Creamy-fragrant Butter chicken(Indian chicken makhani).

A step-by-step recipe guide showing you how easy it is to create this restaurant-worthy popular curry.

A delicious dish for any occasion from lunch to dinner or gathering of friends. 

Chicken marinated in spices, mixed with yogurt and left to sponge up all the flavors, then oven grilled until they turn golden brown later added into this heavy fragrant, thick creamy sauce.

Are you drooling yet?

If your answer is yes, then you need to make this gorgeous Indian butter chicken aka murgh makhani.

Now, you might have noticed the excessive use of adjectives I’m using to describe what you may think a simple chicken dish, I apologize, I simply can’t get over how good butter chicken tastes, especially when it’s homemade.

Meal ideas for Butter chicken.

You don’t need a lot of extra dishes to complement a good butter chicken curry. a bowl of Basmati rice, garlic naan, a few chapatis, a fresh salad will do well.

And once you’ve finished with the meals and there’s still gravy left, you can mop that off with a few slices of bread in the morning. 

Why not make a wrap? Add less gravy, more chicken and extra raw onions, tomatoes, cucumber to balance the meal in a tortilla or paratha wrap.

P.L.E.A.S.E, do not smother it with cheese and ketchup like my kids do sometimes, the point of a butter chicken gets lost in the above ingredients.

 

Is butter chicken difficult to make?

NO, read the recipe instructions carefully, gather all the ingredients before you begin and follow the steps given.

You might have to do little adjustments with the seasoning to suit your taste but cooking up a pot of butter chicken is not difficult.

Keep in mind and remember that butter chicken comes together in three stages.

1/the marinade, so important to get the chicken pieces to absorb the flavor, marinating can run to 6 hours to overnight(no less).

2/Once the chicken is marinated, grilling them until they turn golden brown.

3/gradually building the creamy sauce and then including the chicken into it, basically these are the steps to make a good restaurant-worthy butter chicken.

BUT…

4/Keep tasting while you make the dish, this doesn’t apply to just this dish but every other dish, even the marinade. I’ve come to understand that by tasting, not only am I using my taste buds to get the flavors right(obviously) but I’m also familiarizing how each ingredient plays its part in building up a dish.

Can I use any other parts for the Butter chicken instead of boneless?

Buying boneless chicken is always expensive, especially if you are going to be feeding a crowd.

Since I know boneless chicken works for the recipe, I used a chicken breast, cut to include fleshy parts and parts with bone and in my opinion, it still tastes great.

Unless you are trying to impress a few high-profile guests, you can make butter chicken using the breast as well.

How long does it take to make the dish?

Not counting the time it takes to marinate the chicken, I would say close to two hours.

A word on oven temperature and how long it takes to grill.

O.k, here’s the thing, my oven is clunky.

I need to replace it but I refuse to buy a brand new oven until I get my kitchen done(don’t know when, another story, not sure I want to write about it, embarrassed and working with resources I have, think I’ve written too much already).

But oven temperatures are a tricky thing because think about it, you have this digital number flashing at you that says your oven has reached a certain temperature but there’s no way to know if the reading is right and they can change as you open and close the door of the oven.

After working with two different ovens apart from mine, I know each one works and reads the temperature in a different way.

So please keep this in mind and understand the grilling time can slightly vary, it can take less or more time, I have done everything I can to get the exact grilling time but I would like you to keep an eye on the grilling chicken if you please.

SAVE THE RECIPE TO YOUR FAVORITE PINTEREST BOARD BELOW!

 

Creamy-fragrant Butter chicken( Indian murgh makhani).

Please make sure to read the recipe instructions carefully to avoid mistakes.

Ingredients

Ingredients mentioned below use standard measuring cups and spoons.

700g chicken(can be boneless or a chicken breast, read above post)

For marinade

2 tablespoons of lime juice

1 tablespoon chilli powder

1 teaspoon  salt 

2 tablespoons of butter

1/2 cup yogurt

1 tablespoon of ginger paste

1 tablespoon of garlic paste

2 teaspoons of garam masala

For Gravy

Butter 2 tablespoons

5 green cardamoms slightly bruised

3 cardamom pods

4-6 black peppercorns

1 teaspoon ginger paste

1 teaspoon garlic paste

1/2 cup tomato paste

1/2 teaspoon chilli powder

Salt to season

1/2 cup of water

2 tablespoons of  sugar or honey

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 cup fresh cream

A handful of coriander leaves

Method

Before you begin with the recipe, gather all the ingredients needed to make the dish.

For the marinade use a bowl large enough to hold the chicken and fit it into the fridge.

Place chicken in the bowl, add salt, butter, lime juice, yogurt, ginger-garlic paste, chilli powder and garam masala.

Combine all the ingredients with the chicken, spend a few seconds on this so the chicken is coated with all the spices evenly.

Refrigerate the chicken for at least 6 hours or overnight(no less), longer the chicken marinates the better it tastes.

Grilling the chicken

Once the chicken is marinated, take the bowl out and leave it out to reach room temperature, 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, cover a baking dish with foil and place the chicken pieces on the baking dish, brush them with oil.

Preheat oven to 200C and grill chicken on one side for 25 minutes and then turn the chicken and grill the chicken for a further 25 minutes(see notes above).

Making the Butter chicken gravy

While the chicken grills, you can start with the gravy.

Place a large pan over medium heat, add butter and leave it to heat for a few seconds.

Reduce heat to low, add Cinnamon, cardamoms, cloves, peppercorns, ginger, garlic and sauté for  2-3 minutes or until they release their aroma.

Add tomato paste to the pan, increase heat and cook the paste until it turns a deep red, 2-3 minutes.

Add the chilli powder, salt to season and pour in the water.

Let the gravy simmer over low-medium heat, 10-12 minutes.

Add the sugar or honey followed by nutmeg, taste and add salt if necessary, let the curry simmer for further two minutes.

You can shut the heat off if the chicken is still grilling by the time you are almost done with the gravy.

Once the chicken is grilled, heat the gravy over low fire and add them to the gravy.

Let the gravy with grilled chicken simmer over 5 minutes, then add fresh cream stir it into the gravy, the end result should be an aromatic thick sauce-like consistency that coats the chicken well.

Remove from fire, add the coriander leaves, mix and serve warm.

Each recipe on this blog has been written with great care and love to the best of my ability with you in mind.
It’s free and on the blog, for you to try anytime.

All I ask is that you do not save it on any apps, recipe boxes or online groups which will affect me as a food blogger and the growth of this blog. I would appreciate if you only share the link rather than the full recipe. 

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