Chicken butter masala recipe – An easy recipe to make delicious and creamy restaurant style Indian chicken butter masala under 30 mins. It goes great with butter naan, roti or even with jeera rice. It is similar to the north Indian or punjabi murgh makhani or the Butter chicken. But there are variations in making both the dishes.
To make punjabi murgh makhani, chicken is marinated in yogurt and then grilled. It is cooked in a tomato gravy without the use of onions. Then cream is used towards the end.
Chicken butter masala is made with an onion tomato gravy. The marinated chicken is just sauteed and then added to the onion tomato gravy. Then cream is poured to make it richer.
While the punjabi chicken makhani uses a stronger garam masala, chicken butter masala is made using milder spice powders. So a good chicken masala powder or garam masala is the main ingredient to make this recipe.
This chicken butter masala is best served Ghee rice, simple jeera rice or plain paratha..
Tips to make chicken butter masala
- Chicken butter masala can be made with boneless or bone-in chicken. However the restaurant style dish is made with boneless cubes.
- Marination is the key step to make flavorful, juicy, tender & succulent chicken. So do not skip the marination. You can rest the chicken for at least 45 mins. But over night is recommended for the best flavors & juicy chicken.
- To make the dish creamy & restaurant like, do use 3 tbsps of cream. If you do not have cream then just add in 6 to 8 more cashews. This sure will improve the texture of the gravy but will not give the same creamy texture as cream does.
- You can use any cream like whipping cream, cooking cream, heavy cream.
- Kasuri methi is another ingredient that lends a authentic Indian flavor to the chicken butter masala. If you do not have it just skip but you will surely miss out that unique aroma. Kasuri methi are dried fenugreek leaves and are easily available in the Indian stores.
- You can also make the onion tomato puree ahead & refrigerate. Just saute the chicken well and pour the puree. Cook the same following the instructions below when you are ready to consume.
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Chicken butter masala recipe
Chicken butter masala
Ingredients (1 cup = 240ml )
Marination
- 500 grams chicken
- ½ to ¾ tsp red chili powder
- 1 tsp ginger garlic paste
- Salt as needed
- 1 to 2 tbsp yogurt (or curd)
- ½ to ¾ tsp garam masala
- ¼ tsp turmeric (or haldi)
ingredients for gravy
- 1 tbsp butter or Oil
- 1 cups onions cubed , 3 medium
- 1½ cups tomatoes (3 large), finely chopped deseeded
- salt as needed
- 10 to 12 cashew nuts (or kaju)
- ½ to ¾ tsp garam masala powder
- ½ to ¾ tsp kashmiri red chilli powder
- 1 tsp coriander powder
- ½ tsp sugar (optional)
- 1 ½ tbsp Butter
- 1 bay leaf (or tej patta)
- 3 green cardamom (or elaichi)
- 2 to 3 cloves (or laung)
- 1 cinnamon stick (or dalchini) , small
- 1½ tsp ginger garlic paste
- ½ tsp kasuri methi (or dried fenugreek leaves)
- 3 tbsp cream ( for restaurant style)
- coriander leaves few , for garnish
How to make the recipe
Marinade
- To a large mixing bowl add chicken, red chilli powder, salt, turmeric, yogurt, garam masala & ginger garlic paste. Rub the spices well into the chicken and marinate well.
- Set aside until needed. To get juicy tender chicken you will need to rest this marinade in the fridge for atleast 45 minutes. For best results over night marination is needed.
How to make chicken butter masala
- Heat 1 tbsp butter or in a pan, fry onions till the raw smell goes away
- Saute tomatoes with salt until mushy.
- Add chili powder, garam masala powder and coriander powder along with cashews. Saute until the raw smell goes away.
- Cool and blend together with ¾ to 1 cup water.
- Heat the pan with more butter. Saute cinnamon, cloves, bay leaf and cardamom for a minute.
- Add ginger garlic paste and fry till the raw smell goes off.
- Next add marinated chicken. Saute on a medium high flame until the masala dries up.
- Pour the onion tomato puree. Adjust as needed chili powder and masala powder. Also adjust the consistency of gravy by adding more water if needed.
- Cook until the chicken turns tender & soft.
- Add kasuri methi, cream and stir well. You can skip cream by increasing the amount of cashews. Sprinkle chopped coriander leaves.
- Serve Indian chicken butter masala with roti, butter naan or jeera rice.
NUTRITION
Preparation for chicken butter masala recipe
1. Marinate chicken with 1 to 2 tbsp yogurt, red chilli powder, turmeric, ginger garlic paste, garam masala and salt. If you have time you can also leave it overnight in refrigerator, this is what I do.
2. Heat a pan with butter or oil. Saute onions until they turn pink. Just for the raw smell to go off.
3. Add tomatoes, sprinkle salt. Cook until they turn soft and mushy.
4. Add red chili powder, garam masala, coriander powder and cashews. If you do not want to use cream to this recipe then i suggest using a bit more of cashews.
