Butter Chicken
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If you love Indian food, this easy butter chicken recipe is a great one to have in your back pocket for weeknight dinners.
Photo by Johnny Miller (Clarkson Potter, 2021)
You’ll find butter chicken, or Murgh Makhani, on countless Indian restaurant menus, and for good reason: the combination of tender chicken and a rich, creamy, warmly spiced tomato sauce is hard to resist. Traditionally, the chicken is marinated and cooked in a tandoor, or clay oven. For this easy butter chicken recipe, I simplify things by skipping the marinating and sautéing the seasoned chicken in a skillet before finishing it in the sauce. The chicken turns out incredibly tender—in fact, one reader said it must be called “butter chicken” because the chicken is so tender, it’s like “buttah!”
Similar to chicken tikka masala, butter chicken is a great introduction to Indian food for kids because it’s relatively mild. Serve it with basmati rice or naan, and consider a little mango chutney on the side; its gingery sweetness is a nice counterpoint to the savory sauce.
“If I could give you ten stars for this recipe, I would…As good as any take-out Indian food I have ever eaten. A definite winner!”
What You’ll Need To Make Butter Chicken
- Chicken Tenderloins: Naturally tender and quick-cooking, they’re ideal for this recipe. Trim off the tough white tendon with kitchen shears before cooking. Boneless, skinless chicken breasts will also work too, but they’re easier to overcook and dry out.
- All-Purpose Flour: A light coating helps the chicken brown nicely and also thickens the sauce a bit.
- Unsalted Butter & Vegetable Oil: Used together to brown the chicken. The butter brings the taste you want in butter chicken, while the oil helps keep it from burning over the higher heat—a handy stand-in for traditional ghee.
- Onion: Cooks down until soft and gives the sauce a savory, lightly sweet base.
- Fresh Ginger: Brings a warm, peppery bite that’s especially good with the tomatoes and spices.
- Garam Masala, Coriander, Cumin & Cayenne Pepper: Garam masala is a fragrant Indian spice blend, typically made with warming spices such as cinnamon, cardamom, and cloves. Along with coriander and cumin, it gives the sauce its warm, aromatic flavor; the cayenne adds the heat, so you can adjust it depending on how spicy you like it.
- Canned Tomato Sauce: Forms the tomato base of the sauce and brings just enough acidity to balance the butter and cream.
- Heavy Cream: Makes the sauce smooth and creamy and mellows the tomatoes and spices. Full-fat coconut milk works as a dairy-free alternative.
- Cilantro: A fresh finishing touch that cuts through the creamy sauce and adds a little color.
- Jump to the printable recipe for precise measurements
How to Make Butter Chicken
Season and brown the chicken: Toss the chicken with the seasonings and flour, then brown it in a single layer in the hot skillet. Be sure not to crowd the pan, or the chicken will steam instead of brown. Flip the chicken and cook just until cooked through, then transfer it to a plate. Keep the skillet as is—the browned bits left behind will become part of the sauce.
Cook the aromatics and spices: In the same skillet, cook the onion and ginger until the onion is soft and translucent, scraping up the browned bits from the chicken as you go. You’re not looking for color on the onion; once it has softened and lost its raw bite, stir in the spices and cook briefly to bloom their flavor.
Make the sauce: Add the remaining sauce ingredients and bring to a gentle boil, then simmer uncovered until slightly thickened. It doesn’t need to get very thick at this point; it will continue to come together once the chicken goes back in.
Finish the butter chicken: Return the chicken and any juices to the sauce and give everything a few minutes to come together over gentle heat. Taste before serving and adjust the seasoning if needed, then scatter cilantro over the top, if you like. Leftovers keep well for 3 to 4 days; just reheat them gently, adding a splash of water if the sauce needs loosening.
Butter Chicken Video Tutorial
More Easy Chicken Recipes You’ll Love
Easy Butter Chicken
Ingredients
- 1½ lb chicken tenderloins, tendons trimmed, or boneless skinless breasts, cut into 1½-inch (4-cm) pieces (see note)
- 1¼ teaspoons salt
- 2 teaspoons garam masala
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped (about 1 cup)
- 1½ tablespoons finely chopped fresh ginger, from a 2-inch (5-cm) knob
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1¾ teaspoons ground cumin
- ⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
- 1 (8-oz) can tomato sauce
- 1 cup heavy cream
- ¾ teaspoon sugar
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 3 tablespoons water
- 3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro (optional)
For Serving (optional)
- Basmati rice
- Mango chutney, such as Major Grey's
Instructions
- Pat the chicken dry with a paper towel. In a medium bowl, sprinkle the chicken pieces evenly with ¾ teaspoon of the salt and 1 teaspoon of the garam masala; toss to coat evenly. Add the flour and toss again, making sure the chicken is well coated.
- In a large (12-inch/30-cm) nonstick skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of the butter and the oil over medium-high heat. When the fat is hot and shimmering, add the chicken in a single layer and cook, without stirring, until the chicken is lightly golden on the underside, about 3 minutes. Using tongs, turn the chicken pieces over and cook until just cooked through, 2 to 3 minutes more. Transfer the chicken to a plate and set aside while you make the sauce (you’ll use the skillet in the next step—there’s no need to wash it).
