Butter Chicken (Murgh Makhani): Authentic Recipe at Home

Butter chicken — murgh makhani in Hindi — was invented in the late 1940s at Moti Mahal in Delhi, when the kitchen tossed leftover tandoori chicken into a tomato-butter-cream gravy to stop it drying out. The result is silky, tangy, faintly smoky, and a shade of terracotta that no bottled sauce ever quite nails — a different beast from a coconut-and-scotch-bonnet style like authentic Jamaican curry chicken, but built on the same restaurant-to-home lineage.This recipe rebuilds the restaurant version at home, without a tandoor.

Where butter chicken actually comes from

Kundan Lal Gujral opened Moti Mahal in Delhi’s Daryaganj neighborhood in 1947, after fleeing Peshawar during Partition. He’d already popularized tandoori chicken in the clay oven; butter chicken was born from a thrift problem. Skewers of tandoori chicken dried out overnight, so his cook rehydrated them in a gravy of tomato purée, butter, cream, and a fistful of dried fenugreek. The dish now travels under two names in restaurants — butter chicken (the anglicized menu name) and murgh makhani (the original Hindi) — and they refer to the exact same thing.

The confusion worth clearing up early: butter chicken is not chicken tikka masala. Tikka masala uses a heavier onion-and-spice base, was almost certainly invented in Britain (Glasgow’s usual origin story), and leans hot and savory. Butter chicken leans sweet, tangy, and rich, with no onions in the classical gravy at all.

Choosing the right cut of chicken

Boneless, skinless chicken thighs are the correct answer for home cooks. Thigh meat holds its texture through a hard sear and a simmer, tolerates a longer yogurt marinade without turning mushy, and forgives an extra minute in the pan. Breast works if you cube it small (¾-inch), marinate for the full 2 hours, and pull it off the heat the second it hits 165°F / 74°C — otherwise it goes stringy.

Skip pre-cut “curry cubes” from the grocery meat case — they’re almost always breast trimmings, and the yogurt marinade will over-tenderize them by the time you’re ready to cook. Buy whole boneless thighs and cube them yourself into 1½-inch pieces. Aim for 1.5 lb / 680 g for four servings.

Ingredients

How to make it, step by step

1. Marinate the chicken.Whisk yogurt, ginger-garlic paste, Kashmiri chili, garam masala, cumin, salt, lemon, and oil in a bowl. Add the cubed chicken and turn until every piece is coated. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours (overnight is better; the flavor sinks in and the yogurt breaks down connective tissue).
2. Sear hard, don’t cook through.Heat 1 tbsp oil in a wide skillet on high until it shimmers. Lay the chicken in a single layer, don’t crowd it, and leave it alone for 3 minutes. Turn once, sear another 2 minutes. You want charred edges and about 80% cooked; the gravy finishes it. Transfer to a plate.
3. Build the gravy base.In a pot, melt 1 tbsp butter with 1 tbsp oil. Add cardamom, cinnamon, and ginger-garlic paste; sizzle 30 seconds. Add tomatoes, cashews, Kashmiri chili, sugar, salt, and ½ cup water. Simmer covered for 15 minutes until the tomatoes collapse and the cashews soften.
4. Blend and strain.Fish out the cinnamon and cardamom pods. Blend the rest until glass-smooth (60 seconds in a high-speed blender). Push it through a fine-mesh sieve back into the pot — this step is the difference between “home curry” and “restaurant curry.” Discard the seed-and-skin residue.
5. Enrich the sauce.Bring the strained gravy back to a low simmer. Stir in the cream, then whisk in the cold butter one cube at a time so it emulsifies rather than melts flat. The sauce should visibly gloss up. Taste for salt and sugar.
6. Finish the chicken in the sauce.Slide the seared chicken (and any resting juices) into the gravy. Simmer 8–10 minutes on low, stirring gently, until the pieces hit 165°F / 74°C on an instant-read thermometer. Crush the kasuri methi between your palms and scatter it in with the final ¼ tsp garam masala. Rest off heat 5 minutes before serving.

Getting the tandoor char without a tandoor

The signature dark flecks on the chicken come from the yogurt-and-fat mixture hitting screaming heat and caramelizing before the chicken cooks through. Home stoves can’t match a 900°F tandoor, but three tools get you close enough that most eaters can’t tell:

Cast iron skillet on high, dry pan. Preheat empty for 4 minutes. Add just the oil in the marinade — no extra fat in the pan — so the yogurt solids scorch on direct contact with metal. This is the easiest method and the one used above.

Broiler, 4 inches from the element. Thread the chicken on soaked bamboo skewers, lay across a foil-lined sheet, and broil 4 minutes per side. Gives the most authentic look.

Grill, direct high heat. Same skewer setup, over coals or a screaming gas grill. Best flavor of the three, seasonal.

Common mistakes

What to serve with it

Storage & make-ahead

Questions people ask