Butter Chicken Recipe: How To Make Chicken Butter Masala At Home?

Butter chicken is better known as Chicken Makhani or Chicken Butter Masala in Indian restaurants. It is perhaps the most popular chicken curry in Indian household thanks to its luscious creamy textured gravy with pieces of fried spicy chicken in it.

 

The chicken pieces are soft and juicy with all the spices having mixed in it nicely. It goes well with Punjabi Naan or Rotis and makes a perfect side dish for your meals.

Originating in Peshawar, Butter Chicken Recipe has gained popularity overseas as well. Although there are variations in the recipes found in various regions, the authentic recipe is the best. Moreover, it is the sweet and sour gravy that people relish licking fingers.

I am sharing this authentic and simple version of restaurant style recipe of Butter Chicken or Indian Murg Makhani. It has marination in two parts before start making the chicken.

How To Make Butter Chicken Recipe?

• Cooking Time: 50 minutes
  
• Servings: 4-6

Required Ingredients: 

For Marination:

• ½ kg Chicken (Preferably Boneless)
  
• ½ tsp Garam Masala Powder
  
• 1 tbsp Ginger Garlic Paste
  
• 1/8 tsp Turmeric Powder
  
• 1 tbsp Lemon juice
  
• ¼ tsp Salt
  
• ½ tsp Red Chilly Powder
  
• ¾ tsp Kasuri Methi
  
• ¾ tbsp Oil (Mustard Oil or Any Cooking Oil)
  
• ½ Cup Thick Curd or Hung Yogurt

For Chicken Gravy Masala:

• 2 tbsp Butter
  
• 1 tbsp Ginger Garlic Paste
  
• 2 green Chilies Slit
  
• 10 Cashew Nuts ( soaked in water for about 2-3 hours)
  
• 80 to 100 ml Heavy Cream ( fresh and frozen, homemade or tinned)
  
• ½ to ¾ tsp Garam Masala Powder
• One 2 Inch Cinnamon Stick
  
• 2 Green Cardamoms
  
• 1 Black Cardamom
  
• 2 Cloves
  
• One Pinch of Methi Powder
  
• 4 large tomatoes (Ground in the Blender and filtered so to remove seeds)
• 1 tsp Red Chili Powder
  
• ½ tbsp Kasuri Methi crushed
  
• ¼ tbsp Sugar or Honey
  
• ½ tsp Tomato Ketchup (optional)
  
• Salt According to Taste
• Coriander Leaves

Butter Chicken Recipe Preparation Method

1. The preparation part consists of two parts of marinating. Since good marinating is essential for soft and spicy chicken, this can be done a day before making the recipe also.
   
2. In the first part of marinating, take the washed and dried chicken pieces in a bowl and add lemon juice, Chili powder and salt and keep aside for about 20 minutes.
   
3. Now comes second marinating. For this add curd, Kasuri Methi, Garam masala powder, turmeric, oil, ginger garlic paste.
   
4. Mix all the ingredients well and leave in the refrigerator for minimum 4-5 hours. As said, you can make this preparation a day before.
   
5. Now we will fry the chicken. For this add butter in a frying pan and add Chicken pieces.
   
6. Now keep the flame high and fry the pieces deep.
   
7. Keep stirring so as to avoid burning.
   
8. Make sure the moisture evaporates nicely and the pieces are deep fried. Once it is done, turn off the flame and put it aside.
   
9. Now comes the part of making the gravy. For this, heat a pan and add butter (quantity as mentioned in ingredients for gravy).
   
10. Now add dry spices (cinnamons, cardamom and cloves) and fry for about two minutes.
    
11. Now add ginger garlic paste and fry
    
12. Once you get the nice fried aroma of ginger garlic paste, add tomato puree
    
13. Now add some sugar and salt to taste.
    
14. Stir nicely and see the tomato puree losing moisture and thickening. You can use canned tomato puree also.
    
15. At this point, add methi powder
    
16. Add 1 cup of water and stir
    
17. Now add cashew paste. These are cashews soaked in water for about 2 hours and later drained and ground in blender into a fine paste.
    
18. Pour some water again to adjust the consistency of the gravy
    
19. Let the mix boil and keep heating on low flame for about 3 minutes
20. Now add garam masala and stir well
    
21. You can add crushed Kasuri methi now
    
22. Then add the pieces of chicken we fried earlier and stir well
    
23. Fry well until the chicken pieces mixes with masala and becomes soft
    
24. (Optional) Add ½ tsp of tomato ketchup for more tangy taste
    
25. Turn to low flame and add cream and mix well
    
26. After a minute, turn off the flame.

Now one part is finished.

Note:

1. Add some Coriander leaves on the top and drop some cream around Chicken pieces
   
2. You can also garnish with roundly sliced onions on the top

How to Make Hung Curd?

In this recipe, we have used Hung curd. While you can also use ordinary curd. But, using hung curd makes the chicken even more soft.

Here is how to make hung curd.

1. Take a piece of Muslin cloth and pour some curd in it. Now tie it nicely.
   
2. Now draining off the moisture into a bowl below, twist the cloth.
   
3. Then place it on a flat plate and press it with a small bowl or roll a plastic ball over it.
   
4. This will remove all the moisture from it.
   
5. Now untie the cloth and take out the curd.

Tips and Precautions:

1. Using Cashew nuts paste for the gravy makes it thicker and creamy. One can also add few almonds in the paste.
   
2. One important precaution to be taken is not heating for too long after you add the cream. Just mix the cream well with the hot gravy and switch off the flame.
   
3. It is best to use boneless chicken for this recipe. Chicken thighs and or breasts are work best.
4. The taste is basically sweet and sour so adjust the amount of sugar with the tanginess of tomatoes, curd and lemon juice earlier.
   
5. The marinating part is very important. Some people do both the parts of marination at once. But I suggest to do it separately as it helps flavors mix well.

In another version of Chicken Makhani, milk is also added in the gravy before cream. But as we have used lemon juice and tomato ketchup, it will be good to avoid milk. Also, one can use oven for grilling the chicken pieces instead of frying in pan. You can have the gravy prepared in much quantity and stored in refrigerator for future.

Butter Chicken is indeed high on calories. But given the yummy taste, the calories are easily ignored. Serve this delicious dish with Naan or simple Rotis and Jeera Rice. With some salad and papad, you have a mouth watering dish on your platter.