Butter Chicken Recipe: Butter Chicken is probably one of the most popular Indian chicken recipes liked by all for its mild flavour and deliciously rich gravy. I wouldn’t be surprised if this is the most popular dish in Indian restaurants and so, this is a restaurant-style Butter Chicken Recipe.
When you talk to non-Indians about Indian food, one of the few dishes they immediately recall is Butter Chicken. They always know Butter Chicken, Chicken Tikka, “Naan Bread’, and Biryani. When I ask about Idli and Dosa, I mostly get blank stares back. So when my colleagues ask for good Indian restaurant recommendations in Singapore, I know not to suggest Murugan Idli Kadai because they may not even recognize that as Indian food!
However, there’s really something very comforting about a good Butter Chicken Recipe. If cooked right, it pairs fabulously with some naan made on tawa, a simple vegetable pulao, or even plain rotis or chapatis. I have used cream in the gravy for this Butter Chicken but you can just as easily substitute that with some pureed cashew paste for a different flavour.
I made this for some friends who were coming over for dinner, and paired it with my vegetable pulao recipe. The basic gravy is adapted from my Paneer Butter Masala Recipe. This is a restaurant-style Butter Chicken Masala Recipe – so enjoy!
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Butter chicken is one of India’s most popular chicken recipes, a mild curry with a tomato-onion-cream base and boneless chicken pieces cooked in it to perfection, as the Indian restaurants would say
Ingredients
- 500 gm of boneless chicken, cubed
- 2 onions, minced
- 1 tomato, pureed
- 1 tbsp of tomato paste or sauce
- 1 tbsp of butter, ghee, or oil
- 1 tsp of minced garlic
- 1 tsp of minced ginger
- 2 tsp of coriander powder
- 1 tsp of chilli powder (use Kashmiri chilli powder for better results)
- 1 tsp of garam masala or chicken masala
- 1 large pinch of kasuri methi / dried fenugreek leaves
- 1 cup of milk
- 3 tbsp of cream or pureed cashew paste (soak and grind cashew nuts)
- 1–2 tsp salt (adjust to taste)
- 1/4 tsp of turmeric powder
- 1 small bunch of coriander leaves / cilantro, for ganish
Instructions
- Heat the butter in a pan and add the minced onions. Fry until golden brown
- Add the ginger, garlic, coriander, chilli powder, turmeric, and salt. Fry for a minute until fragrant
- Add the pureed tomato and tomato paste and cook for 3-4 mins until the mixture bubbles uniformly
- Thrown in the kasuri methi, milk, and the cubed chicken. Cook covered for 8-10 mins until the chicken is soft. The chicken will let out more water, just check once or twice in between and give the curry a stir. Keep the flame on sim
- When the chicken is cooked soft, open the lid and cook for a further minute or two. If the gravy is too thick, add some water at this stage
- When done, add the garam masala or chicken masala and the cream or cashew paste. Give it a good stir, but don’t boil
- Adjust salt, garnish with the coriander leaves, and remove from fire
- Serve hot with tawa naan, vegetable pulao, or jeera rice
Serve hot with tawa naan, vegetable pulao, or jeera rice
Note: You can slightly fry the chicken before adding it to the gravy. I haven’t tried this but what I’d do is marinate the chicken pieces in ginger, garlic, turmeric, and chilli powder and lightly saute it until half-cooked. Then proceed with the rest of the recipe for Butter Chicken above.
For Butter Chicken recipe in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu, please use the Google Translate button on the top right of this website.
Hi There, Planning to try this recipe tomorrow, do you recommend any brand for ” tomato paste or sauce” ?
I typically use Delmonte
Amazing and easy
★★★★★
This is the only recipe I follow for butter chicken since 3-4 years. Tastes so good.
★★★★★
Thank you Minu!
Delicious! Thank you for the recipe.
★★★★★
You’ve got awesome recipes. Thank you! Just a small suggestion. Please change your website name. It mostly is read wrong which turns up quite awkward
★★★★★
thanks! and i am not sure what you mean by website name read wrong
I am not used to working with grams. 250 grams is just 1/2 pound, correct? That’s not very much chicken, considering the quantity of the other ingredients. That’s probably just one piece of chicken breast or a couple of boneless thighs. Please let me know if I am wrong because I would love to make this but it just seems like I need a lot more than a 1/2 pound of chicken.
thanks for your question and feedback. i usually use about 300grams chicken but i have adjusted the ingredients slightly. please use 1 lb chicken for the rest of the quantities. and of course, adjust to your taste too.
