If someone is a chicken lover and loves curry, it is little less likely that the person would have not heard of this extremely popular scrumptious chicken curry called “Butter Chicken”. Murg Makhani or Butter Chicken (बटर चिकन) is one of the most popular Indian chicken recipe. This butter chicken recipe is loved by everyone for its mild flavour and deliciously rich gravy. This dish is hugely popular across the globe for its taste, though it is believed that butter chicken originated in Punjab state of India.
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India being a massive country where language and food choices vary from place to place. You will find the taste of butter chicken varies depending on the region of India. My butter chicken recipe is North-Indian style. None the less, this chicken curry will taste great immaterial of where you try.
Origin of Butter Chicken
I can not say when the recipe originated. There is a belief that this recipe of butter chicken originated in 1948 by someone called Kundan Lal Gujral, in north part of India (believe it was Punjab). However, today this butter chicken curry rules the world, hence I decided to pen this down.
I by no means claim that this recipe is authentic (as when it originated). However, it is probably one of the best you will try out. This recipe has been tried multiple times and is always a hit between chicken lovers.
My simple test of finding how good food is by trying it out on my food critique husband and fussy eating daughter. If something can pass through them, likely it meets all standards.
Spices used in Butter Chicken
You will find that all the ingredients used for making butter chicken is available easily. None of the ingredient is difficult to find from any grocery store or supermarket.
The main spices used are ginger garlic paste, coriander powder, cream, cumin seeds, cashews, honey, cumin seeds, turmeric powder and butter.
Use butter gravy to make butter chicken. The addition of cream gives the curry sauce a silky rich texture. If you do try out this butter chicken in any restaurant, you may find these restaurants adding tons of butter to get the butter texture (or trying to suggest its butter chicken). However, the real smoothness shall come from gravy and yes, some amount of butter.
I hope my recipe of butter chicken here won’t leave you bloated or heavy.
How to make butter chicken at home
- First marinate the chicken in ginger garlic Paste, yogurt, lemon Juice, coriander powder, turmeric Powder, red chilli powder, cumin Powder and salt for at least 2 hours. Ideally marinate over night if you can.
- Now in a pan heat oil and add chopped onions and cashews to it. Once the onion has turned pinkish brown add ginger garlic paste and fry it for few minutes till the raw smell fades away.
- Now add tomatoes and chopped chilli to it and cover the lid. After 5 minutes take the lid out and fry till the mixture oozes oil. Now add all the spices and fry for few minutes. Switch off the flame and let it cool. Once this has cooled, transfer the mixture into a mixie jar/ blender and blend it to a smooth paste.
- Subsequently transfer this paste again to the same pan and put it over medium flame. Add marinated chicken and orange colour to it and add 2.5 cups of water and cover the lid of pan. Cook it for 20 minute. Add butter and check if the chicken is fully cooked. If not cooked then cook for few more minutes.
- Add honey and cream and mix it properly and switch off the flame. Garnish with fresh cream, finely chopped green chillies and coriander leaves.
Pro tips for making Butter Chicken
- Always marinade the chicken. Marinade for at least 2 hours, ideally over night.
- Add honey for that hint of sweetness. Do not go over board with honey.
- Add cashews in the gravy for the richness in gravy. Grind the gravy to smooth paste.
- Do not over cook chicken. Chicken will otherwise break / crumble.
- You can make gravy ahead of time and freeze it.
Storage Instructions
- You can store cooked butter chicken in refrigerator for 2-3 of days.
- You can freeze butter chicken curry. Once thawed, do not refreeze again.
- The gravy itself can be made and kept frozen for months. Keep gravy in small packs and freeze it. Take out as many packs as required.
Serving suggestion for Butter Chicken
Serve butter chicken hot with steamed rice, or any Indian bread, such as butter naan.
Left over butter chicken?
If for any reason you have got chicken leftover, you can make this amazing butter chicken biryani from the left over, this will be the best makeover from leftover.
If you are a chicken lover, you can try few other chicken recipes from my blog like, Shami Kebab, Chicken Liver fry, South Indian style dry chicken curry, Chilli Chicken, etc.
Let’s get to the step by step recipe of butter chicken, hopefully you will find it easy to use.
Recipe Card
Butter Chicken
Ingredients
For Marination
- 1 Kg Chicken Pieces
- 1.5 Tablespoon Ginger Garlic Paste
- 1.5 Tablespoon Yogurt
- 1 Teaspoon Lemon Juice
- 1 Teaspoon Coriander Powder
- 1/2 Teaspoon Turmeric Powder
- 1/2 Teaspoon Red Chilli Powder
- 1 Teaspoon Cumin Powder
- Salt To Taste
For Gravy
- 2 Onions Big Sized – Chopped
- 3 Tomatoes Medium Sized – Chopped
- 1 Green chilli Finely Chopped
- 1.5 Tablespoon Ginger Garlic Paste
- 1 Teaspoon Cumin Seeds
- 8-10 Piece Cashews Optional
- 3 Tablespoon Double Cream / Full Cream
- 1 Tablespoon Unsalted Butter
- 1 Teaspoon Coriander Powder
- 1/2 Teaspoon Kashmiri Red Chilli Powder
- 1 Tablespoon Butter Chicken Masala
- Salt To Taste
- 1 Tablespoon Honey
- 2 Tablespoon Oil
- 1 Pinch Orange Food Colour Optional
- Fresh Coriander Leaves Chopped for garnishing – Optional
Instructions
- First of all mix all the ingredients for marination in a mixing bowl to make a paste.
- Put the chicken pieces into the paste and cover the bowl with cling film and place it in refrigerator and let it marinate for at least 2 hours or overnight.
- In a pan heat oil and add chopped onions and cashews to it. Once the onion has turned pinkish brown add ginger garlic paste and fry it for few minutes till the raw smell fades away.
- Now add tomatoes and chopped chilli to it and cover the lid. After 5 minutes take the lid out and fry till the mixture oozes oil. Now add all the spices and fry for few minutes. Switch off the flame and let it cool. Once this has cooled, transfer the mixture into a mixie jar/ blender and blend it to a smooth paste.
- Now transfer this paste again to the same pan and put it over medium flame. Add marinated chicken and orange colour to it and add 2.5 cups of water and cover the lid of pan. Cook it for 20 minute. Add butter and check whether the chicken is fully cooked, if not then cook for few more minutes.
- Now is the time to add honey and cream and mix it properly and switch off the flame.
- Garnish with fresh cream, finely chopped green chillies and coriander leaves. Enjoy your Butter Chicken with Rice, Naan or Chapatti (Indian Bread)
Notes
- Be careful with honey, too much honey can spoil the taste.
- Orange colour, cashew are optional, but will give good colour and taste respectively if added.
- Cook chicken thoroughly, however do not over cook as it may melt/break chicken pieces in the gravy.
Thanks so much, that’s really helpful!
If I don’t have Butter Chicken Masala, what can I use instead? Or what spices can I add to create a butter chicken masala? Thanks
Hi Ben,
You can do the following, use following ingredients
* 1 inch cinnamon stick
* 2 Kashmiri red chilli
* 2 tsp coriander seeds
* 2 green cardamom
* 1 star anise
* 1 tsp cumin seeds
* 2 cloves
* 1 tsp ginger powder
* 2 tsp turmeric powder
* 1/2 tsp black pepper
* 1/3 tsp nutmeg powder
* 1/3 tsp mace powder
Dry roast the whole spices for 2-3 minutes on medium heat. Cool then and grind to fine powder. Mix rest of ground spices in that powder and fresh butter chicken masala is ready.