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Indian butter chicken (murg makhani) recipe that is so simple and easy to follow. Delicious juicy chicken cooked with homemade Indian tandoori masala, tossed in rich and buttery tomato gravy, best served with naan or rice.
The world does not need another butter chicken recipe, but I knew I had to share this, when I nailed the authentic restaurant style flavors at home! Rich and creamy, delicious homemade shredded butter chicken or murg makhani made in simple steps. Plus I've also got video for you, right above the recipe card.
Butter chicken is one of the most popular Indian chicken curry recipes over the world, mainly at all Indian restaurants. There are versions where the gravy is too sweet, or too tangy or too runny. This boneless butter chicken recipe is made with pantry staple ingredients that are so basic in your everyday punjabi kitchen. It has beautiful orange color and the gravy is made without any added food colouring. Plus it has the perfect creamy, rich and buttery consistency (yet non-greasy) and is neither too thick nor too thin. There is no added sugar or lemon added to the recipe, the sweetness comes from caramelising or browning the onions in butter, and theres LOTS of butter which I highly recommend not modifying.
The secret to a good butter chicken recipe lies in its marinade and I am going to show you step-by-step instructions on how to nail that tandoori marinade for chicken without any store-bought tandoori masala. Simple Indian spices combined together with hot oil brushed generously over chicken breasts, giving you delicious juicy and moist chicken with real tandoori flavors. Best part? You dont need an actual tandoor to make this. I am going to show you how to make tandoori chicken at home without a tandoor, using an oven (OTG) for the recipe. The gravy is made easy on stove, without any use of pressure cooker.
How to make Tandoori Chicken?
Tandoori Chicken Masala Marinade
- Yogurt: Regular dahi/ yogurt/ curd
- Spices: Turmeric powder, chilli powder, salt, roasted cumin powder, coriander powder.
- Garlic & Ginger: Grated or use ginger garlic paste (though I highly encourage using fresh ginger and garlic)
- Hot Oil: The secret to a good marinade, see how the flavors are elevated when the hot oil hits the spices and yogurt (check out the video at the bottom of the post)
Mix the marinade well and add chicken breasts. Make sure the chicken is fully covered - use a large bowl for this. Cover with cling wrap and transfer to the fridge for 40-60 mins. (Use this time to prep for the gravy)
After one hour, transfer the chicken WITH the leftover marinade and transfer to preheated oven, cook at 220 degree celsius for 25 mins. Take the chicken out, shred or pull the chicken and mix with the marinade liquid and juices. Transfer back to the oven and cook for 5-7 minutes. This step is important, as all shredded or pulled chicken gets nicely cooked with the delicious marinade.
How to make Indian butter chicken?
Butter Chicken gravy recipe
- Start with the main ingredient: BUTTER. Now please dont look away, when I spill out the truth: we are using all 100 grams of butter in this recipe. Believe me, you need all that butter! Thats what makes this rich and comforting. Plus cooking onions in butter is so much better than cooking onions in oil! Add butter, ginger, garlic and onions and cook the onions. What I mean here is keep stirring the onions until they are caramelised without any added sugar like this:
Check out the video for butter chicken recipe to see how nicely brown and crispy they get. These caramelised onions add so much flavor to the butter chicken recipe, plus natural sweetness that is just the right amount of sweetness you need in a recipe for butter chicken.
Now once the onions are cooked, add tomatoes and cook for a few minutes. Add salt, chilli, coriander and garam masala. Also add water. Let cool before you blend. The mixture should look very rough and chunky.
Once the onion-tomato masala gravy mixture has cooled down, blend until you get a silky smooth orange curry gravy. Add more water and simmer. Adjust salt. Finally add all the shredded tandoori chicken bits. Time for another secret ingredient: kasoori methi or dried fenugreek. I highly recommend adding kasoori methi to your butter chicken. It adds so much flavor. Just 1/4 cup and see how the flavors level up. Finally add cream and simmer again.
Mix everything well. The color should be naturally orange, no requirement of food colour. The consistency should be thick and creamy and just about perfect to serve over some Indian cumin rice (jeera rice) or naan or roti. Since I love eating the boneless version of butter chicken, I enjoy it with rice and topped with some chopped coriander.
Tips to make really good butter chicken at home?
- Tandoori chicken marinade: Many people prefer making the butter chicken gravy at home and then add pre-made shredded chicken or chicken with bones. I highly recommend making your own tandoori chicken in the oven. This recipe is very uncomplicated - does not need a tandoor or a pressure cooker. Making your own tandoori chicken marinade is super easy and you need basic kitchen spices to make your own tandoori masala. Make sure you add HOT oil over the spices and yogurt before marinating chicken in it. The hot oil will add smokey flavor to the butter chicken without any need for tandoor or charcoal.
- Onions: Stirring onions for 4-5 minutes in butter would seem tiring to read, but trust me you will enjoy the entire process of browning the onions and seeing them get all caramelised. Do not skip this step, if you want a really delicious butter chicken gravy.
- Kasoori Methi: Also called dried fenugreek - highly recommend buying this and adding it to your curry recipes. So important in this butter chicken curry recipe.
