with chopped cilantro.
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Butter Chicken Recipe
Butter Chicken - easy and authentic Indian butter chicken recipe that tastes just like your favorite restaurant. The creamy sauce is great with basmati rice and naan bread.
Ingredients
Chicken
- 2 lbs chicken preferably thigh meat, boneless and skinless, cut into 2-3 inch pieces
- 2 teaspoons ginger paste
- 1 1/2 tablespoons garlic paste
- 1-2 teaspoons red chili powder
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- Salt to taste
- 2 tablespoons + 1 tablespoon oil
- 2 teaspoons lime or lemon juice
- 2 pinches food color deep orange, optional
Creamy Tomato Sauce
- 4 large tomatoes quartered
- 1 1/2 tablespoons garlic paste
- 2 teaspoons ginger paste
- 1 jalapeno
- 1 2- inch cinnamon piece
- 1 bay leaf
- 4 cloves
- 2 green cardamom
- 6 whole black pepper
- 2 tablespoons ketchup
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon red chili powder
- 1/2 teaspoon dried fenugreek leaves
- Salt to taste
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 2 tablespoon butter
- 1 cup water
Garnishing
- Chopped cilantro
- Heavy cream
Instructions
Chicken
-
Wash and pat dry the chicken with paper towels. Transfer to a large bowl. Add all the Chicken ingredients, stir to mix well. Cover and marinate the chicken for 30 minutes or best overnight in the refrigerator.
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Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large wok or a pan. Transfer the chicken and the marinade to the wok or pan. Cook on medium-high heat until the liquid has dried up and the chicken turns brown on the surface, 10-15 minutes. You can also grill the chicken.
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Transfer the chicken to a clean platter. The chicken can be cooked a day in advance.
Sauce
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In a large pan, heat 2 tablespoons of the oil and add the green cardamoms, cloves, black peppercorns, bay leaf and cinnamon. Sauté the spices for 30-40 seconds. Add the ginger and garlic paste; stir fry for a minute. Add the tomatoes and jalapeno with 1/2 cup of the water. Cover the pan and reduce the heat to low, simmer for 5-7 minutes or until the tomatoes are soft and start to break down. Remove the pan from the heat and let cool.
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Remove all the whole spices (cardamom, bay leaf, cinnamon stick, cloves and black pepper) and discard. Transfer the tomato mixture to a blender and puree it to become a sauce.
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Transfer the sauce to a clean pan, add the ketchup, sugar, red chili powder, salt and dried fenugreek leaves and the remaining water. Let it simmer for 2-3 minutes on low heat. Stirring occasionally. Now add the butter, stir and simmer on the lowest heat for 5-7 minutes, or until the sauce starts to bubble. Add a little bit more water if the sauce is too thick.
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Add the cooked chicken and let simmer for another 5 minutes. Remove the butter chicken from the heat, top with chopped cilantro and heavy cream. Serve immediately with naan bread or rice.
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Karen @ The Food Charlatan
This is so beautiful! I love the creamy drizzle on top. I haven’t had butter chicken in ages! I need to try this!
Elio
In order to avoid the chicken being over-cooked, I added the marinaded chicken to the already softened onions, garlic and ginger then cooked until it was just about done. I made the sauce with the residue of the spice mix, chopped tomatoes and chicken stock in a different pan. It was just outstanding. Thanks a lot for the recipe.
Fern @ To Food with Love
Butter chicken’s one of my favourite dishes to go with naan especially with that thick creamy sauce! This one looks fantastic! Craving for some now!
Rasa Malaysia
Thanks Fern. You have to try my friend Reem’s recipe, it’s very good and easy to make!
Sonya
Haven’t worked with green cardamon or fenugreek leaves before. Are they easy to find and does the,green cardamon come in a powder or do you buy it in pods?
Reem
Green cardamom comes as pod and powder both.. For this recipe the pod is use!!
Also you can find fenugreek leaves (dried) easily in an Indian/Asian store.. If you cannot find them just leave them out. Butter chicken will still taste amazing!!
zouhair najjar
I failed to pin your recipe for Indian butter chicken because the photo , as per Pinterest is small
Thank you
Fish
Looks really nice. My family favourite food. Will try to cook them. Its hard to get Jalapeño any subsitute for this?
Rasa Malaysia
Just get green chilies.
Kirsten
Noooo, you changed the recipe!? I thought it was perfect, but I forgot to save the recipe and now it’s different… Without yoghurt and grilling :(
Rasa Malaysia
This butter chicken recipe is great, trust me and easier.
Lynn M Yost
I will try this, but I have to say, your old Butter Chicken recipe was absolutely perfect. I don’t see it available anywhere on your site now, so I’m very glad I saved it.
rakhiinindia.in
thanx for sharing this Butter Chicken recipe, my family is crazy for recipe , this is so easy n looks delicious
http://www.rakhiinindia.in/
Anju
Hi there, just wanted to point out an error, ‘murgh’ does not mean butter; it means chicken. Makhani means butter.
Rasa Malaysia
Ooops thank you!
antonia
if i add 15x the ammount of ingredients. how long will it take for the chicken to cook? (im serving a lot of people)
Rasa Malaysia
Just cook until the chicken is tender. For this recipe, I don’t think it’s a x15 times for the same ingredients if you want to feed more people. Use your best judgment, I can’t tell you for sure. Sorry.
Heather Stout
Can I just use garam marsala instead of all the individual spices? If so how much would you recommend using?
Rasa Malaysia
You can try but I can’t assure you with the same results with this butter chicken.