5. Fry until the raw smell of the masala goes off.
6. Cool it and add to a blender with 3/4 to 1 cup water.
7. Blend to a smooth puree. This is the onion tomato base for the chicken butter masala.
How to make chicken butter masala recipe
8. Heat the same pan with butter. Saute 1 bay leaf, cinnamon stick, cloves and cardamom.
9. Add ginger garlic paste and fry until the raw smell goes off completely.
10. Add the marinated chicken and a deseeded slit green chili if desired. On a medium high flame, fry until the chicken turns pale and white in color. Make sure the yogurt masala dries up now. Saute until the masala dries up. Usually chicken oozes out lot of moisture, that’s just normal . Continue to cook.
11. Add the puree now. You can also add more red chili powder and garam masala now if needed. Also adjust water as needed to bring the gravy to a consistency. I use about 1/4 to 1/2 cup water.
Take care not to add too much otherwise the gravy turns very thin. Simmer until the chicken is cooked completely, soft and tender. When you see the chicken is soft cooked, then add crushed kasuri methi. By the end of this step you must have a thick creamy and smooth gravy.
12. This step is optional. If you like you can use cream to suit your liking. For health reasons if you like to skip cream, you can just add a bit more of cashews at step 4.
Serve chicken butter masala hot with rice or paratha and a dollop of butter or cream topped over the curry.
Sree Kumar Kesavan says
Tried the recipe today.
Turned out awesome.
swasthi says
Thank you so much!
L says
Was a hit for the whole family…yummy.
Recipe was well layed out….easy to follow.
Thank you!
Aliona Kanevsky says
Hello, I have tried this recipe and it tasted great, the whole family loved it. Is it possible to to print this recipe?
Irene says
Hi Swasti,
First, I’d like to thank you a million times for your blog! It’s everything I want in Indian food, delicious and healthy too! I’d be lost without it! I love how you put everything out so simply and clearly and with pictures on top of all! They really do help to understand if I get confused in a particular part and to make sure, we are following the recipe correctly, it’s very thoughtful.
I’m actually from bangali descent but haven’t had the chance to learn much so by making your recipes constantly (they differ a bit from Indian obviously but still very similar at the end of the day), I have a been learning the bases of south Asian cuisine and now have a better understanding of the ingredients and flavour combinations, etc. For many recipes, i don’t even have to follow the exact recipe as I can add my own touch to them and adjust according to my liking.
Your butter chicken recipe is definitely my favorite one though, I made it many times and it’s such a hit every single time! I do have one question though, what would be the difference between the butter chicken and the butter masala? They are quite similar I see although the latter requires less marination and time. Is one more authentic than the other or taste better? I wanted to try the marsala but was wondering if it was worth it?
swasthi says
Hi Irene
You are welcome. Thanks a lot for taking time to comment here. I am so glad to know the recipes are helpful. Butter chicken is a authentic punjabi dish made without using onions and the chicken is grilled mostly in tandoor or electric oven. I have shown it by grilling in pan as most readers from India wouldn’t have a oven. But chicken butter masala uses onions and is not grilled. It is just sauteed in pan before adding to the gravy. Both the gravy tastes completely different. Yes it is worth to try. Hope this helps. Thanks again.
🙂
Murugan says
I tried most of the chicken recipes it was really great.
swasthi says
Thank you so much
Athira Krishna says
Which cream do you recommend?
swasthi says
Hi Athira
Any fresh cream, whipping cream or cooking cream can be used
Cha Tackett says
I would like to than you for this authentic recipe. I used to fly a lot to India during my flying career and it sure does hit home as this is one of my fave Indian dishes. Glad to have a local Indian supermarket called Namaste near me that completed all my ingredients as per your recipe. Followed everything to the t but because I have in mind to serve 13 people over dinner, I quantified the ingredients accordingly. During cooking time I had a friend who assisted me in the cleaning and was my taste tester and we both thought it was way too spicy- (must be the chili powder)! My husband also test tasted it and thought he wouldn’t be able to eat it. With caution I watered it down making sure it still has its rich consistency and yet I find it still spicy so I poured in a can of coconut milk instead of cream. I served this yesterday evening with 12 guests oohing and aahing in delight of this delicious dish. Even my husband in the end loved it. I have a few leftovers from the big pot I made and a couple of my friends are coming over for repeats! i am so happy and grateful to you!
swasthi says
Hi Cha Tackett,
Thanks for trying the recipe. Glad to know chicken butter masala turned out good.
For any Indian recipes, it is good to use a mild spicy kind of chilli powder. Byadgi or kashmiri are the 2 varieties that are mild in heat but lend a good color to the dish. I guess the chilli powder used by you was a spicy kind.
Really appreciate your comment here. Thanks again. Your comment made me happy!!