I have made this twice this month. It is sublimely good. Thank you so much!
★★★★★
This is one of THE BEST butter chicken recipes I have had…..such a bonus that it’s easy to make too
★★★★★
Just wanted to check, have tried your recipe and when ever i have used milk, the milk somehow curdles. please tell me what can i do to not let the milk curdle? thanks
Hi! I want to make your butter chicken, but just want to know what milk do you use. We only use whole fat pasteurised milk for tea, milkshake, etc…
yes any milk you use for your coffee/tea is fine
Thank you for his recipe! This is the best tasting butter chicken I have ever made, tastes like the real thing (:
★★★★★
Thank you Susan!
Made this for dinner last night. So, so good. Thanks Nags!
★★★★★
aww glad you liked it Ruth! 🙂
Merci pour cette délicieuse recette
★★★★
you’re welcome 🙂
Thanks a lot for the recipe and ultimately for the wonderful blog. I want to prepare this with 1 KG of chicken. So how should i increase the quantity of the ingredients?
You can increase the rest of the ingredients in proportion too. Just be mindful that you should add chillies and other spices per your preference. So go light and then layer on more if needed.
I made this and my family and I really enjoyed it, thanks for sharing!
thank you for leaving a note abigail 🙂
Really a fab n AwXm reciepie. …!!!! I prepare this butter chicken many times…!!! I’m loving it. ..___________!!!!!!!too much….
thank you arun!
Thank you for the recipe! Tried it out last night and paired with with parotas.. Was yumm!!! What was unique was the minced ginger.. It gave a very nice flavour to the curry.
★★★★★
thank you sunjula 🙂
Mouth watering butter chicken recipe. I’m a big fan of chicken items, really loved the way presented and provided cooking process in detail.
Hi nags, I prepared this recipe twice and both the times the milk curdled. Is there any way I can avoid this. Of course both the times I didn’t have to throw away … But is there any solution., and yes it tasted nice…
Rgds n tk care
Marina
★★★★★
This happened to me as well. And its also happened when i cooked a thai curry. My solution for the thai curry was to cook the chicken first. It shouldnt curdle then once you add it in.
hey rosie. thanks for your reply… will do that next time … will add milk after the chicken is cooked … thanks a lot …
rgds n tk care
marina
★★★★★
I have had this happen to me as well. I haven’t seen curry made with milk…the curdling seems to happen due to the the milk not having a high enough fat content when added to hot liquid. Most recipes add cream. I plan to make this using coconut milk. My curdling also happened with low fat coconut milk so will be trying this recipe with full fat coconut milk…hope it turns out ok!
I do however need a substitute for the fenugreek leaves….ideas or can I omit?
that’s right! try using thicker milks/cream to make the gravy smoother. but more importantly, make sure the heat is minimal because that also makes the gravy curdle. you can substitute fresh coriander leaves for the fenugreek. not the same, but will give it a nice flavour too
We just made it and oh my gosh. It was so good! We do a bunch of different Indian recipes several times a month and my husband and I both agreed that this one just jumped to the top of our list.
Very complicated out of my reach! I believ It can be done only by my wife.
★★★
thank you so much for giving so nice n easy recipe I will first time cook chicken I selected this butter chicken recipe as it was very easy ..I hope I make good ..fingers crossed 🙂
thank you saru, hope it turned out well
Hi – Love the look of this recipe for butter chicken but as a beginner with Indian cooking I am unsure of how to prepare the marinade that you mention in your note at the end. How much of each ingredient should I use and should I add a liquid of some sort ?
Hello! So for that marinade, for 250 grams chicken, I would add 1 tsp grated ginger, 1 tsp minced garlic, 1/4 tsp turmeric powder, 1/2 tsp paprika or chilli powder (adjust this to your taste) and mix well with some salt. You can add a few drops of water but don’t make it too watery. Set aside for 30 mins and shallow fry in some oil before proceeding with the remaining steps. Of course, adjust chilli and turmeric in the recipe afterwards.
