Butter Chicken

Here’s how to make a classic butter chicken at home! This curry is rich, creamy, mildly spiced & packed full of tender chunks of marinated chicken thighs.

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This classic Northern Indian chicken curry packs some serious flavour & is super easy to make!

Butter chicken (traditionally called Murgh Makhani) is easily one of the most popular curries in the world & for good reason. It’s incredibly delicious & surprisingly easy to make! This curry’s rich, creamy, flavourful & full of tender chunks of marinated chicken thighs. The perfect accompaniment to steamed basmati rice, homemade naan, poppadoms & mango chutney…

For more dinner inspiration, take a look at our ever growing collection of main course recipes! There’s plenty to choose from here, from more homemade curries, pasta dishes, pies, stews & more…

Ingredient Notes

• Chicken – Skinless chicken thighs, with the bones left in work best for this curry (for the best flavour!). We’re going to be cooking these whole then cutting into bitesize pieces.
• Butter – I’d recommend unsalted butter for the curry sauce, so that we can control the seasoning.
• Cashews – Cashew nuts are added to this curry, to thicken the sauce & to add richness.
• Spices – We’re using a mix of dried spices for our curry sauce. You’ll probably have most of these already & they can also be found in the supermarket.
• Cream – For a rich flavour, we’re adding in double/heavy cream. This is how we give our butter chicken sauce its’ rich orange colour.
• Tomatoes – You’ll need tomato paste & a tin of chopped tomatoes for this curry.
• Coriander – A sprinkling of chopped coriander makes a nice garnish but is entirely optional!

How To Make Butter Chicken

The full, printable recipe card for this curry can be found at the bottom of this post! Here’s a quick rundown of the recipe…

1. The Marinade

The key for tender, flavourful chicken is to marinade the meat overnight! We’re keeping things traditional here by making our marinade with yoghurt, garlic, ginger lemon juice & plenty of spices. We’re talking garam masala, turmeric, chilli, smoked paprika & cumin. To make this marinade, we simply mix all the ingredients together, add in the chicken then refrigerate overnight.

We’re going to be marinating whole chicken thighs (with the skin removed) so I like to score the meat with a sharp knife, to allow as much flavour in as possible.

2. Curry Sauce

Onto the curry sauce. We’re going to be making this the next day & at the same time as we cook the chicken in the oven. Both components of this curry then come together at the end, just before serving. The reason behind doing this, is to avoid overcooking the chicken in the sauce & because we’re cooking the chicken in the oven, we can get a really good char on the outside of the meat (this gives our curry extra flavour!).

Butter Chicken Sauce – Step By Step

1. Start by frying sliced white onion in butter, until they are soft & golden. This will take 15 minutes or so.
2. Stir in grated garlic & ginger, cashews, garam masala, paprika, cumin, turmeric, fenugreek, cinnamon & chilli powder. Cook this out for a minute, stirring frequently.
3. Stir in tomato paste, cook out for another minute then add in a tin of chopped tomatoes & 250 ml of water (use this to rinse out the empty tomato tin).
4. Cook the sauce over a low heat, until it has thickened & the spices have cooked out. This will take around 20 minutes.
5. Blend the sauce in a jug blender with double cream & lemon juice, season with salt then pass back into the saucepan, through a sieve.
6. Set the pan back over a low heat, then stir in butter a small amount at a time, making sure that the butter is melted fully before adding in more (this prevents the sauce splitting/breaking).
7. Stir in your cooked chicken, warm through for a minute or two then finish with a drizzle of double cream & a sprinkle of chopped coriander.

3. Cooking The Chicken Thighs

We’re cooking the marinated chicken thighs in the oven, whilst our sauce cooks. The key thing here is to cook the chicken at a high temperature, until the meat is just cooked. The high temperature properly sears the outside of the meat, improving the flavour. To avoid overcooking the chicken, I’d recommend using a food probe to check the internal temperature. Chicken should be 75°c/167°f once cooked.

To cook the chicken, we place it onto a lined baking tray (don’t wipe the marinade off!) then roast at 220°c/428°f, until well seared & just cooked. This will take 15-20 minutes. Once cooked, we let the chicken rest whilst our sauce finishes cooking then cut into bitesize chunks & stir through the sauce.

4. To Finish & Serve

To finish our butter chicken, we drizzle double cream over the top & sprinkle over some chopped coriander.

Butter Chicken Tips & Tricks

• Use bone in chicken – I like to use bone in chicken thighs, for extra flavour! As we’re cooking the thighs whole, I’d recommend scoring the meat, to let more marinade in.
• Marinate the chicken – Make sure to give the chicken plenty of time to marinade for tender meat & maximum flavour! I find that an overnight marinade is best but 4 hours will do the trick as well.
• Roast at a high temperature – Roasting the marinated chicken thighs at a higher oven temperature helps char the outside, adding flavour. You could also cook the chicken on a barbecue, for even more flavour.
• Don’t overcook the meat – Nothing ruins a curry like overcooked meat! The key for this curry, is to cook the chicken in the oven until it’s just cooked then chop into pieces & stir through the finished sauce. Chicken is fully cooked when it reaches 75°c/167°f so a digital food probe comes in handy here!
• Season to taste – Seasoning your curry with salt brings the flavours to life! Make sure to adjust the seasoning to taste.
• Finish with butter – This curry’s called butter chicken for a reason! I like to stir extra butter into the finished curry sauce for extra richness. Make sure to do this gradually, to avoid splitting the sauce.

Serving Suggestions

Butter chicken works great with all the classic curry side dishes! From homemade naan, roti, paratha & poppadoms, to steamed basmati rice, bombay potatoes, raita & pakoras.

Frequently Asked Questions

Cooking Butter Chicken On An Aga

With all of my recipes, I include cooking instructions for conventional ovens, fan ovens & also Agas. Here’s how to cook this recipe in an Aga…

Cook the onions for the butter chicken sauce on the boiling plate then move over to the simmering plate when you add in the tomatoes. Cook the chicken thighs in the roasting oven, on the second from top set of runners.

Equipment Used

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• Thermapen Food Probe
• Microplane Grater
• Jug Blender
• Large Saucepan
• Baking Tray

More Dinner Recipes To Try!

• Pan Roasted Chicken Thighs With Garlic & Herbs
• Goose Fat Jacket Potatoes
• Black Garlic Hanger Steaks
• Smoked Pulled Lamb Shawarma
• Chicken Tikka Masala
• Nduja Stuffed Porchetta

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