- Melt the remaining tablespoon butter in the same skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and ginger and cook, stirring frequently, until softened, 3 to 4 minutes. If the onion starts to brown, reduce the heat. Add the coriander, cumin, cayenne (if using), and remaining teaspoon of garam masala; stir and cook 1 minute more. Add the tomato sauce, cream, sugar, pepper, water, and the remaining ½ teaspoon salt. Bring to a gentle boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, until slightly thickened, about 3 minutes.
- Add the chicken, along with any accumulated juices, to the sauce and simmer just a few minutes until the chicken is warmed through. Taste the sauce and adjust the seasoning if necessary. Sprinkle with the cilantro, if using, and serve with basmati rice and mango chutney. (Note that the sauce will thicken as it sits; thin with a bit of water if necessary.)
Notes
- Chicken tenderloins are ideal for this dish as they are ultra-tender and cook quick quickly. Boneless, skinless breasts work well too, but they are less forgiving and can become dry if overcooked. The tenderloins typically have a white tendon attached to them. They can be a little tough to chew, so I like to remove them with kitchen shears before cooking. Just pinch the tip of the tendon with your finger and snip where the tendon meets the chicken.
- This dish is traditionally cooked with ghee, a type of clarified and fermented Indian butter that has a higher smoke point than plain butter. Since I don’t have ghee on hand in my kitchen and butter burns over high heat, I use a combination of butter and oil to get a similar effect (oil raises the smoke point of the fat and prevents the milk solids in the butter from burning).
- Check out easy guidance for how to peel, grate, and chop fresh ginger.
- Make-Ahead Instructions: Prepare the dish as instructed, allow it to cool, and then store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days. Reheat gently on the stove over low heat, adding a little water if the sauce has thickened too much during storage.
Nutrition Information
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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I’ve made over 30 recipes from your website and this is one of my favorites. Can I request adding a simple dal recipe to your list of potential recipes to develop? I have a feeling you’d knock it out of the park! I’m very grateful you have this website and share your talents with us.
So glad you like this and other recipes from the blog! I will add dal to my list of recipes to potentially develop – thanks for the suggestion as I’m always looking for new inspiration. 🙂
Can this recipe be made the night before it is to be served and gently warmed on the stove before serving the next day?
Yep!
Could half and half, or a combination of half and half and yogurt be substituted for the cream?
Hi Carol, I would go with the half and half, but just keep in mind that the sauce won’t thicken up as nicely.
Hey there. I’m a 41 year old gent from Australia. I use your recipes from online and your book almost exclusively. I made this for my family again tonight, and they all smashed it! I just thought I should write a comment and let you know that you have pretty much taught me to cook, and actually enjoy food in a way I never thought I would. I have never had a bad meal from our recipes. Thankyou!
💗
I love a good butter chicken and this did not disappoint, will be on my regular rotation. I would like to serve this with Aloo Gobi, unfortunately I can’t find my recipe which I loved. And I was wondering if my favourite chef had one or could develop one 🙏. Thanks Jen for making cooking and eating so enjoyable!
Glad you enjoyed this! As of now, I don’t have a proven recipe for Aloo Gobi – I’m sorry! I’ll have to add that to my list of recipes to potentially develop. 🙂
Cooked this for my Australian family this evening. It got rave reviews! My son-in-law said it was the best butter chicken he’s ever had. Another A-one recipe, Jenn. They asked me to make it again before I return home to Canada. Thanks.
It’s hard to believe such an easy, quick recipe could be this good! The spice combination is just right. I made “Butter Tofu” for dinner tonight, and it is just as good as the chicken version – rich, creamy and delicious. It’s a winner!
Absolutely love your recipes! Everything I try turns out delicious the first time and is a huge hit. Thanks for perfecting it for us! Being able to find nutrition info in MyFitnesPal is also very nice.
Can I substitute dried ginger for the fresh?
Yes, but you’ll need less — I’d use a heaping 1/4 teaspoon. Enjoy!
If I could give you ten stars for this recipe, I would. Outstanding! I have made many recipes from your blog, and this is now my favorite. The flavors were even better when I reheated the leftovers. Wow. As good as any take-out Indian food I have ever eaten. A definite winner!
This is a general question-NOT-for posting on this recipe:
When I choose PRINT, there is no print preview and it seems most recipes take 2 pages. Is this specific to my computer or your format offers no print preview. To overcome this, I have to copy/paste to a document and reformat. [If you received my first comment a few minutes ago, I was asking about there not being a photo in the Print version, but I missed the fact I was copying & pasting into Word and the photo wasn’t coming with it. Sorry–you do offer the photo in your Print layout–just wish there was a print preview OR recipes were most always limited to 1 page. THANK YOU again!
Hi Claire, when you’re viewing the full recipe (near the bottom of the page), look in the upper righthand corner of that box – you’ll see an icon there that looks like a printer. Is that what you’re clicking on to print? If so, you should have a dialogue box pop up with printing options and a print preview option (just like you would when printing anything else). Prior to the dialogue box popping up, you should see a page with the recipe. In the upper right corner, there’s a box that you should be able to check/uncheck to include a pic of the recipe (or not). Hope that helps!