Hey !!Tried it for a friends family tonight. I am a vegetarian but they said it was really nice!So thank you Nags!
aww thanks aditi. that was really nice of you to cook for them 🙂
I tried this out today. this was the very first desi handi I’ve ever made so i was a bit nervous about it; but it turned out sooooo good. I mean just what i wanted. Thank you soo much. It was yum.
★★★★★
thank you so much!
it was gret tast maya i like it thanks
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thank you pratima!
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Lovely and quick recipe
thank you praneeta
Awesome recipe … Tasted exactly like restaurant version !!!
Thank you Poornima
Best recipe ever. It just tasted like the curry at my favourite india Restaurant.
I would have never believed it. It was delicious! Thank you so much!
thank you!
Delicious! My family loves this
★★★★★
thank you rachel!
I made this with leftover Christmas turkey from the freezer! Just defrosted, cut it into chunks and put it in at the same stage as you said for fresh chicken. Also subbed cream for natural yoghurt and it worked a treat. New fav, easy to cook curry recipe! Thanks 🙂
★★★★★
what a great idea to use up leftover turkey. Glad you liked it 🙂
Hi. Loved the look of your butter chicken. How do I adjust spices for a kilo of chicken as I have a large family? Would appreciate your help as I don’t want to mess it up
Thanks
Smita
The quantities I have mentioned is for 250 gm chicken so if you have 1 kg chicken, just add 4 times the rest of the ingredients. Please adapt to your taste things like chilli and other spices.
I love butter chicken and your version looks amazing!
made it and it came out awesome thank u
Turned out to be an excellent dish. Had some guests for lunch last week. Every one loved it. Home made butter chicken has never tasted so ' restaurant like' .. Thanks so much for the recipe
thank you maya!
Nags…I just saw that your butter chicken pic was gawked and favourited in the last week…lovely!!!
Shobha
I`ve made it:)) It`s my the best chicken masala. Thank you for recipe:)
Best regards from Poland.
My dish:
http://kuchnianaparterze.blox.pl/2013/03/Hinduski-Butter-Chicken-Masala.html
there was time when i would just love the butter chicken gravy, without having the chicken. so now i make the same gravy with paneer for hubby or tofu for myself. the curry has a lovely color and looks so creamy.
there was time when i would just love the butter chicken gravy, without having the chicken. so now i make the same gravy with paneer for hubby or tofu for myself. the curry has a lovely color and looks so creamy.
Good recipe!!
The original butter chicken in Punjab was of course merely tandoori chicken put into a mostly cream, tomato and ghee sauce! Which is the recipe I have from donkey's years ago. Of course, if you should ever find yourself in Ludhiana, you might try the famous Baba chicken: great butter chicken sauce, pretty spicy.
hi dear..I tried the Butter Chicken…it turned out to be awesome. All of them loved it…
Hi. Nag…i tried the butter chicken …it just turned out to be awesome. All my family members loved it. it was simple and turned out to be excellent. your awesome and your cooking is brillant.
Keep up the good work….and kepp posting new Receipes
Thank you, so glad you like the butter chicken recipe 🙂
Have been thinking of making butter chicken from a long time now…it was the first dish I ever prepared by myself when I was in 7th grade…sigh, the memories!
Yours is looking creamy and awesome!
Regards,
Manju
http://manjuseatingdelights.blogspot.com/
Looks tempting n delicious… Awesome clicks
Love the color of the gravy….Delicious..
Looks yummy!!
Rich,creamy and very tempting butter chicken,one of my fav pair with naan.
Nice…
Made your Kerala chicken roast twice last week and turned out yum. Loved the colour too. Surely going to try this one.. Your recipes are simple and easy to make, and none of the recipes i have tried so far has disappointed me.. all yum..
thank you maya 🙂
Thanks for such an awesome recipe… My 4 yr old son goes GAGA with this butter chicken along with the naans my wife makes..
Lip smacking butter chicken….
Looks awesome…I totally understand how the only thing they associate with Indian food is chicken tikka and naan. I made chicken chettinad and rice for an Irish guest and he loved it, though he was a little surprised that the colour and flavour was not like a butter chicken 🙂
last post i thought it was paneer butter masala ! lovely photos !