More Indian recipes from the blog:
- easy coriander chutney
- Indian jeera rice (cumin rice)
- baked aaloo chaat (Indian street food)
- north Indian malai kofta recipe
- restaurant style kadhai paneer (Indian cottage cheese)
- aaloo tikki (Indian street food)
- quick and easy shahi paneer recipe (Indian cottage cheese)
Here is the video for how to make Indian Butter Chicken
Indian Butter Chicken (Murg Makhani) Recipe
★★★★★5 from 1 reviews
- Author: Sheenam
- Prep Time: 60 mins
- Cook Time: 20 mins
- Total Time: 80 mins
- Yield: 4-5 servings 1x
- Category: Main
- Method: Stove Top & Oven
- Cuisine: Indian
Description
Indian butter chicken (murg makhani) recipe that is so simple and easy to follow. Delicious juicy chicken cooked with homemade Indian tandoori masala, tossed in rich and buttery tomato gravy, best served with naan or rice.
Ingredients
Scale
Shredded Tandoori Chicken Recipe:
- 300 grams or 2 thick chicken breasts
- 1/2 cup yogurt
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp chilli powder
- 1/2 tsp roasted cumin powder (see note 1)
- 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
- 2 tbsp hot oil (see note 2)
- 1 tsp grated ginger
- 1 tsp grated garlic
- 1 tbsp regular salted butter (15 grams) - see note 3
Butter Chicken (Murg Makhani) Gravy Recipe:
- 6-7 tbsp (roughly 85 grams) regular salted butter (see note 3)
- 1 1/2 cup (200 grams) thinly sliced red onions
- 1 tsp grated ginger
- 1 tsp grated garlic
- 4 cups (500 grams) roughly chopped tomatoes
- salt
- 1 tsp chilli powder
- 1 tsp coriander powder
- 1 tsp garam masala
- 1 cup water
- 1/4 cup cream
- 1/4 cup kasoori methi (dried fenugreek leaves)
Instructions
- Tandoori Chicken Marinade: In a bowl mix together all ingredients listed under marinade and add chicken breasts. Make sure the chicken is fully covered in the marinade. Cover with cling wrap and transfer to the fridge for 50-60 minutes. In the meanwhile, prep for the gravy.
- Butter Chicken Gravy: To a pan or wok, add 3 tbsp (45 grams) of butter and let melt on medium low flame. Add thinly sliced onions, ginger and garlic. Stir on medium low flame until the onions are nicely caramelised and lightly browned. Do not stop stirring at any point. Once the onions start getting stuck to the pan, add 3 tbsp (45 grams) of butter and continue cooking the onions.As they get nicely browned, add chopped tomatoes, salt and chilli powder. Mix well, cover and cook on medium low flame for 5-7 minutes.
- Take off the lid, add 2/3 cup water, deglaze the plan and mix well. Press down the tomato pieces with the back of the wooden spoon. Add coriander powder and garam masala. Cover and cook for 2-3 minutes on medium low flame.Take off the lid and continue cooking once the onion tomato mixture starts getting thicker and leaves oil from the corners. Once cooked, take it off the stove and let cool for about 15-20 minutes.
- Shredded Tandoori Chicken: Pre-heat the oven to 220 degree celsius for about 10 minutes. Brush melted butter (1/2 tbsp) on a baking sheet lined with aluminium/ foil sheet. Place the marinated chicken breasts and spread all of the marinade on the chicken pieces. Pour the remaining 1/2 tbsp melted butter on the chicen pieces. Transfer to oven and cook for 25 minutes.After 25 minutes, take the tray out the oven and shred the chicken (as shown in video) and mix well in the marinade and juices. Transfer back to the oven and cook for 5-7 minutes.
- Blended Gravy: Blend the cooled down onion-tomato gravy mix. Add back to the pan, add remaining water and simmer/ let cook for 2-3 minutes on medium flame.
- Assembling: Add shredded chicken and continue cooking (turn the flame to low if gravy gets too thick). Add kasoori methi and cream, remaining 1 tbsp butter, mix well and cook for additional 1-2 minutes. Serve hot.
Notes
- Roasted Cumin Powder: We make our own roasted cumin powder at home by dry roasting regular cumin seeds in a pan until it starts releasing its flavors and just when it gets begins to change color and get darker, blend it or use old school mortar pestle to turn roasted cumin seeds into powder.
- Hot Oil for marinade: It is VERY important to use hot oil. I used regular vegetable oil for this recipe. Simply add oil to a separate small pan and heat for a few minutes until its hot. Not flaming. Check the video to see how the spices get lightly cooked when hot oil is added to the marinade
- Butter: Strongly advised to not alter butter quantity or measurement. For easier flow, divide the butter before you start cooking. You need butter at 4 steps: 1) for tandoori chicken 2) to start cooking the onions, 3) to continue cooking onions (right before you add tomatoes) and 4) to finish of the gravy when its cooked. Use all 100 grams in this recipe.
Keywords: butter chicken, indian, curry
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