If you have never tried Butter Chicken before this is a wonderful recipe to try Indian food. Tender chicken with a buttery tomato sauce seasoned with aromatic spices. This classic Indian dish also known as Murgh Makhani is sure to be a favorite meal to make any day of the week.
You can make butter chicken Indian style at home. If you have never tried Indian food before, this Indian butter chicken recipe will make you a fan. This butter chicken is a slightly spicy cream-based dish that contains aromatic golden pieces of chicken. You will love how easy it is to make this butter chicken recipe in your own kitchen.
You may have been put off making Indian food at home because of the sometimes daunting list of ingredients. However, the ingredients in this butter chicken Indian-style recipe can be found in most supermarkets.
The secret to this tender, flavor-infused butter chicken dish is a spice-infused marinade that includes fresh ginger and garlic, turmeric, paprika, garam masala, and coriander powder. But that’s not all – there is also a wonderful sauce made from onions, coconut cream, butter, tomato paste, paprika, and optional curry paste (depending on how hot you like your curries).
Table of Contents
Why Is It Called Butter Chicken?
It is called butter chicken because it’s prepared in a makhani (butter) sauce, which uses butter and cream. This is an authentic Indian dish –it hails from Northern India and is called murgh makhani. If you would like to read about the history of butter chicken, click here.
What Is the Difference Between Butter Chicken and Chicken Tikka Masala?
Butter chicken is a similar dish to chicken tikka masala and is one of the most popular curry dishes at any Indian restaurant. The two dishes look the same with their orange-tinged sauces. Chicken tikka masala is not as creamy and more intensified with tomato sauce. Also, the chicken in tikka masala is roasted in a tandoor, while the chicken for butter masala is prepared in a pan over heat.
Make Ahead Option
The beauty of the sauce in this recipe is that you can prepare it ahead of time. When completely cooled, store it in an airtight glass container and refrigerate for up to 48 hours.
What to Serve With Indian Butter Chicken
- Basmati rice and naan bread or roti (just made for dunking in the creamy butter chicken sauce).
- Samosas
- Papadums and mango chutney
- Cucumber salad or cucumber and tomato salad
Try Butter Chicken Tonight!
If there’s any Indian recipe that’s worth making at home, it’s this butter chicken, and this is the best butter chicken recipe ever! I hope you are inspired to try your hand at making an Indian feast at home.
Butter Chicken Recipe Ingredients
Here’s a list of what you need:
- Boneless, skinless chicken fillets
- Garlic
- Fresh ginger
- Plain unsweetened yogurt
- Garam masala
- Paprika
- Salt
- Ground black pepper
- Ground coriander
- Ground turmeric
- Vegetable oil
- Yellow onions
- Unsweetened coconut cream
- Butter
- Tomato paste
- Sugar
- Red curry paste (optional)
- Fresh cilantro for garnish
- White rice for serving
How to Make Butter Chicken
Making butter chicken is a simple process. Basically, you marinate chicken for a few minutes then cook it and the sauce in a pan on the stovetop. Here are the steps:
- Grate the garlic and ginger.
- Chop the onions.
- Cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces.
- Combine the garlic, ginger, yogurt, garam masala, paprika, coriander powder, turmeric, salt, and pepper in a bowl.
- Add the chicken pieces to the marinade and toss to coat well.
- Marinate for at least 10 minutes.
- Heat a pan with the oil over medium heat.
- Pour the chicken and marinade into the pan and brown the chicken for 5 to 7 minutes.
- Remove the chicken from the pan.
- Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in the pan and add the onions.
- Cook the onions for 5 minutes on medium heat until golden, stirring occasionally.
- Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter, coconut cream, tomato paste, sugar, salt, paprika, and red curry paste.
- Stir and cook on low heat for 5 minutes.
- Add the chicken back in the pan and cook for 10 minutes.
- Garnish with chopped fresh cilantro.
- Serve with rice.
Delicious Chicken Recipes
- Chicken Madeira
- Chicken Romano
- Hunan Chicken
- Peruvian Chicken
- Poppy Seed Chicken Casserole
- Shoyu Chicken
- Sweet and Sour Chicken
Popular Dinner Recipes
Check out more of my easy chicken recipes and the best main dish recipes right here on CopyKat!
Butter Chicken (Indian Murgh Makhani)
Ingredients
Chicken and Marinade
- 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken fillets cubed
- 5 cloves garlic grated
- 1 1/2 tablespoons fresh ginger grated
- 3 tablespoons plain yogurt unsweetened
- 1 tablespoon garam masala
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
Butter Chicken Sauce
- 3 medium yellow onion chopped
- 1⅔ cup unsweetened coconut cream
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon red curry paste optional
For Serving
- ¼ cup fresh cilantro chopped
- 4 cups cooked white rice
Instructions
- Grate the garlic and ginger.
- Chop the onions.
- Cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces.
- Combine the garlic, ginger, yogurt, garam masala, paprika, coriander powder, turmeric, salt, and pepper in a bowl.
- Add the chicken pieces to the marinade and toss to coat well.
- Marinate for at least 10 minutes.
- Heat a pan with the oil.
- Pour the chicken and marinade into the pan and brown the chicken for 5 to 7 minutes.
- Remove the chicken from the pan.
- Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in the pan and add the onions.
- Cook the onions for 5 minutes on medium heat until golden, stirring occasionally.
- Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter, coconut cream, tomato paste, sugar, salt, paprika, and red curry paste.
- Stir and cook on low heat for 5 minutes.
- Add the chicken back in the pan and cook for 10 minutes.
- Garnish with fresh cilantro.
- Serve with white rice.
kumbakon
Its delicious!!!
On Oui
Tumeric can substitute for the saffron.
Carli
What saffron?
Eling
gcallah – I think you’d enjoy pendant’s punjabi partridge better.
gcallah
“This is a slightly spicy creamed base dish that has grilled chicken in it. ”
gcallah
“You can make Indian food at home.”
Well, given that a billion Indians do so, this is pretty bloody obvious, isn’t it?