🙂
Chandra says
Hi,
I do not eat chicken. But I do cook it for my family and friends. The trickiest part of cooking chicken for me is to find the right balance of all the spices as I can’t taste-test the end product. I found your recipe online and it seemed simple enough, so I made this dish for my colleagues. I followed your recipe as is. They were raving about the dish! Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. I’m making this again this week for our staff luncheon.
swasthi says
Hi Chandra,
Thanks a lot for writing. The comment made me very happy. I can understand how difficult it is to balance the spice and salt while cooking something we don’t eat. Appreciate your effort! Thanks again.
🙂
Jocelyne says
Can i use can tomato’s instead? I love this recipe and have made it with fresh tomatoes but thinking I may try it with can tomato’s ? Willthat change the flavour ?
swasthi says
Hi Jocelyne,
Thanks for trying.
Not sure if it turns out good. I haven’t tasted tomatoes from can anytime. So just wondering if it makes the gravy very sour. I think you can saute the tomato separately and add only as needed while making the gravy.
Amena says
Hi,
Thank you so much. I tried this recipe yesterday and my husband absolutely loved it. He said it was really tasty, I loved it as well. Your website is my favorite and I can find so many recipes to please my Asian husband and sometimes my in-laws as well. It must take you a lot of time to manage this website, cooking, taking pictures, and all the things you do to help people like me who try to cook nice healthy and tasty food at home. Thank you a thousand times. From a French mum in UK
swasthi says
Welcome Amena
Thankyou. I am sorry for the late response. Just caught up with the kids’ holidays. I am very happy to know the recipes are helpful. Yes it does take a lot of time but I do love the work.Thanks a lot for the comment.
Have a wonderful weekend!!
🙂
Amena says
Hi Swasthi,
Thank you for your replies. I was wondering if I should multiply the ingredients by 3 if I want to cook a bigger quantity, like for 3 chicken breast, maybe for 1,2 kg of chicken. Does it work like that ?
Thank you
swasthi says
Welcome Amena,
If you are using 1.2 kg then, triple all the recipe ingredients. For the gravy, reduce garam masala and red chili powder by 1/2 tsp. You can use about 1 tbsp ginger garlic paste for gravy. You may need to reduce the cashews to 25 if using cream. Towards the end before adding the cream, taste the gravy. If needed you can add in more garam masala and some crushed pepper or deseeded green chiles to adjust the spice & heat. Hope this helps
Amena says
Thank you so much for your quick response.
I’m planning to cook this for my mother in-law (she’s Pakistani), I really hope she will like it as much as me and my husband did. 🙂
Natalie says
Yammy to much! Thanks a lot!
Swapnil Parhad says
Superb recipe. It turned out yum!! My family loved it.
Thank you !!
Nija Anup says
Superb
Buona says
Great recipe. Loved it.
Victoria says
Hi,
When do you add th coriander powder mentioned?
Thank you!
swasthi says
Hi Victoria
You will have to add coriander powder along with garam masala.
Clint McInnes says
OH MY GOD THIS STUFF IS AMAZING!
Seriously, I’ve been cooking for myself and others for a LOOONG time, and this is arguably the best chicken recipe I’ve ever tried. It’s high-protein, low-fat, relatively easy (especially with the WONDERFUL pictorial instructions) and Abso-Freakin-Lutely Delicious! This dish gets rave reviews every time I prepare it. We just had it for lunch, and the sounds of delight and contentment were constant.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for sharing! This Chicken Butter Masala is happiness-in-a-bowl.
Pressure_Cooker says
Hi Swasthi!
I am 15 and I’ve just begun to learn how to cook (because of my very Indian and practical parents ??) and I initially assumed cooking to be a very daunting task! However, while looking for the perfect butter chicken gravy recipe, I stumbled upon your fantastic recipe site! The recipes are very easy, fast and put simply; fantastic for beginner cooks (who have practically zero clues on how to handle anything in the kitchen ?) like me! So far, my parents have enjoyed all that I’ve cooked in the past week- thanks to God’s help and your great recipes. I love, love, LOVE your cooking blog and I’m looking forward to try many more different dishes and leave feedbacks on all of them! Thanks for everything, and God bless you!
swasthi says
Hi!!!
Glad to know you.
🙂
Very happy to know you are able to make good food following my recipes. Thanks a lot for the wishes. They mean a lot.
Yes do try and keep writing!
🙂
Regards
ghazala says
I tried this recipe of yours last week nd it turned out very well.thanks for posting this recipe.my husband was surprised to know that even I can cook so well.thank u so much
ghazala says
I made this butter masala last week nd it turned out awesome.thanks for posting ur recipes nd making it so easy for us to understand.My husband was surprised after he tasted this as I am not so good in cooking.thanks a lot
Sophia says
I tried the chicken butter masala. The step was so easy to follow. It came out very well . Thank you for sharing the recipe
Emy says
Hi good day thanks for ur recipe…my boss ask me to make buttered chicken and its my first time to cook this following ur recipe everything goes good…with a shaking kness got a thumbs up from madam………..#helperfromsingapore